Toponymy of New Netherland
Encyclopedia
Nieuw-Nederland, or New Netherland
, was the seventeenth century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on northeastern coast
of North America
. The claimed territory were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula
to southern Cape Cod
. Settled areas are now part of the Mid-Atlantic
states of New York
, New Jersey
, Delaware
, and southwestern Connecticut
. There were small outposts in Pennsylvania
and Rhode Island
. Its capital, New Amsterdam
, was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan
on the Upper New York Bay
. The most developed part of the province roughly corresponds to today's Greater New York Metro Area.
Placenames in most cases had their roots in Dutch
and the Algonquian language
s, and occasionally the Iroquoian
Mohawk
. At the time of European settlement it was the territory of the various Native American
groups. In many cases the names of the Natives Americans used today were taken from the word for the place they made their villages, or their sagamore. Both the Americans and the New Netherlanders often gave names inspired by the geography or geology of the natural environment and described a shape, location, feature, quality, or phenomenon.
The Lenape
population, who had the most frequent contact with the New Netherlanders, were seasonally migrational groups around the New York Bay
and along the Lower Hudson
who became known collectively as the River Indians. Among them were the Wecquaesgeek and Siwanoy
(to the north on the east side of the Hudson River
); the Hackensack, Raritan, the Ramapough
, and Tappan
(to the west); and the Canarsee and Rockaway
(on western Long Island
).
The Munsee inhabited the Highlands and western Hudson Valley
. The Susquehannock
, who lived along the Zuyd Rivier
, were called the Minquas
. The Mohawk
, an Iroquois
people, inhabited the Albany
region, and the valley
that now bears the name. The Mahicans, defeated by the Mohawks, retreated to the Housatonic River
region soon after the arrival of the Dutch.
The Native Americans
used wampum
for transcription. The Swannikens, or Salt Water People (as the Europeans were called), used the Latin alphabet
to write down the words they heard from the Wilden (as the Lenape were called). These approximations were no doubt greatly influenced by Dutch, which was the lingua franca
of the multilingual province. Some names still exist in their altered form, their current spelling (and presumably pronunciation) having evolved over the last four centuries into American vernacular
.
Early settlers and their descendants often "Batavianized
" names for geographical locations, the exonyms, rather than by their autonym, subsequently becoming the name of the Native Americans
used today. In some cases it cannot be confirmed, or there is contention, as to whether the roots are in the Dutch or native tongue as sources do not always concur. Some can have several interpretations, while locative suffixes vary depending on the Algonquian language
dialect that prevailed. Kill
, meaning stream or channel, wyck meaning district,
(or its English equivalents wick and wich), and hook meaning point are often seen.
Dutch surnames abound throughout the region as avenues, lakes, parks. Orange and Nassau
come from the "first family" of the Dutch Republic
, a dynasty of nobles traditionally elected "Stadtholder
." William III of England
was also Prince of Orange
, succeeding to the English throne through the conquest known as the Glorious Revolution
, so the appellation Orange, though sometimes named for the English king in this period, reflects his Dutch birth and dynasty.
Acquackanonk
Name of a Unami group who lived along and between the banks of the Passaic Neck
and the name of one of state's first townships, established in 1683. Meaning a place in a rapid stream where fishing is done with a net, Alternatively, at the lamprey stream from contemporary axkwaakahnung. Spellings include Achquakanonk, Acquackanonk, Auchaquackanock, Ackquekenon
and the rivers that flowed into it. Neither are longer in use. Achter, meaning behind, and kol, meaning neck, can be translated as the back (of the) peninsula, in this case Bergen Neck
.
Variations include Achter Kol, Achter Kull, Archer Col, Achter Kull
Amsterdam
After the Dutch capital
, originally a dam on the Amstel River founded in 1275
Arresick
A tidal island
, site of first ferry landing for the patroonship Pavonia, which became Paulus Hook.
Spellings include Arresick and Arressechhonk and Aresick meaning burial ground
Arthur Kill
Tidal
strait
separating Staten Island from the mainland. From kille
meaning water channel such as riverbed, rivulet, or stream . Likely to have evolved from Achter Col, the name given by the New Netherland
ers for area surrounding Newark Bay
and waters that flowed into it, as English language speakers immigrated to the region radiating from the Elizabethtown Tract
and Perth Amboy.
Barnegat
Originally Barendegat or Inlet of the Breakers for the waterway's turbulent channel.
, under Dutch sovereignty the island became the property of Isaack Bedloo, merchant and "select burgher" of New Amsterdam, and one of 94 signers of the "Remonstrance of the People of New Netherlands to the Director-General and Council".
Bergen Square
The forerunner of Hudson and Bergen counties.
There are various opinions as to the naming of Bergen. Some say that it so called for Bergen op Zoom
in the Netherlands
or the city in Norway
Others believe it comes from the word bergen, which in Dutch and other Germanic languages
of northern Europe means mountains or hills, and could describe a most distinct geological feature of the region, The Palisades
. Yet another interpretation is that it comes from the Dutch verb bergen, meaning to save or to recover, or noun place of safetyinspired by the settlers return
after they had fled attacks by the native population during the Peach Tree War
.
Bergen Street
In the contemporary borough
of Brooklyn
,
Bergen Street was named for the family of one of the earliest settlers of Nieuw Amsterdam, Hans Hansen Bergen
, who arrived in the province of New Netherland in 1633 as a ship's carpenter. Hans Hansen Bergen came from Bergen
, Norway
, and was one of the few Scandinavian settlers of Nieuw Amsterdam (New York City). Bergen initially settled on Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan (Nieuw Amsterdam) but later owned extensive plantations elsewhere on the island. Bergen later married Sarah Rapelje
, the first child born in New York State of European parents.
Beversreede
The fort on the Schuylkill River
. A possible translation could be Beavers Gap, from bever or beaver and reet meaning opening, cleft, which would speak to its location where the enters the Delaware
. More probably reede meant quai in the harbor (cf. today's Dutch rede,).
Beverwyck
Loosely, Beavertown, to refer a fur-trading community north of Fort Orange
. Unlikely to be from Beverwijk
in the Netherlands
whose name comes from Bedevaartswijk, meaning pilgrimage neighbourhood. (Agatha of Sicily
allegedly appeared there in the 9th century to a virgin from nearby Velsen
.)
Block Island
After the explorer Adriaen Block
who used the island as base from which to survey the Connecticut River
and Long Island Sound
Bloomingdale
The valley of flowers. Though not likely named for this town in the Netherlands (tucked behind the dunes at the North Sea
) the Upper West Side
in general (its northern reaches now as known as the Bloomingdale District
) may have had some characteristics of it that would have reminded the Netherlanders of their home: close to the shore with a sandy bluff, with many small steam vallys or (dells
), and perhaps had many blooms
on its flowers.
Bowery
Bouwerij was the old Dutch word for farm (contemporary boerderij). The Dutch West India Company
mapped out land for farms on Manhattan north of New Amsterdam
, the first of which, "Bouerij 1" was reserved for the support of the colony's Director-General. It became personal property of Petrus Stuyvesant, the person to hold the position.
Broadway
Breede weg, used throughout english speaking areas to refer to a wide (broad) path (way).
Breuckelen
The first of the six Dutch towns
of Brooklyn
settled in 1646, generally believed to be after the town in the Netherlands
, in the province of Utrecht
now spelled Breukelen
, the first recorded European settler to the peninisula.
Rananchqua by the native Siwanoy
band of Lenape
while other Native Americans
knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck. It was divided by the Aquahung River.
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. The family later moved upstate and built Bronck House
.
Brooklyn
Early maps refer to western Long Island
as Gebroken Land, or Broken Land, though most believe the city, and later borough, was named for the Dutch town whose contemporary spelling is Breukelen.
Some say the name evolved from Breuckelen, to Brockland, to Brocklin, to Brookline, and eventually, Brooklyn
Bushwick
The last of the six Dutch towns
of Brooklyn
settled in 1661 as Boswijck
, in essence little town in the woods. though a literal translation would be woods district.
Canarsie
Canarsie stems Lenape language for "fenced land" or "fort" The current neighborhood in Brooklyn lies within the former town of Flatlands
, one of the five original Dutch
towns on Long Island
.
Casimir
Fort Casimir The trading post
was named for Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz, count of Nassau-Dietz and Stadtholder
of Friesland
, Groningen
and Drenthe
in the Netherlands
.
Cape Henlopen
After Thijmen Jacobsz Hinlopen
, wealthy grain trader and business partner of Cornelius Jacobsz May
who help finance explorations of the region.
Catskill
Kil is the Dutch word for a river inlet. This one is named after the Sachem
named Cats
Caven Point The Caven Point settlement at Minkakwa on the west shore of the Upper New York Bay
between Pamrapo and Communipaw
was part of Pavonia
, and now part of Liberty State Park
. The name Caven is an anglicisation
of the Dutch word Kewan, which in turn was a "Batavianized
" derivative of an Algonquian
word meaning peninsula.
Claverack
Rack or rak is a straight stretch of river good for anchorage, one named for the clover that grew on its banks of the Hudson River
Cohoes
Once part of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck. Believed to arise from a Mohawk
expression Ga-ha-oose which refers to Cohoes Falls
and means Place of the Falling Canoe
Colonie
Once part of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, now north of Albany
, covering approximately 48 acres (194,000 m²) and running as deep as 60 feet (18.3 m). The pond was fed by an underground spring, and its outflow ran through the Lispenard Meadows marshes to the Hudson River
. The name Collect is a corruption of the Dutch word kolch (A small body of water.), which was subsequently corrupted to kalch, and so on until it became collect.
Communipaw
Site of summer encampment and counsel fire of the Hackensack Indians.
Spellings include Gamoenapa, Gemonepan, Gemoenepaen, Gamenepaw, Comounepaw, Comounepan Communipau, Goneuipan
From gamunk, on the other side of the river, and pe-auke, water-land, meaning big landing-place from the other side of the river.
Contemporary: gamuck meaning other side of the water or otherside of the river or landing place at the side of a river
Site of first "bouwerie
" built at Pavonia
and called Jan de Lacher's Hoeck
some have suggested that it comes from Community of Pauw, which likely is more a coincidence that a fact.
Colen Donck
Now Yonkers, from homestead of Jonkheer or Jonker (meaning esquire) Adriaen van der Donck
.
Constable Hook A land grant to Jacob Jacobsen Roy who was a chief gunner or constable in Fort Amsterdam in New Amsterdam
in 1646, by the Dutch West India Company
, under the leadership of Director of New Netherland
William Kieft. Konstapel's Hoeck in Dutch, takes its name from Roy's title.
A hoek or hoeck in Dutch meaning a spit of land or small peninsula. Though not used, could be translated to English as Gunner's Point.
Cortelyou
Cortelyou Road
in Brooklyn is named for Jacques Cortelyou
, New Netherland
's Surveyor General, who owned land in the area of Flatbush
.
Cortlandt
From the prominent family Van Cortlandt
, including Stephanus van Cortlandt
(b.1643) the first native born mayor of New York (1677–1678; 1686–1688)
Cromakill
Likely from kromme kille meaning crooked creek, border between Secaucus and North Bergen. Similar to evolution of
Gramercy
, which is a corruption of the krom mesje, or little crooked knife, the name of a small brook that flowed along what is now 21st Street in Manhattan
.
Cresskill
From the watercress that grew in its streams, or kills
Danskammer
Dutch
, literally dance chamber, meaning ballroom
. On their voyage upriver in 1609 Henry Hudson
's crew supposedly saw Native Americans
dancing around a fire at the site and thought they were looking at "the Devil
's dance chamber". There was once a lighthouse, Danskammer Point Light
, at the site.
Delaware
From Thomas West, 3rd (or 12th) Baron of De La Warr, or Lord Delaware, who served as governor of the Jamestown Colony
Dunkerhook
Literally dark corner Small section of suburban Paramus reputed to be the former site of a "slave community." According to local histories and an historic marker at the site, Dunkerhook was once home to a population of African Americans, many or all of whom were slaves, as well as a "slave school" and "slave church." However, primary historic documentation establishes that Dunkerhook was populated not by slaves, but rather primarily by free African Americans.
Dwars Kill
Alternatively Dwarskill or Dwarskill Creek, a tributary
of the Oradell Reservoir
meaning cross creek
Esopus
For the clan of Munsee who lived in the region in the mid Hudson Valley
Flatlands
One of the six Dutch towns
of Brooklyn settled in 1647 as Nieuw Amersfoort
, from the Dutch city of the same name.
Flatbush
A description of the terrain, in Dutch Vlacke Bos.
One of the six Dutch towns
in Brooklyn
, established in 1652
as Midwout
, the earlier name living on as Midwood.
Flushing
From the Dutch town of Vlissingen.The derivation of the name Vlissingen is unclear, though most scholars relate the name to the word fles (bottle) in one way or another.
Ghent
From the Flemish
city Ghent, in Flanders
, which historians believe is derived from the Celtic word 'ganda' which means confluence
.
Gramercy A corruption of the little river named Krom Messie meaning (small) crooked knife
Goede Hoop Good Hope, from Fort Huys de Goede Hoop, a fortress on the Fresh River
and Park River
, the 1633 founding of Hartford
Gowanus
Gowanes Creek after Gouwane, a sachem
of the Canarsee
Gravesend
Settled in 1645 under Dutch patent by English
followers of Anabaptist
Lady Deborah Moody. Some speculate that it was named after the English seaport of Gravesend, Kent
. An alternative explanation suggests that it was named by Director of New Netherland
Willem Kieft
for the Dutch settlement of Gravesande, which means Count's Beach or Count's Sand. 's-Gravenzande
is a city in the Netherlands
.
Guilderland Moneyland, referring to early Dutch settler's assumption that the large amount of sand in the area could generate a profitable glass industry. Other influences on the name could have also been the province of Gelderland
in the Netherlands
, may have been originally Gelterland or Gelterlan. Until the introduction of the euro
, modern Dutch currency was the guilder
.
Hackensack
The meadowlands
, river
and city
, the Lenape
Hackensack tribe and their territory, take their name from site of semi-permanent encampment on the neck between the river and Overpeck Creek
, near the Teaneck Ridge
.
Variously translated as place of stony ground or place of sharp ground.
Spellings include Ahkingeesahkuy, Achsinnigeu-haki, Achinigeu-hach, Ack-kinkas-hacky, Achkinhenhcky, Ackingsah-sack, Ackinckeshacky,
Hackinsack
Alternatively, suggested as the place where two rivers come together on low ground or stream which discharges itself into another on the level ground, which would speak to the confluence of the Hackensack and Overpeck Creek
or Passaic River
.
