Manahahtáanung or New Amsterdam? The Indigenous Story Behind New York

The Collectiecentrum Amsterdam Museum. Photograph: Courtesy of Amsterdam Museum

400 years ago the first Dutch colonists arrived in the area known today as New York. Their mission was to establish the colony of New Netherlands. Adopting an Indigenous perspective, the exhibition examines the decades-long period of Dutch colonization in the area, as well as its consequences for the Indigenous residents and their struggles. A follow-up exhibition will be presented at the Museum of the City of New York from Fall 2025.

The impetus for this collaboration and the exhibition is that 2024 marks 400 years since the Dutch arrived in America to establish a colony at the mouth of the Hudson River. After the colony was conquered by the English in 1664, the following centuries saw the settlement grow into the city of New York. The Dutch invasion and decades-long colonization of the area in the 17th century had tremendous consequences for the Indigenous people who lived in the region, and on the island which they called Manahahtáanung. Not only did they lose their land, they were victims of disease, war, and the disappearance of their own livelihoods. The colonists deliberately made it impossible for Indigenous peoples to maintain their way of life and culture. Despite this, Indigenous communities have consistently resisted these changes, even up until the present moment.