This section of the tour is organized by time period. The arrows
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Albany
Region Overview
The capital city of New York has an unusually patchwork history.
Needless to say, the area was under Dutch control before it fell
into English hands, but even in the Dutch period there were three
distinct entities that vied with one another over territory and
rights.
It
all started, of course, with beavers. “The people of the Countrie
came flocking aboard…and many brought us Bevers skinnes, and
Otters skinnes,” wrote Robert Juet, an officer aboard Henry
Hudson’s Half Moon, as he gave his account of the
first Dutch-financed exploration up the river that now bears Hudson’s
name. The ship was then at a spot on the western shore of the river
near where another, east-west system, the Mohawk River Valley, joined
it. Thus began the Dutch awareness that this confluence marked a
vital spot for what would be the primary activity of New Netherland:
trading with the Indians for furs. Beginning in a remarkably short
time following Hudson’s voyage, Dutch traders were on the
scene. The town that sprang up—Beverwijck, later Albany—grew
to become the second city in New Netherland, after New Amsterdam,
and eventually the capital of New York State.