CHAPTER VIII.
Voyages and Settlements of the Dutch.
The Half Moon on Hudson River.
Dutch East India Company.
THE first Dutch settlement in America was made on Manhattan Island. The colony resulted from the voyages of Sir Henry Hudson. In the year 1607 this great sailor was employed by a company of London merchants to discover a new route to the Indies. He first made two unsuccessful voyages into the North Atlantic, and his employers gave up the enterprise. In 1609 the Dutch East India Company furnished him with a ship called the Half Moon, and in April he set out for the Indies. Again he ran among the icebergs, and further sailing was impossible. But not discouraged, he immediately set sail for America.
2. In July Hudson reached the coast of Maine; and in August, the Chesapeake. On the 28th of the month he anchored in Delaware Bay, and on the 3d of September the Half Moon came to Sandy Hook. Two days later a landing was effected. The natives came with gifts of corn, wild fruit, and oysters. On the 10th the vessel passed the Narrows, and entered the noble river which bears the name of Hudson.
Discovery of Hudson River.