Bergen, New Netherland
Encyclopedia
Bergen was a part of the 17th century province of New Netherland
, in the area in northeastern New Jersey
along the Hudson
and Hackensack
Rivers that would become contemporary Hudson
and Bergen
Counties. Though it only officially existed as an independent municipality from 1661, with the founding of a village at Bergen Square
, Bergen began as a factorij at Communipaw
circa 1615 and was first settled in 1630 as Pavonia
. These early settlements were along the banks of the North River (Hudson River) across from New Amsterdam
, under whose jurisdiction they fell.
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Explored to The Narrows
by Giovanni da Verrazzano, sailing on French expedition in 1524, the area was visited by Spanish and English seafarers during the next century. It was again visited in 1609 by the Englishman Henry Hudson
, who had been commissioned by the Dutch East India Company
to find a navigable passage to Asia. During this journey his ship, the Halve Maen (Half Moon), laid anchor at Sandy Hook
, Harsimus Cove
, and Weehawken Cove, and other places along the river which now bears is name. At the time of his exploration the shoreline was considerably different from today, consisting of huge tidal marsh
es and oyster beds
Several other expeditions to the coast of North America were made between 1610 and 1614; surveys and charts from them were incorporated in a map made by Adriaen Block
which named New Netherland for the first time.
At the time the existing population were bands of seasonally migrational Algonquian
people, the Lenape
. The area that would become Bergen was the territory of Unami
, or Turtle Clan, called the Hackensack Indians and the Tappan
. While the Hackensack tended to camp on the tidal lands (Upper New York Bay
and Meadowlands
), the Tappan
moved in the highlands (North Hudson
to Palisades Interstate Park). Other closely related peoples circulated in the region: the Acquackanonk, the Manhattan
, the Raritan, the Haverstraw, the Rockaway
, and the Wecquaesgeek
. Some were later called Delaware Indians (after Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
). Their larger communities were palisaded villages where they practiced companion planting
(of the three sisters
) to supplement foraging
, hunting
, and fishing
. Shellfish
ing in the vast oyster
beds spread throughout the entire estuary
was essential to their diet. The trapping of beaver and rodents for pelts played a crucial role in their interaction with the Swannukens or Salt Water People, who procured the land from them through "purchases" that were misconstrued by both parties. A basic misconception was that while Europeans thought they were buying land in perpetuity, the Lenape believed they were entering into defense alliances with farming, hunting, and fishing rights. The Tappan and Hackensack had early and frequent contact with the settlers, and their sagamore
, Oratam
, negotiated many agreements and treaties with them.
In 1621, the Dutch West India Company
(WIC) was founded to exploit trade in the Western Hemisphere
, and by 1625 had established a colony at New Amsterdam
(Lower Manhattan
). In the hope of encouraging settlement the company, in 1629, started to offer vast land grants and the feudal title of patroon
. In 1630, Michael Pauw
, a burgermeester
of Amsterdam
and a director of the company, purchased two tracts from the native population at Hopoghan Hackingh (Castle Point) and at Ashasimus (Harsimus
), though the patroonship likely included the entire peninsula
between the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, and possibly his holdings on Staten Eylandt (Staten Island
). It was given the Latin
ized form of his surname (which means "peacock"), Pavonia
. It is said it was sold to him by the Manhattans after they had retreated there after the sale of their home island to Peter Minuit
some years before. Initially, a small hut and ferry landing were built at Arresick, called Powles Hoek (Paulus Hook), but Pauw failed to fulfill the other conditions set forth by the company (which included populating the area with at least fifty adults), and was later required to sell his interests back to it. In 1633, the WIC commissioned a house to be built for an appointed superintendent, Jan Everts Bout
(aka Jan de Lacher), at Communipaw
. Another homestead was built at Ahasimus by his replacement, Hendrick Van Vorst
, in 1634. Abraham Isaac Planck (aka Verplank) received a land patent for Paulus Hook on May 1, 1638. In 1640, David Pietersen de Vries
bought from the Tappan
a tract of about 500 acres (2 km²) and established Vriessendael (Edgewater
), about an hour's walk north of Communipaw. In 1643, Hoebuk (Hoboken
), was leased by Aert Van Putten, where he built North America's first brewery. These homesteads grew into small, mostly agricultural, communities as the land around them was sold or leased and "bouweries
" (home farms) and "plantages" (outlying fields) were developed. Trade between the indigenous and settling populations consisted mostly of wampum
, European manufactured goods, and beaver pelts. Though the settlements were small, they were strategic trading posts with a good harbor and foot-hold on the west bank of what had been named the Noort Rivier (Hudson River).
Placenaming in 17th century Europe was frequently influenced by location in reference to other places, shape, age, topography, or geographic features. Such was the case with Achter Col
(Meadowlands
/Newark Bay
). "Achter", meaning behind, and "kol", meaning ridge or pass, can be translated as the "behind the ridge", in this case Bergen Neck
. The appeal of Achter Col would have been great:
Close to Fort Amsterdam
, the tidal flats were similar to those of Lowlands
, while the riparian lands surrounding them were abundant with beavers, whose pelts represented the potential for great profit. The river valleys to the north would allow accces to the interior. The term Achter Col was used by the New Netherlanders, and later the English colonials, to describe the entire region around Newark Bay and the waters that flow in and out of it. It name eventually evolved to Arthur Kill
, given to the channel that separates Staten Island from the mainland. The Kill van Kull
is the channel from the ridge or mountain pass behind it.
In 1642, Myndert Myndertsen, who bore the title Heer van Nederhorst, received a large land grant (including much of contemporary Bergen and Passaic Counties), where he wished to establish a colony called Achter Col
(Bogota
) The site chosen was "five or six hundred paces" from the Hackensack village on Tantaqua (Overpeck Creek
). An absentee landlord, he contracted the construction of a "boerderij" (house with attached barn). The crew hired to build it soon engaged the Hackensack, who they had supplied with alcohol, in a fatal confrontation. That incident, and another on Staten Island involving the theft of pigs, led to rising tensions between the natives and settlers.
was appointed Director of New Netherland
by the Dutch West India Company
in 1639, with one of his orders to increase profits from pelts for the fur trade
at Achter Kol and its port at Pavonia. Kieft attempted to levy a tax on the Tappan but was ignored. The payment of tribute was common among the tribes, and the British had forced upon it the Pequots. In February of 1643, the Mahicans attacked Wappinger
encampments in order to collect overdue payment. At first they fled to New Amsterdam
, but after 14 days, fearing their for their safety they scattered themselves among the Hackensack and Tappan at Communipaw
and to Corlears Hook
. Kieft ordered they be attacked on February 25, 1643. The initial strike was a slaughter: 129 Dutch soldiers killed approximately 120 people (including women and children): eighty at Pavonia and thirty at Corlear's Hook (Lower East Side
). Overcoming their other rivalries in face of a common enemy, the indigenous populations united and retaliated in October of the same year, attacking the plantations at Pavonia, with survivors fleeing to the fort at the tip of Manhattan. The brewery at Hoebuk survived, its roof not being made of thatch De Vries, with interest in and better contact with the local population, was able to negotiate temporarily holding off attacks at his farm and the Achter Kol Colony, from which settlers were evacuated. In August 1643, Oratam (representing his people and other groups), agreed to a truce with the New Netherlander
s. Unfortunately the peace did not hold and for the next two years the whole of the province was at war. It was not until August 30, 1645 that a treaty to cease hostilities was finally concluded.
