History is written by the victors – a history of the credits
New York City, the Capital of the World. Other names are Gotham, Modern Gomorrah, The Big Apple, Empire City and Baghdad-on-the-Subway. With Times Square being the self-proclaimed Centre of the Universe. Amidst all this grandeur and bigness, portraits of two seventeenth-century men from the small villages Peperga and Koudum in the south of province Friesland, hang at the walls of respectively City Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Met. Men from a period this insomniac Fun City was still known as Nieuw Amsterdam ‘New Amsterdam’.
Before disclosing to the reader the names of the two men, we ask the questions of this post first: how come Dutchmen, i.e. people from region Holland in the Netherlands, (also) get the credits for things accomplished by Frisians? Or, if we put the focus on the Frisians: why are they not able to get the credits for things they have achieved? What skills do they lack that the Hollanders have? Lastly, the most sensitive question: what can Frisians learn from Hollanders?
Who has not heard of the Vliegende Hollander ‘Flying Dutchman’? Machinations are still working to cover up that the Flying Dutchman was, in fact, a Frisian. It was not the fictional character Willem van der Decken from the town of Terneuzen in province Zeeland, but the historic seafarer Barent Fockesz. (also written as Barend Fokke, Barent Focke or Barend Fokkes) from province Friesland. Indeed, the typical Dutch component ‘van‘ is no part of Barent’s surname. Fockesz. was a captain in the service of the illustrious Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie VOC (‘Dutch East-India Company’), and managed to sail with the ship De Snobber ‘the sweet tooth’ from Batavia, modern Jakarta in Indonesia, to the island of Texel in the Netherlands, in exactly three months and four days. In general, this journey took six to eight months.
Therefore, people deducted: it must be that Fockesz. had sold his soul to the Devil. People said he had made a pact with the Devil whereby Fockesz. would have the wind in his sails for seven years, but afterward had to keep sailing for ever. A later addition to the legend is that, because of foul-weather, the captain could not round the Cape of Good Hope of South Africa and said:
“God or the Devil, I shall round the Cape. Even if it means I must sail the seas till the Day of Judgment!”
He threw the Bible overboard. From then on he had to sail for ever the seas and may not enter any port.
Another addition to the legend is that the Devil is on board the ship disguised as a black poodle. A wolf in sheep’s clothing, but slightly different. Poodles have been associated more often with evil, restless souls and the Devil, like the saga in region Ostfriesland of Die beiden Pudel ‘The two poodles’ and the saga of Der Pudel vom Diekhof ‘The poodle from Diekhof’.
Until 1808, when it was destroyed by the eternal enemy the British, there was even a statue of Fockesz. on an island in front of the city of Batavia. With the purpose of breaking waves, the fast ship De Snobber was sunk down at pulau ‘island’ Damar Basar located north of modern Jakarta in 1701. Fockesz. retreated in 1688, after his last sea journey to the East, on the Wadden Sea island of Terschelling. He died in 1706, and is buried on the island as well. Because his achievements did not go unnoticed, Fockesz. was consulted often by the VOC and received the office of equipagemeester, the senior office responsible for the ship equipment (Doedens & Houter 2022).
Anyway, remember from this day forward to speak of the Flying Frisian instead of the Flying Dutchman, and Control+Alt+Delete the fictional Zeelander name Willem van der Decken. With this knowledge, please do watch the movie Pirates of the Caribbean again.
More Frisians in the (thin) air – A famous early-medieval Germanic legend is that of Wayland the Smith. The blacksmith who made wings a flew from the island where he was kept captive. He too might have been from Frisia. Read our post Weladu the flying blacksmith to find out more. Yet another person of Frisian descent who carries the nickname Flying Dutchman, is astronaut Jack Lousma from Grand Rapids, USA. Check out our post More Flying 'Dutchmen'.
The same incompetence of Frisians of getting the credits, is the case with the colony of Nieuw Nederlant 'New Netherland' in America in the seventh century.
The story is all too familiar. In the year 1609 the Englishman Henry Hudson, an expat hired by the merchants of the VOC and captain of the ship De Halve Maen ‘The Crescent Moon’, discovered the island of Manhattan, and sailed up the River Hudson. He was actually hired by the VOC to find the Northeast Passage to Asia via the Arctic Ocean. Like the Frisian seafarer Willem Barendsz had tried several times not so long before, but who got stuck on Nova Zembla ‘Novaya Zemlya’ for the winter of 1595-1596. However, Hudson completely ignored the instructions of the Heeren XVII ‘Lords Seventeen’ of the VOC, also because he had tried it himself already not long before, and without success. A fox is not caught twice in the same snare, and Hudson sailed to the West to find a passage to Asia there. Soon after Hudson’s trip, Dutch immigrants started to settle in the region. First, through the New Netherland Company founded in 1613 and dissolved in 1618. This company had built a small Fort Nassau at present-day Albany (Lucas & Traudt 2021). The New Netherland Company was succeeded by the West-Indische Company ‘Dutch West India Company’ (WIC), founded in 1621.
In 1624, another expat working for the Dutch Republic, the German named Peter Minuit, bought the island ‘Manhattes’ from the so-called wilden ‘wildlings’ or ‘savages’. The price was sixty guilders; the famous 24 USD best business deal ever in history. The purchase is documented in the Schaghenbrief ‘Schagen Letter’ of November 5, 1626. It was the Westfrisian Cornelis Jacobszoon Mey, his surname was also written May, from the town of Hoorn (or Schellinkhout?) who became the first governor of the New Netherland colony during the years 1624 and 1625. The ‘wildlings’ were according to the Dutch called the Manhatesen, who were a small band of 200 or 300 men and women grouped together under different chiefs. The Manhatese were probably a northern branch of the Lenape people, meaning ‘the people’ in their language. Concerning the translation of Manhattan ‘Manna Hatta’ opinions differ, but it could mean ‘hilly island’, ‘great island’ or simply ‘island’.