Halfmoon
Named in the 19th century for the crescent shape of the land between the Hudson River
and Mohawk River
., and is coincidentally the same as Halve Maen
, the ship captained by Henry Hudson
during his 1609 exploration of the river named for him.
Harsimus
Possibly Crow's Marsh. Site of a seasonal Hackensack encampment and one of first "bouweries
" built by Dutch settlers at Pavonia.
Spellings include: Aharsimus, Ahasimus, Hasymes, Haassemus, Hahassemes, Hasimus, Horseemes, Hasseme, Horsimus
Contemporary: ahas meaning crow
to use straw thatch for roofs on their dwellings, or wigwams.
Hemsteede
homestead or farmyard
The town was first settled around 1644 following the establishment of a treaty between English colonists, John Carman and Robert Fordham, and the Indians in 1643. Although the settlers were from the English colony of Connecticut
, a patent was issued by New Amsterdam
after the settlers had purchased land from the local natives. The town may have been named for either Hemel Hempstead
in the United Kingdom or the Dutch city of Heemstede
, a town south of Haarlem
, Netherlands. Site of early English incurisons in New Netherland
by New England
ers, in 1643
Hoboken
"Batavianization" of the Lenape
tobacco pipe, from hoopookum or hupoken.
Most likely to refer to the soapstone
collected there to carve tobacco pipes, in a phrase that became Hopoghan Hackingh or place of stone for the tobacco pipe.
(Contemporary: Hopoakan meaning pipe for smoking)
Alternatively from Hoebuck, old Dutch for high bluff and likely referring to Castle Point
Variations used during the colonial era included Hobock, Hobocan, Hoboocken, and Hobuck, Although the spelling Hoboken was used by the English as early as 1668, it doesn't appear that until Col. John Steven
purchased the land on which the city is situated that it became common.
Some would believe the city to named after European town of the same name. The Flemish
Hoboken, annexed in 1983 to Antwerp, Belgium
, is derived from Middle Dutch Hooghe Buechen or Hoge Beuken, meaning High Beech
es or Tall Beeches. Established in 1135, the New Netherlanders were likely aware of its existence (and may have pronounced the Lenape to conform a more familiar sound), but it is doubtful that the city on the Hudson is named for it.
Housatonic
From the Mohican
phrase usi-a-di-en-uk translated as beyond the mountain place.
Hudson
The river
, county
, city
and numerous other places that bear this name most likely do so for the English
sea captain Henry Hudson
who explored the region in 1609, establishing a claim for the Dutch East Indies Company and Dutch Republic
.
Jamaica
Settled as Rustdorp with a 1656 land patent
. English
renamed it Jameco for Yamecah, a Native American
. Alternatively, from "Jameco" after a Lenape language word for "beaver".
Kill van Kull
Separating Bayonne
and Staten Island
. From the Middle Dutch
word kille
, meaning riverbed or water channel. Likely evolved from Achter Col, as in kille van kol, or channel from the neck, its spellings including Kill von Cull, Kille van Cole, Kill van Koll
, kamak said to come from the Lenape and mean place of ceremonial dance and worship possible spellings include Kinkachgemeck,
Kykuit
(icon), "lookout" in Dutch (though currently spelled "kijkuit"). It is situated in Pocantico Hills
, on the highest point of the local surrounds near Tarrytown
and Sleepy Hollow
.
Mahwah
Mawewi meaning meeting place or place where paths meet[7][8] or assembly
Contemporary: mawemin see:
Manhattan
From Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on Henry Hudson
's yacht Halve Maen
(Half Moon). A 1610 map depicts the name Manahata twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River (later named the Hudson River
). The word "Manhattan" has been translated as island of many hills. The Encyclopedia of New York City
offers other derivations, including from the Munsee dialect
of Lenape: manahachtanienk ("place of general inebriation"), manahatouh ("place where timber is procured for bows and arrows"), or menatay ("island").
translated as at the bad waterplace relating to the many stagnant swamps that existed in the area.
Purchased in 1635, and within a few years began chartering towns. In 1642 they settled Maspat, under a charter granted to Rev. Francis Doughty. Maspat became the first European settlement in Queens
. The settlement was leveled the following year in an attack by Native Indians, and the surviving settlers returned to Manhattan. It wasn't until nine years later, in 1652, that settlers ventured back to the area, settling an area slightly inland from the previous Maspat
Meghgectecock
This is perhaps an approximation of masgichteu-cunk meaning where May-apples grow, from a moist-woodland perennial that bears edible yellow berries and used to describe the lobe of land between and the confluence of the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers at Newark Bay. It was part of Achter Col for the New Netherlanders and New Barbadoes Neck
to the British.
Contemporary: masgichteu meaning may apple
Midwout
Middle woods, settled in 1652, in this case between Boswijck
and Breuckelen
, because of its dense forests. Later, was part of old Flatbush, situated between the towns of Gravesend
and Flatlands
.
Mineola
Named in 1858 after an Algonquian
Indian chief, Miniolagamika, meaning 'pleasant village'; later shortened and altered to "Mineola."
Minkakwa
On Bergen Neck
between Pamrapo
and Communipaw
at Caven Point
, first settled by New Netherlanders in 1647. Spellings include Minelque and Minkakwa
meaning a place of good crossing probably because it was the most convenient pass between the two bays on either side of the neck, (or could mean place where the coves meet; in this case where they are closet to each and, hence advantageous for portage.)
Moodna
A corruption of the Dutch
moordenaars, meaning murderers, hence Murderers' Creek, its original name. Local lore has it that the name came from the massacre of the Stacys, an early family of settlers, along its banks.
Contemporary:monachgeu for groundhog, and munhacke for badger and munhageen meaning to dig a hole
and their territory
Noort Rivier
Called Muhheakantuck
or the river that flowed two ways in Unami.
The Noort Rivier was one of the three main rivers in New Nederland, the others being the Versche Rivier
or Fresh River (likely because of its sweet water) and the Zuid Rivier
or South River. In maritme usage, it still defines that part of the Hudson
between Hudson County and Manhattan
Nieuw Dorp
Now New Dorp
, meaning New Village, on Staten Island
New Utrecht
Fifth of the six Dutch towns
of Brooklyn
; established in 1652 and named after major Dutch city
.
Oester Baai
After 1650, Oyster Bay was the boundary between the Dutch New Amsterdam
colony and the New England Confederation
. The English, under Peter Wright
, first settled in the area in 1653. The boundary was somewhat fluid which led each group having their own Main Street.
Orange
From the House of Orange-Nassau
, specifically William III of England
, the Prince of Orange
, as in Orange County
and The Oranges
in Essex County
Ossining
Early 17th century Dutch maps of the Hudson River Valley show an Indian village, whose inhabitants were part of the Mohegan
Tribe, named "Sint Sinck." That phrase, when translated, means "stone upon stone" and refers to the extensive beds of limestone found in the southern part of the village.
In 1685, the Sint Sincks sold their land to Frederick Philipse who incorporated it into his land holdings known as the Manor of Philipsburg. The Manor comprised about 165000 acres (668 km²) and extended from Spuyten Duyvil Creek
at the tip of Manhattan on the south to the Croton River
just north of the Village of Ossining. The land was leased to tenant farmers of Dutch, French, and English origin.
Oude Dorpe
Old Town
, the first permanent settlement on Staten Island
in 1651
Outwater
Uiterwaarden meaning a flood plain, of which there were many, this one at the foot of Paterson Plank Road
.
Overpeck
Oever meaning a sloping bank and perk meaning border or boundary, hence at the water's edge, actually a riparian zone. Used in English as early as 1665. By the Leanpe called Tantaqua, it was the site of semi-permanent village of the Hackensack Indians.
Paerdegat
In Canarsie, the channel that connects to Jamaica Bay on the southern end of Brooklyn. A gat, or opening, and paarde from the word for horse. "Paerdegat" derives from the old Dutch 'paardengat', meaning "horse gate".
between Constable Hook and Communipaw
. Spellings include Pimbrepow, Pembrepock, Pemmerepoch, Pimlipo, Pemrepau, Pemrapaugh, and Pamrapough
was also called Peramseapus. Spellings include Pyramus.
Passaic
The county
, river
and city
are taken from pahsayèk,
pahsaayeek and pasayak, meaning valley or water that flows through the valley. Spellings include: Pawsaick, Pissawack
Contemporary: Pachsa'jeek
, called Arresick by the Lenape the site where, in 1630, Michael Pauw
's staked his claim for his attempted patroonship. Named after his agent who built a hut and ferry landing there, hoek or hoeck meaning a spit or point.
Variations include Paulus Hoeck, Powles Hoek, Powles Hook
Pavonia
First settlement by the Europeans on west bank of Hudson River
from its patroon
Michael Reyniersz Pauw
, Pavonia is a Latinized version of his surname, based on the word for peacock
Peekskill
From Peeck's Kil. New Amsterdam
resident Jan Peeck made the first recorded contact with the native
population of the area, then identified as "Sachoes
". The date is not certain, (possibly early 1640s), but agreements and merchant transactions took place, formalized into the Ryck's Patent Deed of 1684.
Pelham
From the ham or property
of Thomas Pell of Fairfield, Connecticut
, who, on June 27, 1654, purchased 9166 acres (37.1 km²) from the Siwanoy
, and was part of the expansion of New England
colonies into New Netherland
Pequannock
From Paquettahhnuake meaning cleared land ready or being readied for cultivation. Packanack is also contemporary variation of this place and possibly the
Pacquanac clan of Lenape
Pompton
Has been cited by some sources to mean a place where they catch soft fish.
Ponck Hockie
Punkie
†: Via Dutch
, from Munsee
[ponkwəs] (Proto-Algonquian
*penkwehsa, from *penkw-, "dust, ashes" + *-ehs, a diminutive
suffix).
,
Quarropas
Used as farmland by the Wappinger
to early traders it was known as the White Plains, either from the groves of white balsam which are said to have covered it, or from the heavy mist that local tradition suggests hovered over the swamplands near the Bronx River
.
Ramapo
Name for the mountains
and river
and towns, meaning
underneath the rock, spellings: Ramapough, Ramopock
Raritan
The people, river
, bay
, and towns take their name from a derviation of Naraticong meaning river beyond the island (which, considering location, could be Staten Island
).
Some would believe that is comes from Roaton or Raritanghe, a tribe which had come from across the Hudson River
and displaced the existing population of Sanhicans.
Alternatively, Raritan is a Dutch pronunciation of wawitan or rarachons meaning forked river or stream overflows.
Red Hook
From Roode Hoek. In Dutch
hoek means point or corner, and
can refer to Red Hook, New York
, village
within it, or the neighborhood
in Brooklyn, named for the red clay soil on the point of land projecting into the East River
, settled by the New Netherlander
s in 1636.
Kiliaen van Rensselaer
Rockaway
Place of sands, possibly from l'eckwa meaning sand and auke meaning place
Spellings include requarkie Rechouwakie
Rechaweygh, Rechquaakie, Reckowacky
Roodenburg Red hills to describe the bluffs on the Quinnipiac River
Rondout A tributary
of the Hudson River
in Ulster
and Sullivan
counties Rondout comes from the fort, or redoubt
, that was erected near its mouth The Dutch equivalent of the English word redoubt
(a fort or stronghold), is reduyt. In the Dutch records of Wildwyck, however, the spelling used to designate this same fort is invariably Ronduyt during the earliest period, with the present form rondout (often capitalized) appearing as early as November 22, 1666. The Dutch word ronduyt is an adjective meaning "frankly" or "positively." The word could also be broken down into its components and translated, literally, "round-out." However, it seems unlikely that the inhabitants of Esopus
had any special meaning in mind when they corrupted the Dutch word reduyt into ronduyt and rondout. Most likely, this corrupting process merely represented the simplification of a word (reduyt).
Rotterdam
After a major Dutch city
which grew from a dam built on the river or stream Rotte in the 1260s
Rhode Island
The official explanation by the State of Rhode Island is that Adriaen Block
named the area "Roodt Eylandt" meaning "red island" in reference to the red clay that lined the shore, and that the name was later anglicized when the region came under British rule.
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sant Hoek, sometimes called Sand Punt the peninsula around which most settlers to Fort Amsterdam
, Fort Orange
, Staten Eylandt
, and Lange Eylandt
, and Bergen
sailed before entering The Narrows
.
, who called the settlement at Fort Orange
Schau-naugh-ta-da meaning over the pine plains. Eventually, this word entered the lexicon of the Dutch settlers, but the meaning was reversed, and the name referred to the bend in the Mohawk River where the city lies today.
(sχœylkɪl) by its European discoverer, Arendt Corssen of the Dutch West India Company
translated hidden river and refers to the river's confluence with the Delaware River at League Island
, which was nearly hidden by dense vegetation
. Perhaps, more properly, hideout creek Native: Ganshohawanee, meaning "rushing and roaring waters," or "Manaiunk".
Secaucus
Sukit meaning black and achgook meaning snake, hence black snakes.
Spellings include Sekakes, Sikakes, Sickakus. Contemporary: seke meaning black and xkuk or achgook
meaning snake.
Locally, pronouced "SEE-kaw-cus", with the accent on the first syllable, not the second as often used by non-natives.
Snake Hill
, in Secaucus, is a geolologic intrusion
in the midst of the Meadowlands
.
Sewanhacky
Sometimes place of shells, referring to Long Island
, from whence the native population harvested shells for the production of zewant or wampum
Spellings include Sewanhacking, Suanhacky, Sewahaka
Sicomac
Said to mean resting place for the departed or happy hunting ground since this area of Wyckoff
, according to tradition, was the burial place of many Native Americans, possibly including Oratam
, sagamore of the Hackensack Indians Contemporary schikamik meaning hole or grave or machtschikamikunk meaning a burial place
Spuyten Duyvil
A one-mile (1.6 km)-long channel connecting the Hudson
and Harlem River
s. "Spuyten Duyvil" means Devil's Spout, a reference to the strong and wild currents. Spuitende Duivel in contemporary Dutch
,
Staten Island
Staaten Eylandt
, which to the Lenape, was known as Aquehonga, Manacknong, or Eghquaons (Jackson, 1995). Named for the governing body of the 17th century United Provinces of the Netherlands, the States-General
.
Suckiaug
Black Fertile River-Enhanced Earth, good for planting, as the land along the river valley that was site Fort Huys de Goede Hoop or Fort House of Good Hope, the 1623 settlement of what is now Hartford
Tantaqua
Overpeck Creek
, site of Hackensack semi-permanent village
Tappan
The region radiating from Palisades Interstate Park and its inhabitants as named by New Netherlanders, who spelled it as Tappaen. Site of the "bouwerie
" Vriessendael
.
