When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving,polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its recordsβrecently declared a national treasureβare now being translated. Drawing on this remarkable archive, Russell Shorto has created a gripping narrativeβa story of global sweep centered on a wilderness called Manhattanβthat transforms our understanding of early America.
The Dutch colony pre-dated the βoriginalβ thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. Their champion was a progressive, young lawyer named Adriaen van der Donck, who emerges in these pages as a forgotten American patriot and whose political vision brought him into conflict with Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony. The struggle between these two strong-willed men laid the foundation for New York City and helped shape American culture. The Island at the Center of the World uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own.
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