England and The Netherlands emerged as the principal maritime powers of the seventeenth century. Their rivalry led them into several wars, in which the issue at stake was ultimately the freedom of the seas and trade competition.
The first Anglo-Dutch war was set off when a Dutch admiral, meeting an English colleague in what Britain had proclaimed to be English waters, refused to salute the English flag. The war was fought entirely at sea and ended in a compromise after two years of fighting. Ten years later, in 1664, trouble started anew, and this time in the colonies.
The Duke of York, brother of King Charles II of England, had a large interest in the British Royal African Company. In a period of new tension between the two countries on trade matters, ships of his company seized a Dutch settlement on the African coast. When the Dutch States-General received word of this, their top admiral Michiel de Ruyter was dispatched with a fleet to Africa to take revenge. As a result, the English government declared war on The Netherlands. In the meantime, however, another English fleet had appeared off Nieuw Amsterdam and forced Pieter Stuyvesant to surrender New Netherland.
The English expected a fight, but when Colonel Nicolls showed himself before the town with four men-of-war on August 28, 1664, he found a fort so neglected that defiance of his power seemed out of the question. Yet Stuyvesant tried to rally his colony to the defense. For ten days he stalled for time while trying to instill some of his martial prowess in the half-hearted settlers. It was in vain. When Nicolls sent a final ultimatum, the red, white and blue of Holland came down and the white flag was hoisted.
At home the Dutch showed more fighting spirit. After several sea battles Admiral de Ruyter delivered a blow to England by sailing up the Thames and capturing the British flagship right outside of London harbor. In Pepys' diary you can read of the panic he created in the city. Five weeks later a peace was concluded which was rather favorable to Holland. England was to keep New Netherland; but Surinam in South America, which Holland had taken from the English, was to remain under the Dutch flag. The men of the West India Company considered the exchange a happy one. They preferred a tropical country complete with sugar plantations and slaves any day to a settlement of white colonists.
Pieter Stuyvesant was called back to Amsterdam in a rather sad attempt by the Company to put the blame for the surrender of 1664 on him. When the shouting and the shooting had died down, he returned to Nieuw Amsterdam, which had now changed its name to New York and continued to live on his bouwerij or farm in Manhattan. He died there in 1672, but the Dutch name lives on as The Bowery, a well-known street in Lower Manhattan, now unfortunately part of New York's skid row.
Almost everyone here thinks that was the end of New Netherland: conquest by Britain. Actually, there was a different sequence of events. Holland did not lose New Netherland through force. Nieuw Amsterdam was New York from 1664 to 1673, but in that year it became Dutch once more, this time under the name Nieuw Oranje, `New Orange.' That was in honor of the Dutch Prince of Orange, who a few years later was destined to become King William of England. Nieuw Oranje started its short life because of a new war between England and Holland in 1673. Two Dutch admirals with a fleet of no less than twenty-three ships appeared in New York harbor and began to land troops. The story of 1664 was now repeated in reverse. The English commander felt he had no choice but to surrender, and thus the colony once again became New Netherland and the Duke of York had to cede to the Prince of Orange, at least in the matter of names. But Nieuw Oranje lasted only one year.
The Anglo-Dutch war was ended by the Treaty of Westminster of 1674. As part of the peace arrangements, the territory went back to Britain and Orange changed back to York. The Union Jack went up over the town and remained there until the day, more than a century later, when George Washington crossed the Harlem River and took possession of New York for the United States of America.
Map of New Amsterdam
Testimony. 1667. Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Archief van Dr. S. Hart. Translation by Eric Ruijssenaars.
| Harmen Martensz from the city of Den Bosch and Evert Willemse Munnick, both formerly soldiers of the Dutch West India Company, declared that even before the English came to New Netherland there had been talk of an English army approaching. | This is the testimony of two Dutch soldiers who were present for the surrender of New Netherland. |
| The government gave no orders for special defense measures. Only when four ships arrived at the end of August was order given to bring the city and the fort of New Amsterdam into a state of defense. | There were rumors that the English were planning to attack, but no one did anything until four ships came into the harbor. |
| The sergeants did their best, given the short time, but the people of New Amsterdam were unresponsive. They did not report to their guard posts. When the soldiers saw that the civilians lacked the will to fight the English they withdrew to the fort. | The citizens of New Amsterdam did not come together to protect the city. |
| There were 150 soldiers. . . . Councilman Van Ruyven sent his wife Hillegond to the English because they did not have gun powder to defend themselves and because the English were their friends. Hillegond was accompanied by Lydia de Meyer, the wife of free merchant Nicholas Meyer. | Two city leaders sent their wives to talk to the English. |
| As Hillegond left the fort, she said: “Now these dirty dogs want to fight, now that they’ve got nothing to lose. And we have our property here, which we would lose if we fought.” | The women insult the Dutch soldiers on their way to see the English. They also tell the soldiers that their homes are worth more to them than their loyalty to the Dutch West India Company. |
Testimony. 1667. Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Archief van Dr. S. Hart. Translation by Eric Ruijssenaars.
