In the first part of the seventeenth century European fashion, in the form of beaver hats, made the beaver the primary North American fur sought by European traders. North America had an abundance of beavers. European traders, such as the Dutch, began moving inland and establishing trading posts where American Indians could trade beaver pelts for European manufactured goods.
The European fashion trend of wearing beaver hats emerged from Sweden’s involvement during the religious (Catholic versus Protestant) Thirty Years War (1618-1648) in Europe. In his chapter on the beaver hat in Exploring the Fur Trade Routes of North America, Doug Whiteway writes:
“Swedish soldiers wore wide-brimmed hats with such romantic appeal that everyone had to have one.”
However, Europe’s beavers had been trapped out by the early seventeenth century, so North America became the primary source for the beaver pelts needed in making the fashionable hats.
Beaver hats were also practical: in his book Empire of the Bay: An Illustrated History of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Peter Newman reports:
“Before the invention of the umbrella, beaver headgear provided an elegant way to keep dry.”
In addition, the hats indicated the wearer’s position in the social hierarchy.
The Dutch, whose presence in North America was not of long duration (about 40 years), were interested primarily in the beaver trade and viewed Indians as something to be tolerated, like cold winters and hot summers. In general, the Dutch appeared to have little interest in learning about the Indians and their culture. In his chapter on the Dutch in Attitudes of Colonial Powers Toward the American Indian, Allen Trelease writes:
“Seventeenth-century Dutchmen, like the other colonizing peoples, assumed without question that European culture was richer, stronger, more highly developed, and closer to God than any other on earth.”
From an Indian viewpoint, the Dutch were seen as not being hospitable because they gave few presents and charged for repairing guns.
The Dutch generally followed a policy of “live and let live” with regard to the Indians: they did not force assimilation or religious conversion on the Indians. According to Allen Trelease:
“Both at home and abroad the Dutch found it less possible and less congenial to force conformity on religious, political, and racial minorities.”
In his book Wilderness at Dawn: The Settling of the North American Continent, popular history writer Ted Morgan puts it this way:
“The Dutch were traders, bottom-line oriented, indifferent to imperial strategies. They didn’t develop strong Indian alliances. Nor were they particularly interested in religious conversion.”
In his book Indians, William Brandon writes:
“The Dutch were also primarily in the beaver business, eager to uphold and sustain the forest nations who might act as district jobbers for them.”
“Dutch traders acquired wampum from the Pequots and Narragansetts in exchange for European trade goods. The Dutch then carried this wampum to Indians in the interior, exchanging it for furs.”
Among the items which the Indians, particularly the Iroquois, demanded in exchange for their furs were guns and the ammunition. The Dutch supplied their Indian trading partners with guns and with these guns the Indians expanded their territory, often displacing tribes which did not have access to guns.
Another important trade item was alcohol. Officially, the Dutch enacted a number of laws designed to stop the liquor traffic with Indians, but these tended to be ignored. Allen Trelease writes:
“They were willing to pay a high price for Dutch beer and brandy, and there were plenty of colonists willing to supply the demand without much regard for the consequences.”
Instructions on Dealings with Indians
In 1626, the Dutch West India Company sent explicit instructions on dealing with the Indians:
“He shall also see that no one do the Indians any harm or violence, deceive, mock, or condemn them in any way, but that in addition to good treatment they be shown honesty, faithfulness, and sincerity in all contracts, dealings, and intercourse, without being deceived by shortage of measure, weight or number, and that throughout friendly relations with them be maintained.”
Colonization
To better exploit the vast resources of the Americas, the Dutch West India Company in 1626 decided to establish Dutch colonies, not just trading posts, on the lands they claimed. In his book The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America, Russell Shorto writes:
“The company would exploit it for furs and timbers, and also use it as a transportation hub, with ships cycling from Europe to South America and the Caribbean, and then to the North American harbor and so back home.”
To get colonists for this new venture, the company promised them land in exchange for six years of service to the company.
Manhattan
Dutchman Peter Minuit in 1626 negotiated with the Canarsee Indians to sell him the entire island of Manhattan even though the Reckgawawanc Indians had the northern part of the island. On the Island, the Dutch built Fort Amsterdam from which they could carry on a thriving trade with the Algonquian nations around them.
Ethnohistorian Robert Steven Grumet, in his book Native American Place Names in New York City, writes:
“The notorious deed to the 1626 sale of Manhattan Island for twenty-four dollars worth of trade goods has never been located. A deed on file in the New York State Library archives in Albany is an obvious fake.
Fort Orange
In New York, the Dutch West India Company established Fort Orange as a trading colony in 1626. Russell Shorto reports:
“Their settlement on the riverbank was on former hunting grounds of the Mahicans, who had welcomed them. To the north and west stretched the territory of the Mohawks.”
A group of about two dozen warriors under the leadership of Monemin approached the Dutch at Fort Orange and asked for their aid against the Mohawk. The Dutch agreed. Russell Shorto (2004: 47) reports:
“It stood to reason that helping the Mahicans now would yield a firm ally in the future.”
About three miles from the fort, the war party, with six Dutchmen, were ambushed by the Mohawks. Four of the Dutchmen and 24 of the Mahicans, including Monemin, were killed. The Mohawk roasted and ate one of the Dutchmen.
More American Indian histories
Indians 101: American Indians 400 years ago, 1625
Indians 101: Iroquois Indians and the French 400 years ago, 1624
Indians 101: American Indians and the Dutch 400 years ago, 1624
Indians 101: American Indians 400 years ago, 1623
Indians 101: American Indians and Europeans 400 years ago, 1622
Indians 101: American Indians 400 years ago, 1621
Indians 101: American Indians 400 years ago, 1620
Indians 101: 400 years ago, 1619