The Lenape did not sell the ground at all. Private ownership of land is not possible in the view of native American peoples. More likely the Lenape merely agreed with Minuit the Dutch could use Manhattan, in combination with forming more or less an alliance against hostile tribes. Thus the Lenape also continued to stay on the land. They regularly showed up and expected food and accommodation for days on end. If colonists did not give it, they often threatened to slaughter their hogs, chickens and cows. In fact, in many areas on Manhattan island and the Noortrivier ‘north river’ (current River Hudson) up to the town of Beverwijck (current Albany) more or less continuous presence of native tribes on the lands of the colonists was the reality. Even, if land was ‘bought’ and colonists did not immediately establish themselves on it, the native tribes demanded a second ‘sale’ a year later. In other words, in the eyes of the Lenape these transactions were temporarily permissions to stay on land that remained their territory, provided the Dutch would keep honor them with food, etc, and provided they would help them in fights against hostile tribes (Venema 2003).
It was in general a quite, relatively peaceful and intense co-existence between the Dutch settlers and native peoples during most of the time of the history of the New Netherland colony. Of course, apart from the Kieft’s Wars, which will be addressed further below. The Dutch were keen in buying beaver pelts, the native tribes keen in selling these to the Dutch. There was not half a day when there were no native tribesmen present in the settlements of the New Netherland colony. Although it was not allowed to accommodate natives tribesmen inside your own house, the Dutch built primitive bark houses on their property to accommodate their business partners when needed. These little houses had names like wilden huysje (‘little wildling's house’) and hansioos huysje ('Hans' little house'). Despite native tribesmen being omnipresent, the two cultures remained separate. There are not many examples of interracial relationships and mixed-race offspring was probably limited.
One thing that periodically did cause commotion were drunk tribesmen. When drunk, often it led to outburst of violence, like molest, killing of livestock and to damage of property, and occasionally to deaths on both sides. For this reason it was prohibited to sell alcoholic beverages to native people. Whereas drinking within Dutch culture reinforced ties of the group, for a native tribesmen it led to isolation of the individual from the group because of losing self-control and temper. Illustrative is that the Maquas tribe, anticipating on their wars with the French, requested the Dutch authorities in 1659 not to sell any brandy to their tribesmen. Enforcing the regulations of not selling alcohol to tribesmen was quite a challenge for the colonial authorities. If you take for example the village of Beverwijck (future Albany), it had about a 1,000 inhabitants and about thirteen taverns. For every seventy-five inhabitants, one gin joint. Public drinking houses were always the first institutions established by the Dutch in the colonies (Lucas & Traudt 2021).
Incidentally, the Schaghenbrief is considered the birth certificate of New York City. It was written by the Westfrisian Pieter Jansz Schaghen from, indeed, the town of Schagen. He was a special administrator of the WIC. He wrote this letter to inform his WIC superiors in that the ship the Wapen van Amsterdam 'Arms of Amsterdam' had returned from the West, including the contents it had brought back (i.e. over 8,000 pelts of beaver, otter, mink, rat, and of wildcat, together with oak).
Colony New Netherland, a new province of the Dutch Republic, was quite a property. It stretched from peninsula Cape Cod, which itself was British, in the north to peninsula Delmarva in the south. Roughly 700 kilometres of coast. More inland, it encompassed parts of the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Republic of the Seven United Netherlands - The term 'Dutch Republic' is an abbreviation of the official name: Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden ‘Republic of the Seven United Netherlands’. The republics of the federation were in alphabetic order: Lordship of Friesland, Duchy of Guelders, Lordship of Groningen, County of Holland and West-Friesland, Lordship of Overijssel, Lordship of Utrecht, County of Zeeland. County of Drenthe was also part of the republic, the eighth Province, but had no voting right within the States General.
The Republic had five admiralties. An admiralty was responsible for the organisation of a naval fleet. These were: Amsterdam, De Maze (Rotterdam), Noorderkwartier (region Westfriesland), Dokkum/Harlingen (Friesland) and Middelburg (Zeeland).
The settlements of the colony all received very Dutchly names. Like Rhinebeck, Haarlem (Harlem), Vlissingen (Flushing), Breukelen (Brooklyn; check also our post Attingahem Bridge for its surprising early-medieval Frisian history), New Amstel (New Castle), the Bronx, Wall Street, Tappan Zee, Oester Eylant (Ellis Island), Bloemendaal (Bloomingdale), Bouwerij (Bowery), Conijne Eylant (Coney Island), Dutch Kills, ‘t Lange Eylant (Long Island), Staten Eylant (Staten Island), Kinderhook, Rensselaer, (East) Nassau, Nassau County, the Oranges, Beverwijck (Albany), Fort Oranje (Albany), Midwout, Swaanendael, Heemstede, Rustdorp, Rotterdam, Sprakers, Schuylkill River, Verplanck, Peekskill, Ossining, Yonkers (jonkheer, the estate of squire Van der Donck), and, of course, New Amsterdam (New York City). Really, just to name a few.
Moreover, the persons who profited from the colony, the colonial elite so to speak, became famous names in America. It are the families Van Buren, Vanderbilt, Leffert, Van Nostrand, Philipse, Van Cortland, Schuyler, Van Leers, Wyckhoff, Van Horn, Beekman, and, of course, Roosevelt. Other import mercantile families of the Dutch colonists of New Netherland were Verbrugge, Momma, Van Rensselaer and Van Twiller (Lukezic & McCarthy 2021). All together, a lot of Dutch ‘van’ surnames and again no typical Frisian surname extension ‘-ga’, ‘-ma’ or ‘-stra’. Read our post How to recognize a Frisian by name, and pretend not to laugh.
