Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/383

 NEW YOKE (STATE) 371 At the arrival of the whites the S. E. part of New York was inhabited by several subor- dinate tribes of Indians belonging to the Al- gonquin race, and the remaining part of the state by the celebrated Five Nations of Iro- quois stock. The names of places bequeathed by the various tribes indicate to what race they belonged ; the Algonquin words being harsh and full of gutturals, while the Iroquois names are usually smooth, soft, and musical. In July, 1609, Samuel Champlain, having as- cended the St. Lawrence river, discovered the lake which bears his name. On Sept. 9, 1609, Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India company, discovered the bay of New York, and three days later entered the river which bears his name. The land dis- covered by Hudson was claimed by Holland and named New Netherland. In 1614 the states general granted special privileges to any company which should open a trade with the natives of this region. In this year the first Dutch settlements were made on Manhattan island, and the name New Netherland was applied to the unoccupied regions of America lying between Virginia and Canada. In 1621 the Dutch West India company was incorpo- rated, and in the following year by virtue of their charter took possession of New Nether- land. The first permanent agricultural coloni- zation of this country was made in 1623, when 18 families settled at Fort Orange (now Al- bany), and a company of Walloons on the W. shore of Long Island. In 1626 Peter Minuit, the director general, purchased Manhattan isl- and of the natives for the value of .$24. In 1629 the company passed an act enabling all who wished to obtain manorial possessions in the country, under which the most valuable part of the company's land soon passed into the hands of individuals, and an aristocratic element was introduced. The effort to estab- lish feudal privileges failed ; but the land mo- nopolies granted at this time led, more than two centuries afterward, to serious disturb- ances known as the "anti-rent difficulties." Wouter van Twiller, the successor of Minuit, appointed in 1633, was succeeded in 1638 by William Kieft. During the administration of the latter, some troubles having arisen with the natives, an attack was suddenly made by the whites upon the nearest Indian villages, and more than 100 unoffending men, women, and children were massacred. A bloody war ensued, which seriously endangered the exis- tence of the colony. In 1647 Kieft was suc- ceeded by Peter Stuyvesant, by whom the In- dians were conciliated and the general affairs of the colony more systematically adminis- tered. The Dutch settlements, spreading to the east and west, came in collision with the English upon the Connecticut, and with the Swedes upon the Delaware. In 1655 Stuyve- sant took forcible possession of the Swedish territory and annexed it to New Netherland. The border contests with the English contin- ued as long as the Dutch held possession of the country. The English claimed New Neth- erland as part of Virginia, a claim founded upon the prior discovery of Cabot. In 1622 the English minister at the Hague demanded that the enterprise of planting a Dutch colony upon the Hudson should be abandoned. In 1627 Gov. Bradford of Plymouth gave notice to Peter Minuit that the patent of New Eng- land extended to lat. 40, and that the Dutch had no right " to plant and trade " north of that line. In March, 1664, Charles II. granted a charter of all the lands lying between the Connecticut and the Delaware to his brother the duke of York. This included New Nether- land and a portion of the territory which had been previously granted to Connecticut, Mas- sachusetts, and New Hampshire. In August of the same year, without any declaration of war, Col. Nicolls at the head of an English force appeared before New Amsterdam, and de- manded its surrender. Being in no condition to resist, Gov. Stuyvesant complied, and the whole country quietly passed into the hands of the English. New Amsterdam was named New York, and the name of New York was also applied to the whole province. New York was subsequently recaptured by the Dutch, but was soon after restored to the Eng- lish. The Dutch engaged in the slave trade as early as 1627, and at the surrender in 1664 the colony contained more slaves in propor- tion to its inhabitants than Virginia. In Au- gust, 1688, New York was placed with New England under the administration of Andros, Francis Nicholson being appointed lieutenant governor of New York. In 1689 the peo- ple revolted from the tyranny of Nicholson, and, under the lead of Jacob Leisler, a mer- chant of New York, seized the government and administered it in the name of William and Mary. Although never officially recognized as governor, Leisler continued at the head of af- fairs for about two years, when he was super- seded by Gov. Sloughter, bearing a commission direct from the English sovereigns. Offering some slight resistance to Sloughter upon his arrival, Leisler and his son-in-law Milborne were arrested, tried for treason, and executed. In 1684 Gov. Dongan concluded an offensive and defensive treaty with the Indians, and from that time the English became the recipi- ents of that friendship which had been before bestowed upon the Dutch. In 1687 the Seneca country in western New York was invaded by a French army under De Nonville, governor of Canada; and in 1689 the Five Nations re- taliated by invading Canada. In this last ex- pedition more than 1,000 French settlers were slain, and the whole French province was threatened with destruction. On the night of Feb. 9, 1690, a party of French and Canadian Indians burned Schenectady, and massacred nearly all the inhabitants. In 1693 a French expedition against the Mohawks took one of the Indian forts and captured 300 prisoners,