Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/488

454 N E W , Y R K [STATE. many years, and the present annual product is 10,997,408 bushels, having a value of $1,374,666. In south-western New York gas and oil springs are numerous, and at Fredonia the gas has been used in lighting houses for half a century. Recent discoveries show that the petroleum fields of Pennsylvania extend into New York, and it is probable that petroleum will soon claim a place among the mineral products of the State. The Amboy clays of New Jersey extend across Staten and Long Islands. With further investigation they may prove a;: valuable in the one State as in the other. (j. s. isr.*) History. Recent investigations have added little to the knowledge of the prehistoric period of the territory known as the Middle States. Tile bias of scientific opinion seems to be that the earthworks, palisades, and piles of stone found in the region bounded by the St. Lawrence on the north and watered by the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Alleghany, and their tributaries are of an origin much more recent than the mound system of the Mississippi and the Ohio, and are the remains of a people intermediate between the aboriginal race and the Indians found on the soil by the first European discoverers and explorers. The latter found the eastern slope of the continent under the domination of the Iroquois tribes. John Smith met with them on the north waters of Chesapeake Bay in 1607, and Hudson found them in 1609 on the banks of the river to which he gave his name. The chief seat of this powerful nation, whose sway was recognized from the St Lawrence to the Tennessee and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, was in the wide and fertile region of western and northern New York. Forming permanent settlements about the headwaters of the streams which gave them passage to the heart of the country, they organized the political league or confederacy known as the Five Nations. These were the tribes of Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and Oneidas. They took the name of "Konoshioni," or Peopleof the Long House, by which they designated the territory occupied by them, extend ing west from the Hudson at Albany to the foot of the great lakes, a distance of about 325 miles. There is a tradition in one of the tribes that the confederation was formed four years before Hudson s arrival, which would fix the date at 1605. On the other hand, a missionary resident among them as early as 1742 was informed by a principal chief that the confederacy was established one age (lifetime) before the white people came into the country, which, in view of the thoroughness of their organizations at the time the whites first came into immediate contact with them, seems not improbable. In 1609 Champlain, while accompanying a war party of Hurons and Algonquins on an expedition against the Iroquois, fell in with the enemy on the lake to which he gave his name. European firearms, with which the Iroquois then made first acquaintance, turned the scale of victory against them. The interference of the French aroused in the formidable confederacy a spirit of enmity which, relentlessly nourished, finally arrested the Erogress of French colonization and French power in Canada, and iter secured the triumph of the English arms. Pursuing his explo rations, Champlain in 1615 again accompanied a hostile expedition of his allies, penetrated to the very seat of the Iroquois power, and besieged their fortified village or castle, but was compelled to retreat after an ineffectual attempt to storm or fire the stockade. Thus within a few years after Hudson s voyage the French had discovered the great lakes and explored the river which separate the territories of New York from Canada. The Iroquois sought an alliance with the Dutch as a counterpoise to that of their Algonquin enemies with the French. A formal treaty (the covenant of Corlear) made in 1617 with the Amsterdam Company was faithfully observed on both sides. By the name of Corlear (a Dutchman in high honour with them) the Iroquois always addressed the governors of New York in their treaties. Tradition alleges that this first treaty was made at the mouth of the Tawasentha, the present site of the city of Albany. In 1664 a treaty made by Cartwright at Fort Orange with the Iroquois sachems secured similar advant ages to the English. In 1688 this friendship was confirmed at a conference held at Albany between the chiefs of the Five Nations and Governor Andres, and again confirmed in 1689 after the acces sion of King William ; it continued unbroken until 1775. Compelled to choose between the revolted colonists and their ancient ally, the Iroquois held fast to the "covenant chain" with the English crown. The confederacy was at the height of its power about the year 1700. In 1715 they were joined by the Tuscaroras, driven out from North Carolina, and were afterwards known as the Six Nations. Until the conquest of Canada by the English in 1763 they were in constant struggle with their French neighbours. The American revolution proved fatal to them. In 1779 their towns were burned, their orchards and stores of grain destroyed. At this time their civilization was at its height, their houses were of frame, some of elegant construction, their gardens, orchards, and farm lands ex tensive and abundantly supplied with fruit. From this terrible calamity they never recovered. Their numbers have been estimated