We found a few exceptions to the rule and place names of Frisian origin have been given. One is Cape May in Delaware Bay. Named after the aforementioned Westfrisian Cornelis Jacobszoon Mey, who was the first governor of the New Netherland colony. Opposite of Cape May, on the southern side of the Delaware Bay, the settlement of Swanendael 'swan's dale' along Hoorn Kill, current Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, was founded. From Swanendael, by the way, the Dutch started with whaling around 1630 (Romm 2010). Commercial whaling in the Arctic had started twenty years earlier, led by England, the Dutch Republic and the free cities of Hamburg and Bremen. Read our post Happy Hunting Grounds in the Arctic. Another exception is the place name Cape Henlopen, also in Delaware Bay. Named after the merchant Thijmen Jacobszoon Hinlopen from the town of Hindeloopen. Another example is the place name Vriessendael 'Frisians dale' at today's Edgewater at the banks of the River Hudson. It was founded by the Westfrisian globetrotter and adventurer David Pieterszoon from the city of Hoorn in region Westfriesland. He is commonly known as David de Vries 'David the Frisian' or as David Pietersen de Vries.
This De Vries bloke must have been a remarkable personality. He had been in the East before popping up in the West. On Staten Island he had established a farmstead. During his life in New Netherland he tried to help out the fairly incapable Governor Wouter van Twiller when a British merchant ship wanted to sail up the River Hudson. Instead of telling the English trader to buzz off, Van Twiller ended up being drunk and wasted on board the ship with the captain. Eventually it was De Vries who prevented the ship breaching Dutch sovereignty. But De Vries is mostly remembered for his, albeit in vain, efforts to prevent Governor Willem Kieft from making war with the native peoples, the Tappan, the Hackinsack, the Wickquasgeck, and the Raritan. Governor Kieft had succeeded Van Twiller in 1638. The so-called Kieft's Wars, from 1643 to 1645. All to the horror of not only De Vries, but to many inhabitants of the New Netherland colony, and even back in the Republic itself. In 1647 Kieft was fired. In 1633, De Vries made also an effort to restart commercial whaling in Delaware Bay. It became no success.
Dutch Heritage - At Broadway and 240th Street you can find the only surviving house on Manhattan in Dutch colonial style. It is the farmhouse of William Dyckman. He himself was not a Dutch, but a German from Westphalia (although some say his family originated from Amsterdam). It was built in 1785. It is now a museum of the Dutch period on Manhattan.
he River Hudson valley was dotted with Dutch settlements and also home to two famous American legends, namely that of the Headless Horseman from Sleepy Hollow, and that of Rip van Winkle. The Dutch origin is an important element of both stories. The legend of the Headless Horseman reminds us of the saga of the headless knight of the port town of Marienhafe in Ostfriesland. In fact, he is a former pirate carrying his head under his arm, and can be spotted around midnight a the tower of Marienhafe. Both American legends have been written by Washington Irving (1783-1859). He is buried at Sleepy Hollow.
Other old houses in New York in the Dutch colonial style are the Lott House and the Wyckoff farmhouse, both in Brooklyn and both built in/around 1652. But also the Flatlands Reformed Church, also in Brooklyn, built a year later in 1653. The Wyckoff farmhouse, between Clarendon Rd and Ditmas Ave in East Flattbush, Brooklyn, is considered to be the oldest house of New York City. Originally the name was spelled as Wykhof. It was built by an East-Frisian, namely Pieter Claesen from near the town of Norden in the north of region Ostfriesland. Pieter Claesen came to New Netherland in 1632 when he was twelve years old. It was in 1652 when he bought a piece of land from the WIC in New Amersfoort also known as the Flatlands, and what would become Brooklyn.
Finally. The portraits in City Hall and the Met in New York City what we started this post with, are of government officials. From the small villages Koudum and Peperga, as said, both in the south of province Friesland, only forty kilometres apart as the crow flies.
Pieter Stuyvesant (1611?-1672)
The one of village Peperga in City Hall is the portrait of Pieter Stuyvesant (see image below), also called Peter or Petrus Stuyvesant. Peperga, a small village, only fifteen kilometres as the crow flies away from the Zuiderzee 'southern sea', and thus connected with the wide world. The profession of his father Balthasar Joannis Stuyvesant (ca. 1587-1637), a minister, probably also gave Stuyvesant a broader look at the world. His father was born in the port of Dokkum in Friesland, and died in the port of Delfzijl in province Groningen. His mother was Margaretha Hardenststein (1575-1625), who died in the village of Berlikum in province Friesland. Grandfather Joannis Stuyvesant was innkeeper in Dokkum.
Pieter Stuyvesant received his elementary education in Dokkum. A port town where the Admiralty of Friesland was located, and thus his first encounter with the international military enterprise of the Republic where he would become part of. In 1628, he started his studies at the university of Franeker in province Friesland. To the dismay of his father, Stuyvesant studied philosophy and not theology. Franeker was a university with quite international prestige in Europe those days, with about 200 students and sixteen professors, and brewing with new ideas. Even René Descartes lectured at this university in 1629. Not the least person to have followed his lectures.
