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( New Netherland)
Rensselaerwyck
Colen Donck (Yonkers, New York) In 1524 the first European to visit the area was Giovanni da Verrazzano, who was hired by the French crown and sailed the Dauphine (English Dolphin) from Cape Fear in the south to Nova Scotia in the north during his expedition to find a route to the Pacific Ocean.[2] In 1609, during the first year of the twelve-year armistice between The Dutch Republic and Spain, Henry Hudson who had been hired by the Dutch East India Company, sailed the yacht Halve Maen (English Half Moon) across the Atlantic on an expedition in search of a passage to China. He made landfall at Newfoundland Island and next at Cape Cod, which he mistakenly thought was an island too. Setting off again he sailed south to the Chesapeake and explored the coast northward including the bays and rivers, ending up at the location of present day Albany on the Hudson River, at which point the water became too shallow to continue, and he headed back to Europe. Hudson’s report to his superiors relayed that he had engaged in small-scale bartering for furs with the natives he had encountered along the Mauritius River, which attracted further Dutch interest in the area.[3] In 1610, the prospect of exploiting Henry Hudson’s report of a new trade resource was the catalyst for Dutch private merchant-traders to explore the river region Hudson had discovered. It resulted in the only known commercial expedition in the year 1610 by Symen Lambertsz Mau to the Mauritius River, which was the original name for the Hudson River.
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