Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the

North River (Hudson River) North River () is an alternative name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City and Gateway Region, northeastern New Jersey in the United States. History Name In the early 17th century, the entire wat ...

that was part of the seventeenth-century province of

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

in what would become the present

Hudson County, New Jersey Hudson County is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey, its smallest and most densely populated. Lying in the northeast of the state and on the west bank of the Hudson River, the North Jersey county is part of the state's Gateway Region an ...

Hudson and the Hackensack

The first European to record exploration of the area was Robert Juet,

first mate A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the shi ...

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 ...

, an English sea captain commissioned by the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

. Their ship, the ''

Halve Maen ''Halve Maen'' (; ) was a Dutch East India Company ''jacht'' (similar to a carrack) that sailed into what is now New York Harbor in September 1609. She had a length of 21 metres and was commissioned by the VOC Chamber of Amsterdam in the Dutch ...

'' (''Half Moon''), ventured in the

Kill van Kull __NOTOC__ The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York (state), New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, Bayonne, New Jersey, in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York ...

and

Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jerse ...

and anchored at

Weehawken Cove Weehawken Cove is a cove on the west bank of the North River (Hudson River), Hudson River between the New Jersey municipalities of Hoboken, New Jersey, Hoboken to the south and Weehawken, New Jersey, Weehawken to the north. At the perimeter of ...

during 1609, while exploring the

Upper New York Bay New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay ...

and the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...

. By 1617 a '' factorij'', or trading post, was established at Communipaw. Initially, these posts were set up for

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

with the indigenous population. At that time the area was inhabited by bands of Algonquian language speaking peoples, known collectively as

Lenni Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historical territory included present-day northeastern Del ...

and later called the Delawares. Early maps show it to be the territory of the Sangicans. Later, the group of seasonally migrational people who circulated in the region were to become known by the

exonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

, Hackensack. They, along with the Tappan, the

Wappinger The Wappinger ( ) were an Eastern Algonquian Munsee-speaking Native American people from what is now southern New York and western Connecticut. At the time of first contact in the 17th century they were primarily based in what is now Dutc ...

, the Raritan, the

Canarsee The Canarsee (also Canarse and Canarsie) were a band of Munsee-speaking Lenape who inhabited the westernmost end of Long Island at the time the Dutch colonized New Amsterdam in the 1620s and 1630s. They are credited with selling the island of M ...

, and other groups would be known to future settlers as "the River Indians".

Patroonship

Hudson Valley Map Detail Nova Belgica Et Anglia Nova c1634

Further explorations and settlement led to the establishment of

Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam, (later, Fort George among other names) was a fortification on the southern tip of Manhattan Island at the confluence of the Hudson River, Hudson and East River, East rivers in what is now New York City. The fort and the island ...

at the southern tip of the island of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in 1625. In 1629, with the

Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions The Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions,Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...

started to grant the title of

patroon In the United States, a patroon (; from Dutch '' patroon'' ) was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th-century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Free ...

and

land patent A land patent is a form of letters patent assigning official ownership of a particular tract of land that has gone through various legally-prescribed processes like surveying and documentation, followed by the letter's signing, sealing, and publi ...

s to some of its invested members. The deeded tracts spanned in length on one side of a major river, or if spanning both sides. The title came with powerful rights and privileges, including creating civil and criminal

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

s, appointing local officials, and holding land in perpetuity. In return, a patroon was expected to establish a settlement of at least fifty families within four years of the original grant. These first settlers were relieved of the duty of public taxes for ten years, but were required to pay the patroon in money, goods, or services in kind. A patent for the west bank of the North River was given to Michael Pauw, a burgermeester of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and a director of the

Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...

. Pavonia is the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

ized form of Pauw's surname, which means "peacock". As was required, Pauw purchased the land from the indigenous population, although the concept of ownership differed significantly for the parties involved. Three

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

"sold" the land for of

wampum Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of Native Americans. It includes white shell beads hand-fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western ...