This video was created by the New-York Historical Society Teen Leaders in collaboration with the Untold project.
On August 26, 1664, four English ships sailed into New Amsterdam’s harbor and demanded that the colony of New Netherland surrender to the English. Peter Stuyvesant, the Director-General of New Netherland, tried to rally the people of New Amsterdam to fight, but he soon realized they preferred to surrender peacefully. Stuyvesant set up a meeting between the citizens of New Amsterdam and the English representatives so that they could negotiate terms of surrender. On September 8, 1664, New Netherland was officially handed over to the English and renamed New York.
When word of the surrender of New Netherland reached the Dutch Republic, the government launched a full investigation to find out what happened and who was at fault. This document, collected during their investigation, is the eye-witness account of two Dutch soldiers who were working for the Dutch West India Company during the surrender.
The soldiers told the government that Lydia de Meyer and Hillegond van Ruyven, two wives of New Amsterdam council members, visited the English camp before any official meeting took place. Why were Dutch women visiting the enemy camp during a military standoff? When Peter Stuyvesant announced his intention to fight the English, he made it impossible for any of the men who served in the government to reach out to the English without committing treason. So members of the city council sent their wives instead. It was a perfect solution: as women, Lydia and Hillegond could speak to the English without committing treason, and their high status as wives of city council members meant that the English would take them seriously. Hillegond and Lydia smoothed the way to a peaceful surrender when the men of New Amsterdam could not. Hillegond’s comment to the soldiers as she left makes it clear that, for these women, protecting the settlement of New Amsterdam was far more important than protecting the pride of the Dutch government.
- civilians: A person who is not in the army.
- Den Bosch: A city in the southern Netherlands.
- Dutch Republic: The name of the country of the Dutch in Europe from 1581 to 1795.
- Dutch West India Company: The company that owned and ran New Netherland.
- free merchant: A merchant who did not work for the Dutch West India Company.
- New Amsterdam: The capitol of the colony of New Netherland, where New York City is today.
- treason: The crime of betraying one’s country.
- Why does Hillegond want to find a peaceful solution to the conflict with the English?
- What about the legal status of women in New Netherland made Hillegond and Lydia ideal ambassadors to the English at the height of the invasion crisis?
- Why is it important to know this story? How does this story change our understanding of the surrender of New Amsterdam?
- Teach this document along with the Articles of Transfer (Resource 18 in New World—New Netherland—New York) to consider what role women played in the surrender of New Netherland, and how women were affected by the transfer.
- Invite students to write a short skit recreating the interaction between Lydia and Hillegond and the two soldiers they encountered on their way to meet the English. The soldiers can represent the arguments of those who wanted to fight to keep the colony Dutch, and the women can represent the arguments of those who wanted a peaceful surrender.
- Hillegond and Lydia were able to engage with the English because their intimate network of family and friends gave them the authority to do so. This kind of unacknowledged power network allowed women in many different colonial societies to exert influence far beyond what was traditionally available to them. Use any of the following resources to explore this idea of intimate power networks further with your students: Translating for the Dutch and Lenni-Lenape, Life Story: Johanna de Laet, Life Story: Charlotte-Françoise Juchereau de Saint-Denis, and Life Story: Weetamoo.
- Hillegond and Lydia were not the only women to wield considerable power in New Netherland. Invite students to compare and contrast their experiences with any of the women listed below. Ask students to consider what kind of power each woman wielded, how they gained their positions in the colony, and what challenges and triumphs they achieved. Then ask students to use what they have learned to write a paper about the opportunities and limitations women faced in New Netherland: Translating for the Dutch and Lenni-Lenape, Life Story: Johanna de Laet, Life Story: Quashawam, Life Story: Lady Deborah Moody, Founding Mother, Hardenbroeck v. the Orphanmasters, and Life Story: Margrieta van Varick.