"The River That Flows Two Ways"

BEFORE ALBANY: An Archaeology of Native-Dutch Relations in the Capital Region 1600-1664. By James W. Bradley, Albany, University of the State of New York: 2007 974.743 BRA

Archaeologist as historical detective, that is how James Bradley approaches this story of the material reality that still exist under present-day upstate New York. The Mahicans were foragers and fishers, living on the rich soil of the Hudson River flood plain south of Troy. The Mohawks (or people of the flint), much better known today, were the eastern-most members of the Iroquois Nations. The major Mohawk settlements were situated in Montgomery County, about thirty miles west of Albany. Although the two groups were reputed to be long time enemies, it appears, writes James Bradley, that their relations were cordial before the appearance of European traders and settlers. The river and its resources had been a source of cooperation among tribes for centuries.
Moving on to the Dutch Republic, where the population of Amsterdam tripled between 1600 and 1650, the end of hostilities with Spain enabled the Dutch to turn their energies to trade and exploration of the route across the North Atlantic to the New World. Bradley uses artifacts from sites on both sides of the Atlantic to demonstrate the growth and importance of trade. For native people the use of brass and iron quickly passed from novelty to necessity, as they established steady contacts with the Europeans.
However those relations changed drastically under the pressure of settlement. The New Netherland Corporation that settled Manhatta after 1624, was bankrupt by 1639. Rensselaerwijck, run by Killian van Rensselaer, diversified from fur trading to farming for export, but even after the establishment of Fort Orange at Albany, competition was fierce, allies were sought and native peoples began to resist the turmoil caused by the imported concept of private land ownership, not to mention the attentions of proselytizing Christian missionaries. The 1640s were the decade when trade became secondary to political arrangements in maintaining alliances.

As native peoples became dependent on new tools, this undermined their traditional way of life, as did new (European) diseases and the introduction of alcohol. The 1650s saw the first of many Anglo-Dutch wars in North America. Although the Dutch (notably Arent van Curler) had made efforts to deal fairly with native peoples, their presence still caused stress. By 1664, although Beaverwyck was an established and prosperous community and the Mohawks had made treaties with them, most of the Mahicans had decided to leave their traditional settlements and move elsewhere.
Bradley urges us to see in these relationships the origins of many ideas we now accept unquestioningly: “We still value hard work and making money. Community remains fundamentally important to us, even if the definition of it continues to change. Tolerance – the need to get along, to live together even when we don’t like each other – is still one of our core values.”

Before it was named for Henry Hudson, the river was Muhheakunnuk, meaning 'great waters constantly in motion, owing to the tides. One of the world's great rivers, the Hudson has its source in a small lake on the side of a mountain in the southwestern Adirondacks. From there it winds it way east to Albany where the Atlantic tides make their presence felt and the river turns south, heading for its outlet at New York Bay. Two hundred miles out into the Atlantic Ocean, the force of its movement has dug a trough on the ocean floor.