In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed his famous ship “Halve Maen”, the “Half Moon”, up the river in North America that would one day bear his name. It was the start of the 60-year history of the Dutch colony of New Netherland. The colony 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, especially valuable beaver pelts for the impressive hats you see in the Dutch paintings. But it wasn’t easy for the Dutch successors of Henry Hudson to hold on to this prize.
Producer: David Swatling
Broadcast: September 28, 1998