Pieter Stuyvesant was selected to replace Kieft, as Director-General of New Netherland
, and arrived on May 11, 1647. Further colonization of the area slowly proceeded. In 1646 a land patent at Konstapel's Hoeck (Constable Hook) was granted to New Amsterdam's chief constable, Jacob Jacobsen Roy, who declined to settle it, and 1647, Maryn Andriansen (who had led the attack at Corlear's Hook) received land patent (of 169 acres) at Awiehaken (Weehawken
). It was incidents farther afield that led to the area being more serious settled. In 1654, the Netherlanders lost the colony in northern Brazil known as New Holland to the Portugues.
Many of its residents emigrated to New Netherland. It was in that year, a series of land patents were made at Communipaw and Harsimus extending to Achter Col, as well farther south along the bay at Minkakwa and Pamrapo.
In 1655, though, the settlers again came in fatal conflict with the native population in The Peach Tree War
. According to popular belief, it started when a young Indian girl was shot by a Dutchman as she attempted to pluck fruit from a peach tree in an orchard on Manhattan. Her murder elicited calls for revenge from the native population, who did a house-to-search of New Amsterdam. At the time, Stuyvesant and his troops were on an expedition to the Zuydt Rivier (Delaware Bay
), where they had forced the colony of New Sweden
to submit to rule by his government. Five hundred Indians attacked Pavonia, killing 100 settlers. One hundred fifty hostages were taken and held at Paulus Hook. When later ransomed they returned to New Amsterdam, and once again the settlements on the west shore of the Noort Rivier were evacuated.
Responding to lobbying by those who wished to return to their land west of the North River and to re-establish their claim there, Stuyvesant, on January 10, 1658 "re-purchased" most of the land that would become
Bergen Township. The conveyance (as translated from the Dutch) read:
Therinques, Wappapen, Saghkow, Kagkennip, Bomokan, Memewockan, Sames, Wewenatokee, to the Director General and Council of New Netherland for land on the Westside of the North River from the great Clip above Wiehacken to above the Island Sikakes, thence to the Kill van Col, so along to Constable's Hoeck, thence again to the Clip above Wiceacken.
This purchase paved the way for the founding of the village at Bergen (Bergen Square
). Permission was granted by Stuyvesant to the establish a village; the town was officially settled in 1660. There are various opinions as to the origin of the name given by the European settlers. Some say that it so called for any of number of towns in the Netherlands or the city in Norway Others believe it comes from the word bergen, which in the Germanic languages of northern Europe means hills, and could describe a most distinct geological feature of the region, The Palisades
. Yet another interpretation is that it comes from the Dutch word bergen, meaning to save or to recover, prompted by the settlers' return after they had fled attacks by the native population.
Concerted efforts were made to ensure the success of the new settlement, situated atop the hill west of Communipaw, which was made "distinct and separate" village. It was laid out following a design by Jacques Cortelyou
, Surveyor General of New Amsterdam: 800 feet (243.8 m) on each side, to be surrounded by wooden palisade.
In September 1661, a court of justice was granted to Bergen, partially removing it from the jurisdiction of New Amsterdam
, under which it had previously fallen. This act established the oldest autonomous municipality in New Jersey
. Bergen is also home to the longest continuously used school site and Christian congregation in the state . Within its jurisdiction fell the communities at Pavonia, Communipaw, Hoebuck, and Achter Col. In December of the same year, a charter for ferry between Bergen (at Communipaw) and Manhattan
was granted. In February 1663, an ordinance regarding a common well was effected. The settlers were sluggish building a palisade to protect the village and in November 1663 an ordinance was passed to see it completed. so that farmers and fishermen could retreat if threatened by attack.
Though not attacked, Bergen was threatened. On August 27, 1664, four English frigates entered the Upper New York Bay
, demanding surrender of the fort at New Amsterdam, and by extension, all of New Netherland. After some days, Stuyvesant acquiesced, unable to rouse the population to a military defense. The indifferent response from the West India Company
to previous requests for protection against “the deplorable and tragic massacres” by the natives had gone unheeded. Hence a lack of weapons, gunpowder, reinforcements and ships made New Amsterdam defenseless. Stuyvesant made the best of a bad situation and successfully negotiated good terms from his “too powerful enemies." In the Articles of Capitulation, Stuyvesant and his council secured the principle of tolerance in Article VIII, which assured New Netherlanders that they “shall keep and enjoy the liberty of their consciences" in religion under English rule. The capture of the city was one out of a series of attacks on Dutch colonies that resulted in the Second Anglo-Dutch War
between England and the Dutch Republic
. The village, which had begun construction of a block house
at the town gates, was required to garrison English soldiers.
New Netherland was quickly divvied up, the lands west of the newly named city of New York becoming part of proprietary colony
of East Jersey
, Staten Island
's status would be determined 10 years later. By-passing Bergen, the English chose as its capital a site close to Arthur Kill
, naming it Elizabethtown
, after the wife of its proprietor, Sir George Carteret
. On October 28, 1664, the Elizabethtown Tract
, taking in lands southwest of Achter Col was purchased from three Raritan. An assembly was held in 1668, attended by representatives of Bergen. Soon after the Concession and Agreement
was issued providing religious freedom and recognition of private property in the colony. For those living at Bergen and surrounding areas life was not much changed under English rule, though they were required to pledge loyalty to the new government. English speaking settlers, mostly from New England
and Long Island
came to the province, concentrating on the Elizabethtown Tract
and Newark Tract, and to the north at the English Neighborhood
. The wide waterways that separated them geographically mirrored the cultural divide and allowed the New Netherlanders to retain their language, religion, traditions, and local political power. During negotiations for The Treaty of Breda, English commissioners offers to return New Netherland
in exchange for sugar factories on the coast of Suriname
were refused. Upon its signing on July 31, 1667, English possession and rule were formalized. In 1668, they granted a charter for the "Towne and Corporation of Bergen". The English also recorded many land purchases and transfers to both Dutch and English-speaking settlers, including those at Minkaque and Ramapo (Bayonne
). During this period they also confirmed previous patents and deeds. In 1665, for a land owned by Nicolas Verlet at Hobuk (Hoboken
) and in 1669, for large tract of (2260 acres) at Achinigeu-hach (or "Ackingsah-sack") (Hackensack River
/Overpeck Creek
) given earlier to Sarah Kiersted in gratitude for her work as emissary and interpreter by Oratam
.
The treaty proved to be ineffective, fighting continued (as the Third Anglo-Dutch War
), and in August 1673 the Dutch "recaptured" New Netherland. In November of that year an assembly was held at Elzabethtown enacting "Laws and Ordinances" for towns Achter Col. On December 18, 1673 "Freedoms and Exemptions" were granted to towns in Achter Col
News that New Amsterdam
had been "re-taken" did not arrive in Holland until January 1674, at which point negotiations for The Treaty of Westminster
were well advanced. Its ratification by the States-General of the Netherlands
on March 5, 1674 ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War
, and control of New Netherland, including Bergen, was conclusively relinquished to the English.
