January 27, 2007
THE BIG ORANGE?
I have a friend who is an ardent Dutchophile, so this may make her happy. An Internet-based organization is mobilizing to effect the return of New York City to the Netherlands, in a revanchist move that not only reverses British seizure of New Amsterdam, but overlooks the whole War of Independence.
Dutchman and Governor of New Amsterdam as it was called, Peter Stuyvesant was forced to hand his city over to the British in 1674 when a large naval contingent sailed into the upper harbor and threatened to bombard the town. It's not that people didn't like Stuyvesant; he was certainly an improvement over previous Governor Willem Kieft, who excelled only at maintaining horrifically antagonistic relations with the neighboring communities of Native Americans. When Kieft was shipped back to the Netherlands he was lost at sea and I get the impression not too many people missed him. Stuyvesant was a more dynamic Governor, and although rather stern and didactic, the one-legged Dutchman brought some order and prosperity to the settlement. But when the populace of New Amsterdam found itself trained under British naval guns, they decided they really didn't care whose flag flew over Fort Amsterdam and Stuyvesant had to capitulate. The Brits took over, there was a war and then another war, NYC was ascendant as the greatest city in the world, and the rest is history. Or perhaps not?
The people behind Give Us Back New York have put together a slide show of changes one could expect when The Big Apple reverts to New Amsterdam. They're also eager to point out the Dutch origins of many NYC institutions:
- The Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam were called Yankees by the English, because the most common Dutch male names at the time were Jan & Kees.
- When New Yorkers are talking about the stoop in front of there house, they are actually talking about their "stoep", which is a sidewalk.
- Brooklyn comes from Breukelen.
- Staten Island is named after the "staten generaal", our old form of government (or something).
- The Bronx was named after the farm of Dutch immigrant Paul Bronk.
- Furthermore in Brooklyn and the Bronx, you find a lot of streetnames like Ten Eijck, Havemeijer en Boerum, which are Dutch names.
- Tales like Rip van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow all take place in Dutch immigrants settlements.
- Harlem is named after Amsterdam's neighbouring city Haarlem.
They forgot about the New York Knicks being short for Knickerbockers, or what the original Dutch settlers are referred to as. And perhaps our new Dutch overlords would turn Canal St. into something more aquatically oriented. That could be interesting. And don't forget about Spuyten Duyvil, the small channel separating the northern tip of Manhattan from the Bronx. That's a bastardization of the Dutch "In Spite of the Devil" and also the name of a Brooklyn bar voted the #2 Beer Bar in America. Perhaps Diedrich Knickerbocker's A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty will become standard required reading in city schools. I think Washington Irving would enjoy this whole project.
(Tip o' the pixel to John B. for sending me to this site months ago.)
Tagged:Posted by Lexiphane at January 27, 2007 3:16 PM
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