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Amsterdam / New Amsterdam: The Worlds Of Henry Hudson
Location
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10029
Tel: 212.534.1672
Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson at the Museum of the City of New York, presented in collaboration with the New Netherland Project in Albany and the National Maritime Museum Amsterdam/Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam, will employ rare 16th- and 17th-century objects, images, and documents from major American and Dutch collections to bring the transatlantic world to life and reveal how Henry Hudson's epic third voyage of exploration planted the seeds of a modern society that took root and flourished in the New World.
Focusing on the economic, cultural, and ideological connections that ultimately linked two global cities, Amsterdam and New York, Amsterdam/New Amsterdam will illuminate not only the global significance of Hudson's voyage, but also the creative context out of which the exploration and settlement of New York itself arose, highlighting the Dutch role in creating the very character of New York as a place of opportunity, tolerance, and perpetual transformation.
In 1609, Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing for the Dutch East India Company, made the first exploration of what is now New York Harbor and of the majestic river that today bears his name, laying the foundation for the Dutch claim on the area. His voyage of discovery led to the creation of the Dutch West India Company and ultimately to the founding of New Netherland, including its trading post at the mouth of the river - New Amsterdam.
The exhibition will invite visitors to consider the voyages of Hudson in the context of the Dutch role in the Age of Exploration, and as the first link between the Dutch civilization and culture of the Old World and that of the colony that they would soon build in the New. The multicultural, dynamic colony that grew up there was profoundly shaped by its Dutch origins, which continued to influence its development even after the Dutch ceded the young colony to the British in 1664.
The Museum of the City of New York marks this year’s 400th anniversary of the Dutch arrival in Manhattan with three great exhibitions: 'Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson', 'Dutch Seen: New York Rediscovered' and 'Mannahatta/Manhattan: A Natural History of New York City'. The museum offers NY400 readers an exclusive two-for one discount to all three exhibits! You can download the printable admission pass here.
RELATED FEATURES
- Amsterdam/New Amsterdam exhibit opened at the Museum of the City of New York.
- Dutch historian Jaap Jacobs on the Worlds of Henry Hudson.
Recent Comment
Ronald van Buren
05:31 PM 03/20/09
Hi, i was excited to find the website NY400 and to read some of the articles like this one. But i do miss one thing. Henry Hudson was English originaly, BUT! Everyone who sailed on Dutch ships in the time of the VOC and WIC were automaticly Dutch. So actually he was Dutch aswell. People tend to forget that. It is not really know but the Dutch either. But history books can tell you that everyone who sailed on a Dutch ship as a boatsman or captain or any other rank onboard of the ship was giving the Dutch nationality automaticly (if you weren't Dutch already by birth etc etc). Maybe it is good to know, that eventhough he was British he was also Dutch at the same time! So this actually says that in the time of Henry Hudson and the Dutch there was already a dubble nationality possibility!! in his time. Henry Hudson was the Discoverer but NOT the founder of New Amsterdam and the trading to Holland. The founder of all that, was Adriaen Block. Who lies burried in Amsterdam, Holland.
I can't wait to celebrate it in NYC! NYC is the most beautiful city in the world!!!! GOD BLESS THE USA!
Groeten uit Holland!
Ronald v. Buren
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Carl G. Schuster
08:04 PM 08/09/09
Hudson didn't sail to the New World in 1609 at the behest of the VOC; He hijacked the Haelf Maen,iwhich he had been hired to sail past the Kara Gate to China in the East. In direct contravention of his very specific orders to sail North-EAST, he sailed Southwest. He had sailed Northeast in 1608, and knew the seasonality of the arctic pack ice. He set off in 1609 at least a month earlier than in 1608, a guarantee that he would be blocked. His orders said that under those circumstances, he should return to Amsterdam directly, without passing "GO" and without collecting $200. Instead, he sailed Southwest to America.
The entire venture was a caper engineered by the English predecessor of MI6, and run by Robert Cecil, lord Salisbury, James I 's principal secretary. The purpose of the hi-jacking was to test a map which indicated a passage to the Pacific, in the middle latitudes, whose existence Hudson disproved for his English masters. History is filled with inconvenient truths.