Editing New Netherland (section)

===Early settlement===
{{Main|Governors Island}}
{{See also|Fortifications of New Netherland|New Netherland settlements}}
[[File:Nieuw Nederland.png|thumb|A map showing the area claimed by the Dutch in [[North America]] and several Dutch settlements compared to present-day boundaries]]
Like the French in the north, the Dutch focused their interest on the [[fur trade]]. To that end, they cultivated contingent relations with the Five Nations of the Iroquois to procure greater access to key central regions from which the skins came.

The Dutch encouraged a kind of feudal aristocracy over time to attract settlers to the region of the Hudson River in what became known as the system of the [[Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions]]. Further south, a Swedish trading company that had ties with the Dutch tried to establish its first settlement along the Delaware River three years later. Without resources to consolidate its position, [[New Sweden]] was gradually absorbed by New Holland and later in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

In 1613, temporary camp comprising a number of small huts was built by the crew of the "''Tijger''" (''Tiger''), a Dutch ship under the command of Captain [[Adriaen Block]], which had caught fire while sailing on the Hudson.<ref>{{cite web|last=Welling|first=George M.|title=The United States of America and the Netherlands: The First Dutch Settlers|work=From Revolution to Reconstruction|date=November 24, 2004|url=http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/E/newnetherlands/nl2.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206204325/http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/E/newnetherlands/nl2.htm| archive-date = February 6, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Soon after, the first of two [[Fort Nassau (North River)|Fort Nassau]]s was built  at the confluence of the Hudson (North River) and Mohawk rivers, and small ''factorijen'' or trading posts went up, where  commerce could be conducted with the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] and [[Iroquois]] population, possibly at [[Schenectady, New York|Schenectady]], [[Esopus, New York|Esopus]], [[Quinnipiac River|Quinnipiac]], [[Communipaw]], and elsewhere.

In 1624, New Netherland became a province of the Dutch Republic, which had lowered the northern border of its North American dominion to [[42nd parallel north|42 degrees latitude]] in acknowledgment of the claim by the English north of Cape Cod.<ref group="nb">See John Smith's 1616 map as self-appointed Admiral of New England.</ref> The Dutch named the three main rivers of the province the ''Zuyd Rivier'' ([[Delaware River|South River]]), the ''Noort Rivier'' ([[North River (Hudson River)|North River]]), and the ''Versche Rivier'' ([[Connecticut River|Fresh River]]). Discovery, charting, and permanent settlement were needed to maintain a territorial claim. To this end in May 1624, the GWC landed 30 families at [[Fort Orange (New Netherland)|Fort Orange]] and ''Noten Eylant'' (today's [[Governors Island]]) at the mouth of the North River. They disembarked from the ship ''Nieu Nederlandt'', under the command of [[Cornelius Jacobsen May|Cornelis Jacobsz May]], the first [[Director of New Netherland|Director of the New Netherland]]. He was replaced the following year by [[Willem Verhulst]].

In June 1625, 45 additional colonists disembarked on ''Noten Eylant'' from three ships named ''Horse'', ''Cow'', and ''Sheep'', which also delivered 103 horses, steers, cows, pigs, and sheep. Most settlers were dispersed to the various garrisons built across the territory: upstream to [[Fort Orange (New Netherland)|Fort Orange]], to ''[[Old Saybrook, Connecticut|Kievits Hoek]]'' on the Fresh River, and [[Fort Wilhelmus]] on the South River.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Empire State: A History of New York|last=Rink|first=Oliver A.|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8014-3866-0|editor-last=Klien|editor-first=Milton M.|page=26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last        =Bert van Steeg|title=Walen in de Wildernis|work=De wereld van Peter Stuyvesant|language=nl|url=http://stuyvesant.library.uu.nl/kaarten/steegessay.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517171002/http://stuyvesant.library.uu.nl/kaarten/steegessay.htm|archive-date=May 17, 2008|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=1624 In the Unity (Eendracht)|work=Rootsweb Ancestry.com|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycoloni/shfrsten.html}}</ref> Many of the settlers were not Dutch but [[Walloons]], French [[Huguenot]]s, or [[African Americans|Africans]] (most as enslaved labor, some later gaining "half-free" status).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slavenorth.com/newyork.htm|title=Slavery in New York|website=www.slavenorth.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Slavery in New Netherland / De slavernij in Nieuw Nederland|work=The Atlantic World / De Atlantische Wereld|format=The Library of Congress Global Gateway|language=en, nl|url=http://international.loc.gov/intldl/awkbhtml/kb-1/kb-1-2-3.html#track1}}</ref>