Wake of the Half Moon: the Dutch colony of New Netherland, Part 2 of 3 – Pioneers and patroonships

Hudson's Half_Moon_in the New World
Hudson’s Half Moon in the New World (© FCIT)

The story of the pioneers who settled the new Dutch colony of New Netherland, the founding of New Amsterdam and why the experiment of New Netherland nearly failed. This Dutch 17th-century colony survived for 60 years and once stretched through a vast part of northeastern America, from the Chesapeake Bay to the St. Lawrence River and far to the west. New Netherland gave the Dutch a most profitable hold on the fur trade, but it wasn’t easy for the Dutch successors of Henry Hudson to hold on to this valuable prize.

Producer: David Swatling

Broadcast: September 28, 1998