(shell beads strung together), of cloth, 12 kettles, six guns, two blankets, one double kettle, and half a barrel of beer. These transactions, dated July 12, 1630, and November 22, 1630, represent the earliest known conveyance for the area. It is said that the three were part of the same band who had sold

Island to

Peter Minuit Peter Minuit (French language, French: ''Pierre Minuit'', Dutch language, Dutch: ''Peter Minnewit''; 1580 – August 5, 1638) was a Walloons, Walloon merchant and politician who was the 3rd Director of New Netherland, Director of the Dutch Nort ...

then "sold" this land, to which they had retired after that sale in 1626. On August 10, 1630, Pauw obtained a deed for

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, leading some historians to consider Staten Island to be part of Pavonia.

Paulus Hook, Harsimus, and Communipaw

The area encompassed by Pauw's holdings on Bergen Neck likely included the of shore line on each of the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers from Bergen Point to today's

Bergen County Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.factorij'' and ferry slip at Arresick on the tidal island that stills bears his anglicized name, Paulus Hook. He operated an intermittent ferry and traded with the local Lenape population. By 1630 a plantation worked by African slaves had been set up. Pauw, however, failed to fulfill the condition of establishing a community of at least 50 permanent settlers and was required to re-sell his speculative acquisition back to the company. They commissioned construction of a homestead at Gemoenepaen for their representative Jan Evertsen Bout during 1633. During 1634 a homestead was built at Ahasimus for Cornelis Hendriksen Van Vorst (Voorst), whose later descendants would play a prominent role in the development of

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

Abraham Isaacsen Verplanck Abraham Isaacsen Verplanck (1606–1690), also known as Abraham Isaacse Ver Planck, was an early and prominent settler in New Netherlands. A land developer and speculator, he was the progenitor of an extensive Verplanck (disambiguation), Verplanck ...

received a land patent for Paulus Hook on May 1, 1638. A small farm went up at Kewan Punt. The leasehold of Aert Van Putten at Hobuk (Hoboken) was the site of North America's first brewery. Another patroonship was established farther up the river at Vriessendael. Although the settlements were small, they were strategic in that they were a foothold on the west bank of what had been named the North River across from

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, 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 (trading post), fac ...

and were important trading-posts for the settlers and indigenous people, who dealt in valuable beaver pelts, and they were early attempts at populating the newly claimed territory.

Pavonia Massacre

Relations between the Netherlanders and the Lenape were tenuous. Trade agreements, land ownership, familial and societal structures were misunderstood and misconstrued by both parties. Language differences most likely did not help matters. These conflicts led to rising tensions and eventually an incident that started a series of raids and reprisals, known as

Kieft's War Kieft's War (1643–1645), also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between the colonial province of New Netherland and the Wappinger and Lenape Indians in what is now New York and New Jersey. It is named for Director-General of New N ...

Willem Kieft Willem Kieft, also ''Wilhelm Kieft'', (September 1597 – September 27, 1647) was a Dutch merchant and the Director of New Netherland (of which New Amsterdam was the capital) from 1638 to 1647. Life and career Willem Kieft was appointed ...

arrived in New Netherland in 1639 to take up his appointment as

Director of New Netherland This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland (''Nieuw-Nederland'' in Dutch) in North America. Only the last, Peter Stuyvesant, held the title of Director General. A ...

, with a directive to increase profits from the port at Pavonia. His solution was to attempt to exact

tribute A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of lands which the state con ...

from the native peoples with claims that the money would buy them protection from rival groups. It was not uncommon among the native population to do so, but in this case his demands were ignored. At the time, the settlers in

were in intermittent conflict with their native Raritan and

neighbors. On

, Dutch soldiers routed an encampment in retaliation for the theft of pigs, later discovered to have been stolen by other settlers. The death of a Dutch

wheelwright A wheelwright is a Artisan, craftsman who builds or repairs wooden wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the word "wright" (which comes from the Old English word "''wryhta''", meaning a worker - as also in shipbuilding, shipwright ...

