Under the Dutch 25 



The Dutch soon took advantage of Hudson's discovery; 

 and for nearly fifteen years a succession of Dutch vessels 

 under skillful and active masters like Block, May, Christiansen, 

 and De Witt visited the river and traded with the Indians, 

 returning to Holland with furs and peltry. Trading-posts 

 were established at Castle Island below Albany and on Man- 

 hattan Island ; the former was the more important, being near 

 the heart of the fur country and among friendly Indians. 

 But the traders did not stay; having laden their ships, they 

 returned to Holland. 



The first lot of agricultural colonists settled at Fort Orange, 

 later Albany, in the first half of May, 1624, The settlement 

 of Manhattan Island did not take place until the spring of 

 1626; though for many years before that date the island had 

 been occupied, as indicated, as a trading-post by the Dutch, 

 and probably by the French. In the year 1628, according 

 to Wassenaer, the total white population of New Amsterdam 

 numbered two hundred and seventy souls. 



The land north of the Harlem River was occupied near the 

 Hudson by the Manhattans and by the Weckquaesgeeks ; 

 eastward of them were the Siwanoys as far as Stamford in 

 Connecticut — all branches of the Mohegans. This territory 

 was usually spoken of as the mainland. 



On August 3, 1639, there was conveyed by the Indian 

 sachems, Tequeemet, Rechgawac, and Pachimiens, to the 

 West India Company, through Secretary Cornelis Van Tien- 

 hoven, a tract of land, "called Keskeskeck, stretching length- 

 wise along the Kil which runs behind the island of Manhattan, 

 mostly east and west, and beginning at the head of said Kil 

 and running to opposite of the high hill by the flat, namely 

 by the Great Kil, with all right, titles, etc., etc." The "Kil 

 behind the island of Manhattan" is the Harlem River; the 