On March 7, 1683, East Jersey was divided into four counties: Essex
, Middlesex
, Monmouth
and Bergen
, which kept the name given by the New Netherlander
s. Bergen ran from Bergen Point
(Bayonne
) between the North and Hackensack Rivers to ambiguous New York-New Jersey state line (see seal of Bergen County), its administrative seat at the Towne of Bergen. Ten years later, in October 1693, the counties were re-aligned and Bergen grew to include more territories west of the Hackensack, though not the Lenape/Netherlander trading post that would grow into the city of the same name.
In 1702, East Jersey
and West Jersey
were united as a royal, rather than proprietary colony. New Jersey and New York shared one governor, the first being Lord Cornbury
. It was not until 1738, when New Jersey petitioned the crown for a distinct administration from New York, that it was granted its own governor.
In 1710, Bergen County, by royal decree of Queen Anne of Great Britain
was enlarged to include what had been a part of Essex County. The village of Hackensack
(in the newly formed New Barbados Township) was seen as being more easily reached by the majority of the Bergen's inhabitants, and hence was chosen as the county seat
.
The Town of Bergen was given a Royal Charter
on January 4, 1714.
Bergen County was split into three parts when, by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature
on February 21, 1798, 104 newly formed townships were created throughout the state.
As originally constituted, Bergen Township began at Bergen Point and included the area between Hudson's River
to the east and the Hackensack River
to the west, north to the present-day Hudson-Bergen line. Why this particular point was chosen is not clear, as there is no clear geological or topographical feature indicating a natural separation. It may have been the place where the Lenape sub groups-the Hackensack and the Tappan-saw the extent of their territories. It may have also been the border between the patroonships of Pavonia and Vriessendael, and corresponds to Stuyvesant's re-purchase. As described in the charter for "Towne of Bergen" in 1668, the northern border of the town was determined by landmarks that no longer exist.
Hackensack Township
included those lands east of the river of the same name, north of the contemporary Hudson-Bergen line, and the area became known as the English Neighborhood
. The present-day City of Hackensack
, was part of New Barbadoes Township
, which ran northward from Newark Bay
, including New Barbadoes Neck
between the Hackensack and Passaic
rivers and portions of contemporary Passaic County.
In September 1840, Hudson County was created by separation from Bergen County
and annexation of New Barbadoes Neck
. The place chosen for the county line atop the Palisades was the original northern border
for Bergen Township. On April 10, 1843, by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature
, Bergen Township
was split in two, leading to the incorporation of Township of North Bergen
. Bergenline Avenue, running from the Jersey City border to Nungessers
at Fairview through the North Hudson
communities, likely takes its name from this division.
, in the immediate vicinity of which are Old Bergen Church
and cemeteries founded by the first settlers and their descendents. A statue of Peter Stuyvesant, commemorating the 250th anniversary of its founding, sits on the grounds of the longest continuously used school site in New Jersey, which had also been established by them. The square, with a geometry typical of small towns in the Lowlands
, was the first in North America that would become known as a "Philadelphia" square.
There are many buildings throughout the region built in the Bergen Dutch and Dutch Colonial
styles, including numerous farm houses and Dutch Reformed Churches. The still-intact Sip Manor, originally built at the village of Bergen, was moved in 1920s to Westfield, NJ. The oldest standing building in Hudson is the 1690 Newkirk House on Summit Avenue. Another colonial home
(c 1742) was built by one of the region's first families, the Van Vorsts
, on land that had been part of Pavonia (now Jersey City Heights). The Steuben House
(1752) is a noted example of Bergen Dutch sandstone architecture, located at New Bridge Landing
, a historic site dedicated to the preservation of colonial architecture & history.
While they did intermarry with new immigrants, the New Netherlanders retained much of their language, religion, and tradition. When writing in the early 19th century, Washington Irving
often referred (comically) to the west bank of the Hudson, particularly Communipaw, as being the stronghold of Dutch culture. Jersey Dutch
was a variant of the Dutch language
spoken in and around Bergen
and Passaic
counties until the early 20th century.
The region abounds in place names often taken from Dutch surnames or geographical references, with Paulus Hook a combination of both. Lenape phrases, transformed through Dutch and English are still in use, such as Hoboken, Hackensack, Paramus, Secaucus, and Wyckoff
. Kill Van Kull
retains its purely Dutch name.
The name Bergen is widely used, not only for the county itself but also in Bergen Point, Bergen Hill
, Bergen Arches
, Bergenline Avenue, Bergenfield, among many others. The patroonship of Pavonia lends its name to an avenue and PATH station in Jersey City, while the mascot of Saint Peter's College is a peacock.
The concept of religious freedom (as well as the recognition of private property) is often considered to be the most enduring legacies of New Netherland. Both the Articles of Transfer (outlining the terms of surrender to the English), and the Concession and Agreement
. provided for the right to worship as one wished, and were incorporated into subsequent city, state, and national
constitutions in the USA. Many words, including the most American Yankee, and the tradition of Santa Claus
come from the settlers of New Netherland.
Like The Netherlands, Northeastern New Jersey is considered to be "diverse" and "tolerant", a place where many people from different ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds interact on a daily basis while still maintaining their distinct identities. The concept of "home rule" allows citizens and residents to have direct influence on their immediate neighborhoods, and at the same time participate in a society which supersedes civic boundaries.
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
, in the area in northeastern New Jersey
Gateway Region
The Gateway Region is located in the northeastern part of State of New Jersey in the United States of America. The area encompasses Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Union and Middlesex counties...
along the Hudson
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
and Hackensack
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River,...
Rivers that would become contemporary Hudson
Hudson County, New Jersey
Hudson County is the smallest county in New Jersey and one of the most densely populated in United States. It takes its name from the Hudson River, which creates part of its eastern border. Part of the New York metropolitan area, its county seat and largest city is Jersey City.- Municipalities...
and Bergen
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
Counties. Though it only officially existed as an independent municipality from 1661, with the founding of a village at Bergen Square
Bergen Square
Bergen Square, at the intersection of Bergen Avenue and Academy Street in Jersey City, is in the southwestern part of the much larger Journal Square district...
, Bergen began as a factorij at Communipaw
Communipaw
Communipaw is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and site of one the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near LSP Station through the neighborhoods of...
circa 1615 and was first settled in 1630 as Pavonia
Pavonia, New Netherland
Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River that was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland in what would become today's Hudson County, New Jersey.-Hudson and the Hackensack:...
. These early settlements were along the banks of the North River (Hudson River) across from New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
, under whose jurisdiction they fell.
Halve Maen
The Narrows
The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson River empties into the Atlantic Ocean...
by Giovanni da Verrazzano, sailing on French expedition in 1524, the area was visited by Spanish and English seafarers during the next century. It was again visited in 1609 by the Englishman Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
, who had been commissioned by the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
to find a navigable passage to Asia. During this journey his ship, the Halve Maen (Half Moon), laid anchor at Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook is a barrier spit along the Atlantic coast of New JerseySandy Hook may also refer to:-Places:United States* Sandy Hook , a village in the town of Newtown, Connecticut* Sandy Hook, Kentucky, a city in Elliott County...
, Harsimus Cove
Harsimus
Harsimus is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment in the north to Christopher Columbus Drive in the south between Coles Street and Grove Street or more broadly, to Marin Boulevard...
