How was New York City born?

Positioned neatly in the confluence between two rivers; the Hudson River and the East River, Manhattan Island was a natural location for explorers to land and for traders to set up trading posts.

The first settlers to arrive in the wake of explorers, Henry Hudson and Adriaen Block, were the Dutch. They settled in 1623 on Nut Island (now Governor's Island) until, needing more pasture and water for themselves and their cattle, they moved onto Lower Manhattan in 1625.

The West India Company laid down an organised and efficient set of instructions for the care and protection of the land and people of its new colony.  Unfortunately, the first provisional Governor of the new colony was Willem Verhulst, a troublesome man, who misappropriated funds and caused strife with the local natives, who had been very supportive to the new settlers. The colonists demanded his removal from office and the post of Director General was then given to Peter Minuit.

In early 1626, news arrived in New Amsterdam that Dutch settlers at Fort Orange (Albany) had been massacred by hostile Mohawk natives. Minuit was a man of practical vision and immediately saw that the geographic location of New Amsterdam had many advantages. It was on the tip of an island, surrounded by water, with far-reaching views across the Bay - here was a great place for a defensive fort. The settlement's deep harbour was connected to Upper Bay and then to the Atlantic and was perfect for large trading vessels making the journey to and from Europe. There were flatlands for farming, freshwater streams and the sea for fish, forests full of wildlife; beaver, wolves, deer, black bear, mountain lions and game and it was a place where fur-trapping natives came from far and wide to trade.

Fur traders were in their element. In Europe, the fashion for high crowned hats created a lucrative market for beaver skins. The pelt which lay beneath the top layer of their fur was used in making felt, a must-have for the status conscious in all walks of life from Puritans to nobility.

In 1626, Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the local natives, the Lenni Lenape, for 60 Dutch Guilders or $24. Of course, the natives had no idea of land-ownership. Property deals to them meant giving permission for those lands to be used by the newcomers in exchange for knives, blankets, kettles and other useful implements. They also looked to the Europeans as military allies against their own enemies.

So, why does the Seal of New York City have the date of 1625 and bear the name of New York when it was still Dutch at that time and called New Amsterdam?

More next time...

For a novel set in early 17th century Manhattan about trade, murder, betrayal, piracy and slavery:

Read my novel Manhattan Legacy available on Lulu.com 

Read reviews of Manhattan Legacy on Amazon

You can buy Manhattan Legacy in various ebook formats on Smashwords

What is a witch?

When you hear the word 'witch', what image does it conjure up for you? Perhaps you see an old crone, with a large warty nose, tall pointed hat and a sharp chin aboard a flying broomstick and a black cat, her familiar, hanging on behind her?

Well, I suppose it might, as these are the classic images that we are all fed when we're young - from traditional fairy stories to Hollywood films.

The truth, however, is far more terrifying.

Think of your close family; husband, wife, mother, father, or your best friend or work colleague. Could you ever imagine that they could have innocently been accused of being a witch? No, of course, not. But, if you had been unfortunate enough to have lived in Mediaeval Europe, then this could have happened.

The Old Testament says "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" Exodus 22:18. But what is a witch?

During the lengthy research that I did on 17th century life for my book, Manhattan Legacy, which is set in pre-New York Manhattan, I found that the term 'witch' was applied to the most extraordinary people. In C17th, there were no medically trained physicians as we know them today. Instead there were 'cunning' (from the Old Norse word 'Kunna' meaning to know i.e. wisdom) men and women, who understood how plants could heal and and cure many disorders that plagued Mediaeval folk. These healers were the equivalent of our modern doctors, nurses, midwives, GPs and dentists. Imagine a world where your toothache cannot be dealt with, where a broken bone meant death and common illnesses were killers.

Then take superstition, fear and ignorance. Witches were seen by the Church as the Devil's secret army and it was up to all good folk to assist the Church in fighting the Devil. A book written in 1486 by two Germans, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, called 'Malleus Maleficarum' ('Hammer of the Witches'), was a guidebook used by both Catholics and Protestants for several hundred years to find and identify witches and instructed them how to put them on trial and how to determine their punishment.

