Wild and empty?
New Netherland was not uninhabited. That was obvious to the first Dutchmen who arrived with Henry Hudson in 1609. The local population paddled out in canoes to meet them.

It is not very likely that the seamen had ever heard any preaching by the reverend Godefridus Udemans (1580-1649). Earlier on he had declared from the pulpit that the New World was not all that new. 'It has been inhabited since ancient times'. Udemans got his information from the many documents, books and maps that were being printed and distributed in the Netherlands. The cartographer Johannes de Laet (1582-1649) had written that the local population was friendly and prepared to engage in trade, as long as they were treated with respect.

Conducting trade: the rules of the game
The Directors of the West India Company gave explicit orders to the Dutch people who began settling the region in 1624 to treat the Indians in a friendly manner. Governor Willem Verhulst was told in his instructions that he must be ‘honest, trustworthy and fair-minded’ in his dealings with the Indians. The later sale of the island of Manhattan was also concluded in conformity with the instructions ‘that such transactions must satisfy the local Indians’. It was not always possible for the Dutch to yield to the Indians’ wishes, however. An example is the refusal of the Mohicans to grant colonists leave to enter their maize land, blocking the planned expansion of Dutch building projects.

The strict attitude of the WIC officials was partly inspired by their religious views. Their obedience was motivated not only by their fear of angering the Directors should they fail to comply, but even more so by the fear that ‘the wrath of God would be called down because of their conduct’, a phrase included in their instructions.

Increasing pressure on the Indians and the consequences
The steady influx of Europeans increased the pressure on Indian tribal lands. More and more, the inhabitants were being confronted by colonists and their weapons. They also had to deal with Europeans who refused to abide by the ‘precise instructions’ of the WIC. Traders discovered that alcohol greatly influenced the Indians. After a bottle of jenever, the prices being offered for furs were more quickly accepted. The WIC tried to stop these traders but were unsuccessful. As a result, the use of alcohol spelled disaster for many tribes.

The number of incidents between the Indians themselves and between Indians, colonists and traders grew steadily. Some of these incidents evolved into total war. This occurred in 1626 when a number of Dutchmen from Fort Oranje (the present Albany), accompanied by a group of Mohicans, attacked a Mohawk encampment. For the Indians being attacked this meant that the Dutch had abandoned their impartiality. In response the Mohawks struck back, killing four Dutchmen. To avoid further escalation, all the parties involved hastened to draw up a new peace treaty.

War and peace
In an ensuing conflict in 1632, the Dutch settlement of Swanendael (Delaware) was wiped out by the Algonquins. Here, too, the parties were not able to carry on the fight and peace was quickly concluded. The personality of the governor played an important role in the relationship between the colonists and the native inhabitants. Governor Willem Kieft (1597-1647) tried to impose taxes on the Indians, which led to an outbreak of hostilities that later became known as ‘the Kieft War’. For two years (from 1643 to 1645), people of the Raritan, Canarsie, Hackensack, Tappan, Wechquasgeck and Mohawk tribes fought with each other and against the Dutch.

The Mohawks finally succeeded in concluding a new treaty with all the parties involved. This was a happy event for surgeon Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, one of the first Dutchmen to wander around the Indian territory from 1634 to 1635 and live among the inhabitants. Van den Bogaert, father of four children, later fled from his former home when he was accused of sodomy in 1647. He was charged with having had a relationship with his black servant Tobias. After his pursuers finally had him arrested he managed to escape. He fled over a frozen river, but halfway across the ice broke and he drowned in the icy water.

Kieft’s successor, the celebrated Peter Stuyvesant, was also involved in bloody fighting with the Indians between 1655 and 1664. The Eosopus tribe were the last to ‘take up the tomahawk against the Dutch’. After 1664 the British assumed control of the colony and continued the fight against the peoples of ‘the first nation’.