, and Weehawken Cove, and other places along the river which now bears is name. At the time of his exploration the shoreline was considerably different from today, consisting of huge tidal marsh
Tidal marsh
A tidal marsh is a type of marsh that is found along coasts and estuaries of which the flooding characteristics are determined by the tidal movement of the adjacent estuary, sea or ocean . According to the salinity of the flooding water, freshwater, brackish and saline tidal marshes are...
es and oyster beds
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
Several other expeditions to the coast of North America were made between 1610 and 1614; surveys and charts from them were incorporated in a map made by Adriaen Block
Adriaen Block
Adriaen Block was a Dutch private trader and navigator who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four voyages from 1611 to 1614, following the 1609 expedition by Henry Hudson...
which named New Netherland for the first time.
Lenape
At the time the existing population were bands of seasonally migrational Algonquian
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
people, the Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
. The area that would become Bergen was the territory of Unami
Unami
Unami may refer to:*the Lenape language, or its sublanguage the Unami language*Unami Creek*the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq *the Unami Lodge...
, or Turtle Clan, called the Hackensack Indians and the Tappan
Tappan (Native Americans)
The Tappan were a Lenape people who inhabited the region radiating from Hudson Palisades and New York – New Jersey Highlands in at the time of European colonialization in the 17th century....
. While the Hackensack tended to camp on the tidal lands (Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...
and Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey in the United States. The Meadowlands are known for being the site of large landfills and decades of...
), the Tappan
Tappan
Tappan appliances was founded by W.J. Tappan as the Ohio Valley Foundry Company in Bellaire, Ohio in 1881 selling cast-iron stoves door-to-door. The company relocated to Mansfield, Ohio in 1889 and was renamed the Eclipse Stove Company before being renamed the Tappan Stove Company.Tappan claims...
moved in the highlands (North Hudson
North Hudson
North Hudson is the name of the following places in the United States of America:*North Hudson, New Jersey*North Hudson, New York*North Hudson, Wisconsin...
to Palisades Interstate Park). Other closely related peoples circulated in the region: the Acquackanonk, the Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, the Raritan, the Haverstraw, the Rockaway
Rockaway, Queens
The Rockaway Peninsula, informally The Rockaways, is the name of a peninsula of Long Island, all of which is located within the New York City borough of Queens. A popular summer resort area since the 1830s, Rockaway has become a mixture of lower, middle, and upper-class neighborhoods...
, and the Wecquaesgeek
Wappani
The Wappinger were a confederacy of Native Americans whose territory in the 17th century spread along the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Primarily based in what is now Dutchess County, New York, their territory bordered Manhattan Island to the south, the Mahican territory bounded by the...
. Some were later called Delaware Indians (after Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
Thomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr was the Englishman after whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, an American Indian people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named....
). Their larger communities were palisaded villages where they practiced companion planting
Companion planting
Companion planting is the planting of different crops in proximity , on the theory that they assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and other factors necessary to increasing crop productivity...
(of the three sisters
Three Sisters (agriculture)
The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of various Native American groups in North America: squash, maize, and climbing beans ....
) to supplement foraging
Foraging
- Definitions and significance of foraging behavior :Foraging is the act of searching for and exploiting food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce...
, hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
, and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
. Shellfish
Shellfish
Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...
ing in the vast oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
beds spread throughout the entire estuary
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
was essential to their diet. The trapping of beaver and rodents for pelts played a crucial role in their interaction with the Swannukens or Salt Water People, who procured the land from them through "purchases" that were misconstrued by both parties. A basic misconception was that while Europeans thought they were buying land in perpetuity, the Lenape believed they were entering into defense alliances with farming, hunting, and fishing rights. The Tappan and Hackensack had early and frequent contact with the settlers, and their sagamore
Sagamore
Sagamore may refer to:* Sagamore , denoting the head of some Native American tribes* Sagamore, exclusive honor society at Washburn University* Josiah Sagamore, the name by which the Native American leader Wampatuck Sagamore may refer to:* Sagamore (title), denoting the head of some Native American...
, Oratam
Oratam
Oratam was sagamore, or sachem, of the Hackensack Indians living in northeastern New Jersey during the period of early European colonization in the 17th century...
, negotiated many agreements and treaties with them.
Pavonia
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
(WIC) was founded to exploit trade in the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
, and by 1625 had established a colony at New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
(Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
). In the hope of encouraging settlement the company, in 1629, started to offer vast land grants and the feudal title of patroon
Patroon
In the United States, a patroon was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland in North America...
. In 1630, Michael Pauw
Michael Reyniersz Pauw
Knight Michiel Reiniersz Pauw was a burgermeester of Amsterdam and a director of the Dutch West India Company...
, a burgermeester
Burgomaster
Burgomaster is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or chairman of the executive council of a sub-national level of administration...
of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and a director of the company, purchased two tracts from the native population at Hopoghan Hackingh (Castle Point) and at Ashasimus (Harsimus
Harsimus
Harsimus is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment in the north to Christopher Columbus Drive in the south between Coles Street and Grove Street or more broadly, to Marin Boulevard...
), though the patroonship likely included the entire peninsula
Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck is a name for the peninsula between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay in the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Bayonne and Jersey City...
between the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, and possibly his holdings on Staten Eylandt (Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
). It was given the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
ized form of his surname (which means "peacock"), Pavonia
Pavonia
Pavonia may refer to:biota:*Pavonia , a moth genus*Pavonia pavonia, "emperor moth", a moth species*Pavonia , a plant genus in the family Malvaceaeplaces:...
. It is said it was sold to him by the Manhattans after they had retreated there after the sale of their home island to Peter Minuit
Peter Minuit
Peter Minuit, Pieter Minuit, Pierre Minuit or Peter Minnewit was a Walloon from Wesel, in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, then part of the Duchy of Cleves. He was the Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1633, and he founded the Swedish colony of...
some years before. Initially, a small hut and ferry landing were built at Arresick, called Powles Hoek (Paulus Hook), but Pauw failed to fulfill the other conditions set forth by the company (which included populating the area with at least fifty adults), and was later required to sell his interests back to it. In 1633, the WIC commissioned a house to be built for an appointed superintendent, Jan Everts Bout
Jan Everts Bout
Jan Evertsz Bout , was an early and prominent Dutch settler in the 17th century colonial province of New Netherland....
(aka Jan de Lacher), at Communipaw
Communipaw
Communipaw is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and site of one the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near LSP Station through the neighborhoods of...
. Another homestead was built at Ahasimus by his replacement, Hendrick Van Vorst
Van Vorst Park
Van Vorst Park is neighborhood in Historic Downtown in Jersey City, centered around a park sharing the same name. The neighborhood is located west of Paulus Hook and Marin Boulevard, north of Grand Street, east of the Turnpike Extension, and south of The Village and Christopher Columbus Drive...
, in 1634. Abraham Isaac Planck (aka Verplank) received a land patent for Paulus Hook on May 1, 1638. In 1640, David Pietersen de Vries
David Pietersen de Vries
Captain David Pieterszoon de Vries was a Dutch navigator from Hoorn, Holland.In 1617 de Vries went on a whaling voyage to Jan Mayen. In 1620 he sailed to Newfoundland and sold the dried fish in Italy. In Toulon he joined Charles, Duke of Guise. In 1624 he went to Canada again, still in French...
bought from the Tappan
Lake Tappan
Lake Tappan is a reservoir that was formed by the Tappan Dam placed on the Hackensack River in 1967. It straddles the border between River Vale and Old Tappan, New Jersey...
a tract of about 500 acres (2 km²) and established Vriessendael (Edgewater
Edgewater, New Jersey
Edgewater is a borough located along the Hudson River in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 census, the borough had a population of 11,513...