Stuyvesant was not your typical obedient college kid. Known for both stealing from his landlady as well as having sex with her daughter, and for rough behavior in taverns in the port of Harlingen. That time, Harlingen was one of the major ports of the Republic. Maybe Stuyvesant was lurking around the vice districts of Harlingen together with the controversial Polish professor Johannes Maccovius. Of the latter we know he frequented a brothel in Harlingen, named The King of England. Read our post Harbours, Hookers, Heroines and Women in Masquerade for more about this and other brothels. Whether or not he smoked tobacco we do not know. Perhaps Stuyvesant had one of those fancy Gouda smoking pipes, that just had become fashionable. In the year 1630, Stuyvesant was expelled from the university. Probably because of the incident with the daughter of his landlady (Greer 2009).
His nickname was Peg Leg Pete, or Zilverbeen 'silver leg' in Dutch. This because of his sparkly wooden leg, covered with frills and decorations. He lost his leg during a military naval campaign at the island of Saint Martin in 1644. Captain Ahab of the Caribbean. Although he stole from his landlady when he was young, Stuyvesant as a governor was tough on colonists who cheated native tribes in business deals. He is being described as the man who gave a damn for the noble and academic laws of Hugo Grotius or Descartes. The company's law (i.e. WIC) was the only natural law for him, and he understood duty and station (Shorto 2005).
Stuyvesant was by far the longest serving governor of New Netherland colony and made a real mark. Stuyvesant was appointed by the WIC in 1646 and fulfilled this position for eighteen years. Normally governors only did the job for a couple of years. Albeit he did not achieve what his Westfrisian colleague Jan Pietersz Coen had achieved with the Dutch Indies in the East earlier that century, he still expanded and secured the young colony all this time. That was quite a challenge by the way, since the neighboring British and Swedish colonies became quite aggressive, whilst the Dutch colony was extensive and only sparsely populated (about 10,000 people). Defense was thus difficult. During Stuyvesant's rule, in 1653, the settlement of New Amsterdam even received the status of city with its own council. Furthermore, it was Stuyvesant who founded Beverwijck in 1652, later to become the city of Albany. This was the area around Fort Oranje. Beverwijck, meaning 'Beaver Trading Site', refers to the main economic activity: the trade in beaver pelts the Dutch bought from the native tribes (Venema 2003).
On September 24, 1664 Stuyvesant surrendered to a British fleet. The citizens of the New Netherland colony refused to fight knowing they never stood a chance, and pressed Stuyvesant to negotiate a surrender. This was during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. As we shall see further below, New Netherland was quite an obsession of King Charles II of England. The process of surrender would be Stuyvesant's last act as governor, but a decisive one in world history.
The Articles of Capitulation that were agreed for the surrender of New Netherland attest to bourgeois rights, liberties achieved since the Plakkaat van Verlatinghe 'Act of Abjuration' of 1581. The declaration of independence of the Dutch Republic. In the Plakkaat it was stated that the people may free themselves from a ruler, if he no longer fulfills his duties and obligations toward the people. The Articles negotiated by Stuyvesant state among other that the Dutch here shall enjoy the liberty of consciences, that they would be free to come and go whenever they liked, and that trade would be free. Also, the Articles state that the representative government institutions of the Manhattanites would stay the same, except for them to swear loyalty to the king of England from now on. With these negotiations, the British Empire was infected with the virus of bourgeois liberties for which, at the end, no vaccine was available, and would spread into the United States that would emerge soon.
A year after the surrender Stuyvesant returned to patria, to Holland. He was ordered to do so by the States General to answer why he had surrendered the colony without a fight. Stuyvesant defended his case and pleaded to be allowed to return to his possessions in the New Netherland colony. Back to his estate the Grote Bouwerij/Bouwerie, meaning 'farm', now known as the Bowery. He and his family had become Americans. America was his home (Shorto 2005). The States General allowed him to do so. He and his family retreated at the Bowery, which stretched from East River to 4th Avenue. On the Bowery Stuyvesant owned forty slaves (Hondius 2017). On the streets of New York people still greeted him with 'general'. For this, Stuyvesant has recently been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Frisia (ICTF). Check the press release concerning his indictment and about the ICTF. Stuyvesant died in the year 1672.
The Saint Mark's Church in the Bowery, built on top of the chapel Stuyvesant had commissioned back in 1660, is the oldest place of continuous religious worship. Stuyvesant is buried here. His tomb is built into the side of the church. Local legend has it, especially throughout the nineteenth century, the area of the church is being haunted by the ghost of Peg Leg Pete, the proud, stiff Frisian. You could hear him walk, his soul tormented still by the fact he had lost New Amsterdam to the English. Bit similar to the sagas surrounding the pirate and privateer Klaus Störtebeker who haunts the old tower of the port of Marienhafe in Ostfriesland. Around midnight, you can hear his footsteps too.
Stuyvesant was remembered in history as the governor that was straightforward, stubborn and being authoritarian. Somehow never as the man who planted the individual freedoms and liberties firmly on American soil, and which subsequently were carried across the River Delaware in 1776 by George Washington. And Stuyvesant did so through the delicate art of the possible, which required a firm hand too. Especially in a fragile and delicate situation of this far remote colony. In all this freedom of trade, individuality and representation of government, Stuyvesant stood in a millennium-old tradition of Frisia. Read our posts Porcupines bore U.S. Bucks and Upstalsboom: why solidarity is not the core of a collective to understand this old tradition. And, as we have seen, from his youth up till his days as a student, Stuyvesant was familiar with the international knowledge, trade and politics.
