Jasper Danckaerts - Map based on - New York from Brooklyn Heights - 1679

Jasper Danckaerts (7 May 1639,

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...

– 1702/1704,

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

) was the founder of a colony of

Labadists The Labadists were a 17th-century Protestant religious community movement founded by Jean de Labadie (1610–1674), a French pietist. The movement derived its name from that of its founder. Jean de Labadie's life Jean de Labadie (1610–1674) ...

along the

Bohemia River The Bohemia River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Elk River on the Delmarva Peninsula. It is located in Cecil County, Maryland, wit ...

in what is now the US state of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He is known for his journal, kept while traveling through the territory which had previously been part of the

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the East Coast of the United States, east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territor ...

. Documenting his journey in 1679–1680, it offers a description of the landscape and the lifestyle of inhabitants of the region in the late 17th century. The diary journals the travels of Danckaerts and Peter Sluyter (1645,

Wesel Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district. Geography Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine. Division of the city Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighove ...

–1722), two emissaries of

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

pietists Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

known as

, journeying to North America to find a location for the establishment of a community. It is one of the earliest descriptions of the region that had been part of New Netherland, now

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

. Danckaerts and Sluyter eventually met Ephraim George Herman, the son of

Augustine Herman Augustine Herman, First Lord of Bohemia Manor (Czech: Augustin Heřman, c. 1621 – September 1686) was a Bohemian explorer, merchant and cartographer who lived in New Amsterdam and Cecil County, Maryland. In the employment of Cecil Calvert, ...

, and he introduced them to his father in 1679. Initially Herman did not want to grant land to them, only permit their settlement, but in 1683, he conveyed a tract of 3,750 acres (15 km²) to them because of legal issues. The group established a colony, with Peter Sluyter as the principal administrator, but it was not very successful, not growing larger than 100 people. The settlement ceased to exist after 1720. The original Dutch manuscript was acquired in 1864 by Henry C. Murphy, then corresponding secretary of the Long Island Historical Society, in an old book-store in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Murphy published an English translation in 1867. A revised edition appeared as ''Original Narratives of Early American History'', edited by J. B. Bartlett of the Maryland Historical Society and J. F. Jameson, director of the Department of Historical Research in the Carnegie Institutions of Washington in 1913.Project Gutenberg etext of the 1913 edition
/ref> Danckaert and Sluyter returned to Europe on July 23, 1680, and came back the same year with the people who would form the colony. Danckaert then went to the settlement of La Providence in Dutch Guiana, which lasted very briefly. In 1684 he became a citizen of Maryland, but soon returned to the Netherlands. Living most of the rest of his life in

Wieuwerd Wiuwert ( nl, Wieuwerd ) is a village in Súdwest-Fryslân municipality in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 277 in January 2017. Wiuwert is known for the Labadist community and the natural mummification in t ...

, he died in Middelburg between 1702 and 1704.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Danchaerts, Jasper 1639 births 1703 deaths Dutch diarists Pre-statehood history of Maryland Pre-statehood history of New Jersey Pre-statehood history of New York (state) People of New Netherland People from Vlissingen 1680 books 17th-century diarists