), about an hour's walk north of Communipaw. In 1643, Hoebuk (Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
), was leased by Aert Van Putten, where he built North America's first brewery. These homesteads grew into small, mostly agricultural, communities as the land around them was sold or leased and "bouweries
Bowery
Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...
" (home farms) and "plantages" (outlying fields) were developed. Trade between the indigenous and settling populations consisted mostly of wampum
Wampum
Wampum are traditional, sacred shell beads of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of the indigenous people of North America. Wampum include the white shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell; and the white and purple beads made from the quahog, or Western North Atlantic...
, European manufactured goods, and beaver pelts. Though the settlements were small, they were strategic trading posts with a good harbor and foot-hold on the west bank of what had been named the Noort Rivier (Hudson River).
Achter Col
Achter Col, New Netherland
Achter Kol was the name given to the region around the Newark Bay and Hackensack River in northeastern New Jersey by the first European settlers to it and was part of the seventeenth century province of New Netherland, originally administered by the Dutch West India Company...
(Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey in the United States. The Meadowlands are known for being the site of large landfills and decades of...
/Newark Bay
Newark Bay
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, 3rd largest and one of busiest in the United States...
). "Achter", meaning behind, and "kol", meaning ridge or pass, can be translated as the "behind the ridge", in this case Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck is a name for the peninsula between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay in the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Bayonne and Jersey City...
. The appeal of Achter Col would have been great:
Close to Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam
For the historic fort on the island of Saint Martin, see Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan that was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then British rule of New York from...
, the tidal flats were similar to those of Lowlands
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, while the riparian lands surrounding them were abundant with beavers, whose pelts represented the potential for great profit. The river valleys to the north would allow accces to the interior. The term Achter Col was used by the New Netherlanders, and later the English colonials, to describe the entire region around Newark Bay and the waters that flow in and out of it. It name eventually evolved to Arthur Kill
Arthur Kill
The Arthur Kill is a tidal strait separating Staten Island, New York from mainland New Jersey, USA, and a major navigational channel of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Kill is from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel"...
, given to the channel that separates Staten Island from the mainland. The Kill van Kull
Kill Van Kull
The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. Approximately long and wide, it connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the eastern end of the Kill, Bergen Point its western end...
is the channel from the ridge or mountain pass behind it.
In 1642, Myndert Myndertsen, who bore the title Heer van Nederhorst, received a large land grant (including much of contemporary Bergen and Passaic Counties), where he wished to establish a colony called Achter Col
Achter Col, New Netherland
Achter Kol was the name given to the region around the Newark Bay and Hackensack River in northeastern New Jersey by the first European settlers to it and was part of the seventeenth century province of New Netherland, originally administered by the Dutch West India Company...
(Bogota
Bogota, New Jersey
As of the 2010 Census, Bogota had a population of 8,187. The median age was 38.6. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 61.0% White, 9.4% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 9.8% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, 14.8% some other race and 4.1% reporting...
) The site chosen was "five or six hundred paces" from the Hackensack village on Tantaqua (Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately 8 miles long, in Bergen County in northern New Jersey in the United States. The upper creek flows through suburban communities west of New York City...
). An absentee landlord, he contracted the construction of a "boerderij" (house with attached barn). The crew hired to build it soon engaged the Hackensack, who they had supplied with alcohol, in a fatal confrontation. That incident, and another on Staten Island involving the theft of pigs, led to rising tensions between the natives and settlers.
Kieft's War
Willem KieftWillem Kieft
Willem Kieft was a Dutch merchant and director-general of New Netherland , from 1638 until 1647. He formed the council of twelve men, the first representative body in New Netherland, but ignored its advice...
was appointed Director of New Netherland
Director-General of New Netherland
This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland in North America...
by the Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
in 1639, with one of his orders to increase profits from pelts for the fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
at Achter Kol and its port at Pavonia. Kieft attempted to levy a tax on the Tappan but was ignored. The payment of tribute was common among the tribes, and the British had forced upon it the Pequots. In February of 1643, the Mahicans attacked Wappinger
Wappinger
The Wappinger were an American tribe native to eastern New York. The term "Wappinger" may also refer to:* Wappinger, New York, the Town of Wappinger named for the tribe...
encampments in order to collect overdue payment. At first they fled to New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
, but after 14 days, fearing their for their safety they scattered themselves among the Hackensack and Tappan at Communipaw
Communipaw
Communipaw is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and site of one the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near LSP Station through the neighborhoods of...
and to Corlears Hook
Cherry Street (Manhattan)
Cherry Street, is a one-way street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It currently has two sections, mostly running along parks, public housing, co-op buildings, tenements, and crossing underneath the Manhattan Bridge overpass....
. Kieft ordered they be attacked on February 25, 1643. The initial strike was a slaughter: 129 Dutch soldiers killed approximately 120 people (including women and children): eighty at Pavonia and thirty at Corlear's Hook (Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
). Overcoming their other rivalries in face of a common enemy, the indigenous populations united and retaliated in October of the same year, attacking the plantations at Pavonia, with survivors fleeing to the fort at the tip of Manhattan. The brewery at Hoebuk survived, its roof not being made of thatch De Vries, with interest in and better contact with the local population, was able to negotiate temporarily holding off attacks at his farm and the Achter Kol Colony, from which settlers were evacuated. In August 1643, Oratam (representing his people and other groups), agreed to a truce with the New Netherlander
New Netherlander
New Netherlanders were residents of New Netherland, the seventeenth century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America, centered around the Hudson River and New York Bay, and at the end of the colony in the Delaware Valley.The...
s. Unfortunately the peace did not hold and for the next two years the whole of the province was at war. It was not until August 30, 1645 that a treaty to cease hostilities was finally concluded.
Peter Stuyvesant
Director-General of New Netherland
This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland in North America...
, and arrived on May 11, 1647. Further colonization of the area slowly proceeded. In 1646 a land patent at Konstapel's Hoeck (Constable Hook) was granted to New Amsterdam's chief constable, Jacob Jacobsen Roy, who declined to settle it, and 1647, Maryn Andriansen (who had led the attack at Corlear's Hook) received land patent (of 169 acres) at Awiehaken (Weehawken
Weehawken, New Jersey
Weehawken is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 12,554.-Geography:Weehawken is part of the New York metropolitan area...
). It was incidents farther afield that led to the area being more serious settled. In 1654, the Netherlanders lost the colony in northern Brazil known as New Holland to the Portugues.
Many of its residents emigrated to New Netherland. It was in that year, a series of land patents were made at Communipaw and Harsimus extending to Achter Col, as well farther south along the bay at Minkakwa and Pamrapo.
In 1655, though, the settlers again came in fatal conflict with the native population in The Peach Tree War
Peach Tree War
The Peach Tree War, also known as the "Peach War," is the name given to a large scale attack on the New Netherland colony of Pavonia, across from New Amsterdam, and surrounding settlements along the North River by the Susquehannock Nation and allied Native Americans on September 15,...
. According to popular belief, it started when a young Indian girl was shot by a Dutchman as she attempted to pluck fruit from a peach tree in an orchard on Manhattan. Her murder elicited calls for revenge from the native population, who did a house-to-search of New Amsterdam. At the time, Stuyvesant and his troops were on an expedition to the Zuydt Rivier (Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay
Delaware Bay is a major estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the Northeast seaboard of the United States whose fresh water mixes for many miles with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It is in area. The bay is bordered by the State of New Jersey and the State of Delaware...