Possibly from Tuphanne meaning cold water
Likely more related to contemporary petapan meaning dawn or petapaniui meaning at the break of dawn, and relates to their kin across the river, the Wappinger
,, whose name is derived from the Algonquian people of the east or easterners. (Contemporary: Wapaneu meaning easterly and Wapanke meaning to-morrow.)
"Tiene Neck" meaning "neck where there are willows" (from the Dutch "tene" meaning willow).
Tenafly
From Dutch Tiene Vly or Ten Swamps given by settlers in 1688. the Dutch "t'eene vallei (or vlij)," meaning at a meadow or willow meadows from tene meaning willow and vlaie
(alternatively spelled fly/vly/vley) meaning meadow or swamp
, an Englishman
who settled in the area called Vriedelandt by the Dutch
Turtle Bay
From duetel meaning dowel, used to describe the original shape of the inlet on the East River
Verplanck
Hamlet in the town of Cortlandt, from an early (1630s) settler
Versche Rivier
The Fresh River, now the Connecticut River
, likely because of it sweet, rather than brackish water
, meaning Vries' Valley, after its owner, David Pietersen de Vries
.
Vriedelandt
Now Throgs Neck
from John Throckmorton
, an Englishman
the Dutch allowed to settle in the area in 1642.
Wall Street
From the Dutch wal meaning rampart erected in 1654 to protect New Amsterdam
from possible invasion by New England
during the first Anglo-Dutch War.
Wallabout
From Wallen Bocht or Wallon's Bow, referring to the curve of the bay on the East River
. Spellings include Waaleboght
Wallkill
Known as Twischsawkin, meaning the land where plum
s abound. At least three prehistoric rock shelters have been found in archaeological
digs in the region. For the indigenous peoples, it was not only important for its arable land
but for its geological
resources. The river and its valley are abundant in flint
and chert
, from which they made spear
points and arrowhead
s.
European
settler
s of the region named it first the Palse River, after New Paltz. Later, when it was clear that the river continued well beyond the original New Paltz patent, it took after the Waal river in their native Netherlands
. They worked their way down it from the Hudson Valley in the 17th century, and were followed by the British after the colony changed hands.
Wappinger
From the Algonquian
word for easterner, approximately 18 loosely-associated bands of Native Americans whose territory in the 17th century spread along the eastern side of the Hudson River
. The town of Wappinger
, the village of Wappingers Falls
and Wappinger Creek
Among the many phonetic spellings employed by early European settlers are Wappinck, Wapping, Wappingo, and Wawping, Wappans, Wappings, and Wappani, and Wappinghs, all apparent corruptions of the Algonquian word for "easterners".
Other sources suggest it may have been a native corruption of wapendragers, the Dutch word for "weapon-bearers".
Watchung
The place of mountains from watchtsu, which describes the three ridges west of the Meadowlands.
Watervliet
Part of patroonship Rensselaerswyck, meaning a shrinking surface, as in the land between high and low tide. Simiilar to Watervliet
in Belgium
on the North Sea
coast.
Weehawken
Variously interpreted as or rocks that look like rows of trees or at the end of (the Palisades or stream that flowed from them.) and place of gulls.
Spelling have included: Awiehawken, Wiehacken, Weehauk, Weehawk, Weehock, Wiceaken,Wihaken, Wyhaken, and Wiehachan
Peter Minuit
, first governor of New Netherland, sailed to the new world upon a ship called The Seagull or Het "Meeuwken, which may have led to one interpretation of the Lenape
.
Wilhelmus
Short-lived fort on Zuyd Rivier
in 1625, likely so called from Het Wilhelmus (English
translation
: The William), a song which tells of Willem van Oranje
, his life and why he is fighting for the Dutch people
. It remained popular with the Dutch people
since its creation. and became, in 1932, the national anthem
of the Netherlands
and is the oldest national anthem in the world
Wiltwyk
Settlement on west bank of Hudson River
established in 1652, possibly meaning
Wild District, since at the time farmers were engage in an ongoing series of raids and reprisals known as the Esopus Wars
. (It is today known as Kingston, New York
.
Wyckoff
Most commonly believed origin to be from the Lenape
word wickoff meaning high ground, or that it is from wickok meaning water. A less widely held theory is that the town was named for Brooklyn judge Pieter Claesen Wyckoff
(1625–1694). The surname comes from the Dutch
words wyk, meaning district and hof, meaning court.
or Jonker meaning young gentleman (and in effect, Esquire), the title borne by proprietor of homestead which included the land where the city is situated, Adriaen van der Donck
.
settlement in Delaware
, in 1631, was destroyed, and later became Lewes
.
see also=
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
, was the seventeenth century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on northeastern coast
Eastern seaboard
An Eastern seaboard can mean any easternmost part of a continent, or its countries, states and/or cities.Eastern seaboard may also refer to:* East Coast of Australia* East Coast of the United States* Eastern Seaboard of Thailand-See also:...
of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The claimed territory were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula
Delmarva Peninsula
The Delmarva Peninsula is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by most of Delaware and portions of Maryland and Virginia...
to southern Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
. Settled areas are now part of the Mid-Atlantic
Mid-Atlantic States
The Mid-Atlantic states, also called middle Atlantic states or simply the mid Atlantic, form a region of the United States generally located between New England and the South...
states of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
, and southwestern Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. There were small outposts in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
. Its capital, New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
, was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
on the Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...
. The most developed part of the province roughly corresponds to today's Greater New York Metro Area.
Placenames in most cases had their roots in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
and the Algonquian language
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
s, and occasionally the Iroquoian
Iroquoian languages
The Iroquoian languages are a First Nation and Native American language family.-Family division:*Ruttenber, Edward Manning. 1992 [1872]. History of the Indian tribes of Hudson's River. Hope Farm Press....
Mohawk
Mohawk language
Mohawk is an Iroquoian language spoken by around 2,000 people of the Mohawk nation in the United States and Canada . Mohawk has the largest number of speakers of the Northern Iroquoian languages; today it is the only one with greater than a thousand remaining...
. At the time of European settlement it was the territory of the various Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
groups. In many cases the names of the Natives Americans used today were taken from the word for the place they made their villages, or their sagamore. Both the Americans and the New Netherlanders often gave names inspired by the geography or geology of the natural environment and described a shape, location, feature, quality, or phenomenon.
The Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
population, who had the most frequent contact with the New Netherlanders, were seasonally migrational groups around the New York Bay
New York Bay
New York Bay is the collective term for the marine areas surrounding the entrance of the Hudson River into the Atlantic Ocean. Its two largest components are Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay, which are connected by The Narrows...
and along the Lower Hudson
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
who became known collectively as the River Indians. Among them were the Wecquaesgeek and Siwanoy
Siwanoy
The Native American Siwanoy or Sinanoy were a band of Algonquian-speaking people, the Wappinger, in what is now the New York City area. By the mid-17th century, when their territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, the Siwanoy were settled along the East River...
(to the north on the east side of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
); the Hackensack, Raritan, the Ramapough
Ramapough Mountain Indians
The Ramapough Mountain Indians, also known as Ramapo Mountain Indians or the Ramapough Lenape Nation, are a group of approximately 5,000 people living around the Ramapo Mountains of northern New Jersey and southern New York. Their tribal office is located on Stag Hill Road on Houvenkopf Mountain in...
, and Tappan
Tappan (Native Americans)
The Tappan were a Lenape people who inhabited the region radiating from Hudson Palisades and New York – New Jersey Highlands in at the time of European colonialization in the 17th century....
(to the west); and the Canarsee and Rockaway
Rockaway, Queens
The Rockaway Peninsula, informally The Rockaways, is the name of a peninsula of Long Island, all of which is located within the New York City borough of Queens. A popular summer resort area since the 1830s, Rockaway has become a mixture of lower, middle, and upper-class neighborhoods...
(on western Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
).
The Munsee inhabited the Highlands and western Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
. The Susquehannock
Susquehannock
The Susquehannock people were Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries from the southern part of what is now New York, through Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Susquehanna in Maryland at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay...
, who lived along the Zuyd Rivier
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
, were called the Minquas
Susquehannock
The Susquehannock people were Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries from the southern part of what is now New York, through Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Susquehanna in Maryland at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay...
. The Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
, an Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
people, inhabited the Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
region, and the valley
Mohawk Valley
The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains....
that now bears the name. The Mahicans, defeated by the Mohawks, retreated to the Housatonic River
Housatonic River
The Housatonic River is a river, approximately long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about of southwestern New England into Long Island Sound...
region soon after the arrival of the Dutch.
The Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
used wampum
Wampum
Wampum are traditional, sacred shell beads of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of the indigenous people of North America. Wampum include the white shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell; and the white and purple beads made from the quahog, or Western North Atlantic...
for transcription. The Swannikens, or Salt Water People (as the Europeans were called), used the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
to write down the words they heard from the Wilden (as the Lenape were called). These approximations were no doubt greatly influenced by Dutch, which was the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of the multilingual province. Some names still exist in their altered form, their current spelling (and presumably pronunciation) having evolved over the last four centuries into American vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
.
Early settlers and their descendants often "Batavianized
Batavians
The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe, originally part of the Chatti, reported by Tacitus to have lived around the Rhine delta, in the area that is currently the Netherlands, "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the...
" names for geographical locations, the exonyms, rather than by their autonym, subsequently becoming the name of the Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
used today. In some cases it cannot be confirmed, or there is contention, as to whether the roots are in the Dutch or native tongue as sources do not always concur. Some can have several interpretations, while locative suffixes vary depending on the Algonquian language
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
dialect that prevailed. Kill
Kill (body of water)
As a body of water, a kill is a creek. The word comes from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel." The modern Dutch term is kil....
, meaning stream or channel, wyck meaning district,
(or its English equivalents wick and wich), and hook meaning point are often seen.
Dutch surnames abound throughout the region as avenues, lakes, parks. Orange and Nassau
House of Orange-Nassau
The House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War...
come from the "first family" of the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, a dynasty of nobles traditionally elected "Stadtholder
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
." William III of England
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
was also Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
, succeeding to the English throne through the conquest known as the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
, so the appellation Orange, though sometimes named for the English king in this period, reflects his Dutch birth and dynasty.
AcquackanonkAcquackanonk TownshipAcquackanonk Township was incorporated in 1693 by the British in the newly established Province of New Jersey and was located in what was then the northern part of Essex County on the Passaic River...
Name of a Unami group who lived along and between the banks of the Passaic NeckPassaic River
The Passaic River is a mature surface river, approximately 80 mi long, in northern New Jersey in the United States. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey,...
and the name of one of state's first townships, established in 1683. Meaning a place in a rapid stream where fishing is done with a net, Alternatively, at the lamprey stream from contemporary axkwaakahnung. Spellings include Achquakanonk, Acquackanonk, Auchaquackanock, Ackquekenon
Achter Col
Called Meghgectecock by the Lenape this described the area around Newark BayNewark Bay
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, 3rd largest and one of busiest in the United States...
and the rivers that flowed into it. Neither are longer in use. Achter, meaning behind, and kol, meaning neck, can be translated as the back (of the) peninsula, in this case Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck is a name for the peninsula between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay in the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Bayonne and Jersey City...
.
Variations include Achter Kol, Achter Kull, Archer Col, Achter Kull
AmsterdamAmsterdam (town), New YorkAmsterdam is a town in Montgomery County, New York, United States. The population was 5,566 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands.The town is adjacent to and borders the city of Amsterdam on three sides...
After the Dutch capitalAmsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, originally a dam on the Amstel River founded in 1275
ArresickExchange Place, Jersey CityExchange Place is a district of Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey that is sometimes referred to as "Wall Street West" due to the concentration of financial concerns which have offices there...
A tidal islandTidal island
A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands many of them have been sites of religious worship, such as Mont Saint Michel with its...
, site of first ferry landing for the patroonship Pavonia, which became Paulus Hook.
Spellings include Arresick and Arressechhonk and Aresick meaning burial ground
Arthur KillArthur KillThe Arthur Kill is a tidal strait separating Staten Island, New York from mainland New Jersey, USA, and a major navigational channel of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Kill is from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel"...
TidalTide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
strait
Strait
A strait or straits is a narrow, typically navigable channel of water that connects two larger, navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not...
separating Staten Island from the mainland. From kille
Kill (body of water)
As a body of water, a kill is a creek. The word comes from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel." The modern Dutch term is kil....
meaning water channel such as riverbed, rivulet, or stream . Likely to have evolved from Achter Col, the name given by the New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
ers for area surrounding Newark Bay
Newark Bay
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, 3rd largest and one of busiest in the United States...
and waters that flowed into it, as English language speakers immigrated to the region radiating from the Elizabethtown Tract
Elizabethtown Tract
The Elizabethtown Tract was a property that was purchased on October 28, 1664, by John Baily, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson from the Native Americans that is in the area of present-day Elizabeth, New Jersey....
and Perth Amboy.
BarnegatBarnegat InletBarnegat Inlet is a small inlet connecting the Barnegat Bay with the Atlantic Ocean in Ocean County, New Jersey. It separates Island Beach State Park and the Barnegat Peninsula from Long Beach Island...
Originally Barendegat or Inlet of the Breakers for the waterway's turbulent channel.Bedloe's Island
Now known as Liberty IslandLiberty Island
Liberty Island is a small uninhabited island in New York Harbor in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. Though so called since the turn of the century, the name did not become official until 1956. In 1937, by proclamation 2250, President Franklin D...
, under Dutch sovereignty the island became the property of Isaack Bedloo, merchant and "select burgher" of New Amsterdam, and one of 94 signers of the "Remonstrance of the People of New Netherlands to the Director-General and Council".
Bergen SquareBergen SquareBergen Square, at the intersection of Bergen Avenue and Academy Street in Jersey City, is in the southwestern part of the much larger Journal Square district...
The forerunner of Hudson and Bergen counties.There are various opinions as to the naming of Bergen. Some say that it so called for Bergen op Zoom
Bergen op Zoom
Bergen op Zoom is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands.-History:Bergen op Zoom was granted city status probably in 1266. In 1287 the city and its surroundings became a lordship as it was separated from the lordship of Breda. The lordship was elevated to a margraviate...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
or the city in Norway
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
Others believe it comes from the word bergen, which in Dutch and other Germanic languages
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
of northern Europe means mountains or hills, and could describe a most distinct geological feature of the region, The Palisades
New Jersey Palisades
The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson Palisades are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in northeastern New Jersey and southern New York in the United States. The cliffs stretch north from Jersey City approximately 20 mi to near...
