Willem Verhulst or Willem van Hulst was an employee of the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ...

and the second (provisional) director 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 what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva ...

colony in 1625–26. Nothing is known about his life before and after this period. Verhulst may have consummated the purchase of

Manhattan Island Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

on behalf of the Dutch West India Company, although there is still considerable debate over the evidence that also supports the purchase by Peter Minuit.

Life and career

Verhulst sailed from the Netherlands in January 1625 on the ship ''Orangenboom'' ("Orange Tree") as "provisionally director of the colonists". In April of that year, four more ships sailed out with settlers and farm animals (the ships were named ''Paert, Koe, Schaep'', and ''Makreel'', meaning "horse, "cow", sheep" and "mackerel")."Willem Verhulst", New Netherland Institute
/ref> He had received detailed instructions from the board of directors. In 1625, Verhulst oversaw the decision to locate the company's main fortress and town on the tip of

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 ...

Island in the colony of

. The settlement, which was given the name

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 ...

, was the first permanent European settlement in what was later called

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 ...

. Verhulst was not popular with the Dutch colonists and was quickly replaced by Peter Minuit. He sailed back to the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiograph ...

on the ''Wapen van Amsterdam'' ("Arms of Amsterdam") which left September 23 and arrived November 4, 1626 in Amsterdam. He brought with him the news that the colony was doing well and that Manhattan had been bought from the natives for goods valued at 60 guilders, leading some historians to propose that the otherwise obscure Verhulst oversaw this transaction. Although, there is still significant debate over the evidence, whether Minuit or Verhulst had executed the permission of the island of Manhattan.and the traditional version of the story attributes Peter Minuit with conducting and completing the purchase.The Lenape-Delaware Indian Heritage: 10,000 BC to 2000 AD (2001), Herbert C. Kraft, 2001, pp.

Life and career

References

See also