Extracts concerning Hudson's third voyage (1609), from Adrian van der Donck's ‘Beschryvinge van Nieuw Nederlandt,’ 4to., Amsterdam, 1655, 1656

Summary

This country was first found and discovered in the year of our Lord 1609; when, at the cost of the privileged East India Company, a ship named the Half Moon was fitted out to discover a westerly passage to the kingdom of China. This ship was commanded by Henry Hudson, as captain and supercargo, who was an Englishman by birth, but had resided many years in Holland, and was now in the employment of the East India Company. This ship sailed from the Canary Islands,1 steering a course north by west; and after sailing twenty days with good speed land was discovered, which by their calculation lay 320° by west. On approaching the land, and observing the coast and shore convenient, they landed, and examined the country as well, as they could at the time and as opportunity offered.

The country having been first found or discovered by the Netherlanders, and keeping in view the discovery of the same it is named the New Netherlands. That this country was first found or discovered by the Netherlanders, is evident and clear from the fact that the Indians or natives of the land, many of whom are still living, and with whom I have conversed, declare freely, that before the arrival of the Dutch ship, the Half Moon, in the year 1609, they (the natives) did not know that there were any other people in the world than those who were like themselves, much less any people who differed so much in appearance from them as we did.