Happy 400, New York!

ON THE year of the 400th anniversary of New York I felt it was my duty as a native to pay homage to the Dutch heritage there.

There are Dutch-American remnants now stretching across the Midwest, through to Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as Dutch-influenced colonial revival homes commonly found throughout the Mid-Atlantic States, Western Connecticut and even Virginia.
Tens of thousands of Dutch also settled in California and Washington State after the First World War.

But the oldest settlement is still sourced at New York and its largest city, once called New Netherland and New Amsterdam, respectively.
In the year 1609, Henry Hudson, leading a Dutch fleet, sailed into the harbour of the Hudson where he headed for Manhattan island. This feat will be celebrated over the course of this year by parties, parades, concerts and exhibits.
New York culture mirrors its all-embracing colonial roots with traits such as tolerance, multiculturalism, innovation and love of freedom.

While the Dutch colony was by no means homogenous – with more than 18 languages spoken and only about half of its citizens Dutch – the Dutch heritage is steadfastly omnipresent and comprises of a vital piece of this city’s history.

Take, for example, Wall Street. Named for a wall constructed at some point after 1655, the Dutch built it to keep the threat of Native Americans at bay.
Then we have Brooklyn, named after the Dutch town of Breukelen in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The township was authorised by the Dutch West India Company in 1646. Also, we have the names of Boswijk and Nieuw Utrecht, or Bushwick and New Utrecht.

It doesn’t stop there. Bedford-Stuyvesant was named after Peter Stuyvesant, the only governor of New Netherlands to be called director-general.
Harlem, originally a Dutch village organised in 1658, was named after Haarlem.
Staten Island? Don’t you mean Staaten Eylandt, in honour of the Dutch Parliament, Staaten Generaal? Let's not forget the Long Island town of Hempstead, or Heemstede, and the Bronx, named for Dutch captain Jonas Bronck. At one time even the Great White Way, Broadway, was a great green way, which the Dutch called de breed weg meaning thick forest.

And also Hofstra University, which I attended in 2005 and which was founded by Dutch descendants in Long Island.

But the Dutch influence extends beyond the Hudson Valley region. Distinctly American words, some rebuked by our English counterparts, have their roots in the Dutch colony. Words such as cookie from koekje, boss from baas, hook from hoek, knickernocker and kill, all derive from Dutch.
Even the word Yankee itself is said to come from jan kees.

This by no means is meant to overshadow any other components of New York’s vastly complicated and diverse heritage.
Nonetheless, while this constantly changing region continues to reinvent itself and welcome in new waves of immigrants, we should still take time to respect our founding forefathers who helped create this city and state we have all come to love.

Oh... and I guess we shouldn't forget about New Jersey.