71. The Traders.

The commercial character of the Dutch led

them at once to see an opportunity to establish trade with this portion of the New World which they now claimed as their territory through Hudson's discoveries. They could sell to the Indians many of the products of their excellent manufactories, and could also obtain from them an endless supply of the furs with which the interior of the country abounded. In 1610, another vessel entered the Hudson River which made purchases of furs from the Indians. The next year other vessels were sent from

Holland, and about 1614 a few huts were built on the Island of Manhattan, and a "strong house," called Fort Nassau, was erected near the present site of Albany. A brisk trade sprang up, so that in 1621 the States-General of Holland chartered the Dutch West India Company, and gave it complete control over all the land claimed by the Dutch on this continent.

72. New Netherland..

-In March, 1623, the first settlers were sent out by the West India Company, under the command of Captain May. This party made the first real colony within the Dutch.

territory, then called New Netherland. Small settlements were made at the mouth of the Hudson, or North River, on the Delaware, or South River, and on the Connecti

cut, while most of the immigrants

went to Albany. Thus, three years
later than the Pilgrims, and seven
years before the founding of Bos-
ton, the Dutch colony took its
position between Canada and Vir-
ginia. Purchasing
Purchasing land of the
Indians, the people were soon on
good terms with them, and New
Netherland at once became a pros-
perous colony.

Peter Stuyvesant.

(From a painting in the possession of the
N. Y. Historical Society.)

Minuit

73. The Dutch Colony. Peter Minuit, the first governor, or director-general, took possession in 1626, and, with a council of five, exercised supreme authority. He purchased the Island of Manhattan from the Indians for twentyfour dollars, and built Fort Amsterdam to be the seat of government. was succeeded by Walter Van Twiller in 1633, and during his rule the valley of the Connecticut was lost to the Dutch (64). The most noted governor of New Netherland was Peter Stuyvesant, who was director-general from 1647 to 1664. Stuyvesant ruled the colony with a rod of iron, and was in continual conflict with the people. He settled the long-standing dispute with Connecticut over the boundary between the two colonies, and annexed Delaware by conquering the Swedes (81). Under his government the colony took

Peter Stuyvesant, the last and greatest of the governors of New Netherland, was born in Holland in 1602, and died in New York at the age of eighty. In May, 1647, he arrived in New Amsterdam, and was received with great rejoicing. He "v was above medium height, with a fine physique. He dressed with care, and usually wore slashed hose fastened at the knee by a knotted scarf, a velvet jacket with slashed sleeves over a full puffed shirt, and rosettes upon his shoes. Although abrupt in manner, unconventional, cold, and haughty, full of prejudice and passion, and sometimes unapproachable, he possessed large sympathies and tender affection. His clear judgment, quick perception, and extent of reading were remarkable." (Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.)

a high rank in educational matters, and a popular government

was established in 1664.

74. New York. The position of New Netherland, with English colonies on both sides, was calculated to cause trouble with England. Soon after the Restoration in 1660, Charles II. granted to his brother, the Duke of York, afterwards James II., all the land between the Connecticut and the Delaware rivers. In 1664 a fleet appeared at New Amsterdam, and Stuyvesant, unable to defend his possessions, surrendered to the English deputy-governor. A few years later the Dutch recaptured the colony, but were unable to hold it, and Dutch New Netherland became permanently English New York. In 1685 James succeeded his brother as king of England, and New York became a royal colony.

CHAPTER XI.

MARYLAND.

