A Description of New Netherland

by Adriaen van der Donck

Edited by Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna

Translated by Diederik Willem Goedhuys

Foreword by Russell Shorto

Published by: University of Nebraska Press

Series: The Iroquoians and Their World

Imprint: University of Nebraska Press

204 Pages, 140.00 × 216.00 mm, map, index

Paperback
9780803232839
Published: January 2010

£22.99

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Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

Foreword
Preface
Publication History of Adriaen van der Donck's A Description of New Netherland
Map of New Netherland
A Description of New Netherland:
The Country
      Where New Netherland Is Situated
      When and by Whom New Netherland Was First Discovered
      Why This Territory Was Named New Netherland
      The Dutch, the First Possessors of New Netherland
      The Limits of New Netherland and How Far They Extend
      Of the Coast, Foreshore, and Seaports
      The South River
      Of the North River
      Of the Fresh River
      Of the East River
      Of the Various Waters and Their Shapes
      Of the Formation and Soil of the Land
      Of Wood and Vegetation
      Of the Fruit Trees Brought Over from the Netherlands
      Of the Vineyards
      Of Vegetables Generally
      Of the Flowers
      Of the Medicinal Herbs and Indigo
      Of Agriculture and Field Crops
      Of the Minerals and the Kinds of Earth and Stone
      Of the Paints and Dyes
      Of the Animals in New Netherland
      Of the Wild Animals
      Of the Avifauna, Aquatic and Terrestrial, and First the Raptors
      Of the Terrestrial Birds
      Of the Aquatic Birds
      Of the Fish
      Of the Poisons
      Of the Wind
      Of the Air
      Of the Seasons
Of the Manners and Extraordinary Qualities of the Original Natives of New Netherland
      Their Bodily Shape, and Why They Are Called Wilden
      Fare and Food of the Indians
      Of the Dress and Ornaments of Men and Women
      Their Houses, Castles, and Settlements
      Ways of Marriage and Childbirth
      Of Suckling, and the Relations between Men and Women
      Ways of Burial, Lamentation, and Mourning
      Their Festivities and Special Gatherings
      How Human Beings and Animals First Came to That Country
      Of the Different Nations and Languages
      Of Money and Their Manufacture of It
      The Innate Character and the Pastimes of the Indians
      Their Bodily Care and Medicine
      The Farming, Planting, and Gardening of the Indians
      Special Account of Their Hunting and Fishing
      Distinctions of Birth, Rank, and Quality
      Of Their Warfare and Weapons
      Of Their Administration of Justice and Penalties
      Of the Universal Law of Nations
      Of Gifts and Offerings
      Of the Indians' Government and Public Policy
      Their Religion and Whether They Can Be Christianized
      Of Their Sentiments regarding Hope of Afterlife
      Of the Knowledge of God and the Fear of Devils
      Their Thoughts on the Creation and Propagation of Mankind and Animals in the World
Of the Nature, Amazing Ways, and Properties of the Beavers
A Conversation between a Dutch Patriot and a New Netherlander concerning the Condition of New Netherland
Appendix: A List and Suggested Identification of the Latinized Plant Names Recorded by Adriaen van der Donck
Notes
Index

Charles T. Gehring is the director of the New Netherland Project with the New York State Library and the coeditor of numerous collections of original documents from Dutch New Netherland. William A. Starna is a professor emeritus of anthropology at the State University of New York College at Oneonta and a coeditor of Iroquois Journey: An Anthropologist Remembers (Nebraska 2007). Gehring and Starna coedited A Journey into Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634–1635: The Journal of Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert and (with Dean R. Snow) In Mohawk Country: Early Narratives of a Native People.

Diederik Willem Goedhuys is a native of the Netherlands and thirty year resident of South Africa. In addition to having knowledge of Dutch, Afrikaans, and English at his disposal, he also spent several months at the New Netherland Project in Albany, New York, where he had access to the best reference sources for the translation of a seventeenth-century publication.

"If you've been waiting for centuries for a full translation of Adriaen van der Donck's 1655 work A Description of New Netherland, your wait is over. In this work, edited by Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna, one of the colony's most astute observers ruminates on flora and fauna (his six-foot-long lobster sounds like the subject of a proverbial fish story), including meditations on "the amazing ways" of beavers and sightings of beached whales near Albany. . . . [Van der Donck] paints a generally positive picture of American Indians. His informative book is surprisingly accessible."—Sam Roberts, New York Times.

"With this new edition, translator Diederik Goedhuys and editors Charles Gehring and William Starna look to elevate Van der Donck's Description to its rightful place in the canon of early American historical texts. . . . This lively translation is a much-needed teachable primary source for studying both New Netherland and its Indian neighbors."—Andrew Lipman, New York History

"This new edition and original translation of a tract by Dutch settler and lawyer van der Donck makes more widely accessible a document crucial for understanding the history of Dutch colonization in North America. . . . This document is an important primary source for students and researchers in colonial Dutch history, the settlement of New York and North America more generally, and the understanding of Indian cultures in the Northeast."—J. Mercantini, CHOICE

"Long underutilized, this edition will place A Description of New Netherland alongside Thomas Harriot's A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, John Smith's A Description of New England, and William Wood's New England's Prospect as essential primary-source narratives of the early days of the New World."—Wendy Lewis Castro, Southwest Journal of Cultures

"The sources on this geographical area in the Dutch period are sparse, so that the addition of this superb translation of van der Donck is of high importance to scholars."—Barbara Alice Mann, Anthropos