Jacques Cortelyou (ca 1625–1693) was an influential early citizen of

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...

(later New York City) who was

Surveyor General A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The following surveyor ge ...

of the early Dutch colony. Cortelyou's main accomplishment was the so-called Cortelyou Survey, the first map of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, commonly called the

Castello Plan The Castello Planofficially entitled ''Afbeeldinge van de Stadt Amsterdam in Nieuw Neederlandt'' (Dutch, "Picture of the City of Amsterdam in New Netherland")is an early city map of what is now the Financial District of Lower Manhattan from an o ...

after the location in a Tuscan palace where it was rediscovered centuries later.

Early life

Cortelyou arrived in Nieuw Amsterdam from Utrecht, Holland, where he had been born to French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

parents. Cortelyou had studied mathematics and land-surveying and served first in Nieuw Amsterdam as tutor to the children of Cornelis van Werkhoven, to whom the Dutch West India Company had granted a tract of land called New Utrecht. Cortelyou was subsequently appointed Surveyor-General of the province of Nieuw Netherlands, succeeding Andries Hudde, and in 1660 made his famous map of Nieuw Amsterdam. Cortelyou also founded two subsequent settlements himself, New Utrecht on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

. In 1660 he designed Bergen Square site of the first town within the present borders of the state of

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 Delawa ...

to receive a municipal charter.

Cortelyou's career as surveyor and real estate speculator

The town of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, secon ...

was located on the bluff "on the west side of the North River in Pavonia," the present location of

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine r ...

, Jersey City, Hoboken and

Weehawken Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,197.

. Cortelyou and his associates had a financial interest in the outcome of the new settlement: they had purchased some "12,000 morgens at Aquackanonk on the Passaic, purchased by himself and associates of the Indians." There is some debate about the origin of the Bergen name, which happens to be the name of one of the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam. (The Bergen and Cortelyou families subsequently intermarried several times, indicating some degree of familiarity.) In any case, the year 1660 was the first time the word "Bergen" was used to describe the new settlement. The original map of the Bergen settlement by Cortelyou, as well as the list of patentees, have been lost to history. Cortelyou was active in Nieuw Amsterdam and later in New York. He was a real estate speculator, and served in many public offices.Calendar of Council Minutes 1668-1783, Berthold Fernow, University of the State of New York, 1902
/ref> As the Surveyor General of the city, Cortelyou worked under Governor

Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant (; in Dutch also ''Pieter'' and ''Petrus'' Stuyvesant, ; 1610 – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Ne ...

. His most well-known accomplishment was his map of early lower

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, executed in 1660, and known as the Castello Plan. Cortelyou was also instrumental in helping to erect the wall, originally fortified against attacks by Native Americans, from which Wall Street derives its name. The Labadist missionary Jasper Danckaerts recorded a visit to his Long Island home in 1679:

Cortelyou's Castello Plan

Cortelyou's early plan of New York City was known as the

because it was later rediscovered at the

Villa di Castello The Villa di Castello, near the hills bordering Florence, Tuscany, central Italy, was the country residence of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1519-1574). The gardens, filled with fountains, statuary, and a grotto, became famous thro ...

near Florence, Italy, in 1900. The map had been bound within an atlas that was sold to a member of the

Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

family.

References

Trivia

*The architect Philip Johnson counted Jacques Cortelyou among his ancestor
''Philip Johnson: Life and Work'', Franz Shulze, University of Chicago Press, 1996
*Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn is named for this early surveyo

**

Cortelyou Road (BMT Brighton Line) The Cortelyou Road station is a local station on the BMT Brighton Line of the New York City Subway, located at Cortelyou Road between Marlborough Road (East 15th Street) and East 16th Street in the neighborhood of Flatbush, Brooklyn. The station ...

, thus derives its name from Jacques Cortelyou *Lawrence Van Voorhees Cortelyou, a descendant of Jacques the surveyor, was a member of the Holland Society
"Names of Early Comers," ''The New York Times'', January 13, 1895
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortelyou, Jacques 1620s births 1693 deaths American surveyors American cartographers People of colonial New Jersey History of New York City Huguenots People of New Netherland Scientists from Utrecht (city)

Early life

Cortelyou's career as surveyor and real estate speculator

Cortelyou's Castello Plan

References

Further reading

Trivia