What Were Some Interesting Aspects of Life in Colonial New York?
Dutch and English settlers colonized New York. New York City, on the island of Manhattan, was home to one of the busiest ports in the New World. The interchange of trade and people in New York made this colony one of the busiest in North America, featuring many languages and races.
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Purchase of Manhattan
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Dutch merchants were the first Europeans to settle in New York in 1624, calling it New Netherland. Holland-born Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from American Indians. Minuit was the director-general of New Netherland and he built a major trading port in Manhattan, naming it New Amsterdam, the name eventually changing to New York. The Swedish government sent 50 colonists in 1638 to help populate the colony at a settlement in Delaware Bay, forming a town called Christina, after Sweden's queen.
Colonial Schools
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Children in colonial New York went to school for only three months out of the year. Boys would spend three years in school to learn the rudiments of reading, writing and mathematics, and girls would spend less than three years in school. Classes were originally taught in the Dutch language, but eventually used the English language as English-speaking settlers populated the colony. The public schools were not free. Parents paid the teachers a meager amount for each subject they taught. Some free schools in colonial New York were set up by churches and religious organizations. In addition to going to school, children would be apprenticed to craftsmen to learn job skills.
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Recreational Activities
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Children played outdoor games with balls and sticks. One game, called rounders, was similar to baseball. Children played other outdoor activities including tag, treasure hunts, hide-and-seek and kite-flying. Children played many indoor games in the winter, including checkers, marbles and top-spinning. Adults would play nine-pin outdoors, and the games were usually located outside of taverns. They would also turn their work activities into playful activities, such as log rolling, quilting parties and barn-raisings.
Slavery
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The first Africans arrived in New York in 1626 as free black men and women. Dutch farmers began employing indentured servants and black slaves and slavery continued after the British took over the state and renamed it New York. Black slaves worked as builders, farmers and masons. Black women would clean houses, cook food and made linen and woolen goods for New York consumers.
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References
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