. Yet another interpretation is that it comes from the Dutch verb bergen, meaning to save or to recover, or noun place of safetyinspired by the settlers return
after they had fled attacks by the native population during the Peach Tree War
Peach Tree War
The Peach Tree War, also known as the "Peach War," is the name given to a large scale attack on the New Netherland colony of Pavonia, across from New Amsterdam, and surrounding settlements along the North River by the Susquehannock Nation and allied Native Americans on September 15,...
.
Bergen StreetBergen Street (IRT Eastern Parkway Line)Bergen Street is a local station on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line of the New York City Subway, located at Bergen Street and Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It is served by the 2 and 3 trains, the latter of which is replaced by the 4 train during late nights.This underground station, opened...
In the contemporary boroughBorough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
,
Bergen Street was named for the family of one of the earliest settlers of Nieuw Amsterdam, Hans Hansen Bergen
Hans Hansen Bergen
Hans Hansen Bergen was one of the earliest settlers of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, and one of the few from Scandinavia. He was a native of Bergen, Norway...
, who arrived in the province of New Netherland in 1633 as a ship's carpenter. Hans Hansen Bergen came from Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and was one of the few Scandinavian settlers of Nieuw Amsterdam (New York City). Bergen initially settled on Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan (Nieuw Amsterdam) but later owned extensive plantations elsewhere on the island. Bergen later married Sarah Rapelje
Sarah Rapelje
Sarah Rapelje, or Rapelie or Rapalje or Rapalye was the first white female of European parentage born in New Netherland, according to the New Netherland Project, a private effort to document New York's early Dutch history. Rapelje was first married to Norwegian emigrant Hans Hansen Bergen, who...
, the first child born in New York State of European parents.
BeversreedeFort BeversreedeFort Beversreede was a Dutch-built palisaded factorij located near the confluence of the Schuylkill River and the Delaware River. It was an outpost of the colony of New Netherland, which was centered around its capital, New Amsterdam , on the North River .-Location:There is a dispute about the...
The fort on the Schuylkill RiverSchuylkill River
The Schuylkill River is a river in Pennsylvania. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River.The river is about long. Its watershed of about lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch is in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in...
. A possible translation could be Beavers Gap, from bever or beaver and reet meaning opening, cleft, which would speak to its location where the enters the Delaware
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
. More probably reede meant quai in the harbor (cf. today's Dutch rede,).
BeverwyckBeverwyckBeverwijck was a fur-trading community north of Fort Orange on the Hudson River in New Netherland that was to become Albany, New York, when the English took control of the colony in 1664....
Loosely, Beavertown, to refer a fur-trading community north of Fort OrangeFort Orange
Fort Orange was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland and was on the site of the present-day city of Albany, New York. It was a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearby Castle Island in the Hudson River, and which served as a trading post until 1617 or 1618,...
. Unlikely to be from Beverwijk
Beverwijk
Beverwijk is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
whose name comes from Bedevaartswijk, meaning pilgrimage neighbourhood. (Agatha of Sicily
Agatha of Sicily
Saint Agatha of Sicily is a Christian saint. Her memorial is on 5 February. Agatha was born at Catania, Sicily, and she was martyred in approximately 251...
allegedly appeared there in the 9th century to a virgin from nearby Velsen
Velsen
Velsen is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located on both sides of the North Sea Canal.On the north side of the North Sea Canal, in IJmuiden, there is a major steel plant, Corus Strip Products IJmuiden, formerly known as Koninklijke Hoogovens...
.)
Blauvelt
From Dutch name that came into use nearly 150 years before the first Blauvelts came to the New World. The etymology of the name probably comes from the coat of arms adopted by the first Blauvelt, Pieter Blauwveld, a prominent trader in the Netherlands. Literally, it means blue-field, likely a reference to the blue and yellow shields hung on Pieter's ships (a common 14th century Dutch method of identifying the owner). The first Blauvelt in America was a peasant farmer who worked on Kiliaen van Rensselaer's estate cultivating tobacco, in 1638.Block IslandBlock IslandBlock Island is part of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and is located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately south of the coast of Rhode Island, east of Montauk Point on Long Island, and is separated from the Rhode Island mainland by Block Island Sound. The United States Census Bureau defines Block...
After the explorer Adriaen BlockAdriaen Block
Adriaen Block was a Dutch private trader and navigator who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four voyages from 1611 to 1614, following the 1609 expedition by Henry Hudson...
who used the island as base from which to survey the Connecticut River
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
and Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
BloomingdaleBloomingdale DistrictBloomingdale is a part of Manhattan's Upper West Side between 96th and 110th Streets and bounded on the east by Amsterdam Avenue and on the west by Riverside Drive, Riverside Park and the Hudson River.-History:...
The valley of flowers. Though not likely named for this town in the Netherlands (tucked behind the dunes at the North SeaNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
) the Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
in general (its northern reaches now as known as the Bloomingdale District
Bloomingdale District
Bloomingdale is a part of Manhattan's Upper West Side between 96th and 110th Streets and bounded on the east by Amsterdam Avenue and on the west by Riverside Drive, Riverside Park and the Hudson River.-History:...
) may have had some characteristics of it that would have reminded the Netherlanders of their home: close to the shore with a sandy bluff, with many small steam vallys or (dells
Dell (landform)
In physical geography, a dell is a small wooded valley. Like "dale", the word "dell" is derived from the Old English word dæl.-See also:* Cirque* Combe * Coulee* Dells of the Wisconsin River...
), and perhaps had many blooms
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
on its flowers.
BoweryBoweryBowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...
Bouwerij was the old Dutch word for farm (contemporary boerderij). The Dutch West India CompanyDutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
mapped out land for farms on Manhattan north of New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
, the first of which, "Bouerij 1" was reserved for the support of the colony's Director-General. It became personal property of Petrus Stuyvesant, the person to hold the position.
BroadwayBroadway (New York City)Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
Breede weg, used throughout english speaking areas to refer to a wide (broad) path (way).BreuckelenBrooklyn Heights, BrooklynBrooklyn Heights is a culturally diverse neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Originally referred to as 'Brooklyn Village', it has been a prominent area of Brooklyn since 1834. As of 2000, Brooklyn Heights sustained a population of 22,594 people. The neighborhood is part of...
The first of the six Dutch townsHistory of Brooklyn
The history of Brooklyn, a present-day borough of New York City, spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898...
of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
settled in 1646, generally believed to be after the town in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, in the province of Utrecht
Utrecht (province)
Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...
now spelled Breukelen
Bronx
From Jonas BronckJonas Bronck
Jonas Bronck was a Danish immigrant to the Dutch colony of New Netherland after whom the Bronx River, Bronx county, and the New York City borough of The Bronx are named. He married his Dutch wife, Teuntje Joriaens, on July 6, 1638, in the Nieuwe Kerk , Amsterdam.-Bronck's Land:Jonas Bronck’s...
, the first recorded European settler to the peninisula.
Rananchqua by the native Siwanoy
Siwanoy
The Native American Siwanoy or Sinanoy were a band of Algonquian-speaking people, the Wappinger, in what is now the New York City area. By the mid-17th century, when their territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, the Siwanoy were settled along the East River...
band of Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
while other Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck. It was divided by the Aquahung River.
Bronck House
Bronck House, also known as Pieter Bronck House, is a Dutch homestead house in Coxsackie in Greene County, New York that was constructed in 1663 and added to later...
.
BrooklynBrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
Early maps refer to western Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
as Gebroken Land, or Broken Land, though most believe the city, and later borough, was named for the Dutch town whose contemporary spelling is Breukelen.
Some say the name evolved from Breuckelen, to Brockland, to Brocklin, to Brookline, and eventually, Brooklyn
BushwickBushwick, BrooklynBushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood, formerly Brooklyn's 18th Ward, is now part of Brooklyn Community Board 4...
The last of the six Dutch townsHistory of Brooklyn
The history of Brooklyn, a present-day borough of New York City, spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898...
of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
settled in 1661 as Boswijck
Bushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood, formerly Brooklyn's 18th Ward, is now part of Brooklyn Community Board 4...
, in essence little town in the woods. though a literal translation would be woods district.
CanarsieCanarsie, BrooklynCanarsie is a neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City, United States. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18....
Canarsie stems Lenape language for "fenced land" or "fort" The current neighborhood in Brooklyn lies within the former town of FlatlandsFlatlands, Brooklyn
Flatlands is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18.One of the original five Dutch towns on Long Island , this neighborhood was originally known as Nieuw Amersfoort, after the Dutch city of Amersfoort, but the name was changed to...
, one of the five original Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
towns on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
.
Casimir
Fort Casimir
Fort Casimir was a Dutch settlement in 17th century colonial province of New Netherland. It was located on a no-longer existing barrier island at the end of Chestnut Street in what is now New Castle, Delaware...
Fort Casimir The trading post
Factory (trading post)
Factory was the English term for the trading posts system originally established by Europeans in foreign territories, first within different states of medieval Europe, and later in their colonial possessions...
was named for Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz, count of Nassau-Dietz and Stadtholder
Stadtholder
A Stadtholder A Stadtholder A Stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder [], "steward" or "lieutenant", literally place holder, holding someones place, possibly a calque of German Statthalter, French lieutenant, or Middle Latin locum tenens...
of Friesland
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
, Groningen
Groningen (province)
Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...
and Drenthe
Drenthe
Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Cape Henlopen
Cape Henlopen
Cape Henlopen is the southern cape of the Delaware Bay along the Atlantic coast of the United States. It lies in the state of Delaware, near the town of Lewes, Delaware...
After Thijmen Jacobsz Hinlopen
Thijmen Jacobsz Hinlopen
Thijmen Jacobsz Hinlopen , was one of the leaders of the Dutch merchant and whaling company of Noordsche Compagnie since 1617 and participant in the New Netherland Company, interested in furs...
, wealthy grain trader and business partner of Cornelius Jacobsz May
Cornelius Jacobsen Mey
Cornelis Jacobszoon May , was a Dutch explorer, captain and fur trader, and namesake of Cape May, Cape May County, and the city of Cape May, New Jersey, so named first in 1620.-Family:...
who help finance explorations of the region.
Catskill
Catskill (town), New York
Catskill is a town in the southeast part of Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 11,775 at the 2010 census. The western part of the town is in the Catskill Park....
Kil is the Dutch word for a river inlet. This one is named after the Sachem
Sachem
A sachem[p] or sagamore is a paramount chief among the Algonquians or other northeast American tribes. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms from different Eastern Algonquian languages...
named Cats
Caven Point The Caven Point settlement at Minkakwa on the west shore of the Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...
between Pamrapo and Communipaw
Communipaw
Communipaw is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and site of one the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near LSP Station through the neighborhoods of...
was part of Pavonia
Pavonia, New Netherland
Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River that was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland in what would become today's Hudson County, New Jersey.-Hudson and the Hackensack:...
, and now part of Liberty State Park
Liberty State Park
Liberty State Park is located on Upper New York Bay in Jersey City, New Jersey, opposite the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The park opened in 1976 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations and is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.-Geography and...
. The name Caven is an anglicisation
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
of the Dutch word Kewan, which in turn was a "Batavianized
Batavians
The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe, originally part of the Chatti, reported by Tacitus to have lived around the Rhine delta, in the area that is currently the Netherlands, "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the...
" derivative of an Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
word meaning peninsula.
Claverack
Claverack
Claverack may refer to the following in the U.S. state of New York:*Claverack, New York, a town in Columbia County**Claverack-Red Mills, New York, a census-designated place in the above town*Claverack College, a former school in the above town...
Rack or rak is a straight stretch of river good for anchorage, one named for the clover that grew on its banks of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
Cohoes
Cohoes, New York
Cohoes is an incorporated city located at the northeast corner of Albany County in the US state of New York. It is called the "Spindle City" because of the importance of textile production to its growth. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 16,168...
Once part of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck. Believed to arise from a Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
expression Ga-ha-oose which refers to Cohoes Falls
Cohoes Falls
Cohoes Falls is a waterfall on the Mohawk River shared by the city of Cohoes and the town of Waterford, New York, United States. Discovered by the indigenous Mohawk tribe, the falls were originally called Ga-ha-oose, which is believed to mean "The Place of the Falling Canoe." Cohoes historian...
and means Place of the Falling Canoe
Colonie
Colonie (town), New York
Colonie is a town in Albany County, New York, United States. It is the most populous suburb of Albany, New York, and is the third largest town in area in Albany County, occupying about 11% of the county. Several hamlets exist within the town. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population...
Once part of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, now north of Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
Collect Pond
Fresh Water Pond) near the southern tip of ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, covering approximately 48 acres (194,000 m²) and running as deep as 60 feet (18.3 m). The pond was fed by an underground spring, and its outflow ran through the Lispenard Meadows marshes to the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. The name Collect is a corruption of the Dutch word kolch (A small body of water.), which was subsequently corrupted to kalch, and so on until it became collect.
Communipaw
Communipaw
Communipaw is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and site of one the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near LSP Station through the neighborhoods of...
Site of summer encampment and counsel fire of the Hackensack Indians.
Spellings include Gamoenapa, Gemonepan, Gemoenepaen, Gamenepaw, Comounepaw, Comounepan Communipau, Goneuipan
From gamunk, on the other side of the river, and pe-auke, water-land, meaning big landing-place from the other side of the river.
Contemporary: gamuck meaning other side of the water or otherside of the river or landing place at the side of a river
Site of first "bouwerie
Bowery
Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...
" built at Pavonia
Pavonia, New Netherland
Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River that was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland in what would become today's Hudson County, New Jersey.-Hudson and the Hackensack:...
and called Jan de Lacher's Hoeck
some have suggested that it comes from Community of Pauw, which likely is more a coincidence that a fact.
Colen Donck
Colen Donck
Colen Donck was the title of a large Dutch-American owned estate of 24,000 acres originally owned by Adriaen van der Donck in New Netherland, along what was then known as the North River ....
Now Yonkers, from homestead of Jonkheer or Jonker (meaning esquire) Adriaen van der Donck
Adriaen van der Donck
Adriaen Cornelissen van der Donck was a lawyer and landowner in New Netherland after whose honorific Jonkheer the city of Yonkers, New York is named...
.
Constable Hook A land grant to Jacob Jacobsen Roy who was a chief gunner or constable in Fort Amsterdam in New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
in 1646, by the Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
, under the leadership of Director of New Netherland
Director-General of New Netherland
This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland in North America...
