Wanderlust World Wanderlust World In 1624, the Dutch West India Company established the colony of New Netherland on the eastern coast of North America. The primary motive was economic: the region teemed with beaver, otter, fox, and mink—pelts that commanded premium prices in Europe for hats, trim, and luxury garments.
The colony's anchor, New Amsterdam (today's Manhattan), sat at the mouth of the Hudson River, providing a deep-water port and access to interior trade routes via the river and its tributaries.
Within years, the fur trade made New Netherland a commercial success. The company granted patroonships—large feudal estates—to attract settlers, but the real engine remained the pelt exchange with Lenape, Mahican, and Mohawk traders.
Though the English seized the colony in 1664, renaming it New York, the Dutch imprint endures in place names (Brooklyn, Harlem, Staten Island), legal traditions, and the city's enduring commercial DNA.