Jacob Benckes (left) and Pieter Stuyvesant (right)
One of the most, if not the most, influential and wealthiest citizens of New Amsterdam, and good acquaintance of Pieter Stuyvesant, was the Frisian Frederick Philipse (1627-1702). His surname is also spelled as Philippus or Flipse. He was born in the town of Bolsward and married in New Amsterdam the wealthy she-merchant Margaret Hardenbroeck, widow of Pieter Rudolphus de Vries. Philipse was an artisan and responsible for constructing the wall of Wall Street. A contract he got from Stuyvesant. Philipse also built the Philipsburg Manor and the church of Sleepy Hollow, where he, and many of his progeny, are buried. After his wife had died, Philipse marries Catharina van Cortlandt. Philipse gathered much of his wealth with the weapon and slave trade. Weapons were exported to Africa, especially sold to pirates on Madagascar, and slaves were imported. The Philipse dynasty remained very influential in New Netherland until the War of Independence (De Haan & Huisman 2009).
Jacob Benckes (1637-1677)
The other portrait is the one in the Met. It is the painted portrait of the untold naval-hero Jacob Benckes, often written as Binckes or Binkes, from the village of Koudum. We will elaborate on his history since its typical for the question of the post how Frisians always seem to succeed in not getting the credits.
Young Benckes was a seafarer and merchant in wood which he imported from Norway. Traditionally, the towns in the southwest of province Friesland traded a lot with Norway. His naval career at the Admiralty of Amsterdam started in 1660, among other with operations to escort merchant convoys to Norway and securing the River Elbe in the interest of Dutch merchant vessels. Captain Benckes is also very active in the heroic Raid on the Medway in June 1667. His frigate the Essen, which carried fifty stukken ‘cannons’ and twenty-five marines, is part of the strike force on the river. The marine corps of the Republic was the first corps in history specialised in amphibious operations. It was one of England’s biggest military humiliation ever. Other prestigious, Frisian naval officers who took part in the raid were: Enno Doedes Star from the village Osterhusen (county Ostfriesland), Volckert Schram from the town of Enkhuizen (region Westfriesland), Jan Corneliszoon Meppel from the town of Hoorn (region Westfriesland), and Hans Willem van Aylva from the village of Holwerd (province Friesland). World famous names, of course.
The Raid on the Medway was part of a strategy of the powerful regents, and brothers, Johan and Cornelis de Witt. A strategy to obtain the strongest position at the peace negotiations table in the city of Breda, that were going on. The English had tried to do the same earlier by raiding the Frisian Wadden Sea island Terschelling on August 20, 1666. An alpha dog and a beta dog, but this time the Dutch won. The Treaty of Breda of 1667 meant the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In the treaty, which was very favorable for the Dutch, it was agreed that all territories conquered on each other on May 20, 1667 would be respected. That meant that the New Netherland colony belonged to England. The, in fact, more lucrative properties Suriname, island Saba, island Sint Eustatius and island Tobago, Fort Cormantin, and all of the Banda Islands belonged to the Republic. The beaver-pelt trade in the New Netherland colony was from '1660s in decline already.
The peace of Breda was short-lived and five years later the Third Anglo-Dutch War started. The year 1672 is the so-called Rampjaar ‘Disaster Year’ of the Republic since not only a war with England broke out, but also one with France and one with the Habsburg Monarchy. Bit of an overkill for the Republic. Benckes is one of the captains during the Battle of Solebay on May 28, 1672. This time a sea battle against a huge, combined English and French fleet. Although heavily outnumbered, the Dutch were more or less victorious and left the ship the Royal James shot to pieces and burning behind. A warship with hundred stukken ‘canons’ and, moreover, it was the flagship of King Charles II. The king that graved for New Netherland.
They were hectic times and Benckes was full time at sea. Following the Battle of Solebay he was immediately sent on a secret mission to the West via the neutral port of Cadiz in Spain. Once in the Caribbean, Benckes had a rendezvous with a squadron of the Admiralty of Zeeland under command of Vice-Admiral Cornelis Evertsen. A squadron that ‘happened’ to be in the hood too and they ‘happened’ to find quite easily. They combined their squadrons into a joint fleet of twenty-one ships. The biggest fleet the West had ever seen roaming its shores. After causing some serious havoc and plundering at the coast of Virginia, they recaptured in 1673 New Amsterdam and the New Netherland colony. This after a short exchange of cannon fire. Benckes and Evertsen marched on Broadway. We love to think this is the origin of the ticker-tape parade. New Amsterdam, renamed New York by the English after they had conquered it in 1664, was renamed once again. This time it was baptized New Orange. Anthonij Colve was installed as the new, and last, governor of the colony.
Nicolaes Bayart, a nephew of former Governor Stuyvesant, who lived in the colony when it was retaken by the Dutch, was appointed secretary of the War Council that temporarily governed the colony. It is thought that due to Bayart’s diligent and hard work, many government reforms were implemented in a very short time. When a year later the colony was returned to England already, it was negotiated that the rights and freedoms of the citizens, and the governance by and large would be respected by the British. That turned out to be case in practice as well. New Yorkers can thank Bayart still for it. Just as Stuyvesant had done before in 1664 with the Articles of Capitulation.
According to The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide, “the last time anybody made a list of the top hundred character attributes of New Yorkers, common sense snuck in at number 79” (Adams 1996). Indeed, New Yorkers owe Stuyvesant, his nephew Bayart, and Benckes big time.