William Kieft. Konstapel's Hoeck in Dutch, takes its name from Roy's title.
A hoek or hoeck in Dutch meaning a spit of land or small peninsula. Though not used, could be translated to English as Gunner's Point.
Cortelyou
Cortelyou Road (BMT Brighton Line)
Cortelyou Road is a local station on the BMT Brighton Line of the New York City Subway, located at Cortelyou Road between Marlborough Road and East 16th Street in the neighborhood of Flatbush, Brooklyn. It is served by the Q train at all times. The Cortelyous were an old New Netherlands family...
Cortelyou Road
Cortelyou Road (BMT Brighton Line)
Cortelyou Road is a local station on the BMT Brighton Line of the New York City Subway, located at Cortelyou Road between Marlborough Road and East 16th Street in the neighborhood of Flatbush, Brooklyn. It is served by the Q train at all times. The Cortelyous were an old New Netherlands family...
in Brooklyn is named for Jacques Cortelyou
Jacques Cortelyou
Jacques Cortelyou was an influential early citizen of New Amsterdam who was Surveyor General of the early Dutch colony...
, New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
's Surveyor General, who owned land in the area of Flatbush
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
.
Cortlandt
Cortlandt, New York
Cortlandt is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census.The Town of Cortlandt is in the northwest part of the county...
From the prominent family Van Cortlandt
Van Cortlandt
Van Cortlandt may refer to:Van Cortlandt family of New York*Jacobus Van Cortlandt, a merchant and Mayor of New York City*Pierre Van Cortlandt, the first lieutenant governor of New York*Philip Van Cortlandt, a United States Representative...
, including Stephanus van Cortlandt
Stephanus Van Cortlandt
Stephanus van Cortlandt was the first native-born mayor of New York City, a position which he held from 1677 to 1678 and from 1686 to 1688. He was the patroon of Van Cortlandt Manor and was on the governor's executive council from 1691 to 1700. His brother, Jacobus Van Cortlandt also served as...
(b.1643) the first native born mayor of New York (1677–1678; 1686–1688)
Cromakill
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey in the United States. The Meadowlands are known for being the site of large landfills and decades of...
Likely from kromme kille meaning crooked creek, border between Secaucus and North Bergen. Similar to evolution of
Gramercy
Gramercy Park
Gramercy Park is a small, fenced-in private park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park is at the core of both the neighborhood referred to as either Gramercy or Gramercy Park and the Gramercy Park Historic District...
, which is a corruption of the krom mesje, or little crooked knife, the name of a small brook that flowed along what is now 21st Street in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
Kill (body of water)
As a body of water, a kill is a creek. The word comes from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel." The modern Dutch term is kil....
Danskammer
Danskammer Generating Station
Danskammer Generating Station is located on the shore of the Hudson River in the Town of Newburgh, New York, United States, upstream of the larger oil-fired Roseton Generating Station. Danskammer units 1 and 2 burn oil , whereas units 3 and 4 are coal-fired...
Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, literally dance chamber, meaning ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
. On their voyage upriver in 1609 Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
's crew supposedly saw Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
dancing around a fire at the site and thought they were looking at "the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
's dance chamber". There was once a lighthouse, Danskammer Point Light
Danskammer Point Light
Danskammer Point Light was a lighthouse on Danskammer Point in the Town of Newburgh in New York, along the banks of the Hudson River. It was later demolished and is now the site of the Danskammer Generating Station.-References:...
, at the site.
Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
From Thomas West, 3rd (or 12th) Baron of De La Warr, or Lord Delaware, who served as governor of the Jamestown Colony
Dunkerhook
Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 26,342. A suburb of New York City, Paramus is located between 15–20 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan and approximately west of Upper Manhattan.Paramus is one of...
Literally dark corner Small section of suburban Paramus reputed to be the former site of a "slave community." According to local histories and an historic marker at the site, Dunkerhook was once home to a population of African Americans, many or all of whom were slaves, as well as a "slave school" and "slave church." However, primary historic documentation establishes that Dunkerhook was populated not by slaves, but rather primarily by free African Americans.
Dwars KillDwars KillThe Dwars Kill is a tributary of the Hackensack River in Bergen County, New Jersey, in the United States...
Alternatively Dwarskill or Dwarskill Creek, a tributaryTributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the Oradell Reservoir
Oradell Reservoir
The Oradell Reservoir was formed by the Oradell Reservoir Dam placed on the Hackensack River in Bergen County, New Jersey, completed in 1923. The Oradell Reservoir Dam is located in Oradell, but the reservoir also straddles the borders of Haworth, Emerson, Closter and Harrington Park.The reservoir...
meaning cross creek
Esopus
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...
For the clan of Munsee who lived in the region in the mid Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
Flatlands
Flatlands, Brooklyn
Flatlands is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18.One of the original five Dutch towns on Long Island , this neighborhood was originally known as Nieuw Amersfoort, after the Dutch city of Amersfoort, but the name was changed to...
One of the six Dutch towns
History of Brooklyn
The history of Brooklyn, a present-day borough of New York City, spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898...
of Brooklyn settled in 1647 as Nieuw Amersfoort
Amersfoort
Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands. The city is growing quickly but has a well-preserved and protected medieval centre. Amersfoort is one of the largest railway junctions in the country, because of its location on two of the...
, from the Dutch city of the same name.
Flatbush
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
A description of the terrain, in Dutch Vlacke Bos.
One of the six Dutch towns
History of Brooklyn
The history of Brooklyn, a present-day borough of New York City, spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, established in 1652
as Midwout
Midwood, Brooklyn
Midwood is a neighborhood in the south central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, New York, USA, roughly halfway between Prospect Park and Coney Island. The neighborhood is within Community District 14...
, the earlier name living on as Midwood.
Flushing
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
From the Dutch town of Vlissingen.The derivation of the name Vlissingen is unclear, though most scholars relate the name to the word fles (bottle) in one way or another.
Ghent
Ghent, New York
Ghent is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States, with a ZIP code of 12075. The population was 5,276 at the 2000 census. 2004 estimates put the population at 5,316.The Town of Ghent is centrally located in the county...
From the Flemish
Flemish Region
The Flemish Region is one of the three official regions of the Kingdom of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. Colloquially, it is usually simply referred to as Flanders, of which it is the institutional iteration within the context of the Belgian political system...
city Ghent, in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
, which historians believe is derived from the Celtic word 'ganda' which means confluence
Confluence (geography)
In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where two streams flow together, merging into a single stream...
.
Gramercy A corruption of the little river named Krom Messie meaning (small) crooked knife
Goede Hoop Good Hope, from Fort Huys de Goede Hoop, a fortress on the Fresh River
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
and Park River
Park River (Connecticut)
The Park River, sometimes called the Hog River, is a subterranean urban river that flows through and under the city of Hartford, Connecticut. It was diverted underground by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1940. The stated reason for this was to reduce the risk of spring seasonal floods which had...
, the 1633 founding of Hartford
Gowanus
Gowanus Canal
The Gowanus Canal, also known as the Gowanus Creek Canal, is a canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, geographically on the westernmost portion of Long Island...
Gowanes Creek after Gouwane, a sachem
Sachem
A sachem[p] or sagamore is a paramount chief among the Algonquians or other northeast American tribes. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms from different Eastern Algonquian languages...
of the Canarsee
Gravesend
Gravesend, Brooklyn
Gravesend is a neighborhood in the south-central section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA.The derivation of the name is unclear. Some speculate that it was named after the English seaport of Gravesend, Kent. An alternative explanation suggests that it was named by Willem Kieft for the...
Settled in 1645 under Dutch patent by English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
followers of Anabaptist
Anabaptist
Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....
Lady Deborah Moody. Some speculate that it was named after the English seaport of Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
. An alternative explanation suggests that it was named by Director of New Netherland
Director-General of New Netherland
This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland in North America...
Willem Kieft
Willem Kieft
Willem Kieft was a Dutch merchant and director-general of New Netherland , from 1638 until 1647. He formed the council of twelve men, the first representative body in New Netherland, but ignored its advice...
for the Dutch settlement of Gravesande, which means Count's Beach or Count's Sand. 's-Gravenzande
's-Gravenzande
s-Gravenzande is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about 12 km southwest of The Hague. Until 2004 it was a separate municipality and covered an area of 20.77 km² .In 2001, the town of 's-Gravenzande had 15241 inhabitants...
is a city in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Guilderland Moneyland, referring to early Dutch settler's assumption that the large amount of sand in the area could generate a profitable glass industry. Other influences on the name could have also been the province of Gelderland
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, may have been originally Gelterland or Gelterlan. Until the introduction of the euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
, modern Dutch currency was the guilder
Guilder
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch gulden — from Old Dutch for 'golden'. The guilder originated as a gold coin but has been a common name for a silver or base metal coin for some centuries...
.
Hackensack
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey in the United States. The Meadowlands are known for being the site of large landfills and decades of...
The meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey in the United States. The Meadowlands are known for being the site of large landfills and decades of...
, river
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River,...
and city
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
, the Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
Hackensack tribe and their territory, take their name from site of semi-permanent encampment on the neck between the river and Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately 8 miles long, in Bergen County in northern New Jersey in the United States. The upper creek flows through suburban communities west of New York City...
, near the Teaneck Ridge
Teaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, and a suburb in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 39,776, making it the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County....
.
Variously translated as place of stony ground or place of sharp ground.
Spellings include Ahkingeesahkuy, Achsinnigeu-haki, Achinigeu-hach, Ack-kinkas-hacky, Achkinhenhcky, Ackingsah-sack, Ackinckeshacky,
Hackinsack
Alternatively, suggested as the place where two rivers come together on low ground or stream which discharges itself into another on the level ground, which would speak to the confluence of the Hackensack and Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately 8 miles long, in Bergen County in northern New Jersey in the United States. The upper creek flows through suburban communities west of New York City...
or Passaic River
Passaic River
The Passaic River is a mature surface river, approximately 80 mi long, in northern New Jersey in the United States. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey,...
.
HalfmoonHalfmoon, New YorkHalfmoon is a town in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 18,474 at the 2000 census. The town is named for the crescent shape of the land between the Hudson River and Mohawk River....
Named in the 19th century for the crescent shape of the land between the Hudson RiverHudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
and Mohawk River
Mohawk River
The Mohawk River is a river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk flows into the Hudson in the Capital District, a few miles north of the city of Albany. The river is named for the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy...
., and is coincidentally the same as Halve Maen
Halve Maen
The Halve Maen was a Dutch East India Company vlieboot which sailed into what is now New York harbor in September 1609. It was commissioned by the Dutch Republic to covertly find an eastern passage to China...
, the ship captained by Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
during his 1609 exploration of the river named for him.
HarsimusHarsimus Cove (HBLR station)Harsimus Cove is a station on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail located at Metro Plaza Drive in the Harsimus Section of Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey....
Possibly Crow's Marsh. Site of a seasonal Hackensack encampment and one of first "bouweriesBowery
Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...
" built by Dutch settlers at Pavonia.
Spellings include: Aharsimus, Ahasimus, Hasymes, Haassemus, Hahassemes, Hasimus, Horseemes, Hasseme, Horsimus
Contemporary: ahas meaning crow
Haverstraw
One of the first locales to appear on maps of North America, listed as Haverstroo, which means oat straw. It was common for the LenapeLenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
to use straw thatch for roofs on their dwellings, or wigwams.
HemsteedeHempstead (village), New YorkHempstead is a village located in the town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 53,891 at the 2010 census.Hofstra University is located on the border between Hempstead and Uniondale.-Foundation:...
homestead or farmyardThe town was first settled around 1644 following the establishment of a treaty between English colonists, John Carman and Robert Fordham, and the Indians in 1643. Although the settlers were from the English colony of Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, a patent was issued by New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
after the settlers had purchased land from the local natives. The town may have been named for either Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....
in the United Kingdom or the Dutch city of Heemstede
Heemstede
Heemstede is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.-History :Heemstede formed around the Castle Heemstede that was built on the Spaarne River around 1286. Before 1296, Floris V, Count of Holland, granted Heemstede as a fiefdom to Reinier of Holy...
, a town south of Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
, Netherlands. Site of early English incurisons in New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
by New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
ers, in 1643
HobokenHoboken, New JerseyHoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
"Batavianization" of the LenapeLenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
tobacco pipe, from hoopookum or hupoken.
Most likely to refer to the soapstone
Soapstone
Soapstone is a metamorphic rock, a talc-schist. It is largely composed of the mineral talc and is thus rich in magnesium. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occurs in the areas where tectonic plates are subducted, changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx...
collected there to carve tobacco pipes, in a phrase that became Hopoghan Hackingh or place of stone for the tobacco pipe.
(Contemporary: Hopoakan meaning pipe for smoking)
Alternatively from Hoebuck, old Dutch for high bluff and likely referring to Castle Point
Landmarks of Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken, New Jersey is home to many parks, historical landmarks, and other places of interest.-Carlo's Bakery:A famous bakery and setting for the TLC reality television series Cake Boss. It is located on Washington Street, across from City Hall....
Variations used during the colonial era included Hobock, Hobocan, Hoboocken, and Hobuck, Although the spelling Hoboken was used by the English as early as 1668, it doesn't appear that until Col. John Steven
John Stevens (inventor)
Col. John Stevens, III was an American lawyer, engineer and an inventor.-Life and career:Born the son of John Stevens , a prominent New Jersey politician who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, and Elizabeth Alexander, daughter of New York lawyer and statesman James Alexander. His...
purchased the land on which the city is situated that it became common.
Some would believe the city to named after European town of the same name. The Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
Hoboken, annexed in 1983 to Antwerp, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, is derived from Middle Dutch Hooghe Buechen or Hoge Beuken, meaning High Beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
es or Tall Beeches. Established in 1135, the New Netherlanders were likely aware of its existence (and may have pronounced the Lenape to conform a more familiar sound), but it is doubtful that the city on the Hudson is named for it.
HousatonicHousatonic RiverThe Housatonic River is a river, approximately long, in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United States. It flows south to southeast, and drains about of southwestern New England into Long Island Sound...
From the MohicanMohican
-Native Americans:* Mahican , a Native American tribe who lived in and around the Hudson Valley* Mohegan, a functional confederation of several branches of Native Americans during the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century...
phrase usi-a-di-en-uk translated as beyond the mountain place.
HudsonHenry HudsonHenry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
The riverHudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
, county
Hudson County, New Jersey
Hudson County is the smallest county in New Jersey and one of the most densely populated in United States. It takes its name from the Hudson River, which creates part of its eastern border. Part of the New York metropolitan area, its county seat and largest city is Jersey City.- Municipalities...