Settlers emigrating from Europe during the 17th century would have taken with them the laws and rules that governed their lives since birth. The main religions of time in England and most of Europe were either Catholic or Protestant and both peasantry and nobility abided by the tenets set down in these religions. This led to fear and suspicion following along with them to the New World.
The fact that innocent healers were persecuted for trying to help their fellow settlers was not taken into account. If a word should be said by someone harbouring a grudge, or if a person failed to recover from an illness or physical disability after being treated by a cunning woman, then it was more than likely that they would end up being accused of witchcraft and consorting with the Devil.

If the witch were sent to trial - how could he/she prove that he/she wasn't a witch? A popular test was to be tied up then dropped into deep water. If the witch sank and drowned that proved innocent - probably a bit late for justice to be done - and if the witch survived that proved guilt and the unfortunate was hanged. Other tests were just as unfair!

We should all be very relieved that we live in the age that we do and, although it's far from perfect, imagine the horrors if we didn't!

Read my novel Manhattan Legacy available on Lulu.com 

Read reviews of Manhattan Legacy on Amazon

You can buy Manhattan Legacy in various ebook formats on Smashwords

New Jersey - the Dutch Years Part One

For tens of thousands of years the ancestors of the Delaware natives of New Jersey lived an itinerant way of life, following migratory herds of prey, fishing in fresh rivers and along the eastern coastline, and setting up bark-sided houses that could be easily dismantled and carried to the next location. Small-scale agriculture and their nomadic way of life saw the Delaware benefit from fertile soil, plentiful wildlife and abundant vegetation.

Enter the Dutch!

Henry Hudson in 1609. He sailed for the Dutch East India Company, exploring the East Coast including Delaware, Raritan, New York Bays and the Hudson River. Then came Adriaen Block who mapped out the coastline along Delaware, New Jersey, Long Island and New England. He gave this region the name New Netherlands. Block Island, Rhode Island is named after him.

Factorij or trading posts were being established at Commipaw, Hopoghan Hackingh (Hoboken) and Arresick (Paulus Hook) from 1617 onwards.

Small outposts were sprouting up in and around the Delaware River from 1624 to cater for a burgeoning fur trade. Cornelius Jacobsen Mey, after whom Cape May is named, arrived with thirty families who were to colonise the area and establish the province of New Netherland. Walloon settlers who had arrived on Nut (Governor's) Island were sent to a fort on an island previously called Murderer's island, renamed Prince's Island in honour of Prince William of Orange and now called Burlington Island. The settlement, Fort Wilhelmus, was located in the South or Delaware River. This would see the first European settlement in New Jersey.

Across the Hudson (Noorte) River from New Amsterdam and, on the banks of Upper New York Bay, the next permanent colony was a patroonship, a large parcel of land granted by the West India Company to a Dutchman called Micheal Pauw. This was in 1630 and was bought for a ridiculous sum that I outlined in my previous blog http://tinyurl.com/of5phbl  
Micheal Pauw was a burgermeester from Amsterdam and a director of the West India Company. It was in his vanity that Pauw latinised his surname and called the settlement Pavonia. Translated, this means peacock - rather an apt word!! Bought from the Lenape, this was the territory of the Turtle Clan or Unami.

Pauw's holdings eventually included Staten Isand, Bergen Point (which included eight miles of shoreline on both Hudson and Hackensack Rivers), Bergen Neck and Paulus Hook (including a ferry). Quite a hand to hold if you'd been playing Monopoly! His downfall came when he established a plantation, worked by African slaves, but failed to fulfil the company's condition of having at least fifty permanent settlers. Pauw was required to resell his acquisitions back to the West India Company.

Part Two - Anglo-Dutch squabbling!

For more Dutch audacity:

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Psychopaths - brilliant character material.

