A HISTORY OF PROSPERITY 



In September of 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman 

 under the employ of the Dutch East India Company, 

 brought his ship, the Half Moon, into what later became 

 New York Harbor. Hudson was in search of a northwest 

 passage to the East Indies and thought he might find 

 one through the American northeast. He cruised up the 

 river subsequently named for him, but gave up his 

 search by the time he reached what is now the Albany 

 area. 



Later, in 1614, Adrian Block, also employed by the 

 Dutch East India Company, received a three-year con- 

 tract from the parliament of the Netherlands permitting 

 the company to trade with the New World. All during 

 this time scattered settlements in the area of New 

 Netherlands were spreading and growing. With the 

 arrival of Dutch migrant families, Manhattan Island was 

 formally colonized in the summer of 1626, when Peter 

 Minuit, director-general of the colony, made one of 

 the most famous contracts in history by purchasing it 

 from the Indians. 



JLhe first "smoke -in" 



By the mid- 17th century. New Amsterdam, as New 

 York City was then called, had become a growing and 

 bustling town. Tobacco was common in the area, as the 

 Dutch families had been familiar with its use for years. 

 But in 1639, William Kieft, then director-general, issued 

 an arbitrary ban on a socially entrenched habit which 

 he found annoying— pipe smoking. The first "smoke-in" 

 occurred when the edict went into effect. The majority 

 of the town's male population smoked pipes and strongly 

 opposed the wishes of the director-general. Washington 



