New Amsterdam is the walled port city of New Netherland on Manhattan, where the Hudson River meets the sea. It is the seat of the colony’s coinage, justice and recruitment, and a place where a later New York shows through.
| Type | Place (port city) |
| Location | Southern Manhattan, New Netherland |
| Spanish entry | Nueva Ámsterdam |
Description
Manhattan, an island of wooded hills south of the golden island, was once green; its flora is now devastated. Only the south is built up; the rest is rivers and farmland, with farms and native population to the north. Further north lie streams and waterfalls called “zones of hell”, where a horrible mist with creeping vines has been seen in the rainy season.
A double palisade of pine logs, four to five meters high, soaked in fire-resistant resin and with stone loopholes, encloses the city. Gates open by day and close at night; taverns may not open after nine in the evening. The wall stands against natives and against Swedes and French. New Netherland is at war with the English.
The city faces east, toward the ocean and trade, and grows no crops. It has Dutch canals, strange vessels in the harbor, and kitchens holding Europe in miniature. Payment is in silver coin sealed by New Netherland, beaver pelts and wampum.
Government
A governor who is also director-general of the Company, “Peter” around 1664, carries a scepter. Its constables rule places such as Abeto Rojo, and the Knights of the Thorn of New Netherland act in its name. The condemned are hanged here («Te tenemos ya en Ámsterdam, donde te colgarán», “We have you in Amsterdam now, where they will hang you”), and adventurers are recruited to go to the mountain, kill dragons and seek the chains.
People and neighbors
The population is cosmopolitan: free Black people, a slave market, runaway slaves, and a Jewish community in commerce. A figure named Block proposes a Black quarter north of the wall. New France (Acadia) lies north of the Hudson valley; New England, “of Scots and Ireland”, to the northeast. Europeans hold no stable colonies to the west.
Threats
The “bear-lion” is to attack the city. A giant viper lives in it. The mate of the Green Dragon was taken there. “The center has been taken by a chosen one”, the governor’s scepter seized, and it was proposed that the city “must be taken off the island”. The Flying Dutchman sails for New Netherland against the English.
Superpositions
Time does not close here. Among the canals appear houses with pieces of New York, which occupies the same ground: the last English bastion, with trenches, fires, martial law, a flag of thirteen stars and stripes, and a century of unrest from 1770 to 1870.
Conflicting accounts
- Most records place Dutch rule between 1663 and 1666; others give “about 1763” or 1766.
- The Knights of the Thorn are also called the Knights’ Spire.
Open questions
- Whether the mist is usual or a one-time event, and where the mountain lies, are unknown.
- Who the “chosen one” is, and who governs after the governor’s fall, is unrecorded.
- When the pieces of New York appear, and whether they can be entered, is unknown.
- The coin’s name (something like “sigillum”) and value, the wall’s course, its number of gates, and whether “Manhattan” and “New Amsterdam” name the same thing are unknown.