, city
Hudson, New York
Hudson is a city located along the west border of Columbia County, New York, United States. The city is named after the adjacent Hudson River and ultimately after the explorer Henry Hudson.Hudson is the county seat of Columbia County...
and numerous other places that bear this name most likely do so for the English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
sea captain Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
who explored the region in 1609, establishing a claim for the Dutch East Indies Company and Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
.
JamaicaJamaica, QueensJamaica is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, United States. It was settled under Dutch rule in 1656 in New Netherland as Rustdorp. Under British rule, the Village of Jamaica became the center of the "Town of Jamaica"...
Settled as Rustdorp with a 1656 land patentLand patent
A land patent is a land grant made patent by the sovereign lord over the land in question. To make a such a grant “patent”, such a sovereign lord must document the land grant, securely sign and seal the document and openly publish the same to the public for all to see...
. English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
renamed it Jameco for Yamecah, a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. Alternatively, from "Jameco" after a Lenape language word for "beaver".
Kill van KullKill Van KullThe Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. Approximately long and wide, it connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the eastern end of the Kill, Bergen Point its western end...
Separating BayonneBayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
and Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
. From the Middle Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
word kille
Kill (body of water)
As a body of water, a kill is a creek. The word comes from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel." The modern Dutch term is kil....
, meaning riverbed or water channel. Likely evolved from Achter Col, as in kille van kol, or channel from the neck, its spellings including Kill von Cull, Kille van Cole, Kill van Koll
Kinderkamack
Describes the area along middle reaches of Hackensack RiverHackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River,...
, kamak said to come from the Lenape and mean place of ceremonial dance and worship possible spellings include Kinkachgemeck,
KykuitKykuitKykuit , also known as John D. Rockefeller Estate, is a 40-room National Trust house in Westchester County, New York, built by the oil businessman, philanthropist and founder of the prominent Rockefeller family, John D. Rockefeller, and his son, John D...
(icon), "lookout" in Dutch (though currently spelled "kijkuit"). It is situated in Pocantico HillsPocantico Hills, New York
Pocantico Hills is a hamlet in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York, northeast of the village of Sleepy Hollow and southwest of the village of Pleasantville. The area was originally settled by native Americans of the Wecquaesgeek tribes; "Pocantico" means "running between two hills," and the name...
, on the highest point of the local surrounds near Tarrytown
Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
and Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line.Originally...
.
MahwahMahwah, New JerseyMahwah is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 25,890. The name Mahwah is derived from the Lenni Lenape word "mawewi" which means "Meeting Place" or "Place Where Paths Meet".The area that is now Mahwah was...
Mawewi meaning meeting place or place where paths meet[7][8] or assemblyContemporary: mawemin see:
ManhattanManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
From Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on Henry HudsonHenry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
's yacht Halve Maen
Halve Maen
The Halve Maen was a Dutch East India Company vlieboot which sailed into what is now New York harbor in September 1609. It was commissioned by the Dutch Republic to covertly find an eastern passage to China...
(Half Moon). A 1610 map depicts the name Manahata twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River (later named the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
). The word "Manhattan" has been translated as island of many hills. The Encyclopedia of New York City
The Encyclopedia of New York City
The Encyclopedia of New York City is a comprehensive reference book on New York City. Historian and Columbia University professor Kenneth T...
offers other derivations, including from the Munsee dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of Lenape: manahachtanienk ("place of general inebriation"), manahatouh ("place where timber is procured for bows and arrows"), or menatay ("island").
Maspeth
From MespeatchesMespeatches
The Mespeatches were one of the indigenous tribes who lived on Long Island, New York before the European Incursion....
translated as at the bad waterplace relating to the many stagnant swamps that existed in the area.
Purchased in 1635, and within a few years began chartering towns. In 1642 they settled Maspat, under a charter granted to Rev. Francis Doughty. Maspat became the first European settlement in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
. The settlement was leveled the following year in an attack by Native Indians, and the surviving settlers returned to Manhattan. It wasn't until nine years later, in 1652, that settlers ventured back to the area, settling an area slightly inland from the previous Maspat
MeghgectecockNew Barbadoes NeckNew Barbadoes Neck is the name given in the colonial era for the peninsula in northeastern New Jersey, USA between the lower Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, in what is now western Hudson County and southern Bergen County...
New Barbadoes Neck
New Barbadoes Neck is the name given in the colonial era for the peninsula in northeastern New Jersey, USA between the lower Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, in what is now western Hudson County and southern Bergen County...
to the British.
Contemporary: masgichteu meaning may apple
MidwoutMidwood, BrooklynMidwood is a neighborhood in the south central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, New York, USA, roughly halfway between Prospect Park and Coney Island. The neighborhood is within Community District 14...
Middle woods, settled in 1652, in this case between BoswijckBushwick, Brooklyn
Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood, formerly Brooklyn's 18th Ward, is now part of Brooklyn Community Board 4...
and Breuckelen
Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
Brooklyn Heights is a culturally diverse neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Originally referred to as 'Brooklyn Village', it has been a prominent area of Brooklyn since 1834. As of 2000, Brooklyn Heights sustained a population of 22,594 people. The neighborhood is part of...
, because of its dense forests. Later, was part of old Flatbush, situated between the towns of Gravesend
Gravesend, Brooklyn
Gravesend is a neighborhood in the south-central section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA.The derivation of the name is unclear. Some speculate that it was named after the English seaport of Gravesend, Kent. An alternative explanation suggests that it was named by Willem Kieft for the...
and Flatlands
Flatlands, Brooklyn
Flatlands is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18.One of the original five Dutch towns on Long Island , this neighborhood was originally known as Nieuw Amersfoort, after the Dutch city of Amersfoort, but the name was changed to...
.
MineolaMineola, New YorkMineola is a village in Nassau County, New York, USA. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a Native American word meaning a "pleasant place"....
Named in 1858 after an AlgonquianAlgonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
Indian chief, Miniolagamika, meaning 'pleasant village'; later shortened and altered to "Mineola."
MinkakwaGreenville, Jersey CityGreenville is the southernmost section of Jersey City, New Jersey.In its broadest definition Greenville encompasses the area south of the West Side Branch of Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and north of the city line with Bayonne, between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay, and corresponds to the...
On Bergen NeckBergen Neck
Bergen Neck is a name for the peninsula between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay in the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Bayonne and Jersey City...
between Pamrapo
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
and Communipaw
Communipaw
Communipaw is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and site of one the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near LSP Station through the neighborhoods of...
at Caven Point
Liberty State Park
Liberty State Park is located on Upper New York Bay in Jersey City, New Jersey, opposite the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The park opened in 1976 to coincide with bicentennial celebrations and is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.-Geography and...
, first settled by New Netherlanders in 1647. Spellings include Minelque and Minkakwa
meaning a place of good crossing probably because it was the most convenient pass between the two bays on either side of the neck, (or could mean place where the coves meet; in this case where they are closet to each and, hence advantageous for portage.)
MoodnaMoodna CreekMoodna Creek is a small tributary of the Hudson River that drains eastern Orange County, New York. At 15.5 miles in length from its source at the confluence of Cromline Creek and Otter Kill west of Washingtonville, it is the longest stream located entirely within the county.Despite its small...
A corruption of the DutchDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
moordenaars, meaning murderers, hence Murderers' Creek, its original name. Local lore has it that the name came from the massacre of the Stacys, an early family of settlers, along its banks.
Moonachie
Ground hog, badger, or place of dug up earthContemporary:monachgeu for groundhog, and munhacke for badger and munhageen meaning to dig a hole
Navesink
from the group of LenapeLenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
and their territory
Noort RivierNorth River (New York-New Jersey)North River is an alternate name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City and northeastern New Jersey. The colonial name for the entire Hudson given to it by the Dutch in the early seventeenth century, the term fell out of general use for most of the river's...
Called MuhheakantuckHudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
or the river that flowed two ways in Unami.
The Noort Rivier was one of the three main rivers in New Nederland, the others being the Versche Rivier
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
or Fresh River (likely because of its sweet water) and the Zuid Rivier
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
or South River. In maritme usage, it still defines that part of the Hudson
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
between Hudson County and Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
Nieuw DorpNew Dorp, Staten IslandNew Dorp – an anglicization of Nieuwe Dorp, Dutch for New Village – is a neighborhood in Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, United States. The community lies near the foot of Todt Hill, with Grant City immediately to its north, Oakwood bordering to the south, and...
Now New DorpNew Dorp, Staten Island
New Dorp – an anglicization of Nieuwe Dorp, Dutch for New Village – is a neighborhood in Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, United States. The community lies near the foot of Todt Hill, with Grant City immediately to its north, Oakwood bordering to the south, and...
, meaning New Village, on Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
New UtrechtNew Utrecht, BrooklynNew Utrecht was the last of six towns to be founded in what is today the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It was named after the city of Utrecht, Netherlands. In 1652 Cornelius van Werckhoven, a surveyor born in Utrecht and a principal investor in the Dutch West India Company, began purchasing...
Fifth of the six Dutch townsHistory of Brooklyn
The history of Brooklyn, a present-day borough of New York City, spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898...
of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
; established in 1652 and named after major Dutch city
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
.
Oester BaaiOyster Bay (town), New YorkThe Town of Oyster Bay is easternmost of the three towns in Nassau County, New York, in the United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County that extends from the North Shore to the South Shore of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the town population was...
After 1650, Oyster Bay was the boundary between the Dutch New AmsterdamNew Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
colony and the New England Confederation
New England Confederation
The United Colonies of New England, commonly known as the New England Confederation, was a short-lived military alliance of the English colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. Established in 1643, its primary purpose was to unite the Puritan colonies against the Native...
. The English, under Peter Wright
Peter Wright
Peter Maurice Wright was an English scientist and former MI5 counterintelligence officer, noted for writing the controversial book Spycatcher, which became an international bestseller with sales of over two million copies...
, first settled in the area in 1653. The boundary was somewhat fluid which led each group having their own Main Street.
OrangeHouse of Orange-NassauThe House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War...
From the House of Orange-NassauHouse of Orange-Nassau
The House of Orange-Nassau , a branch of the European House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life of the Netherlands — and at times in Europe — since William I of Orange organized the Dutch revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War...
, specifically William III of England
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
, the Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
, as in Orange County
Orange County, New York
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located at the northern reaches of the New York metropolitan area. The county sits in the state's scenic Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley...
and The Oranges
The Oranges
The Oranges are a group of four municipalities in Essex County, New Jersey, all of which have the word Orange in their name. All of these communities were named for the ruler of England, William III of England, also known as William of Orange...
in Essex County
Essex County, New Jersey
Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 783,969, ranking it third in the state after Bergen County and Middlesex County; Essex County's population has declined from 786,147 as of the bureau's...
OssiningOssining (village), New YorkOssining is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 25,060 at the 2010 census. As a village, it is located in the Town of Ossining.-Geography:Ossining borders the eastern shores of the widest part of the Hudson River....
Early 17th century Dutch maps of the Hudson River Valley show an Indian village, whose inhabitants were part of the MoheganMohegan
The Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. Mohegan translates to "People of the Wolf". At the time of European contact, the Mohegan and Pequot were one people, historically living in the lower Connecticut region...
Tribe, named "Sint Sinck." That phrase, when translated, means "stone upon stone" and refers to the extensive beds of limestone found in the southern part of the village.
In 1685, the Sint Sincks sold their land to Frederick Philipse who incorporated it into his land holdings known as the Manor of Philipsburg. The Manor comprised about 165000 acres (668 km²) and extended from Spuyten Duyvil Creek
Spuyten Duyvil Creek
Spuyten Duyvil Creek is a channel connecting the Hudson River to the Harlem River Ship Canal, and on to the Harlem River in New York City, separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx and the rest of the mainland. The neighborhood named Spuyten Duyvil lies to the north of the creek.Spuyten...
at the tip of Manhattan on the south to the Croton River
Croton River
The Croton River is a river in southern New York that begins where the East and West Branches of the Croton River meet a little way downstream from the Croton Falls Reservoir...
just north of the Village of Ossining. The land was leased to tenant farmers of Dutch, French, and English origin.
Oude DorpeOld Town, Staten IslandOld Town is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Staten Island, located on its East Shore. Old Town was established in August 1661 as part of New Netherland, and was the first permanent European settlement on Staten Island...
Old TownOld Town, Staten Island
Old Town is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Staten Island, located on its East Shore. Old Town was established in August 1661 as part of New Netherland, and was the first permanent European settlement on Staten Island...
, the first permanent settlement on Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
in 1651
OutwaterPaterson Plank RoadPaterson Plank Road is a road that runs through Passaic, Bergen and Hudson Counties in northeastern New Jersey originally lain in the colonial era. The route, connecting the city Paterson and the Hudson River waterfront, still exists...
Uiterwaarden meaning a flood plain, of which there were many, this one at the foot of Paterson Plank RoadPaterson Plank Road
Paterson Plank Road is a road that runs through Passaic, Bergen and Hudson Counties in northeastern New Jersey originally lain in the colonial era. The route, connecting the city Paterson and the Hudson River waterfront, still exists...
.
OverpeckOverpeck CreekOverpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately 8 miles long, in Bergen County in northern New Jersey in the United States. The upper creek flows through suburban communities west of New York City...
Oever meaning a sloping bank and perk meaning border or boundary, hence at the water's edge, actually a riparian zone. Used in English as early as 1665. By the Leanpe called Tantaqua, it was the site of semi-permanent village of the Hackensack Indians.PaerdegatPaerdegat basinPaerdegat Basin is a channel that connects to Jamaica Bay on the southern end of Brooklyn, New York, United States. It is located on the west side of the Canarsie area...
In Canarsie, the channel that connects to Jamaica Bay on the southern end of Brooklyn. A gat, or opening, and paarde from the word for horse. "Paerdegat" derives from the old Dutch 'paardengat', meaning "horse gate".Pamrapo
On Bergen NeckBergen Neck
Bergen Neck is a name for the peninsula between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay in the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Bayonne and Jersey City...
between Constable Hook and Communipaw
Communipaw
Communipaw is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and site of one the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near LSP Station through the neighborhoods of...
. Spellings include Pimbrepow, Pembrepock, Pemmerepoch, Pimlipo, Pemrepau, Pemrapaugh, and Pamrapough
Paramus
From Parampseapus or Peremessing meaning, perhaps, where there is worthwhile (or fertile) land or place of wild turkeys. Seapus or sipus is said to mean water, so the name may mean turkey river. Saddle RiverSaddle River, New Jersey
Saddle River is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 3,152. Saddle River has the second-highest per-capita income in the state...
was also called Peramseapus. Spellings include Pyramus.
