Fort Nassau (North)
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Fort Nassau (a.k.a. Fort van Nassouwen) was the first
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
settlement in North America, located beside the " North River" (the modern Hudson) within present-day
Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...
, in the United States. The ''
factorij Factory was the common name during the medieval and early modern eras for an entrepôt – which was essentially an early form of free-trade zone or transshipment point. At a factory, local inhabitants could interact with foreign merchants, ...
'' was a small fortification which served as a trading post and warehouse.


History

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...
explored what would be known as the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
for the Dutch in 1609, including Castle Island which was at the center of Native American
fur Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket t ...
trading routes from the interior.
Hendrick Christiaensen Hendrick Christiaensen (died 1619) was a Dutch explorer who was involved in the earlier exploration of what became the colony of New Netherland. Life Hendrick Christiaensen was a ship captain and trader employed by the Van Tweenhuysen Company of ...
chose Castle Island to build Fort Nassau, in 1614 or 1615 as a dual warehouse and military defense structure and named the fort in honor of the stadtholder of the United Netherlands, who was of the House of Orange-Nassau. Nineteenth and early-twentieth century historians claimed that around 1540, French fur traders built a stone "castle" or fortified trading post on Castle Island in the location where Fort Nassau was later built. However, modern scholars have found no evidence to support this claim. Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America. Jacob Eelkens became commander on Christiaensen's death in 1616. In 1617 a
freshet The term ''freshet'' is most commonly used to describe a spring thaw resulting from snow and ice melt in rivers located in upper North America. A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting in significant in ...
damaged the fort to such an extent that it was abandoned and rebuilt on more secure ground at the mouth of the Normans
Kill Kill often refers to: *Homicide, one human killing another *cause death, to kill a living organism, to cause its death Kill may also refer to: Media *'' Kill!'', a 1968 film directed by Kihachi Okamoto * ''Kill'' (Cannibal Corpse album), 2006 * ...
(called the ''Tawasentha'' by the natives) with the Hudson River. This new fortification was built by Eelkens on a
prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...
called ''Tawass-gunshee'' by the natives. Once the new fort was completed, the Dutch completed their first treaty with natives of North America. In 1618 a freshet destroyed the new fort, and it was abandoned for good. In 1624, the Dutch built
Fort Orange Fort Orange ( nl, Fort Oranje) was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland; the present-day city of Albany, New York developed at this site. It was built in 1624 as a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearb ...
nearby.


Geography

Fort Nassau was built on what is now called Westerlo Island and was formerly called Castle Island. The island was part of the
town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
of
Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
until 1926 when it was annexed to the city of Albany. It has been part of the Port of Albany-Rensselaer since 1932.


Structure

Fort Nassau was a long by wide building enclosed by a square stockade surrounded by an wide moat. The fort was defended by two large
cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
and eleven swivel guns. The fort was garrisoned by 10-12 men.


See also

*
Two Row Wampum Treaty The Two Row Wampum Treaty, also known as ''Guswenta'' or ''Kaswentha'' and as the Tawagonshi Agreement of 1613 or the Tawagonshi Treaty, is a mutual treaty agreement, made in 1613 between representatives of the Five Nations of the Haudenosaune ...
*
Fort Nassau (South River) Fort Nassau was a ''factorij'' in New Netherland between 1627–1651 located at the mouth of Big Timber Creek at its confluence with the Delaware River. It was the first known permanent European-built structure in what would become the state o ...
*
Fortifications of New Netherland New Netherland, or ''Nieuw-Nederland'' in Dutch, was the 17th century colony of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory included southern Cape Cod to parts of the Delmarva P ...
*
History of Albany, New York The history of Albany, New York began long before the first interaction of Europeans with the native Indian tribes, as they had long inhabited the area. The area was originally inhabited by an Algonquian Indian tribe, the Mohican, as well as the ...
*
New Netherland settlements New Netherland (''Nieuw-Nederland'' in Dutch) was the 17th century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory was the land from the Delmarva Peninsula t ...


References


External links


The Trading House 1615
Artist Len Tantillo's vision of what Fort Nassau may have looked like {{authority control Nassau Nassau 1614 establishments in the Dutch Empire History of Albany, New York Dutch-American culture in New York (state)