, Claes Swits, at the hands of a Weckquaesgeek (Wappinger on the east side of the Hudson River) particularly angered many of the Dutch when the tribe would not surrender the murderer. At Achter Kol, in revenge for a theft, a Dutchman was shot with arrows while roofing a new house.E. M. Ruttenber, ''Indian Tribes of Hudson's River to 1700'', 3rd ed., , (Hope Farm Press, 2001) Kieft decided, against the advice of the council of

Twelve Men The Twelve Men was a council of citizens chosen by the residents of New Netherland to advise Director Willem Kieft on relations with the Native Americans in the wake of the murder of Claes Swits. Elected on 29 August 1641, the temporary council ...

, to punish the native population who had taken refuge among the Netherlanders (their presumed allies), when fleeing raiding

Mahican The Mohicans ( or ) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, whose indigenous territory was ...

from the north, by attacking Pavonia and Corlear's Hook. The initial strike which he ordered on February 25, 1643, and took place at Communipaw, was a massacre: 129 Dutch soldiers killed 120 Native Americans, including women and children. Historians differ on whether or not the massacre was Kieft's idea. This is sometimes referred to as the Pavonia Massacre. The same night also saw a similar if smaller attack in Manhattan, the Massacre at Corlears Hook. Native Americans call it "The Slaughter of the Innocents". This attack united the

Algonquian peoples The Algonquians are one of the most populous and widespread North American indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous American groups, consisting of the peoples who speak Algonquian languages. They historically were prominent along the East ...

in the surrounding areas, to an extent not seen before. On October 1, 1643, a force of united "tribes" attacked the homesteads at Pavonia, most of which were burned to the ground. Many settlers were killed and those who survived were ordered to the relative safety of New Amsterdam. Pavonia was evacuated. For the next two years during what became known as

the united tribes harassed settlers all across New Netherland, killing sporadically and suddenly. The sparse European forces were helpless to stop the attacks, but the natives were kept too spread apart to mount more effective strikes. Finally a truce was agreed upon during August 1645, in part brokered by the Hackensack

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Alg ...

, Oratam. Kieft was recalled to the Netherlands to answer for his conduct in 1647, but he died in a

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

before his version of events could be told. The war was extremely bloody in proportion to the population at the time: more than 1,600 natives were killed at a time when the European population of New Amsterdam was only 250. The uneasy truce with the Lenape allowed for further settlement, including Constable Hook (1646) and Awiehawken (1647).

Peach War and Bergen

Kieft's successor was

Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant ( – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as the Directors of New Netherland, director-general of New Netherland from 1647 to 1664, when the colony was pro ...

. During 1653 Pavonia became part of the newly formed Commonality of

. In late 1654 a series of grants were made for tracts "achter de Kol" or Achter Col at Pamrapo, Minkakwa, and Kewan. The colony grew and the situation remained relatively peaceful until 1655, when Pavonia and Staten Island were attacked by a united band of approximately five hundred Lenape. 50 settlers were killed. Over one hundred were taken hostage and held at Paulus Hook until their release could be negotiated. This incident is known as the Peach War, and is said to have been precipitated by the killing of a young Lenape woman who had stolen a peach from a settler's orchard on Manhattan Island, but may have been in response to the Dutch attack on

New Sweden New Sweden () was a colony of the Swedish Empire between 1638 and 1655 along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a g ...

, the Lenape's trading partner on the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

. During 1658, wishing to further formalize agreements with the Lenape, Stuyvesant agreed to "re-purchase" the area "by the great rock above Wiehacken," then taking in the sweep of land on the peninsula west of the Hudson and east of the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, about 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban ar ...

extending down to the

Kill Van Kull __NOTOC__ The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York (state), New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, Bayonne, New Jersey, in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York ...

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

. A mural that adorns the atrium of the Hudson County Courthouse depicts this transaction: ''On January 30, 1658, the Peninsula between the Hudson and Hackensack rivers south from Weehawken was finally purchased from the Indians and granted to the inhabitants of Bergen in the Year 1661''. A new village at today's Bergen Square was founded by settlers who wished to return to the west bank of the Hudson giving it the name

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, which would refer to its situation. The word ''berg'' taken from the Dutch means hill, while ''bergen'' means place of safety. Its semi-independent government was granted on September 5, 1661, by Stuyvesant, as part of his efforts re-gain a foothold on the North River's western shore and expand beyond

on the southern tip of

, under the condition that a garrison be built. Located atop Bergen Hill, it was part of the original patroonship, close to the southern end of the

Hudson Palisades The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs s ...

