New Amsterdam is the setting for most of my historical fiction novel about Catalyntje Trico. It was the central city of the Dutch Colony of New Netherland, where the colonists established a fur trade with the Native tribes living in the area. Today, it is Manhattan, New York.  The Dutch West India Company chose this location because it was perfect for delivering trade items from the colony via the Noort and Oost Rivers to the Old World.

The streets that existed when New Amsterdam was a thriving colony are still there today. The broad path to the bay that the Natives used is called Broadway today. The wall the settlers built to keep the English out is called Wall Street. The settlers built a windmill in New Amsterdam, which stood where the Twin Towers once were. During the time of New Amsterdam, the bay was filled with oceangoing ships, sloops, and Native birchbark canoes instead of Staten Island Ferries. 

So, next time you hear the catchy song, Istanbul (not Constantinople), know that the phrase “Even old New York was once New Amsterdam” has decades of history behind it.

Have you visited New Amsterdam, aka Manhattan?