PassaicPassaic RiverThe Passaic River is a mature surface river, approximately 80 mi long, in northern New Jersey in the United States. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey,...
The countyPassaic, New Jersey
Passaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 69,781, maintaining its status as the 15th largest municipality in New Jersey with an increase of 1,920 residents from the 2000 Census population of 67,861...
, river
Passaic, New Jersey
Passaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 69,781, maintaining its status as the 15th largest municipality in New Jersey with an increase of 1,920 residents from the 2000 Census population of 67,861...
and city
Passaic, New Jersey
Passaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 69,781, maintaining its status as the 15th largest municipality in New Jersey with an increase of 1,920 residents from the 2000 Census population of 67,861...
are taken from pahsayèk,
pahsaayeek and pasayak, meaning valley or water that flows through the valley. Spellings include: Pawsaick, Pissawack
Contemporary: Pachsa'jeek
Paulus Hook
A tidal islandTidal island
A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands many of them have been sites of religious worship, such as Mont Saint Michel with its...
, called Arresick by the Lenape the site where, in 1630, Michael Pauw
Michael Reyniersz Pauw
Knight Michiel Reiniersz Pauw was a burgermeester of Amsterdam and a director of the Dutch West India Company...
's staked his claim for his attempted patroonship. Named after his agent who built a hut and ferry landing there, hoek or hoeck meaning a spit or point.
Variations include Paulus Hoeck, Powles Hoek, Powles Hook
PavoniaPavonia, New NetherlandPavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River that was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland in what would become today's Hudson County, New Jersey.-Hudson and the Hackensack:...
First settlement by the Europeans on west bank of Hudson RiverHudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
from its patroon
Patroon
In the United States, a patroon was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland in North America...
Michael Reyniersz Pauw
Michael Reyniersz Pauw
Knight Michiel Reiniersz Pauw was a burgermeester of Amsterdam and a director of the Dutch West India Company...
, Pavonia is a Latinized version of his surname, based on the word for peacock
PeekskillPeekskill, New YorkPeekskill is a city in Westchester County, New York. It is situated on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from Jones Point.This community was known to be an early American industrial center, primarily for its iron plow and stove products...
From Peeck's Kil. New AmsterdamNew Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
resident Jan Peeck made the first recorded contact with the native
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
population of the area, then identified as "Sachoes
Wappani
The Wappinger were a confederacy of Native Americans whose territory in the 17th century spread along the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Primarily based in what is now Dutchess County, New York, their territory bordered Manhattan Island to the south, the Mahican territory bounded by the...
". The date is not certain, (possibly early 1640s), but agreements and merchant transactions took place, formalized into the Ryck's Patent Deed of 1684.
PelhamPelham, New YorkPelham, New York is the name of two locations in Westchester County, New York:*Pelham , New York, the Town of Pelham*Pelham Manor , New York, the Village of Pelham Manor*Pelham , New York, the Village of Pelham...
From the ham or propertyof Thomas Pell of Fairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is bordered by the towns of Bridgeport, Trumbull, Easton, Redding and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 59,404...
, who, on June 27, 1654, purchased 9166 acres (37.1 km²) from the Siwanoy
Siwanoy
The Native American Siwanoy or Sinanoy were a band of Algonquian-speaking people, the Wappinger, in what is now the New York City area. By the mid-17th century, when their territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, the Siwanoy were settled along the East River...
, and was part of the expansion of New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
colonies into New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
PequannockPequannockPequannock may refer to the following in the U.S. state of New Jersey:*Pequannock River, a tributary of the Pompton River*Pequannock Township, New Jersey, a township in Morris County**Pequannock Township School District***Pequannock Township High School...
From Paquettahhnuake meaning cleared land ready or being readied for cultivation. Packanack is also contemporary variation of this place and possibly thePacquanac clan of Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
PomptonPompton-Places:* Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, a borough in Passaic County* Pompton Plains, New Jersey, a neighborhood in Pequannock Township* Pompton River, a tributary of the Passaic River...
Has been cited by some sources to mean a place where they catch soft fish.Ponck HockieKingston, New YorkKingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...
PunkieCeratopogonidae
Ceratopogonidae, or biting midges , are a family of small flies in the order Diptera...
†: Via Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, from Munsee
Lenape language
The Delaware languages, also known as the Lenape languages, are Munsee and Unami, two closely related languages of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family...
[ponkwəs] (Proto-Algonquian
Proto-Algonquian language
Proto-Algonquian is the name given to the proto-language from which the various languages of the Algonquian family are descended. It is generally estimated to have been spoken around 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, but on the question of where it was spoken there is less agreement...
*penkwehsa, from *penkw-, "dust, ashes" + *-ehs, a diminutive
Diminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
suffix).
Poughkeepsie
(p) from (roughly) U-puku-ipi-sing), meaning the reed covered lodge by the little-water place, referring to a spring or stream feeding into the Hudson RiverHudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
,
QuarropasWhite Plains, New YorkWhite Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
Used as farmland by the WappingerWappinger
The Wappinger were an American tribe native to eastern New York. The term "Wappinger" may also refer to:* Wappinger, New York, the Town of Wappinger named for the tribe...
to early traders it was known as the White Plains, either from the groves of white balsam which are said to have covered it, or from the heavy mist that local tradition suggests hovered over the swamplands near the Bronx River
Bronx River
The Bronx River, approximately long, flows through southeast New York in the United States. It is named after colonial settler Jonas Bronck. The Bronx River is the only fresh water river in New York City....
.
RamapoRamapough Mountain IndiansThe Ramapough Mountain Indians, also known as Ramapo Mountain Indians or the Ramapough Lenape Nation, are a group of approximately 5,000 people living around the Ramapo Mountains of northern New Jersey and southern New York. Their tribal office is located on Stag Hill Road on Houvenkopf Mountain in...
Name for the mountainsRamapo Mountains
The Ramapo Mountains are a forested chain of the Appalachian mountains in northeastern New Jersey and southeastern New York in the United States...
and river
Ramapo River
The Ramapo River is a tributary of the Pompton River, approximately 30 mi long, in southern New York and northern New Jersey in the United States.-Course:...
and towns, meaning
underneath the rock, spellings: Ramapough, Ramopock
RaritanRaritan-Places:*Raritan, New Jersey, a borough in Somerset County*Raritan Township, New Jersey, a township in Hunterdon County*Raritan Bay, a bay between the U.S...
The people, riverRaritan River
The Raritan River is a major river of central New Jersey in the United States. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.-Description:...
, bay
Raritan Bay
Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the south by the Raritan...
, and towns take their name from a derviation of Naraticong meaning river beyond the island (which, considering location, could be Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
).
Some would believe that is comes from Roaton or Raritanghe, a tribe which had come from across the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
and displaced the existing population of Sanhicans.
Alternatively, Raritan is a Dutch pronunciation of wawitan or rarachons meaning forked river or stream overflows.
Red HookRed Hook, BrooklynRed Hook is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6. It is also the location where the transatlantic liner, the , docks in New York City.- History :...
From Roode Hoek. In DutchDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
hoek means point or corner, and
can refer to Red Hook, New York
Red Hook, New York
Red Hook is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was reported to be 11,319 during the 2010 census. The name is supposedly derived from the red foliage on trees on a small strip of land on the Hudson River. The town contains two villages; the village of Red Hook and the...
, village
Red Hook (village), New York
Red Hook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, USA. The population was 1,961 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area...
within it, or the neighborhood
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Red Hook is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6. It is also the location where the transatlantic liner, the , docks in New York City.- History :...
in Brooklyn, named for the red clay soil on the point of land projecting into the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
, settled by the New Netherlander
New Netherlander
New Netherlanders were residents of New Netherland, the seventeenth century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America, centered around the Hudson River and New York Bay, and at the end of the colony in the Delaware Valley.The...
s in 1636.
Rensselaerswyck
From the patroonPatroon
In the United States, a patroon was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland in North America...
Kiliaen van Rensselaer
Robbins Reef
From the Dutch rob or robyn meaning seal collections of which would sometimes lay on the reef at low tideRockawayRockaway-Places:In California:*Rockaway Creek In New Jersey:*Rockaway, New Jersey, a borough in Morris County*Rockaway Township, New Jersey, a township in Morris County*Rockaway Creek , a tributary of the Lamington River in Hunterdon County...
Place of sands, possibly from l'eckwa meaning sand and auke meaning placeSpellings include requarkie Rechouwakie
Rechaweygh, Rechquaakie, Reckowacky
Roodenburg Red hills to describe the bluffs on the Quinnipiac River
Quinnipiac River
The Quinnipiac River is a river in the New England region of the United States, located entirely in the state of Connecticut.It rises in west central Connecticut from Dead Wood Swamp west of the city of New Britain...
Rondout A tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
in Ulster
Ulster County, New York
Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 182,493. Recent population estimates completed by the United States Census Bureau for the 12-month period ending July 1 are at...
and Sullivan
Sullivan County, New York
Sullivan County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 77,547. The county seat is Monticello. The name is in honor of Major General John Sullivan, who was a hero in the American Revolutionary War...
counties Rondout comes from the fort, or redoubt
Redoubt
A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...
, that was erected near its mouth The Dutch equivalent of the English word redoubt
Redoubt
A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...
(a fort or stronghold), is reduyt. In the Dutch records of Wildwyck, however, the spelling used to designate this same fort is invariably Ronduyt during the earliest period, with the present form rondout (often capitalized) appearing as early as November 22, 1666. The Dutch word ronduyt is an adjective meaning "frankly" or "positively." The word could also be broken down into its components and translated, literally, "round-out." However, it seems unlikely that the inhabitants of Esopus
Esopus
Esopus may refer to:In New York*Esopus, New York, a town in Ulster County*Esopus Creek, a tributary of the Hudson River*Esopus Meadows Lighthouse, a lighthouse on the Hudson River near Esopus, New York...
had any special meaning in mind when they corrupted the Dutch word reduyt into ronduyt and rondout. Most likely, this corrupting process merely represented the simplification of a word (reduyt).
RotterdamRotterdam (town), New YorkRotterdam is a town in Schenectady County, New York, United States. The population was 28,316 at the 2000 census.The town of Rotterdam is in the south-central part of the county. It was founded by Dutch settlers, who named it after the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where many emigrants last...
After a major Dutch cityRotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
which grew from a dam built on the river or stream Rotte in the 1260s
Rhode IslandRhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
The official explanation by the State of Rhode Island is that Adriaen BlockAdriaen Block
Adriaen Block was a Dutch private trader and navigator who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four voyages from 1611 to 1614, following the 1609 expedition by Henry Hudson...
named the area "Roodt Eylandt" meaning "red island" in reference to the red clay that lined the shore, and that the name was later anglicized when the region came under British rule.
Sandy HookSandy HookSandy Hook is a barrier spit along the Atlantic coast of New JerseySandy Hook may also refer to:-Places:United States* Sandy Hook , a village in the town of Newtown, Connecticut* Sandy Hook, Kentucky, a city in Elliott County...
Sant Hoek, sometimes called Sand Punt the peninsula around which most settlers to Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam
For the historic fort on the island of Saint Martin, see Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan that was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then British rule of New York from...
, Fort Orange
Fort Orange
Fort Orange was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland and was on the site of the present-day city of Albany, New York. It was a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearby Castle Island in the Hudson River, and which served as a trading post until 1617 or 1618,...
, Staten Eylandt
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, and Lange Eylandt
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, and Bergen
Bergen, New Netherland
Bergen was a part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, in the area in northeastern New Jersey along the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers that would become contemporary Hudson and Bergen Counties...
sailed before entering The Narrows
The Narrows
The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson River empties into the Atlantic Ocean...
.
Schenectady
Originally part of territory of the MohawkMohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
, who called the settlement at Fort Orange
Fort Orange
Fort Orange was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland and was on the site of the present-day city of Albany, New York. It was a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearby Castle Island in the Hudson River, and which served as a trading post until 1617 or 1618,...
Schau-naugh-ta-da meaning over the pine plains. Eventually, this word entered the lexicon of the Dutch settlers, but the meaning was reversed, and the name referred to the bend in the Mohawk River where the city lies today.
Schuylkill
SchuylkillSchuylkill River
The Schuylkill River is a river in Pennsylvania. It is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River.The river is about long. Its watershed of about lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. The source of its eastern branch is in the Appalachian Mountains at Tuscarora Springs, near Tamaqua in...
(sχœylkɪl) by its European discoverer, Arendt Corssen of the Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
translated hidden river and refers to the river's confluence with the Delaware River at League Island
League Island
League Island was an island in the Delaware River, part of the city of Philadelphia, just upstream from the mouth of the Schuylkill River, which was the site of the Philadelphia shipyard, which eventually became the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, now known as the Philadelphia Naval Business...
, which was nearly hidden by dense vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
. Perhaps, more properly, hideout creek Native: Ganshohawanee, meaning "rushing and roaring waters," or "Manaiunk".
SecaucusSecaucus, New JerseySecaucus is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 16,264. Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county's municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and...
Sukit meaning black and achgook meaning snake, hence black snakes.Spellings include Sekakes, Sikakes, Sickakus. Contemporary: seke meaning black and xkuk or achgook
meaning snake.
Locally, pronouced "SEE-kaw-cus", with the accent on the first syllable, not the second as often used by non-natives.
Snake Hill
Snake Hill
Snake Hill is an igneous rock intrusion jutting some 150 feet up from the floor of the Meadowlands in Secaucus, New Jersey, USA. It was largely obliterated by quarrying in the 1960s that reduced its height by one-quarter and its base area by four fifths...
, in Secaucus, is a geolologic intrusion
Intrusion
An intrusion is liquid rock that forms under Earth's surface. Magma from under the surface is slowly pushed up from deep within the earth into any cracks or spaces it can find, sometimes pushing existing country rock out of the way, a process that can take millions of years. As the rock slowly...
in the midst of the Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeast New Jersey in the United States. The Meadowlands are known for being the site of large landfills and decades of...
.
SewanhackyLong IslandLong Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
Sometimes place of shells, referring to Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, from whence the native population harvested shells for the production of zewant or wampum
Wampum
Wampum are traditional, sacred shell beads of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of the indigenous people of North America. Wampum include the white shell beads fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell; and the white and purple beads made from the quahog, or Western North Atlantic...
Spellings include Sewanhacking, Suanhacky, Sewahaka
SicomacSicomacSicomac is an area in Wyckoff, New Jersey.The first known human inhabitants of the area were the Lenni Lenape Native Americans who lived north of the Raritan River and spoke a Munsee dialect of Algonquian...
