The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 2, January 14, 2007, Article 4

BOOK: ISLAND AT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD BY RUSSELL SHORTO

Roger S. Siboni writes: "There is a recently published book entitled
'The Island at the Center of The World - The Untold Story of Dutch
Manhattan and the Founding of New York' by Russell Shorto which has
been making its way through the Colonial Numismatic circuit. In my view,
the book is outstanding and a fairly quick read. It is the true story
of the settling of New York by the Dutch, based upon some recently-
discovered records in The New York State Library at Albany that were
written in Old Dutch. How they were found and translated is a story
in itself, but it does cover Henry Hudson's intrepid voyages in search
of the Northwest Passage to the far East.

"Henry Hudson made several voyages in search of a more expeditious
passage to the Far East from Europe. Some were made on behalf of the
Dutch East India Company (VOC) and some were privately financed.
Virtually all the expeditions were directed at the discovery of a
NorthEAST Passage as the shortcut to the Far East, but Hudson was
convinced the secret lie in a NorthWEST passage.

"He was so convinced that he simply disobeyed the wishes of his sponsors
and crews in search of this Northwest passage. His unswerving determination
to find the Northwest passage ended when his mutinous crew lowered him,
his son and his few followers onto a small boat in the southern reaches
of what is now Hudson Bay where they froze to death.

"Ironically, the mutineers managed to limp back to England where they
were exonerated for mutiny and murder. Amazingly, they claimed that
Hudson had indeed found the Northwest passage and that they knew where
it was. Rather than being hanged, they received funding from King James
and several prominent London businessmen to start the "The Company of
the Merchant's Discoveries of the North-West Passage." From there, the
race was on."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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