Dutch Manhattan - Henry Hudson’s Big Mistake | 1

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2019

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1609, a headstrong English sea captain named Henry Hudson set out on behalf of the Dutch East India Company to find a trade route to Asia — and promptly found himself and his crew stranded in icy waters off the coast of Norway. As supplies dwindled, Hudson announced to his frostbitten crew that the ship would change course. They set off across the Atlantic Ocean in search of an alternative route through the North American continent.

Hudson never found the Northwest Passage, but he did come across something else on that journey — a small island the native people called Manna-hatta. That settlement would eventually give rise to a new Dutch colony called New Netherland, with Manhattan Island, or New Amsterdam, as it would come to be known, as its capital. New Amsterdam would come to be defined by two key Dutch values: tolerance and capitalism. This series by Russell Shorto, based on his book The Island at the Center of the World, traces how Manhattan’s brief chapter as a Dutch colony shaped the city for centuries to come.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.0	Imagine its May 1609.
0:21.3	You're a sailor aboard a small wooden vessel somewhere off the coast of Norway within a few
0:26.0	hundred miles of the Arctic Ocean.
0:28.8	Without your career of doing local voyages, you've longed to be part of a big ocean-going
0:33.0	adventure, and now you are, but it's more than you bargained for.
0:37.2	The winds are howling and you're surrounded by mountains of ice.
0:40.2	Your ship is practically stuck in it.
0:42.8	You've been commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to find a northeast passage to
0:47.2	Asia, but your tiny ship was not built for fighting through some of the harshest weather
0:51.5	on the planet, and it doesn't help that your captain, Henry Hudson, failed in a similar
0:56.3	effort last spring, because now he's even more determined to succeed.
1:00.8	Your loyal to Hudson, he gave you the job, but you're starting to have doubts.
1:05.6	As you secure a line with frozen fingers, a fellow crew member mutters under his breath.
1:10.9	When will he give up?
1:11.9	It's been two months.
1:13.9	He's going to see us all killed.
1:16.5	Captain Hudson has sailed more oceans than you've had hot meals.
1:19.9	He's friends with the greatest map makers of the age.
1:22.7	You'll get us to Asia.
1:24.5	You still believe that?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.