This is the last of three volumes to document the administration of the Dutch-controlled colonies that were under the jurisdiction of New York's first governor, Sir Edmund Andros. The documents range from official correspondence, reports and notes, to court minutes.

The records from 1654 to 1679 are translated from the original Dutch. This is part of our New Netherland Documents Series.

This volume of New Netherland documents makes critical material available from a period of time when the Dutch played a major role in building the New World. Included are a historical introduction and annotations.

This edition of "A Description of New Netherland" provides the first complete and accurate English-language translation of an essential first-hand account of the lives and world of Dutch colonists and northeastern Native communities in the seventeenth century. Adriaen van der Donck, a graduate of Leiden University in the 1640s, became the law enforcement officer for the Dutch patroonship of Rensselaerswijck, located along the upper Hudson River. His position enabled him to interact extensively with Dutch colonists and the local Algonquians and Iroquoians. An astute observer, detailed recorder, and accessible writer, Van der Donck was ideally situated to write about his experiences and the natural and cultural worlds around him.
Van der Donck's "Beschryvinge van Nieuw-Nederlant" was first published in 1655 and then expanded in 1656. An inaccurate and abbreviated English translation appeared in 1841 and was reprinted in 1968. This new volume features an accurate, polished translation by Diederik Willem Goedhuys and includes all the material from the original 1655 and 1656 editions. The result is an indispensable first-hand account with enduring value to historians, ethnohistorians, and anthropologists.

This volume, part of the New York Historical Manuscripts series, presents the early years of the administration of New York's first governorship under Sir Edmund Andros, who, as a loyal supporter of King Charles II, was awarded succeeding governorships of most of the English North American colonies, beginning with New York.

For centuries the history of the Mohawk Valley has been shaped by the complex relationships among the valley's native inhabitants, the Mohawk Indians, and its colonists, starting with the Dutch. In Mohawk Country collects for the first time the principal documentary narratives that reveal the full scope of this Mohawk-settler interaction. Some of the sources have never before been translated into English, and several have not been previously published. Of those works that had been published, nearly all are out of print. The Mohawk location near Albany, New York put them at the center of transactions between the Iroquois and European colonists. (The Mohawk were one of the constituent nations within the League of the Iroquois.) These narratives-written by Dutch merchants, French Jesuit missionaries, English soldiers, romantic European travelers, and other literate observers-provide often biased but always fascinating accounts of the Mohawk and their valley. The reader is treated to over two centuries of history, starting with the arrival of the Dutch in the early seventeenth century to the planning of the Erie Canal in the early nineteenth century. These records bring to life the rapid changes experienced by both the Mohawk and their European neighbors. Wars, catastrophic epidemics, and the diplomacy of nearly two centuries are all well represented in this volume. Fascinating cultural differences are also unearthed: the French, for example, dealt with the Mohawk much differently than the Dutch or the English. Just as importantly, these writings reveal-from the unique perspectives of the observer-the Mohawk's struggle to retain their culture in the midst of evolving political, social, and physical environments.

Volume XII of the Dutch Colonial Manuscripts contains the correspondence of Petrus Stuyvesant, director general of New Netherland, from 1654-1658. It represents the earliest surviving correspondence, comprising incoming letters from the directors in Amsterdam and the governors of neighboring colonies.

Volume XI of the Dutch Colonial Manuscripts comprises the correspondence of Petrus Stuyvesant from 1647 to 1653. It represents the first six years of his seventeen-year tenure as director general of New Netherland, spanning the final years of the war with Spain through the first war with England.

Stuyvesant became director general of the possessions of the West India Company at a critical time in the history of the United Provinces. Major changes were taking place in European affairs. The thirty-year war in Germany and the eighty-year Dutch revolt against Spain were both to be resolved within a year. England had overthrown the monarchy and was about to embark on an experiment with republicanism, which would have grave implications for the Dutch nation.

Through this volume of Stuyvesant's letters, Charles T. Gehring shows how the young Stuyvesant -- only thirty-six years old when he became director -- handled major problems in his administration. Through recovered correspondence from West India Company directors from Amsterdam, Gehring shows how Stuyvesant managed to confront the challenges before him. His accomplishments were many but he was renowned for the stabilization of the boundary with New England; the resolution of the dispute with the patroonship of Rensselaerswijck; and the neutralization of Swedish influence in the Delaware.

This volume describes the laws and ordinances from the colony of New Netherland from 1647 to 1658 and writs of appeal from 1658 to 1663. The laws reveal the legal thinking of the Dutch on subjects such as Indians, smuggling, crime and everyday issues including wages, fencing and land allocation.