Journal of New Netherland 1647. Written in the Years 1641, 1642, 1643, 1644, 1645, and 1646
Description
Willem Kieft (1597–1647) was a Dutch merchant who was
appointed by the West India Company as director-general of New Netherland in
1638. Kieft instituted a harsh policy toward the Indians of the colony, whom he
attempted to tax and drive from their land. In 1643, a contingent of soldiers
under Kieft attacked a Raritan village on Staten Island
in a dispute over pigs allegedly stolen from a Dutch farm. This led to the
bloody, two-year conflict known as Kieft’s war, which raged in parts of what is
now the New York metropolitan area (Jersey City, New Jersey,
and Lower Manhattan) from 1643 to 1645,
pitting the Dutch against a confederation of Algonquin tribes. The West India
Company removed Kieft from his post in 1647 and replaced him with Peter
Stuyvesant, the last director-general of New Netherland
before the colony was taken over by the English in 1664. This handwritten
journal by an unknown Dutch colonist, from the manuscript collections of the
National Library of the Netherlands,
is an important source for the study of Kieft’s governorship, the war, and New Netherland in the 1640s.
Date Created
Subject Date
Publication Information
New Amsterdam
Language
Title in Original Language
Journael van Nieu Nederlandt 1647. Beschreven in de jaeren 1641. 1642. 1643. 1644. 1645. en 1646
Place
Additional Subjects
Type of Item
Physical Description
Pen and ink, 17 x 21 centimeters
Collection
Institution
External Resource
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Last updated: September 25, 2015