Cradle of American Liberties - With New Netherland, the Dutch established a colony with settlements based on free trade, liberty, and the right to purchase personal wealth. The Dutch who successfully fought the first great bourgeois revolution in world history and founded a federation of republics (Leonard 2020). That was about two centuries before the French Revolution in 1789. The settlers in New Netherland came from everywhere and for all sorts of reasons. The colony attracted traders, merchants, prostitutes, slaves, former slaves, trappers, explorers, etc. It became a mix of Germans, Italians, Swedes, Jews, native Americans, Africans and, of course, Dutch. A colorful collection of losers and scalawags, inconsequential and meandering, waiting around for the wind of fate to blow them of the map (Shorto 2005). It mirrors the demographic situation in the Republic and especially of Amsterdam, where around 1650 half of the population had not been born in the city itself (Venema 2003). The Dutch Republic back then -uniquely in Europe- believed in an open market and in global competition. Also, relative tolerance on religion was part of the Dutch. One of their most famous philosophers Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), the first modern thinker and founder of the Age of Enlightenment, wrote in 1670:
“in a free state every man may think what he likes, and say what he thinks”
This New-Netherland model had a lasting impact on the history of United States, and not only because of the similarities of being also a federation of republics. Political freedom and representative government were inherited through the New Netherland colony, long before the Declaration of Independence, and long before the British did. Quite the opposite of the early British colonies founded by the religious rigid Puritans and Pilgrim, north of the New Netherland colony. It was New Netherland, not Boston, Plymouth, or Jamestown, that is the cradle of America’s liberties, the Bill of Rights, and the center of open market and globalized economy. A belief that individual achievement matters more than birthright (Shorto 2004).
An exception to all this happiness was the settlement of Rensselaerswijck in the north of the colony, part of current city of Albany and capital of New York State today. It was founded by the diamond merchant and shareholder of the WIC, Kiliaen Rensselaer from the village of Hasselt. He governed his settlement in a strict feudalistic way. Rensselaerswijck, by the way, was purchased from the Mahicans in the '1630s by a Frisian named Sebastiaen Jansz Krol from the port of Harlingen, on behalf of Kiliaen Rensselaer. Krol was lay minister as well. During 1632 and 1633 Krol was also provisional governor of the New Netherland colony after Minuit was ordered to return to the Republic. Before being provisional governor he also fulfilled the position of commander of Fort Orange.
During the War of Independence between 1775-1783, the rebellious colonies (including the former Dutch colony) were actively supported by the Dutch Republic in their fight against Britain. Especially with weapons smuggled to America via the Caribbean. The reprisals of the English were tough and economically it cost the Republic dearly.
It goes without saying, diplomats of the American colonies tried to persuade countries to officially recognize the independence of the Republic of the United States of America. Province Friesland was the first state within the Dutch Republic to vote for recognition. That was on February 26, 1782. On April 19, 1782, the Dutch Republic recognized the independence, and was the second in the world to do so. The Kingdom of France was quicker than Province Friesland, and had recognized the independence of America on February 6, 1778 already. The driving forces in Friesland to recognise the States were Coert Lambertus van Beyma from Harlingen, and Johan Casparus Bergsma from Dokkum. On August 31, 1782, the newspaper the Independent Gazetteer reported that the people in Friesland were celebrating the independence of the United States and in the town of Franeker even with fireworks (Dijkstra 2021).
A typical Dutch historic frame is that unofficially, however, the Dutch Republic had recognized the States on November 16, 1776 already. So, before France. That was when the Dutch cordially greeted the American ship Andrew Doria from Saint Eustatius with eleven gunshots. An act that already infuriated proud Great Britain, then still at war with the Continental Army of America.
Back to the joint venture in the West of Benckes and Evertsen.
When the Amsterdam and Zeeland squadrons returned to the Republic, the conquered flags of the English were handed over by Benckes to Amsterdam. Not to the Admiralty of Zeeland. Hence a clear signal the whole operation in the Americas was authorized by the States of Province Holland en West-Friesland, and it was this Province that was in the lead of the thing. Nevertheless, in the centuries to come it was Evertsen who got the credits for recapturing New Amsterdam and Benckes was forgotten. Illustrative is the strophe of the nineteenth-century poet Potgieter: “Die Evertsen een eerkrans vlechte!” (‘Which braided a wreath for Evertsen’). No mention whatsoever of Benckes.
With the Treaty of Westminster in 1674, that marked the end of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the New Netherland colony was returned to England. There is much speculation about the naval operation of the combined operation of Vice-Admiral Evertsen and Commodore Benckes in the West. It is suggested much was secretly orchestrated by Stadtholder William III. The Prince of Orange happened to be one of the main shareholders of the WIC, a company that was facing bankruptcy at the time. A company, by the way, that was responsible for the transport of an estimated 300,000 slaves from Africa, which was about half of the total Dutch transatlantic slave trade. Time to make a profit again, William might have thought. Or was it to create leverage in the war against England, knowing New Netherland was precious to King Charles II?
But maybe there were even other interests involved which were more viciously on the side of William III. He had ambitions to marry his first cousin Mary II, who was a niece of King Charles II. Giving New Netherland to King Charles II as a kind of wedding gift, could contribute to get this marriage deal done. Not long after the Third Anglo-Dutch War had ended, William and Mary indeed married in 1677. The restitution of the New Netherland colony to England was explicitly approved by Stadtholder William III. One of the five negotiators sent by the Republic to negotiate the Treaty of Westminster was a Frisian by the way, Willem van Haren from region ‘t Bildt.
In 1675 Commodore Benckes is sent on a mission to assist the King of Denmark in his conflict with the King of Sweden, with the purpose to secure the Sound for Dutch trade. After this mission he is instructed in 1676 to go to the West again. At the same time, Admiral Michiel de Ruyter (from Vlissingen) is sent to the Mediterranean, and Admiral Maarten Tromp (from Den Briel) is sent to the Baltic Sea. So, a Frisian, a Dutchman and a Zeelander (‘Zeeuw’) were the three naval officers ruling the seas and determined to make life difficult for the French.