), where they had forced the colony of New Sweden
New Sweden
New Sweden was a Swedish colony along the Delaware River on the Mid-Atlantic coast of North America from 1638 to 1655. Fort Christina, now in Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement. New Sweden included parts of the present-day American states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania....
to submit to rule by his government. Five hundred Indians attacked Pavonia, killing 100 settlers. One hundred fifty hostages were taken and held at Paulus Hook. When later ransomed they returned to New Amsterdam, and once again the settlements on the west shore of the Noort Rivier were evacuated.
Bergen Square
Bergen Township. The conveyance (as translated from the Dutch) read:
Therinques, Wappapen, Saghkow, Kagkennip, Bomokan, Memewockan, Sames, Wewenatokee, to the Director General and Council of New Netherland for land on the Westside of the North River from the great Clip above Wiehacken to above the Island Sikakes, thence to the Kill van Col, so along to Constable's Hoeck, thence again to the Clip above Wiceacken.
This purchase paved the way for the founding of the village at Bergen (Bergen Square
Bergen Square
Bergen Square, at the intersection of Bergen Avenue and Academy Street in Jersey City, is in the southwestern part of the much larger Journal Square district...
). Permission was granted by Stuyvesant to the establish a village; the town was officially settled in 1660. There are various opinions as to the origin of the name given by the European settlers. Some say that it so called for any of number of towns in the Netherlands or the city in Norway Others believe it comes from the word bergen, which in the Germanic languages of northern Europe means hills, and could describe a most distinct geological feature of the region, The Palisades
New Jersey Palisades
The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson Palisades are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in northeastern New Jersey and southern New York in the United States. The cliffs stretch north from Jersey City approximately 20 mi to near...
. Yet another interpretation is that it comes from the Dutch word bergen, meaning to save or to recover, prompted by the settlers' return after they had fled attacks by the native population.
Concerted efforts were made to ensure the success of the new settlement, situated atop the hill west of Communipaw, which was made "distinct and separate" village. It was laid out following a design by Jacques Cortelyou
Jacques Cortelyou
Jacques Cortelyou was an influential early citizen of New Amsterdam who was Surveyor General of the early Dutch colony...
, Surveyor General of New Amsterdam: 800 feet (243.8 m) on each side, to be surrounded by wooden palisade.
In September 1661, a court of justice was granted to Bergen, partially removing it from the jurisdiction of New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
, under which it had previously fallen. This act established the oldest autonomous municipality in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Bergen is also home to the longest continuously used school site and Christian congregation in the state . Within its jurisdiction fell the communities at Pavonia, Communipaw, Hoebuck, and Achter Col. In December of the same year, a charter for ferry between Bergen (at Communipaw) and Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
was granted. In February 1663, an ordinance regarding a common well was effected. The settlers were sluggish building a palisade to protect the village and in November 1663 an ordinance was passed to see it completed. so that farmers and fishermen could retreat if threatened by attack.
Second Anglo-Dutch War
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...
, demanding surrender of the fort at New Amsterdam, and by extension, all of New Netherland. After some days, Stuyvesant acquiesced, unable to rouse the population to a military defense. The indifferent response from the West India Company
West India Company
There has been more than one West India Company:* The Dutch West India Company* The French West India Company* The Danish West India Company* The Swedish West India Company...
to previous requests for protection against “the deplorable and tragic massacres” by the natives had gone unheeded. Hence a lack of weapons, gunpowder, reinforcements and ships made New Amsterdam defenseless. Stuyvesant made the best of a bad situation and successfully negotiated good terms from his “too powerful enemies." In the Articles of Capitulation, Stuyvesant and his council secured the principle of tolerance in Article VIII, which assured New Netherlanders that they “shall keep and enjoy the liberty of their consciences" in religion under English rule. The capture of the city was one out of a series of attacks on Dutch colonies that resulted in the Second Anglo-Dutch War
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo–Dutch War was part of a series of four Anglo–Dutch Wars fought between the English and the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries for control over the seas and trade routes....
between England and the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
. The village, which had begun construction of a block house
Block House
The Block House is a historic building located off Naamans Road in Claymont, Delaware. The Block House is believed to be the only structure remaining of original settlement on Naaman's Creek.-History:...
at the town gates, was required to garrison English soldiers.
Elizabethtown Assembly
Proprietary colony
A proprietary colony was a colony in which one or more individuals, usually land owners, remaining subject to their parent state's sanctions, retained rights that are today regarded as the privilege of the state, and in all cases eventually became so....
of East Jersey
East Jersey
The Province of East Jersey and the Province of West Jersey were two distinct, separately governed parts of the Province of New Jersey that existed as separate provinces for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. East Jersey's capital was located at Perth Amboy...
, Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
's status would be determined 10 years later. By-passing Bergen, the English chose as its capital a site close to Arthur Kill
Arthur Kill
The Arthur Kill is a tidal strait separating Staten Island, New York from mainland New Jersey, USA, and a major navigational channel of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Kill is from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel"...
, naming it Elizabethtown
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
, after the wife of its proprietor, Sir George Carteret
George Carteret
Vice Admiral Sir George Carteret, 1st Baronet , son of Elias de Carteret, was a royalist statesman in Jersey and England, who served in the Clarendon Ministry as Treasurer of the Navy...
. On October 28, 1664, the Elizabethtown Tract
Elizabethtown Tract
The Elizabethtown Tract was a property that was purchased on October 28, 1664, by John Baily, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson from the Native Americans that is in the area of present-day Elizabeth, New Jersey....
, taking in lands southwest of Achter Col was purchased from three Raritan. An assembly was held in 1668, attended by representatives of Bergen. Soon after the Concession and Agreement
Concession and Agreement
Concession and Agreement was a document that provided religious freedom in the colony of New Jersey. It was issued as a proclamation for the structure of the government for the colony written in 1665 by the two proprietors, Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.The document promised religious...
was issued providing religious freedom and recognition of private property in the colony. For those living at Bergen and surrounding areas life was not much changed under English rule, though they were required to pledge loyalty to the new government. English speaking settlers, mostly from New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
came to the province, concentrating on the Elizabethtown Tract
Elizabethtown Tract
The Elizabethtown Tract was a property that was purchased on October 28, 1664, by John Baily, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson from the Native Americans that is in the area of present-day Elizabeth, New Jersey....
and Newark Tract, and to the north at the English Neighborhood
English Neighborhood
The English Neighborhood was the colonial-era name for the towns in eastern Bergen County, New Jersey, along the Hudson Palisades between the North River and the Hackensack River, particularly around its main tributary, Overpeck Creek. The region had been part of the Dutch New Netherland colony of...
. The wide waterways that separated them geographically mirrored the cultural divide and allowed the New Netherlanders to retain their language, religion, traditions, and local political power. During negotiations for The Treaty of Breda, English commissioners offers to return New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
in exchange for sugar factories on the coast of Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
were refused. Upon its signing on July 31, 1667, English possession and rule were formalized. In 1668, they granted a charter for the "Towne and Corporation of Bergen". The English also recorded many land purchases and transfers to both Dutch and English-speaking settlers, including those at Minkaque and Ramapo (Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
). During this period they also confirmed previous patents and deeds. In 1665, for a land owned by Nicolas Verlet at Hobuk (Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
) and in 1669, for large tract of (2260 acres) at Achinigeu-hach (or "Ackingsah-sack") (Hackensack River
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River,...
/Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately 8 miles long, in Bergen County in northern New Jersey in the United States. The upper creek flows through suburban communities west of New York City...
) given earlier to Sarah Kiersted in gratitude for her work as emissary and interpreter by Oratam
Oratam
Oratam was sagamore, or sachem, of the Hackensack Indians living in northeastern New Jersey during the period of early European colonization in the 17th century...
.
The treaty proved to be ineffective, fighting continued (as the Third Anglo-Dutch War
Third Anglo-Dutch War
The Third Anglo–Dutch War or Third Dutch War was a military conflict between England and the Dutch Republic lasting from 1672 to 1674. It was part of the larger Franco-Dutch War...
), and in August 1673 the Dutch "recaptured" New Netherland. In November of that year an assembly was held at Elzabethtown enacting "Laws and Ordinances" for towns Achter Col. On December 18, 1673 "Freedoms and Exemptions" were granted to towns in Achter Col
Province of New Jersey
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
had been "re-taken" did not arrive in Holland until January 1674, at which point negotiations for The Treaty of Westminster
Treaty of Westminster
Treaty of Westminster may refer to:*Treaty of Westminster , also known as the Treaty of Wallingford*Treaty of Westminster , also known as the Treaty of Westminster-Ardtornish...
were well advanced. Its ratification by the States-General of the Netherlands
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
on March 5, 1674 ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War
Third Anglo-Dutch War
The Third Anglo–Dutch War or Third Dutch War was a military conflict between England and the Dutch Republic lasting from 1672 to 1674. It was part of the larger Franco-Dutch War...
, and control of New Netherland, including Bergen, was conclusively relinquished to the English.
On March 7, 1683, East Jersey was divided into four counties: Essex
Essex County, New Jersey
Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 783,969, ranking it third in the state after Bergen County and Middlesex County; Essex County's population has declined from 786,147 as of the bureau's...
, Middlesex
Middlesex County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 750,162 people, 265,815 households, and 190,855 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,422 people per square mile . There were 273,637 housing units at an average density of 884 per square mile...
, Monmouth
Monmouth County, New Jersey
Monmouth County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 630,380, up from 615,301 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Freehold Borough. The most populous municipality is Middletown Township with...
and Bergen
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
, which kept the name given by the New Netherlander
New Netherlander
New Netherlanders were residents of New Netherland, the seventeenth century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America, centered around the Hudson River and New York Bay, and at the end of the colony in the Delaware Valley.The...
s. Bergen ran from Bergen Point
Bergen Point, New Jersey
Bergen Point is a point of land on the north side of the outlet of Kill van Kull into Newark Bay, and the neighborhood that radiates from it in the southwestern part of Bayonne, New Jersey, closest to the Bayonne Bridge. Historically the term has been used more broadly as synonymous with Constable...
(Bayonne
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
) between the North and Hackensack Rivers to ambiguous New York-New Jersey state line (see seal of Bergen County), its administrative seat at the Towne of Bergen. Ten years later, in October 1693, the counties were re-aligned and Bergen grew to include more territories west of the Hackensack, though not the Lenape/Netherlander trading post that would grow into the city of the same name.
In 1702, East Jersey
East Jersey
The Province of East Jersey and the Province of West Jersey were two distinct, separately governed parts of the Province of New Jersey that existed as separate provinces for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. East Jersey's capital was located at Perth Amboy...
and West Jersey
West Jersey
West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702...
were united as a royal, rather than proprietary colony. New Jersey and New York shared one governor, the first being Lord Cornbury
Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon , styled Viscount Cornbury between 1674 and 1709, was Governor of New York and New Jersey between 1701 and 1708, and is perhaps best known for the claims of his cross-dressing while in office.-Career:Born The Hon...
. It was not until 1738, when New Jersey petitioned the crown for a distinct administration from New York, that it was granted its own governor.
In 1710, Bergen County, by royal decree of Queen Anne of Great Britain
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
was enlarged to include what had been a part of Essex County. The village of Hackensack
Hackensack
-Communities:*Hackensack, Minnesota*Hackensack, New Jersey*South Hackensack, New Jersey*New Hackensack, New York-Train stations:*New Bridge Landing *Anderson Street in Haceknsack, New Jersey...
(in the newly formed New Barbados Township) was seen as being more easily reached by the majority of the Bergen's inhabitants, and hence was chosen as the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
.
The Town of Bergen was given a Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
on January 4, 1714.
Hudson-Bergen Line
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the Senate...
on February 21, 1798, 104 newly formed townships were created throughout the state.
As originally constituted, Bergen Township began at Bergen Point and included the area between Hudson's River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
to the east and the Hackensack River
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River,...
to the west, north to the present-day Hudson-Bergen line. Why this particular point was chosen is not clear, as there is no clear geological or topographical feature indicating a natural separation. It may have been the place where the Lenape sub groups-the Hackensack and the Tappan-saw the extent of their territories. It may have also been the border between the patroonships of Pavonia and Vriessendael, and corresponds to Stuyvesant's re-purchase. As described in the charter for "Towne of Bergen" in 1668, the northern border of the town was determined by landmarks that no longer exist.
Hackensack Township
Hackensack Township, Bergen County, New Jersey (Historical)
Hackensack Township was a township that was formed in 1693 within Bergen County, New Jersey. The township was created by the New Jersey Legislature as one of the first group of townships in New Jersey...
included those lands east of the river of the same name, north of the contemporary Hudson-Bergen line, and the area became known as the English Neighborhood
English Neighborhood
The English Neighborhood was the colonial-era name for the towns in eastern Bergen County, New Jersey, along the Hudson Palisades between the North River and the Hackensack River, particularly around its main tributary, Overpeck Creek. The region had been part of the Dutch New Netherland colony of...
. The present-day City of Hackensack
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
, was part of New Barbadoes Township
New Barbadoes Township, Bergen County, New Jersey (Historical)
New Barbadoes Township was a township that was formed in 1710 and existed in its largest extent in pre-American Revolutionary War times in Bergen County, New Jersey. The Township was created from territories that had been part of Essex County that were removed by royal decree and added to Bergen...
, which ran northward from Newark Bay
Newark Bay
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, 3rd largest and one of busiest in the United States...
, including New Barbadoes Neck
New Barbadoes Neck
New Barbadoes Neck is the name given in the colonial era for the peninsula in northeastern New Jersey, USA between the lower Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, in what is now western Hudson County and southern Bergen County...
between the Hackensack and Passaic
Passaic River
The Passaic River is a mature surface river, approximately 80 mi long, in northern New Jersey in the United States. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey,...
rivers and portions of contemporary Passaic County.
In September 1840, Hudson County was created by separation from Bergen County
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
and annexation of New Barbadoes Neck
New Barbadoes Neck
New Barbadoes Neck is the name given in the colonial era for the peninsula in northeastern New Jersey, USA between the lower Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, in what is now western Hudson County and southern Bergen County...
. The place chosen for the county line atop the Palisades was the original northern border
Nungessers
Nungessers is the name of the confluence of roads that meet at the Hudson and Bergen county line at North Bergen and Fairview in northeastern New Jersey. The area is former site the Nungesser's Gutenberg Racetrack, a late 19th century gaming and gambling venue. The neighborhood just south of...
for Bergen Township. On April 10, 1843, by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the Senate...
