#273 Peter Stuyvesant and the Fall of New Amsterdam

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2018

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There would be no New York City without Peter Stuyvesant, the stern, autocratic director-general of New Amsterdam, the Dutch port town that predates the Big Apple. The willpower of this complicated leader took an endangered ramshackle settlement and transformed it into a functioning city. But Mr. Stuyvesant was no angel. In part two in the Bowery Boys' look into the history of New Amsterdam, we launch into the tale of Stuyvesant from the moment he steps foot (or peg leg, as it were) onto the shores of Manhattan in 1647. Stuyvesant immediately set to work reforming the government, cleaning up New Amsterdam's filth and even planning new streets. He authorized the construction of a new market, a commercial canal and a defense wall -- on the spot of today's Wall Street. But Peter would act very un-Dutch-like in his intolerance of varied religious beliefs, and the institution of slavery would flourish in New Amsterdam under his direction. And yet the story of New York City's Dutch roots does not end with the city's occupation by the English in 1664 -- or even in 1672 (when the city was briefly retaken by a Dutch fleet). The Dutch spirit remained alive in the New York countryside, becoming part of regional customs and dialect. And yet the story of New Amsterdam might otherwise be ignored if not for a determined group of translators who began work on a critical project in the 1970s...... Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today's episode of The Bowery Boys is brought to you by Burrows of the Dead.
0:05.0	Burrows of the Dead specializes in strange, dark, and unusual walking tours of New York City.
0:12.0	Discover the macabre side of New Amsterdam on their forgotten dark histories of Lower Manhattan tour.
0:19.0	Indulge in a classic spooky ghost tour.
0:22.0	Or take one of their brand new tours devoted to the history of magic, mysticism, and spiritualism in Noho and the Lower East Side.
0:31.0	Use offer code Bowery18 to save 10% on your next Burrows of the Dead tour. Find tickets at burrowsofthedead.com.
0:42.0	This episode is also brought to you by the Barry Boy's Live at Joe's Pub.
0:47.0	The Barry Boy's ghost stories of Old New York Halloween Spooktacular are two shows on October 31st.
0:55.0	Did you say Spooktacular?
0:57.0	Oh, it's a Spooktacular, all right, but they're both sold out.
1:00.0	We did want to announce, however, that we have a third show lined up on Sunday, October 28th, and get this Tom, it's a brunch show, noon on Sunday.
1:11.0	They'll be serving eggs-bulleted?
1:14.0	With haunted holidays?
1:19.0	So, washing down with a booleanie?
1:22.0	And those are just the puns off the top of our head.
1:25.0	Tickets for that show are going fast, so get them now by going to publictheater.org.
1:31.0	That's Sunday, October 28th at noon. See you with the booleanie.
1:36.0	The Barry Boy's episode 273, Peter Stivocent, and the fall of New Amsterdam.
1:42.0	Hey, it's the Barry Boy's.
1:44.0	Hey!
1:45.0	Support for the Barry Boy's is provided by our listeners.
1:48.0	Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Barry Boy's.
	...

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