THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
CHAPTER I
HUDSON SEEKS THE SEA PATH TO CHINA
When, in 1567, the Spanish Duke of Alva
marched with his terrible " Black Beards " towards
the Netherlands to subdue the Dutch people to
the ideas of Philip II, the boy that grew up to
found the Dutch West India Company was born.
One hundred thousand Walloons, or French-
speaking inhabitants of the Low Countries, fled
at once to foreign lands. Within fifty years, half
a million refugees from the Belgic Netherlands
were dwelling in England, Holland, Germany, or
in Switzerland, and enriching those countries by
their talents, character, and industry. Instead of
fewer than a million people living in 1567 on four
thousand square miles of poor soil, the Dutch
Republic had in 1609 a population of three and a
half millions, or one as large as that of England.
The Dutch end of the sea-route to Manhattan
had been prepared before Columbus made land¬
fall. William Usselinx, born at Antwerp, founder
of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies
that began the settlements of New York and Dela¬
ware, became interested in American enterprises
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