, Bergen Township
Bergen Township, Bergen County, New Jersey (Historical 1693)
Bergen Township was a township that existed in the U.S. state of New Jersey, from 1661 to 1862, first as part of New Netherland, then as part Bergen County, and later as part of Hudson County...
was split in two, leading to the incorporation of Township of North Bergen
North Bergen, New Jersey
North Bergen is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the township had a total population of 60,773. Originally founded in 1843, the town was much diminished in territory by a series of secessions. Situated on the Hudson Palisades, it is one...
. Bergenline Avenue, running from the Jersey City border to Nungessers
Nungessers
Nungessers is the name of the confluence of roads that meet at the Hudson and Bergen county line at North Bergen and Fairview in northeastern New Jersey. The area is former site the Nungesser's Gutenberg Racetrack, a late 19th century gaming and gambling venue. The neighborhood just south of...
at Fairview through the North Hudson
North Hudson, New Jersey
North Hudson is the collective name of the municipalities of Weehawken , Union City , West New York , Guttenberg and North Bergen in Hudson County, New Jersey...
communities, likely takes its name from this division.
Legacy
The original grid laid out for Bergen in 1661 can still be seen at Bergen SquareBergen Square
Bergen Square, at the intersection of Bergen Avenue and Academy Street in Jersey City, is in the southwestern part of the much larger Journal Square district...
, in the immediate vicinity of which are Old Bergen Church
Old Bergen Church
The Old Bergen Church is located in Jersey City, New Jersey and is the oldest continuous congregation in New Jersey dating back to 1660. The congregation embraces a combination of Reformed Church in America and Presbyterianism....
and cemeteries founded by the first settlers and their descendents. A statue of Peter Stuyvesant, commemorating the 250th anniversary of its founding, sits on the grounds of the longest continuously used school site in New Jersey, which had also been established by them. The square, with a geometry typical of small towns in the Lowlands
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
, was the first in North America that would become known as a "Philadelphia" square.
There are many buildings throughout the region built in the Bergen Dutch and Dutch Colonial
Dutch Colonial
Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house...
styles, including numerous farm houses and Dutch Reformed Churches. The still-intact Sip Manor, originally built at the village of Bergen, was moved in 1920s to Westfield, NJ. The oldest standing building in Hudson is the 1690 Newkirk House on Summit Avenue. Another colonial home
(c 1742) was built by one of the region's first families, the Van Vorsts
Van Vorst Park
Van Vorst Park is neighborhood in Historic Downtown in Jersey City, centered around a park sharing the same name. The neighborhood is located west of Paulus Hook and Marin Boulevard, north of Grand Street, east of the Turnpike Extension, and south of The Village and Christopher Columbus Drive...
, on land that had been part of Pavonia (now Jersey City Heights). The Steuben House
Steuben House
The Steuben House is a noted example of Bergen Dutch sandstone architecture, located at New Bridge Landing on the Hackensack River in River Edge, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.-History:...
(1752) is a noted example of Bergen Dutch sandstone architecture, located at New Bridge Landing
New Bridge Landing
New Bridge was a prosperous mill hamlet, centered upon a bridge strategically placed at the narrows of the Hackensack River. In the American Revolution New Bridge Landing was the site of a pivotal bridge crossing the Hackensack River, where General George Washington led his troops in retreat from...
, a historic site dedicated to the preservation of colonial architecture & history.
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
often referred (comically) to the west bank of the Hudson, particularly Communipaw, as being the stronghold of Dutch culture. Jersey Dutch
Jersey Dutch
Jersey Dutch was a variant of the Dutch language spoken in and around Bergen and Passaic counties in New Jersey from the late 17th century until the early 20th century. It may have been a partial creole language based on Zeelandic and West Flemish Dutch dialects with English and possibly some...
was a variant of the Dutch language
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
spoken in and around Bergen
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
and Passaic
Passaic County, New Jersey
Passaic County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 501,226. Its county seat is Paterson...
counties until the early 20th century.
The region abounds in place names often taken from Dutch surnames or geographical references, with Paulus Hook a combination of both. Lenape phrases, transformed through Dutch and English are still in use, such as Hoboken, Hackensack, Paramus, Secaucus, and Wyckoff
Wyckoff
Wyckoff may refer to:*Wyckoff, New Jersey*Charles Wyckoff*Pieter Claesen Wyckoff*Ralph Walter Graystone Wyckoff*Richard Wyckoff*Weldon Wyckoff*Wyckoff-Garretson House*Wyckoff positions*Wyckoff House...
. Kill Van Kull
Kill Van Kull
The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. Approximately long and wide, it connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the eastern end of the Kill, Bergen Point its western end...
retains its purely Dutch name.
The name Bergen is widely used, not only for the county itself but also in Bergen Point, Bergen Hill
Bergen Hill
Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, USA, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson River, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet.-Rail:...
, Bergen Arches
Bergen Arches
Bergen Arches is an abandoned railroad right of way through Bergen Hill in Jersey City, New Jersey.-History:...
, Bergenline Avenue, Bergenfield, among many others. The patroonship of Pavonia lends its name to an avenue and PATH station in Jersey City, while the mascot of Saint Peter's College is a peacock.
The concept of religious freedom (as well as the recognition of private property) is often considered to be the most enduring legacies of New Netherland. Both the Articles of Transfer (outlining the terms of surrender to the English), and the Concession and Agreement
Concession and Agreement
Concession and Agreement was a document that provided religious freedom in the colony of New Jersey. It was issued as a proclamation for the structure of the government for the colony written in 1665 by the two proprietors, Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.The document promised religious...
. provided for the right to worship as one wished, and were incorporated into subsequent city, state, and national
constitutions in the USA. Many words, including the most American Yankee, and the tradition of Santa Claus
Sinterklaas
Sinterklaas is a traditional Winter holiday figure still celebrated today in the Low Countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as French Flanders and Artois...
come from the settlers of New Netherland.
Like The Netherlands, Northeastern New Jersey is considered to be "diverse" and "tolerant", a place where many people from different ethnic, economic, and religious backgrounds interact on a daily basis while still maintaining their distinct identities. The concept of "home rule" allows citizens and residents to have direct influence on their immediate neighborhoods, and at the same time participate in a society which supersedes civic boundaries.
See also
- Toponymy of Bergen, New NetherlandToponymy of Bergen, New NetherlandBergen was part of the 17th century colony of New Netherland centered around Fort Amsterdam in what is now northeastern New Jersey. Placenames in most cases had their roots in Algonquian language Lenape and Dutch....
- Forts of New Netherland
- New Netherland Dutch
- New Netherland settlementsNew Netherland settlementsNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to southern Cape Cod. Settled areas are now part of...
- New Netherland ProjectNew Netherland ProjectThe New Netherland Project was created to translate and publish 17th century Dutch documents from the period of the Dutch colonization of New Netherland...
- PatroonPatroonIn the United States, a patroon was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland in North America...
- Etymologies of place names in Hudson County, New JerseyEtymologies of place names in Hudson County, New JerseyThis is a list of locales in Hudson County, New Jersey categorized by origin of their name.- Municipalities :#Bayonne #Jersey City #Hoboken #Union City #West New York #Guttenberg #Secaucus #Kearny...