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 North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, 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 Cit ...

, 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 Ne ...

for the Dutch in 1609, including Castle Island which was at the center of Native American fur 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 In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...

of the United Netherlands, who was of the

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau ( Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherland ...

. 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

. Jacob Eelkens became commander on Christiaensen's death in 1616. In 1617 a freshet damaged the fort to such an extent that it was abandoned and rebuilt on more secure ground at the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

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 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 nearby.

Geography

Fort Nassau was built on what is now called

Westerlo Island Castle Island is a former island located in the city of Albany, Albany County, New York. Over the past 400 years, Castle Island has been referred to as Martin Gerritse's Island, Patroon's Island, Van Rensselaer Island, and—since the late 19th ...

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 o ...

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 ...

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 A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

. 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 gun The term swivel gun (or simply swivel) usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun wi ...

s. The fort was garrisoned by 10-12 men.

References

External links

The Trading House 1615
Artist Len Tantillo's vision of what Fort Nassau may have looked like {{authority control

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

1614 establishments in the Dutch Empire History of Albany, New York Dutch-American culture in New York (state)

History

Geography

Structure

See also

References

External links