In Old New York
 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  NEW  YORK
 

INHERE was no element of permanence
in the settlement of New York. The
traders sent here under Hendrick
Christiansen, immediately upon Hud¬
son's return to Holland in 1609, had
no intention of remaining in America
beyond the time that would pass while their ships
crossed the sea and came again for the furs which
meanwhile they were to secure. Even when Fort
Manhattan was erected—the stockade that was
built about the year 1614 just south of the present
Bowling Green—this structure was intended only
for the temporary shelter of the factors of the
United New Netherland Company while en¬
gaged with the Indians in transient trade ; for the
life of this trading organization specifically was
limited by its charter to four voyages, all to be
made within the three years beginning January i,
1615. Fort Manhattan, therefore, simply was a
trading-post.   If the Company's charter could be