. It was the first self-governing European settlement in what would become the state of New Jersey. During 1664,

and, by extension, all of

was peacefully surrendered to the British. For the next ten years it was traded at the negotiating table and, for a short period, recaptured. The

Dutch Empire The Dutch colonial empire () comprised overseas territories and trading posts under some form of Dutch control from the early 17th to late 20th centuries, including those initially administered by Dutch chartered companies—primarily the Du ...

finally relinquished control with the Treaty of Westminster during 1675. Bergen's charter was renewed by the government of

East Jersey The Province of East Jersey, along with the Province of West Jersey, between 1674 and 1702 in accordance with the Quintipartite Deed, were two distinct political divisions of the Province of New Jersey, which became the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

and the area retained its Dutch character for years.

Modern Pavonia

Although the entire region was originally Pavonia, the name now tends to be associated with the former Jersey City area of the

Horseshoe A horseshoe is a product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toenail, altho ...

encompassing Harsimus Cove, Hamilton Park, and WALDO-Powerhouse. Since the 1980s the former site of the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...

's Hudson waterfront Pavonia Terminal and the Pavonia Ferry has been redeveloped as Newport. The

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desir ...

rapid transit system's Newport Station, formerly called Pavonia, and the Hudson Bergen Light Rail Pavonia-Newport station are in this section of the city. Pavonia Avenue is a street interrupted in sections as it runs east-west in Pavonia Newport, at Hamilton Park, in

Journal Square Journal Square is a business district, residential area, and transportation hub in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is named for the newspaper ''Jersey Journal'', whose headquarters were located there from 1911 to 2013. The "square" itself is at the ...

, and in the Marion Section. Pavonia Court, at the

in Bayonne has its name from the Pavonia Yacht Club established during 1859 on the

New York Bay New York Bay is the large tidal body of water in the New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary where the Hudson River, Raritan River, and Arthur Kill empty into the Atlantic Ocean between Sandy Hook, New Jersey, Sandy Hook and Rockaway Point. Geogr ...

. There is also a Pavonia Avenue in Kearny. Saint Peter's College, located on land that was part of the patroonship, has as its mascot a peacock, to which its publications make reference: Pauw Wow (newspaper), Pavan (literary magazine), Peacock Pie (yearbook). There is also a Pavonia Branch of the Jersey City Free Public Library. The Pavonia Yard

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

depot was located near Five Corners. The Pavonia Yard, located in Camden, was operated by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

, which also maintained terminals and yards in

Downtown Jersey City Downtown is an area of Jersey City, New Jersey, which includes the Historic Downtown and the Waterfront. Historic Downtown Historic Downtown was an area of mostly low-rise buildings to the west of the waterfront, but by the 2000s a number of ...

References

Sources

* de Vries, David Pietersz ''Korte historiael ende Journaels Aenteykeninge, van verscheyden voyagiens in de vier deelen des wereldts-ronde, als Europa, Africa, Asia, ende America gedaen'' (in Dutch. Hoorn, Netherlands, 1655. ) in Dutch * van Balen, W.B.J. ''Holland aan de Hudson'' (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1943) in Dutch * Goodwin, Maud Wilder. ''Dutch and English on the Hudson : a chronicle of colonial New York'' (New Haven : Yale University Press. 1919) * Winfield, Charles Hardenburg. ''History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time'' (New York: Kennard & Hay. 1874)
Bergen Township, Past and Present

{{coord, 40.7237, -74.0424, display=title 1630s establishments in the Dutch Empire 17th-century establishments in New Jersey Dutch-American culture in New Jersey Establishments in New Netherland Historic towns of Hudson County, New Jersey History of Jersey City, New Jersey Hudson County, New Jersey Kieft's War New Netherland Populated places established in the 1630s Pre-statehood history of New Jersey