Text 4632, 83 rader
Skriven 2007-07-18 20:38:28 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
     Kommentar till en text av Björn Felten
Ärende: Re: FidoNews 24:29 [02/06]: General Articles
====================================================
BF>WD> Will need to read some more attentively.
 
BF> I'm eagerly awaiting the outcome of that, Ward.
 
Actually, those who claim that it's a kind of receipt for the purchase of
Manhattan are a bit mistaken. The document seems to have been written by a
certain mister Schagen who worked for the Dutch shipping company on the Isle of
Texel off the Dutch coast. In those days a staging area for Dutch ships
departing to, and arriving from, NN ... Nieuw Nederland, translated to "New
Netherlands" meaning the Dutch colony in the area which is now New York.
 
The letter is a report of a ship arriving from Nieuw Nederland, some trivial
news and indeed the manifest of the ships cargo. This is what I can make of it
(transposed to nowadays Dutch, and then translated):
 
Hoge en Machtige Heren,
 
Gisteren is het schip "'t Wapen Van Amsterdam" hier aangekomen. Het is op 23
september uit Nieuw Nederland vertrekken via de rivier Mauritius. Ze
rapporteren dat ons volk er goed en in vrede leeft. Vrouwen hebben er ook reeds
kinderen gekregen. Ze hebben het eiland Manhattes van de wilden gekocht voor
een waarde van 60 Gulden. Het is ongeveer 11.000 morgens groot. Tegen het
midden van de maand mei was al hun graan gezaaid en tegen het midden van
augustus was de oogst klaar. Ze sturen een staal van hun geoogste granen:
tarwe, rogge, gerst, haver, boekweit, kanariezaad, bonen en vlas. De lading van
het voornoemde schip bestaat uit:
7246 bever vellen
178 1/2 otter vellen
375 otter vellen
48 marter vellen
36 katten vellen (lynx)
33 marters
34 muskusrat vellen
Veel eiken hout en notelaren hout
Bij deze, Hoge en Machtige heren, onderwerp ik mij aan de meelij van de
Almachtige.
In Amsterdam de 5de november 1626
Uw dienstwillige,
P Schagen
*************************************************************
High and powerful Lords,
 
Yesterday the ship "'t Wapen Van Amsterdam" arrived here. It left Nieuw
Nederland on September 23rd via the river Mauritius [this is the Hudson river].
They report that our people are doing well and are living in peace. Women also
already have delivered babies. They bought the island Manhattes from the
savages for a value of 60 Guilders. It is about 11,000 morgens large [that is
an old measure to indicate roughly 90 square kilometres, somewhere
22,000-22,500 acres]. By the middle of the month of May all their grains had
been planted and by the middle of August the harvest was ready. They send you a
sample of the harvested grains: wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, canary
seed, beans and flax. The cargo of the aforementioned ship consists of
7246 beaver skins
178 1/2 otter skins
375 otter skins
48 mink skins
36 cat skins [he probably means Lynx]
33 mink [he probably means skins as well]
34 muskrat skins
A lot of oak wood and nut tree wood.
With this, high and powerfull lords, I subject myself to the mercy of the
Almighty,
In Amsterdam, November 5th 1626
Your obedient servant
P Schagen
*********************************************************************
 
The actual "purchase" on May 24th 1626 was handled by a man working for the
Dutch East India Company by the name of Pierre Minuit who, I'm very sorry for
my Netherlands friends, was from Wallonia a region in present day Belgium.
 
There is a monument in inwood Hill Park the presumed site of the purchase. Plus
there is also a monument in Battery Park commemorating the actual role Belgians
played in the actual found of the city of Nieuw Amsterdam etc etc etc...
 
The rest is history.
 
Take care,
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 2.72
 * Origin: Many Glacier -o=O=o- Preserve - Protect - Conserve (2:292/854)