as 25,000 in 1650, and in 1750 about half that number, of whom about 2500 were fighting men. Disregarded in the treaty of 1783, their political existence terminated, and their lands were ceded to the State with some small reservations. The last official State census (1875) reports the total number of Indians in the State at 5117, chiefly the remains of the Iroquois tribes. Of these 4707 were living on reservations. At what time, and by whom, the Bay of New York was first visited by European voyagers is still in doubt. Verrazano is claimed to have entered it with the "Dauphine" in 1524, and Gomez to have sailed along the coast to the latitude of New York in 1525. Of the voyage of Henry Hudson (see HUDSON) there is no doubt. Hudson s report of the picturesque grandeur of the fine harbour and river, of the fertile country on its shores, of the kindly disposition of the Indians, and of the abundance of fur-bearing animals in the interior caused great excitement in Holland ; and the United Netherlands, whose independence had been acknowledged in the spring, asserted their claim to the newly discovered country. In 1610 a vessel was despatched with merchandise suitable for traffic with the savages. The Europeans were well received, and the voyage resulted in profit. Other private ventures followed, and a lucrative trade in peltry sprung up. In 1613 a few huts were built at the southern point of Manhattan Island, and in 1615 a fortified trading house, to which the name of Fort Nassau was given, was constructed on Castle Island near the present site of Albany, and a factor permanently established there. No effort at colonization w r as as yet made. Encouraged by the reports of their explorers, the merchants of North Holland formed themselves into a company, which on the llth day of October 1614 received from the states-general a special trading licence in which the name of New Netherland first appears, the association styling itself the United New Netherland Company. In 1618 the fort on Castle Island was abandoned, and in 1622 a new post, Fort Orange (now Albany), was established on the west bank of the river, at the place where, according to tradition, the first formal treaty between the Dutch and the Five Nations was made. On the expiration of the charter of the United Netherland Company (October 1618) a renewal was refused by the states-general, but private ventures were author ized. The exploration of the coast and rivers was actively continued, but special charters to the discoverers were persistently refused. On the 3d June 1621 the states-general granted to the West India Company a charter with full powers over New Netherland for a period of twenty-four years. The territory was formally erected into a province, and the management of its affairs assigned to the chamber of Amsterdam. In the year 1622 they sent out trading vessels and took formal possession of the country. It was not, however, until the 21st June 1623 that the company, its rules and regulations being formally approved by the states-general, closed their subscription books. Agricultural colonization had been already begun in the spring of the same year. The ship New Netherland," equipped by the company with thirty families, reached Manhattan early in May ; with them went Cornells Jacobsen May, the first director of New Netherland. May was succeeded in 1624 by William Verhulst. In 1626 the plans for the government of the province by a director and council being perfected by the Amsterdam chamber, Peter Minuit was sent out as director-general. His administration was vigorous and successful. Manhattan Island was purchased of the Indians for the West India Company, and a fort built which was named Fort Amsterdam. The charter of the company provided for a form of feudal colonization under patroons, such colonies to consist of fifty adults, and the lands occupied to run 16 miles in length on the one side of a navigable river or 8 miles if on both banks, but only so far into the country as the occupiers should push their settlement. The limits of the colonies might be increased in proportion to the number of immi grants. The patroons had special privileges of trade, and magisterial powers ; leet courts were held upon their manors, and later their representatives sat for them in the colonial assembly. Under these favourable conditions the example of Minuit was eagerly followed ; large tracts of land were acquired from the Indians, and settlement made by the new proprietors. The jealousy caused by these purchases and privileges brought about the recall of Minuit. The little colony was annoyed by the encroachments of the English of the New Plymouth colony, and disturbed by the hostilities between the Indian tribes in their immediate neighbourhood. In 1633 Wouter van Twiller succeeded Minuit as director-general, and carried out the policy of commercial monopoly of his principals. The Swedes now began aggressions on the southern border of the Dutch province. Irregularities in administration caused the recall of Van Twiller in 1637, and in 1638 he was succeeded by William Kieft. During Kieft s administration, which was arbitrary and ill- advised, the colony was still further molested by its English and Swedish neighbours, while its prosperity was arrested by dissensions between the company and the patroons. The fatal mistake was also made of supplying the Iroquois with firearms, M hich completed the estrangement of all the other tribes. A collision occurred, and