Benckes was tasked to conquer French Guiana and to colonize the island of Tobago. He succeeded in both. However, in February 1677 the French attacked with a big fleet Fort Sterrenschans on Tobago, which was still under construction. Benckes was able to stand his ground despite many loses and much destruction. The French sent immediately a new fleet to the West, whilst the Republic was slow with decision making. Military reinforcements arrived too late to help out Benckes. Benckes was stuck on the island, isolated. December that same year a second battle took place during which Benckes was killed. The battle of Tobago was one of the heaviest colonial battles ever. Tens of man-o-wars were destroyed, and it took more than 2,000 lives.
Benckes never lived to tell to be promoted to rear admiral. When he died at Tobago he was quite young, namely forty years. Officers, when promoted to rear admiral, were in general of older of age. Secondly, he was in the service of the Admiralty of Amsterdam, and he did not descend from the Amsterdam or Holland patricians. Admirals were often selected from influential families. Instead, Benckes was a relatively modest merchant from Friesland. Perhaps, if he had worked for the Admiralty of Friesland he would have had better chances for quicker promotion. Although, the States General of the Republic always had a say in appointing admirals, except for the Admiralty of Zeeland that was more independent in its human resource policy.
A vacancy Benckes might have hoped for, is the kind that Admiral Tjerk Hiddes (from the village of Sexbierum in Friesland) left behind in the year 1666. That year Hiddes was killed during the Four Day’s Battle against England. Hiddes is known for his statement after the disastrous Battle of Lowestoft in 1656 under the command of Admiral Jacob van Wassenaar Obdam, alias Foggy (‘slow’) Obdam:
“Vooreerst heeft God Almachtigh ons opperhooft de kennis ontnomen of noyt gegeven.”
First of all God Almighty has taken away from our chief the knowledge or never had given it.
Other (vice-) admirals from province Friesland, region Ostfriesland and region West-Friesland were: Hans Willem van Aylva (from Holwerd), Rudolf Coenders (from Harlingen), Pieter Florisse (from Monnickendam?), Jan Cornelisz Meppel (from Hoorn), Christoffel Middaghten (from Sexbierum), Volckert Adriaansz Schram (from Enkhuizen), Hidde Sjoerds (from Sexbierum), Enno Doedes Star (from Osterhusen), Auke Stellingwerf (from Harlingen), and David Vlugh (from Enkhuizen).
Lastly, there is the case of Robinson Kreutznaer, or better known as Robinson Crusoe. The castaway on a deserted island with his slave Friday. A story written by Daniel Defoe in 1719. Since Defoe said his story was all true, the question arises, who was this Robinson? Here the credits go to a Scot named Alexander Selkirk. Despite the Dutch-sounding last name Kreutznaer. Selkirk was a castaway on an island before the coast of modern Chile. Nothing is less true. It were the events of Benckes and his isolated stay on the island Tobago around which the story and character of Robinson Crusoe was modelled by Defoe (De Vries 2020). From the northern side of the island Robinson Crusoe could see the island Trinidad, as it is written by Defoe.
The story of Robinson Crusoe is, in fact, an ode to superior England with Tobago being England. France and Germany are represented by the cannibals, and the Dutch Republic is the enslaved cannibal named Friday. The father of Friday is Spain, out of which the Dutch Republic was born indeed. There are many more hints giving away Benckes’ adventure on island Tobago was the basis of the story. Yet again, this Frisian did not get the credits. They still go to the Scotsman Selkirk.
Conclusion
It is like what Winston Churchill once said: “history is written by the victors”. In this post repeatedly Frisians appear, but mostly as a government representative, like clerks, negotiators, administration and naval officers. They were the (ignorant?) instruments, it seems, of the powerful. Of William of Orange for example. Of victorious Holland. Even Stuyvesant did not get the real credits of establishing the basis for the freedoms and liberties of Manhattan and America as such. True, he got his own cigarette brand centuries later. Instead, a southerner and lawman called Adriaen van der Donck is often given these credits under the argument Stuyvesant was a boy of the countryside (Shorto 2004), which he was not as explained in this post. Indeed, Van der Donck does has the 'van' in his surname that Stuyvesant does not have.
For the Frisians in general, only some landmarks at the edge of the world, or even beyond, have been named after them. Find them on the barren Norwegian archipelago of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean (i.e. Ny-Friesland, Barentsøya and Barentszburg), as well as the Barents Sea near Novaya Zemlya, and Frisches Haff, Russia. Also Vries Strait is named after a Frisian, namely Maarten Gerritsz Vries from the port town Harlingen, who discovered in 1643 as the first European the Kuril archipelago, including island Sakharin, north of Japan. And, we must not forget the Gemma Frisius impact crater on the moon, the large David Fabricius crater also on the moon, and the Oort Cloud in the galaxy. All together mostly places you do not want to visit. Read our post Sailors escaped from Cyclops for more stories about Frisians in the arctic.
The question remains, how come the goody-goody Frisians lack the skills to receive the credits so badly? Their inability to claim success. Or is it that they are simply indifferent to success and glory? We welcome any ideas on this typical trait.
We leave Churchill behind and finish this post with a flattering remark from the American statesman John Adams (1735-1826). Adams was one of the founding fathers and the second President of the United States. Adams also played an important role in designing the Declaration of Independence of Thomas Jefferson. And, it was Adams, in charge of getting the Dutch Republic to recognize the independence of the States, who said that the Frisians were famous for their spirit of freedom.
Note 1 – If interested in how the Dutch tradition of free market and capitalism have evolved, read our post Porcupines bore US bucks. It becomes tedious, but yet again another piece of history the Frisians failed to receive the credits for.
