Birth of a City: From New Amsterdam to New York

The Not Old - Better Show

Paul Vogelzang

History, Fitness, Film, Health, Aging, Employment, Fashion, Career, Technology, Seniors, Society & Culture, Music, Health & Fitness

5 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

🚢 History wasn’t just written—it was negotiated. And in 1664, the fate of a small but thriving colony on Manhattan Island changed forever.

I recently spoke with historian and author Russell Shorto, whose new book, Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America, pulls back the curtain on the overlooked moment when New Amsterdam became New York—not through bloody battle, but through bold negotiation.

This story isn’t just about the Dutch and English. It’s about Indigenous displacement, the early seeds of American capitalism, and the founding contradictions that still echo today—from religious tolerance to racial injustice. What happens when a multicultural, multiethnic, profit-driven colony suddenly comes under new ownership?

Russell’s research, drawing from newly translated Dutch documents, challenges the narrative most of us were taught. And for those of us 50 and over—who lived through civil rights movements, global realignments, and reckonings of our own—it’s a timely reminder that the past is never settled.

🎙️ Listen to our full conversation on The Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Series. If you think you know how Manhattan became the “capital of the world,” think again.

👉 Hear the episode at: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3FAbebT
#HistoryMatters #NotOldBetter #RussellShorto #TakingManhattan #SmithsonianAssociates

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Not Old Other Show,
0:10.7	Smithsonian Associates Interview Series on radio and podcast.
0:15.2	The show covering all things health, wellness, culture, and more.
0:19.4	The show for all of us who aren't old were better.
0:22.5	Each week we'll interview superstars, experts, and ordinary people, doing extraordinary
0:27.7	things, all related to this wonderful experience of getting better, not older.
0:32.8	Now here's your host, the award-winning Paul Vogelsang.
0:44.4	Welcome to the Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series.
0:45.6	I'm Paul Vogelsang.
0:50.5	And today's episode is anything but ordinary.
0:55.2	We're talking about a moment in history that many think they know, but don't.
1:02.2	A city that became a symbol of American ambition taken not once but twice,
1:07.2	first from the Nenlape Indians and then from the Dutch.
1:14.8	My guest is Smithsonian Associate and returning guest, author Russell Shorto.
1:20.4	Historian, acclaimed author of the island at the center of the world and now of the brilliant and surprising new book, Taking Manhattan the Extraordinary Events that created New York
1:26.2	and shaped America. In his book, Smithsonian Associate
1:30.8	Russell Shorto writes, today we are coming to appreciate more keenly than ever before the injustice
1:36.9	America has done to the native people. The taking of Manhattan Island by the Dutch in 1626 is the
1:43.6	very emblem of that injustice. But there is
1:47.4	more, a lot more, to this story than conquest and colonization. This is about diplomacy, capitalism,
1:54.4	race, identity, and a reluctant act of surrender that may have saved New York's soul.
2:01.6	We're going deep into the records.
	...

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