Half Moon from New York to historic Hoorn ~ Halve Maen

Join the Half Moon on her trip from New York (Hudson river) to the historic Hoorn Dutch India Company harbor. The original ship was launched in Amsterdam in 1608.

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Dutch East India Company (VOC) ~ Dutch Colonization of America In 1602, the government of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands chartered the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie), or VOC with the mission of exploring it for a passage to the Indies and claiming any uncharted areas for the United Provinces, which led to several significant expeditions which led to the creation of the province of New Netherland.

In 1609, the VOC commissioned English explorer Henry Hudson who, in an attempt to find the so-called northwest passage to the Indies, discovered and claimed for the VOC parts of the present-day United States and Canada. In the belief that it was the best route to explore, Hudson entered the Upper New York Bay sailing up the river which now bears his name. In 1614, Adriaen Block led an expedition to the lower Hudson in the Tyger, and then explored the East River aboard the Onrust, becoming the first known European to navigate the Hellegat enter Long Island Sound. Block Island and its sound were named after him. Upon returning, Block compiled a map, the first to apply the name "New Netherland" to the area between English Virginia and French Canada, where he was later granted exclusive trading rights by the Dutch government.

After some early trading expeditions, the first Dutch settlement in the Americas was founded in 1615: Fort Nassau, on Castle Island in the Hudson, near present-day Albany. The settlement served mostly as a factorij for fur trade with the natives and was later replaced by Fort Orange. In 1621, a new company was established with a trading monopoly in the Americas and West Africa: the Dutch West India Company (Westindische Compagnie or WIC). The WIC sought recognition for the area in the New World – which had been called New Netherland – as a province, which was granted in 1623. That year, another Fort Nassau was built on the Delaware River near Gloucester City, New Jersey.

In 1624, the first colonists landed at Governor's Island and Initially were dispersed to Fort Orange, Fort Wilhelmus and Kievets Hoek. In 1626, Director of the WIC Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape and started the construction of Fort Amsterdam, which grew to become the main port and capital, New Amsterdam The colony expanded to outlying areas at Pavonia, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Long Island. On the Connecticut River, Fort Huys de Goede Hoop was completed in 1633 at present day Hartford. By 1636, the English from Newtown (now Cambridge, Massachusetts) settled on the north side of the Little River. In the Treaty of Hartford, the border of New Netherland was retracted to western Connecticut and by 1653, the English had overtaken the Dutch trading post.

Expansion along the Delaware River beyond Fort Nassau did not begin until the 1650s, after the takeover of the colony of New Sweden, which had been established at Fort Christina in 1638. Settlements at Fort Nassau and the short-lived Fort Beversreede were abandoned and consolidated at Fort Casimir in 1655. Fort Christina, at today's Wilmington, was renamed Fort Altena.
In 1664, the English naval expedition ordered by the Prince James, Duke of York and of Albany (later King James II & VII) sailed in the harbor at New Amsterdam, threatening to attack. Being greatly outnumbered, Director-General Peter Stuyvesant surrendered after negotiating favorable articles of capitulation. The province was renamed New York (from James's English title). Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany (from James's Scottish title). The region between the lower Hudson and the Delaware was deeded to proprietors and called New Jersey.

The loss of New Netherland led to the Second Anglo–Dutch War during 1665–1667. This conflict ended with the Treaty of Breda in which the Dutch gave up their claim to New Netherland in exchange for Suriname. From 1673 to 1674, the territories were once again briefly captured by the Dutch in the Third Anglo–Dutch War, only to be returned to England at the Treaty of Westminster. In 1674, Dutch navy captain Jurriaen Aernoutsz also briefly captured two forts in the French colony of Acadia, which he claimed as the Dutch territory of New Holland. However, Aernoutsz's appointed administrator, John Rhoades, quickly lost control of the territory after Aernoutsz himself left for Curaçao to seek out new settlers, and with effective control of Acadia remaining in the hands of France, Dutch sovereignty existed only on paper until the Netherlands surrendered their claim in the Treaties of Nijmegen.
iPhone recorded. Hudson river footage found on YouTube.