Description of the New Netherlands was written in 1653 by Adriaen
van der Donck, just two years before his death. After living for
years in a Dutch Settlement near what today is Albany, New York,
van der Donck wrote the description of the land, peoples,
vegetation, animals, and beauty of his new home. Included in his
description are observations on animals such as the beaver, and on
the customs and languages of the Native Americans in the area,
particularly the Mohawk and Mahican tribes. Van der Donck's
authority on Native Americans was unprecedented at the time, and
his descriptions of their lifestyle is one of the most detailed
accounts of Indian laws and customs from the 17th century. Adriaen
van der Donck (1618-1655) was born in Breda in the Netherlands, but
became a settler in "the New World" in 1641. He graduated as a law
student from the University of Leiden, and was the first lawyer to
settle in New Netherlands. While there, he became a landowner and
adept scholar in the ways of the local Native Americans,
befriending them, eating with them, and learning their languages.
He helped to negotiate deals between colonies and the natives, but
a disagreement with governor Peter Stuyvesant in 1949 concerning
settler's rights sent him back to the Netherlands with a petition
to encourage economic freedom. Van der Donck returned to the colony
before his death in 1655, where his nickname "Jonkheer" inspired
the name for Yonkers, New York.
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