New Jersey Legacy: Fortunes in Furs

For or centuries the ancestors of the Lenape Indians lived on the land that would become New Jersey. Starting in 1609 their way of life began to change drastically. In that year Henry Hudson, looking for a northwest passage to Asia, explored the Atlantic shoreline of New Jersey. While he did not find the passage for which he was searching, he did find a wealth of natural riches, including fur-bearing animals.
In 1621, anticipating potential fortunes from the fur trade, the Dutch established the West India Company to trade with the west coast of Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean islands, and North America. To conduct the fur trade in North America, the company founded the colony of New Netherland, claiming territory from the Connecticut to the Delaware rivers. The Dutch soon realized that they needed permanent agricultural settlements as well as seasonal fur trading posts. These settlements brought the Dutch into conflict with the Lenape Indians, resulting in Kieft’s War (1640-1643) and the Peach War (1655). The fur trade had a devastating effect on the Lenape. It made them dependent on European goods, put them in competition with neighboring tribes, led to unsuccessful wars, and exposed them to deadly diseases to which they had no immunities.
The anticipated fortunes in furs never materialized. Instead, the fur trade brought the Dutch into conflict with other European countries eager to gain a foothold in the region. In 1638 Swedes and Finns settled on both sides of Delaware Bay in the colony of New Sweden. The Dutch under Peter Stuyvesant conquered New Sweden in 1655. But their victory was short-lived. In 1664 the Dutch themselves were conquered by the English, who divided New Netherland into New York and New Jersey.
While the English now controlled the government, the Lenape Indians, the Swedes, the Finns, the Dutch, and the African slaves whom the Dutch brought to New Netherland, remained. In contrast to the Native-American culture which was in crisis, the European and African groups maintained distinctive cultural features, such as Scandinavian log houses, Dutch inheritance patterns, and Afro-Dutch folk traditions, well after the English conquest.
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nj.gov/state/h...