The Story of Manhattan | Page 4

comfortable within. They
were the first houses of white men on the Island of Manhattan. If you
wish to see where they stood, take a walk down Broadway, and just
before you reach the Bowling Green, on a house which is numbered 41,
you will find a tablet of brass which tells that Block's houses stood on
that self-same spot.
As soon as the hard winter was over, Block and his men began to build
a new ship, and before another winter had come they had one larger

than the Tiger. It was the first vessel to be built in the new world, and
was called the Restless.
That same year the Dutch merchants decided that they were giving too
many glass beads for the furs, and that if all the merchants combined
into one company they might not have to give so many. So they did
combine, and called themselves the United New Netherland Company.
It was in this way that the name New Netherland first appeared.
When the first ships of the new company reached the island, a house
was built for the use of the fur-traders, just south of where the Bowling
Green Park is. This structure was called Fort Manhattan. It was of
wood, and did not take long to build because the traders did not intend
to live in it a great while. They felt quite sure that all the furs would be
collected in a few years, and that then the island would be abandoned.
No one thought at that time that the little wooden stockade was the
commencement of a great city.
But after a few years it was found that the new country was a much
richer place than had been supposed. Shipload after shipload of otter
and beaver skins were sent across the ocean and still there were otters
and beavers without number. The fur-traders were growing rich, and
after a few years there came a decided change, when a new company
was formed in Holland; a great body of men this time, who had a vast
amount of money to build ships and fit them out. This organization was
the West India Company, and was to battle with Spain by land and by
sea (for the Netherlands was at war with Spain) and was to carry on
trade with the West Indies, just as the East India Company carried on
trade with the East Indies. As the West Indies included every country
that could be reached by sailing west from Holland, you will see that all
the Dutch land in America, which land was called New Netherland,
came under the control of this new company.
The territory called New Netherland was the country along the Atlantic
Ocean which now makes up the States of New Jersey, New York, and
Connecticut. But its limits at this time were uncertain as it extended
inland as far as the Company might care to send their colonists.

Within a few years, the seventy ships sailing under the flag of the West
India Company, fought great battles with the Spaniards, and won
almost every one of them. There were branches of the Company in
seven cities of Holland, and the branch in Amsterdam had charge of
New Netherland. So it will be only of the doings of this branch that we
shall read. Colonists were to be carried to New Netherland from
Holland; farms were to be laid out and cultivated; cities were to be built,
and the West India Company was to have absolute control over all, and
was to rule all the people. To do these things they had authority from
the States-General of Holland, which was the name given to the men
who made the laws for that country. The Company was to make regular
reports to the States-General, and tell of the growth of the colony and
the progress of the people in it. But as the years went on the Company
was not as particular as it should have been about what it told the
States-General.
[Illustration: Hall of the States-General of Holland.]
It was not until the West India Company took charge of New
Netherland that it was decided to make the settlement on the Island of
Manhattan a city. Up to this time it had been merely a trading station.
In order to build up a city, the Company knew that it would be
necessary to send people in sufficient numbers so that no matter how
many were killed by the Indians the settlement would not be wiped out.
Many inducements were offered, and men with their families soon
began to flock to New Netherland. With the ship that brought the first
families was Cornelius Jacobsen May, who was to live on the Island of
Manhattan and look after affairs