NEW YORK (ante). it is claimed that John de Verrazano landed on the coast of. New York in 1524, the first white man who is known to have been within the present boundaries of the state, was Samuel Champlain, the French navigator, who set sail down the lake which was named after him, on July 4, 1609, antedating by two months Hudson's discovery from the sea. Champlain, governor of Canada, was on an expedition up the St. Lawrence, when he met a war-party of Hurons, which he and two other Frenchmen joined. July 5, at Crown Point, the Hurons met 200 Iroquois, and diffeated_them, Champlain shooting their chief with Ins arquebuse. This was the initia tory act which incurred the enmitvof the Five Nations, with whom the French continued at war until the final surrender of their possessions in America. Sept. 9, 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the employ of the Dutch East India company, sailed his little 80-ton shallop into the waters of New York bay, and three days later com menced his voyage up the river to which his name is attached, which lie explored to a point between Hudson and Albany. All the land which he discovered was claimed by the Dutch, and named New Netherland; and in 1611 the states-general offered special privileges to any company opening and encouraging trade with the natives of their newly acquired possessions. This encouragement procured not only trading but colonization. In 1613 a fort was built on Manhattan island, but the settlement about it was broken up by the English. In the following year another Dutch colony established itself on the same spot, and continued in possession; and during the ten years succeeding, the shores Of the Hudson and those of Long Island. sound were explored, and at fort Orange (Albany) another trading-post was established. In this region the Indians were tribes of the great Algonquin family, while the remainder of the state was occupied by the Five Nations. But while Champlain had embroiled himself with the Indians in the part of the country included in his explorations, thus entailing a long and bloody war upon the French, the Dutch settlers in the s.e., more wary, cultivated amity with the red men, to their own material advantage. In 1621 the prospects of a lucrative commerce with America had induced certain merchants in Holland to combine in the organization of the Dutch West India company, for colonization purposes, and two years later this com pany took out 18 families who settled at fort Orange, and 30 families who remained at New Amsterdam on Manhattan island.
The first important illustration of the benefits of amicable intercourse with the Indians occurred in the .01-phase frokit; thein of It uthattah island by the-Dutcli in 1626 for the sum of $24. This accomplished by Peter Minuits, the director-general who had been sent out by the Dutch West India company to take charge of its colonies, an able admin istrator and wise governor. See MINUITS, PETER. A feature of his administration was the establishment of the patroon system, by which certain speculators were permitted by an act of the company passed in 1629 to ,siin manorial rights over immense tracts of country; thus building up a powerful land aristocracy, whose influence was great in the early history of the state, and whose claims brought about more than two centuries later the "anti-rout" war between landlords and tenants in these manorial districts. The dis turhanee which this system immediately produced among the colonists themselves, being attributed office to maladministration on the part of Minuits, he was summoned home and his office filled, in 1633, by Wouter van Twiller, who was succeeded in 1038 by Wil liam Kieft. The administration of the fatter was signalized by the first serious difficulty
between the colonists and the Indians. Some slight disagreement brought about an attack on the natives by the Dutch, which resulted in the massacre of more than 100 unoffeuding Indians, men, women, and children, and the precipitation of a sanguinary war which threatened the very existence of the colony. Peter Stuyvesant succeeded Kieft in 1647, and his considerate and judicious direction of affairs relieved the latter from the serious danger into which it had fallen. He pursued a conciliatory policy with the Indians, and the wisdom of his administration soon produced its effect in a satisfac tory and progressive condition in the settlements under his jurisdiction. These settle ments now constantly extending, soon conflicted with those of the English on the Con necticut river, and of the Swedes on the Delaware.. The latter had been established by Peter Minuits, who had joined the service of the Swedish government, after being dis missed from that of the Dutch West India company: in 1655 gov. Stuyvesant seized this settlement by force and annexed it to his government. The English opposition to the Dutch colonization schemes was persistent from the beginning, and fruitful of much conflict. The English claimed the territory n. of Virginia on the ground of the anterior discoveries by Cabot; and in 1664 a charter was granted by Charles II. to the duke of York, which covered all the lands lying between the Hudson and the Delaware, and included New Netherland, as well as lands already held by prior grant, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. In the summer of the year in which this charter was given, col. .Nicolls was sent from England with sufficient force, and on arriving at New Amsterdam, demanded the surrender of the Dutch possessions. This demand was acceded to gov. Stuyvesant, who was powerless to prevent its enforcement, and the country in question passed into the hands of the English without a struggle. The name New 1 ork was now given both to the settlement on Manhattan island and to the entire province, and that of Albany to fort Orange. A subsequent recapture by the Dutch was followed by speedy restoration to the English; and on the duke of York ascending the throne of England under the title of James II., the province passed into the possession of the crown. Its condition at this time was not encouraging as to progress, either in wealth or education. The most of the land was held by aristocratic families, much of it having been dispensed by the duke of York among his favorites. Heavy taxation and burdensome restrictions on trade bore heavily on the people; there was little political freedom or religious toleration; even under the reign of William and Mary there was little improvement. Colonial possessions, according to the general policy of the Euro pean powers, were used to placate or dispose of personal.enemies, or to reward personal friends; while their trade was deemed a just perquisite for the royal exchequer. So late as 1689, the persistent tyranny of Nicholson, governor of New York, aroused the colonists to resistance; and Jacob Leisler, a merchant of prominence in New York, and in an official position, seized the government in the name of William of Orange, and held it for two years. He was then superseded by gov. Sloughter, and on very insignificant grounds was tried for high treason, condemned, and put to death. See LEISLEB, JACOB.