Note 2 – The cigarette brand Stuyvesant is founded by the company Reemtsma with the slogan ‘Der Duft der großen weiten Welt‘ (The perfume of the great wide world). Also this was taken from Stuyvesant from the British, namely by the British American Tobacco plc. Reemtsma is a family business originating from Region Ostfriesland in Germany, today located in the city of Hamburg.
Note 3 - From the Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide of Douglas Adam:
Tips for aliens in New York
Land anywhere, Central Park, anywhere. No one will care or indeed even notice.
Surviving: get a job as a cabdriver immediately. A cab driver’s job is to drive people anywhere they want to go in big yellow machines called taxis. Don’t worry if you don’t know how the machine works and you can’t speak the language, don’t understand the geography or indeed the basic physics of the area, and have large green antennae growing out of your head. Believe me, this is the best way of staying inconspicuous.
If your body is really weird, try showing it to people in the streets for money.
Amphibious life forms from any of the worlds in the Swulling, Noxios, or Nausalia systems will particularly enjoy the East River, which is said to be richer in those lovely life-giving nutrients than the finest and most virulent laboratory slime yet achieved.
Having fun: this is the big section. It is impossible to have more fun without electrocuting your pleasure center….
Note 4 – For great artist impressions of New Netherland, check the site of painter artist Len Tantillo.
Suggested music
Rob de Nijs, Dag zuster Ursula (1973)
Counting Crows Mr. Jones (2009)
Further reading
Abbott, J.S.C., Peter Stuyvesant. The Last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam (1873)
Adams, D., The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (1996)
Attema, R., Maarten Gerritsz Vries. VOC-commandeur van Harlingen (2008)
Breuker, P., Fryslân yn de Gouden Iuw. Opfettingen. Ideeën. Ferbylding (2022)
Buwalda, A.A., Friese kapiteins (33): Johan van Bonga (2019); Friese kapiteins (45): Douwe van Glins (2020); Friese kapiteins (54): Tjaard Tjebbes Hobbema (2020)
Connolly, C., The True Native New Yorkers Can Never Truly Reclaim Their Homeland (2018)
Degener, R., Dutch bought Cape May land for whaling colony that never materialized (2012)
Dijkstra, A., De Hemelbouwer. Een biografie van Eise Eisinga (2021)
Doedens, A. & Houter, J., Zeevaarders in de Gouden Eeuw (2022)
Goor, van J., Jan Pieterszoon Coen. Koopman-koning in Azië. 1587-1629 (2015)
Greer, B., Sex and the City. The Early Years. A Bawdy Look at Dutch Manhattan (2009)
Haan, de P. & Huisman, K. (ed), Gevierde Friezen in Amerika (2009)
Hondius, D., Jouwe, N., Stam, D. & Tosch, J., Dutch New York Histories. Connecting African, Native American and Slavery Heritage; Geschiedenissen van Nederlands New York (2017)
Hondius, D., Jouwe, N., Stam, D. & Tosch, J., Gids Slavernijverleden Nederland. Slavery Heritage Guide The Netherlands (2019)
Israel, J., The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, Greatness and Fall (1995)
Jamestown & American Revolution (website), Frisia Leads the Way in Recognizing U.S. Indpendence (2014)
Knottnerus, O., Culture and society in the Frisian and German North Sea Coastal Marshes (1500-1800) (2004)
Koops, E., Peter Stuyvesant (1612-1672). Gouverneur-generaal van Nieuw-Nederland. De calvinist met het Zilveren Veen (2020)
Leonard, R., How the Dutch invented our world. Liberal democracy and capitalism would have been impossible without the Dutch (2020)
Linwood Grant, J., Well, I’ll be a Flying Dutchman! (2016)
Lukezic, C. & McCarthy, J.P. (ed), The Archaeology of New Netherland. A World Built on Trade; Lucas, M.T. & Traudt, K.S., A Mid-Seventeenth-Century Drinking House in New Netherland (2021)
Maritiem Portal, Koudumer zeeheld veroverde New York op de Engelsen, nu in Fries Scheepvaart Museum (2018)
Numan, K. & Pol, van de R., Janssoon van Schaghen, Pieter (1578-1636). Graankoper, raadslid van Alkmaar en lid van de Raad van State, musicus, dichter (2011)
Otto, P., Peter Stuyvesant (1999)
Panhuysen, L., De Ware Vrijheid. De levens van Johan en Cornelis de Witt (2015)
Pennewaard, K., De laatste, verzwegen zeeheld (2018)
Pye, M., The Edge of the World (2014)
Romm, R.M., America’s first whaling industry and the whaler yeomen of Cape May 1630-1830 (2010)
Shomette, D.G. & Haslach, R.D., Raid on America. The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672-1674 (2013)
Shorto, R., The Island at the Center of the World. The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America (2004)
Siefkes, W., Ostfriesische Sagen und sagenhafte Geschichten (1963)
Steensen, T., Die Friesen. Menschen am Meer (2020)
Venema, J., Beverwijck. A Dutch Village on the American Frontier, 1652-1664 (2003)
Vries, de J., Verzwegen zeeheld. Jacob Benckes (1637-1677) en zijn wereld (2018)
Vries, de J., Waar is Robinson Crusoe gebleven? (2018)
Vries, de J., Wat hebben Jacob Benckes en Robinson Crusoe gemeen? (2020)
Wiarda, H.J., The Dutch Diaspora. The Netherlands and Its Settlements in Africa, Asia, and the Americas (2007)
Wiersma, J.P., Friese Mythen en Sagen (1973)
Wijdeven, van de I., Nederland en de VS: Natuurlijke bondgenoten (2010)
Zijlstra, H., Grafsteen moeder Pieter Stuyvesant ontdekt (2010)
Zimmerman, J.C., Poëzy 1827-1874 van E.J. Potgieter (1890)