New Netherland Literature

The literature of the 17th-century Dutch colony of New Netherland and its afterlife is as much part of early American literature as it is of early-modern Dutch literature. It cannot be studied without taking its American context as well as its Dutch origins into account, but requires a transnational and, at times, global perspective. Thus, New Netherland literature is connected to the culture of the written word in the Dutch Republic, as well as to the history of the Dutch language. Conceived broadly, New Netherland literature and language begins in 1609, with Henry Hudson’s voyage and extends well beyond 1674, when the Dutch government relinquished administrative control of the colonized area. The use of Dutch in written and spoken form along the east coast of North America persisted for over four centuries, with several changes to its use and character over time. In this overview, New Netherland literature is for practical purposes divided into the overlapping genres of descriptions, travel writing, letters, poetry, chronicles and pamphlets, religious writings, and linguistics, with a separate section for the main writers (Adriaen van der Donck, Henricus Selijns, Jacob Steendam, Pieter Plockhoy and Franciscus van den Enden). Sections on the Dutch Republic and New Netherland and the Dutch Atlantic have been added for background reading.