75. Avalon. Sir George Calvert was one of the many English gentlemen who took a deep interest in schemes of colonization. On account of the favorable reports which he received of Newfoundland, Calvert obtained a charter, granting him a portion of that island. In 1623, the year of the settlements of New Hampshire, Cape Ann, and New Amsterdam, a colony was established at Newfoundland, which received the name of Avalon. In 1628 Calvert himself, with most of his family, took up his residence in the colony. The little settlement found the climate extremely severe, and was in constant trouble with the French fisherIt was without the necessary men. conditions for a successful colony, and

"George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, one of the principal secretaries of state under James I., was born at Kipling, in Yorkshire, in 1582. He was educated at Oxford, and entered the public service as secretary to Robert Cecil. In 1617 he was knighted, and in 1619 he was made one of the principal secretaries of state. In 1625 he was made Baron Baltimore, and among other rewards he received for his services was a patent as Lord of the province of Avalon, in Newfoundland. As this colony was much exposed to the attacks of the French, he left it and obtained another patent for Maryland. He died in 1632, before the grant was confirmed, but in that year it was made out in the name of his son Cecil." (Encyclopedia Britannica.

Vol. IV.)

was abandoned. Its charter, however, served as a model for the

later patent of Maryland.

76. Lord Baltimore. Calvert, in 1623, became a Roman Catholic, and soon after was made Baron Baltimore by James I. After he found his Newfoundland colony impracticable, he petitioned Charles I. for another tract of land in a warmer climate, somewhere near the latitude of Jamestown. Meeting with opposition from the settlers of Virginia, Baltimore ap

plied for and received a grant of land north of the Potomac River. In honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, Baltimore named his colony Maryland. When the first Lord Baltimore died, his son, Cecil Calvert, inherited his father's title, and became proprietor of Maryland.

Lord Baltimore.

77. Settlements. The first settlement was made March 27th, 1634, near the mouth of the Potomac, and was called St. Mary's. The occupations of the settlers and the nature of the country did not favor the making of large towns. The people were principally engaged in farming, especially in raising tobacco, which was shipped direct from the farmers. Each planter had land lying upon the coast of the bay or the shores of the rivers, and could provide a wharf from his own land in water deep enough for the shallow vessels of those days. This was true, also, of the other southern colonies. Near the close of the seventeenth century another important town was founded, and the capital was moved from St. Mary's to Annapolis. The town of Baltimore, now the largest city in the State of Maryland, was not founded until 1729.

78. The Settlers. In the first two vessels to bring colonists to Maryland, there were "about twenty gentlemen and between two and three hundred laboring men and handycraftsmen." These settlers were not adventurers, like the early colonists in the South, nor were they religious refugees, like the "Mayflower" voyagers. The colony was established on purely business principles, and men were chosen for settlers of such character and occupation as would

be needed in such a settlement. Many of them were Roman Catholics, and at first the government granted religious toleration. Soon after the English revolution of 1688, when William and Mary came to the throne, the Church of England was made the established church of the colony, and the Roman Catholics became the victims of religious persecution (¶ 183). Maryland remained under the government of her proprietor until, with her sister colonies, she threw off all allegiance to the mother country.

CHAPTER XII.

DELAWARE AND NEW JERSEY.

DELAWARE.

79. Dutch Settlements. When the first Dutch colony arrived, under Cornelius May (72), in 1623, a small number formed a settlement upon what was then called South River. These Dutchmen ascended the river, since called the Delaware, to a point near the present Philadelphia, and there built Fort Nassau. For about eight

Gustavus Adolphus was king of Sweden for twenty-one years, from 161 to 1632. He was born in 1594, the son of Charles IX. His youth was spent in study, not only of the various languages and sciences of the day, but also of statesmanship, as he attended council meetings by the time he was ten years of age. When he came to the throne he was not only unusually gifted in literary attainments, but was a man of strong character and extraordinary courage. His entire reign was spent in wars, most of them religious, and from this he has received the title of the "Hero of Protestantism." "Gustavus Adolphus is justly regarded as one of the noblest and greatest figures in history."

years this little colony struggled for existence, until, in 1631, the Indians. massacred the settlers and the river was deserted. The Dutch continued to claim the region, and always protested against the coming of colonists of any other nationality.

80. The Swedes. To the north of Holland lies a country inhabited by people of a race closely related to the Dutch. The great king, Gustavus Adolphus, saw the advantages which his nation might receive from a Swedish colony, and therefore, in 1626, chartered the Swedish South Company, as it was commonly called. No discoveries had been made. by this nation, but the company relied upon the claim which they