Hendrick Christiaensen (died 1619) was a Dutch explorer who was involved in the earlier exploration of what became the colony of
New Netherland
New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva P ...
.
Life
Hendrick Christiaensen was a ship captain and trader employed by the Van Tweenhuysen Company of Amsterdam.
In 1611 Christiaensen paid two visits to
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
in his ship ''Fortuyn'', including one with fellow explorer
Adriaen Block
Adriaen (Arjan) Block (c. 1567 – buried April 27, 1627) was a Dutch private trader, privateer, and ship's captain who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four v ...
in his ''
Tyger''. Upon his return to the Dutch Republic in 1612, he brought back with him two young Native Americans who were the sons of a local
sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
. The Dutch were fascinated with the boys, whom they called Orson and Valentine Christiaensen.
In 1613 Christiaensen and Block returned in the two vessels, and created the first map of the region that showed
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and
Long Island as separate geographical entities.
Fort Nassau
In 1614 Christiensen sailed the ''Fortuyn'' up the North River to
Castle Island (New York), where he built a warehouse on the ruins of an old abandoned French fur trader's fort. He added a stockade and a moat eighteen feet wide.
[Joyce, John St. George. ''Story of Philadelphia'', Rex print. house, Philadelphia , PA 1919]
/ref> He named it Fort Nassau in honor of stadtholder Maurice of Nassau
Maurice of Orange ( nl, Maurits van Oranje; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince o ...
. The river, sometimes known as the ''Mauritius'' was also named after Maurice. Christiensen took two cannon and eleven swivel guns from the ''Fortuyn'' and left twelve men under the command of Jacob Eelkens, before returning downriver.
In the spring of 1619 Christiaensen's ship, the ''Swarte Beer'', was lying in the Hudson River when his ship was surprised by Indians. In the attack Hendrick Christiaensen and the greater part of his crew were killed. The survivors succeeded in driving away the Indians from the ship by two shots from the guns.Hart, Simon. "The Pre-History of the New Netherlands Company", City of Amsterdam Press, 1959
/ref>
See also
*Fort Nassau (North River)
Fort Nassau (a.k.a. Fort van Nassouwen) was the first Dutch settlement in North America, located beside the " North River" (the modern Hudson) within present-day Albany, New York, in the United States. The ''factorij'' was a small fortification ...
*Two Row Wampum Treaty
The Two Row Wampum Treaty, also known as ''Guswenta'' or ''Kaswentha'' and as the Tawagonshi Agreement of 1613 or the Tawagonshi Treaty, is a mutual treaty agreement, made in 1613 between representatives of the Five Nations of the Haudenosaune ...
* Adrian Jorisszen Tienpoint
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
17th-century Dutch explorers
1574 births
1616 deaths
Dutch explorers of North America
Dutch people murdered abroad
Explorers of the United States
Male murder victims
People of New Netherland
Year of birth unknown
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