My marriage ended after 23 years, not in the way that relationships just do: corrosive boredom, disrespect or simply growing apart. One day I had a home with my husband, my two sons and four dogs, the next I was on the street, homeless, with two sons, three dogs and no money.

At 52, and with no income, close family or savings, it was a dire situation. When the bailiff arrived to evict us, my husband took himself and his dog to live in a pretty, riverside hotel a quarter of a mile down the lane. With all my belongings scattered about in front of my home, I watched in disbelief and shock as he ambled away from his family, with money in his pocket, a long and successful career in the music industry, many famous friends and a published book. He didn't look back once.

I suffered a complete nervous breakdown in the weeks and months that followed. It was very tough, not only on me, but also on my two sons. I had to have a beloved, traumatised dog put to sleep.

Later, papers and letters I found among my husband's discarded belongings revealed a hidden world. A man who had lived a life of fantasy, lies and deceit; a man so completely devoid of caring, responsibility and empathy that he could just walk away from his wife and sons without explanation. Two years later, I was granted a divorce on the grounds of his unreasonable behaviour.

So, when I create a character who is cold, uncaring, manipulative and dark, it is based on my personal experience and is the truth as I know it.

Psychopathic behaviour, as an inspiration for fictional characters, is one that could immediately conjure up images of snarling lunatics such as Hannibal Lechter and Freddie of Nightmare on Elm Street. This is not always the case. Sometimes psychopaths can appear remarkably bland and boring, but the impact of their immoral and inhuman behaviour can be just as devastating as if they had taken a knife to someone.

As odd as it sounds, I consider myself fortunate to have had up-close and personal associations with many psychopaths of differing degrees in my life and it has given me insight into human behaviour and allowed me to create what I believe to be credible characters in my book, Manhattan Legacy.

Have I ever wanted revenge? Oh, yes. Who wouldn't? I would love to expose my ex-husband, shame him and let all his adoring fans know exactly what sort of person it is that they worship.

Next time I will tell you why I haven't gone there - yet. I will tell of specific events relating to well-known artistes, of callous treatment meted out to aspiring artistes and of other psychopaths who have affected my life and my writing.

Read my novel Manhattan Legacy available on Lulu.com 

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You can buy Manhattan Legacy in various ebook formats on Smashwords

Explorer eaten by cannibals

Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrazzano, passed by Cape Fear, North Carolina, on his ship, La Dauphine, in March, 1524. He reported to his sponsor, King Francis 1 of France, that he had found the entrance to the Pacific Ocean, an error that would influence maps of North America for hundreds of years to come.

Continuing his voyage northwards along the coastline of New Jersey,Verrazzano observed natives, the Lenni Lenape or Delaware, living beside what he took to be a large lake, but was, in fact, the entrance to the Hudson River. He sailed along Long Island and entered Narragansett Bay where he met with a delegation of Wampanoag natives.

For charting the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbour, a bridge was named after him; the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York.

It's such a shame then that the explorer who had mapped out the coastline of New Jersey ended up being eaten by Caribe cannibals on one of the Lower Antilles in 1528!

Purchase price of Hudson County

In 1630, three Delaware natives "sold" the land of Pavonia or Hudson County to Dutch Burgermaster Michael Pauw for:

80 fathoms (146 m) of wampum, 

20 fathoms (37 m) of cloth, 

12 kettles, 

six guns, 

two blankets

one double kettle, and half a barrel of beer. 

These transactions were dated July 12, and November 22, and represent the earliest known conveyance for the area. 

Four years earlier, in 1626, these same Delaware natives had allegedly been responsible for 'selling' Manhattan Island to Pieter Minuit for 60 guilders before moving on to Pavonia.

4 interesting facts about New Jersey

The first American brewery was opened in Hoboken in 1642.

All New Jersey counties are classified as metropolitan areas - the only state in the USA to do so.

New Jersey is home to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island*.

Highlands, New Jersey, has the highest elevation along the entire Eastern Seaboard from Florida to Maine.

* This fact is particularly interesting as I'm sure most of us in the UK think these are in New York.