Said to mean resting place for the departed or happy hunting ground since this area of WyckoffWyckoff
Wyckoff may refer to:*Wyckoff, New Jersey*Charles Wyckoff*Pieter Claesen Wyckoff*Ralph Walter Graystone Wyckoff*Richard Wyckoff*Weldon Wyckoff*Wyckoff-Garretson House*Wyckoff positions*Wyckoff House...
, according to tradition, was the burial place of many Native Americans, possibly including Oratam
Oratam
Oratam was sagamore, or sachem, of the Hackensack Indians living in northeastern New Jersey during the period of early European colonization in the 17th century...
, sagamore of the Hackensack Indians Contemporary schikamik meaning hole or grave or machtschikamikunk meaning a burial place
Spuyten DuyvilSpuyten Duyvil CreekSpuyten Duyvil Creek is a channel connecting the Hudson River to the Harlem River Ship Canal, and on to the Harlem River in New York City, separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx and the rest of the mainland. The neighborhood named Spuyten Duyvil lies to the north of the creek.Spuyten...
A one-mile (1.6 km)-long channel connecting the HudsonHudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
and Harlem River
Harlem River
The Harlem River is a navigable tidal strait in New York City, USA that flows 8 miles between the Hudson River and the East River, separating the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx...
s. "Spuyten Duyvil" means Devil's Spout, a reference to the strong and wild currents. Spuitende Duivel in contemporary Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
,
Staten IslandStaten IslandStaten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
Staaten EylandtStaten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, which to the Lenape, was known as Aquehonga, Manacknong, or Eghquaons (Jackson, 1995). Named for the governing body of the 17th century United Provinces of the Netherlands, the States-General
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
.
SuckiaugSuckiaugSuckiaug, meaning "Black Fertile River-Enhanced Earth, good for planting", is the name of the land lining the river valley of what is currently Hartford, Windsor, Wethersfield, South Windsor, East Hartford, Glastonbury and Rocky Hill in Connecticut in the United States.In 1623, the Dutch settled...
Black Fertile River-Enhanced Earth, good for planting, as the land along the river valley that was site Fort Huys de Goede Hoop or Fort House of Good Hope, the 1623 settlement of what is now HartfordHartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
TantaquaOverpeck CreekOverpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately 8 miles long, in Bergen County in northern New Jersey in the United States. The upper creek flows through suburban communities west of New York City...
Overpeck CreekOverpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately 8 miles long, in Bergen County in northern New Jersey in the United States. The upper creek flows through suburban communities west of New York City...
, site of Hackensack semi-permanent village
TappanLake TappanLake Tappan is a reservoir that was formed by the Tappan Dam placed on the Hackensack River in 1967. It straddles the border between River Vale and Old Tappan, New Jersey...
The region radiating from Palisades Interstate Park and its inhabitants as named by New Netherlanders, who spelled it as Tappaen. Site of the "bouwerieBowery
Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...
" Vriessendael
Vriessendael, New Netherland
Vriessendael was a patroonship on the west bank of the Hudson River in New Netherland, the seventeenth century North American colonial province of the Dutch Empire...
.
Possibly from Tuphanne meaning cold water
Likely more related to contemporary petapan meaning dawn or petapaniui meaning at the break of dawn, and relates to their kin across the river, the Wappinger
Wappinger
The Wappinger were an American tribe native to eastern New York. The term "Wappinger" may also refer to:* Wappinger, New York, the Town of Wappinger named for the tribe...
,, whose name is derived from the Algonquian people of the east or easterners. (Contemporary: Wapaneu meaning easterly and Wapanke meaning to-morrow.)
Teaneck
Origin and meaning are uncertain, though possibly may mean the woods An alternative is from the DutchDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
"Tiene Neck" meaning "neck where there are willows" (from the Dutch "tene" meaning willow).
TenaflyTenafly, New JerseyTenafly is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 14,488. Tenafly is an affluent suburb of New York City....
From Dutch Tiene Vly or Ten Swamps given by settlers in 1688. the Dutch "t'eene vallei (or vlij)," meaning at a meadow or willow meadows from tene meaning willow and vlaieVlaie
Vlaie, Vly or Fly is the Dutch vlaie, meaning a swamp. It also applies to creeks and mountains in the vicinities. The term appears in place names in areas of Dutch influence in North America, such as the Hudson Valley...
(alternatively spelled fly/vly/vley) meaning meadow or swamp
Throg's Neck
From John ThrockmortonJohn Throckmorton
Sir John Throckmorton was a lawyer and member of the English Parliament during the reign of Queen Mary I. He was also a witness to Queen Mary's will.-Biography:...
, an Englishman
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
who settled in the area called Vriedelandt by the Dutch
Turtle BayTurtle Bay, ManhattanTurtle Bay is a neighborhood in New York City, on the east side of Midtown Manhattan. It extends between 41st and 54th Streets, and eastward from Lexington Avenue to the East River, across from Roosevelt Island...
From duetel meaning dowel, used to describe the original shape of the inlet on the East RiverVerplanckVerplanck, New YorkVerplanck is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Cortlandt, Westchester County, New York. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,729.-Geography:Verplanck is located at ....
Hamlet in the town of Cortlandt, from an early (1630s) settlerVersche RivierConnecticut RiverThe Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
The Fresh River, now the Connecticut RiverConnecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
, likely because of it sweet, rather than brackish water
Vriessendael
A small bowery or homestead established in 1640 at today's EdgewaterEdgewater, New Jersey
Edgewater is a borough located along the Hudson River in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 census, the borough had a population of 11,513...
, meaning Vries' Valley, after its owner, David Pietersen de Vries
David Pietersen de Vries
Captain David Pieterszoon de Vries was a Dutch navigator from Hoorn, Holland.In 1617 de Vries went on a whaling voyage to Jan Mayen. In 1620 he sailed to Newfoundland and sold the dried fish in Italy. In Toulon he joined Charles, Duke of Guise. In 1624 he went to Canada again, still in French...
.
VriedelandtThrogs NeckThroggs Neck is a narrow spit of land in the southeastern portion of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It demarcates the passage between the East River , and Long Island Sound...
Now Throgs NeckThrogs Neck
Throggs Neck is a narrow spit of land in the southeastern portion of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It demarcates the passage between the East River , and Long Island Sound...
from John Throckmorton
John Throckmorton
Sir John Throckmorton was a lawyer and member of the English Parliament during the reign of Queen Mary I. He was also a witness to Queen Mary's will.-Biography:...
, an Englishman
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
the Dutch allowed to settle in the area in 1642.
Wall StreetWall StreetWall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
From the Dutch wal meaning rampart erected in 1654 to protect New AmsterdamNew Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
from possible invasion by New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
during the first Anglo-Dutch War.
WallaboutWallabout BayWallabout Bay is small body of water in Upper New York Bay along the northwest shore of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, between the present Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges, opposite Corlear's Hook on Manhattan to the west, across the East River...
From Wallen Bocht or Wallon's Bow, referring to the curve of the bay on the East RiverEast River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
. Spellings include Waaleboght
WallkillWallkill RiverThe Wallkill River, a tributary of the Hudson, drains Lake Mohawk in Sparta, New Jersey, flowing from there generally northeasterly to Rondout Creek in New York, near Rosendale, with the combined flows reaching the Hudson at Kingston....
Known as Twischsawkin, meaning the land where plumPlum
A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
s abound. At least three prehistoric rock shelters have been found in archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
digs in the region. For the indigenous peoples, it was not only important for its arable land
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
but for its geological
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
resources. The river and its valley are abundant in flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
and chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
, from which they made spear
Spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
points and arrowhead
Arrowhead
An arrowhead is a tip, usually sharpened, added to an arrow to make it more deadly or to fulfill some special purpose. Historically arrowheads were made of stone and of organic materials; as human civilization progressed other materials were used...
s.
European
European colonization of the Americas
The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492. The first Europeans to reach the Americas were the Vikings during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement in present day Newfoundland...
settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
s of the region named it first the Palse River, after New Paltz. Later, when it was clear that the river continued well beyond the original New Paltz patent, it took after the Waal river in their native Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. They worked their way down it from the Hudson Valley in the 17th century, and were followed by the British after the colony changed hands.
WappingerWappaniThe Wappinger were a confederacy of Native Americans whose territory in the 17th century spread along the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Primarily based in what is now Dutchess County, New York, their territory bordered Manhattan Island to the south, the Mahican territory bounded by the...
From the AlgonquianAlgonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
word for easterner, approximately 18 loosely-associated bands of Native Americans whose territory in the 17th century spread along the eastern side of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. The town of Wappinger
Wappinger, New York
Wappinger is a town of in Dutchess County, New York in the United States. The population was 26,274 at the 2000 census. The name is derived from the Wappani Indians that inhabited the area...
, the village of Wappingers Falls
Wappingers Falls, New York
Wappingers Falls is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The name is derived from the local Wappinger Indians. One half of the village is in the town of Wappinger and the other half is in the town of Poughkeepsie, with Wappinger Creek forming the dividing line between the...
and Wappinger Creek
Wappinger Creek
Wappinger Creek is a creek which runs from Thompson Pond to the Hudson River at New Hamburg in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is the longest creek in Dutchess County, with the largest watershed in the county.- Overview :...
Among the many phonetic spellings employed by early European settlers are Wappinck, Wapping, Wappingo, and Wawping, Wappans, Wappings, and Wappani, and Wappinghs, all apparent corruptions of the Algonquian word for "easterners".
Other sources suggest it may have been a native corruption of wapendragers, the Dutch word for "weapon-bearers".
WatchungWatchung MountainsThe Watchung Mountains are a group of three long low ridges of volcanic origin, between 400 ft. and 500 ft. high, lying parallel to each other in northern New Jersey in the United States...
The place of mountains from watchtsu, which describes the three ridges west of the Meadowlands.WatervlietWatervliet, New YorkWatervliet is a city in Albany County in the US state of New York. The population was 10,254 as of the 2010 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, the capital of the state, and is bordered on the north, west, and south by the town of Colonie. The city is also known as "the Arsenal City".- History...
Part of patroonship Rensselaerswyck, meaning a shrinking surface, as in the land between high and low tide. Simiilar to WatervlietSint-Laureins
Sint-Laureins is a municipality located in the Flemish province of East Flanders, in Belgium. The municipality comprises the towns of Sint-Jan-in-Eremo, Sint-Laureins proper, Sint-Margriete, Waterland-Oudeman and Watervliet. On January 1, 2006 Sint-Laureins had a total population of 6,582...
in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
on the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
coast.
WeehawkenWeehawken, New JerseyWeehawken is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 12,554.-Geography:Weehawken is part of the New York metropolitan area...
Variously interpreted as or rocks that look like rows of trees or at the end of (the Palisades or stream that flowed from them.) and place of gulls.Spelling have included: Awiehawken, Wiehacken, Weehauk, Weehawk, Weehock, Wiceaken,Wihaken, Wyhaken, and Wiehachan
Peter Minuit
Peter Minuit
Peter Minuit, Pieter Minuit, Pierre Minuit or Peter Minnewit was a Walloon from Wesel, in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, then part of the Duchy of Cleves. He was the Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1633, and he founded the Swedish colony of...
, first governor of New Netherland, sailed to the new world upon a ship called The Seagull or Het "Meeuwken, which may have led to one interpretation of the Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
.
WilhelmusWilhelmusWilhelmus van Nassouwe, usually known just as the Wilhelmus , , is the national anthem of the Netherlands and is the oldest national anthem in the world though the words of the Japanese national anthem date back to the ninth century...
Short-lived fort on Zuyd RivierDelaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
in 1625, likely so called from Het Wilhelmus (English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
: The William), a song which tells of Willem van Oranje
William the Silent
William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. He was born in the House of...
, his life and why he is fighting for the Dutch people
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
. It remained popular with the Dutch people
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
since its creation. and became, in 1932, the national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and is the oldest national anthem in the world
WiltwykKingston, New YorkKingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...
Settlement on west bank of Hudson RiverHudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
established in 1652, possibly meaning
Wild District, since at the time farmers were engage in an ongoing series of raids and reprisals known as the Esopus Wars
Esopus Wars
The Esopus Wars were two localized conflicts between Dutch settlers and the Esopus tribe of Lenape Indians during the latter half of the 17th century in what is now Ulster County, New York. Like many other wars during the colonial period, at bottom they were the result of competition between...
. (It is today known as Kingston, New York
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...
.
WyckoffWyckoff, New JerseyWyckoff is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 16,696. As of the 2000 Census, Wyckoff ranked 54th in 100 highest-income places in the United States...
Most commonly believed origin to be from the LenapeLenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
word wickoff meaning high ground, or that it is from wickok meaning water. A less widely held theory is that the town was named for Brooklyn judge Pieter Claesen Wyckoff
Pieter Claesen Wyckoff
Pieter Claesen Wyckoff was a farmer and landowner in Kings County, New York. All references to the name Wyckoff, including many variations in spelling, can be traced to his family.-Meaning of the Surname:...
(1625–1694). The surname comes from the Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
words wyk, meaning district and hof, meaning court.
Yonkers
From JonkheerJonkheer
Jonkheer is a Dutch honorific of nobility.-Honorific of nobility:"Jonkheer" or "Jonkvrouw" is literally translated as "young lord" or "young lady". In medieval times such a person was a young and unmarried son or daughter of a high ranking knight or nobleman...
or Jonker meaning young gentleman (and in effect, Esquire), the title borne by proprietor of homestead which included the land where the city is situated, Adriaen van der Donck
Adriaen van der Donck
Adriaen Cornelissen van der Donck was a lawyer and landowner in New Netherland after whose honorific Jonkheer the city of Yonkers, New York is named...
.
Zwaanendael
Sometimes Swaanendael meaning swan valley. Site of first Dutch colonialDutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
settlement in Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
, in 1631, was destroyed, and later became Lewes
Lewes, Delaware
Lewes is an incorporated city in Sussex County, Delaware, USA, on the Delmarva Peninsula. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747, a decrease of 6.3% from 2000....
.
see also=
- VlaieVlaieVlaie, Vly or Fly is the Dutch vlaie, meaning a swamp. It also applies to creeks and mountains in the vicinities. The term appears in place names in areas of Dutch influence in North America, such as the Hudson Valley...
- New Netherland settlementsNew Netherland settlementsNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to southern Cape Cod. Settled areas are now part of...
- Forts of New Netherland
- List of place names in New England of aboriginal origin
- Metoac