Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. The Dutch colony pre-dated the "original" thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Drawing on this remarkable archive, Russell Shorto has created a gripping narrative-a story of global sweep centered on a wilderness called Manhattan-that transforms our understanding of early America. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its records-recently declared a national treasure-are now being translated. When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving, polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor.
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