THE    HARBOR    AND    CITY    OF   AMSTERDAM,
 

CHAPTER III

THE ANTECEDENTS OF NEW NETHERLAND AND THE DUTCH
WEST INDIA COMPANY
 

iM^J^^ IVE days after the Half-Moon departed from the port
VH^SSS^TX of Amsterdam, on the way, as it proved, to the site of its
namesake and prototype in the New World, a truce was
signed at Antwerp by the representatives of the United
Provinces of the Dutch Republic and those of the powerful kingdom
of Spain. This truce meant much to the United Provinces beyond the
mere suspension of hostilities; and taking place in the very year of the
discovery of the site of New-York, what it meant to them becomes
of especial significance to us in a study of the history of our city.
Whatever it involved of political importance, of national develop¬
ment, of the success of republican ideas, gives it a high rank among
the events that preceded and influenced the settlement of this locality.
So that, indeed, a somewhat careful though brief review of the cir¬
cumstances that led up to and attended its accomplishment will con¬
stitute at the same time a review of the antecedents of New Netherland.
The truce of 1609 gave a temporary pause to the famous " Eighty
Years' War," which was sustained by the United Provinces of the
Netherlands in their struggle for political independence. In 1568 that
war began, so far as regards the resort to arms; for on May 23d of that
year was fought the Lexington of the Dutch Revolution at Heiliger¬
lee, in Groningen.    But the real beginning of troubles dates many