评论
打印
60. The Founding of New Netherland.
60．新荷兰的创建
In 1621 the Dutch West India Company was founded. Its first object was trade, but it also was directed "to advance the peopling" of the American lands claimed by the Dutch. Colonists now came over; they settled at New Amsterdam, on the southern end of Manhattan Island, and also on the western end of Long Island. By 1628 there were four hundred colonists in New Netherland. But the colony did not grow rapidly, so the Company tried to interest rich men in the scheme of colonization, by giving them large tracts of land and large powers of government. These great land owners were called patroons. Most of them were not very successful. Indeed, the whole plan was given up before long, and land was given to any one who would come out and settle.
1621年，荷兰西印度公司创建，它的首要任务是贸易，但是，荷兰人宣称它还要引导美洲“居住人口的提升”。此时，殖民者过来了，他们在曼哈顿岛南端的新阿姆斯特丹定居，也在长岛西端定居。截止到1628年，新荷兰有四百多名殖民地居民，但是，这个殖民地的发展并不快，西印度公司因此试图吸引殖民方案中的富人过来，于是，向他们提供大片土地和政府要职。这些拥有大片土地的人被叫做大庄园主，他们多数并不十分成功，实际上，不久整个计划都被搁浅，土地被送给所有来此定居的人。
61. Kieft and the Indians, 1643—44.
61．基福特和印第安人（1643——1644年）
The worst of the early Dutch governors was William Kieft. He was a bankrupt and a thief, who was sent to New Netherland in the hope that he would reform. At first he did well and put a stop to the smuggling and cheating which were common in the colony. Emigrants came over in large numbers, and everything seemed to be going on well when Kieft’s brutality brought on an Indian war that nearly destroyed the colony. The Indians living near New Amsterdam sought shelter from the Iroquois on the mainland opposite Manhattan Island. Kieft thought it would be a grand thing to kill all these Indian neighbors while they were collected together. He sent a party of soldiers across the river and killed many of them. The result was a fierce war with all the neighboring tribes. The Dutch colonists were driven from their farms. Even New Amsterdam with its stockade was not safe. For the Indians sometimes came within the stockade and killed the people in the town. When there were less than two hundred people left in New Amsterdam, Kieft was recalled, and Peter Stuyvesant was sent as governor in his stead.
早期荷兰总督中最坏的是威廉·基福特，他是一个破产者和小偷，是被发送到新荷兰改过自新的人。最初威廉·基福特做得很好，阻止了殖民地上常见的欺骗和走私。移民们纷至沓来，一切似乎井然有序，但是，基福特的残暴带来一场印第安人战争，这场战争几乎毁掉这片殖民地。居住在新阿姆斯特丹附近的印第安人从居住在曼哈顿岛对面大陆上的易洛魁族人那里寻求庇护，基福特认为，在这些印第安人邻居聚集在一起时杀死他们实为上策。他派出一支队伍过河杀死了许多印第安人，这导致了与所有邻近部族之间的一场残酷战争。印第安人将荷兰殖民者赶出农场，即使带有栅栏的新阿姆斯特丹也不是安全之所，因为印第安人有时靠近栅栏去杀死镇上的人。在镇上剩下不足两百人时，基福特被召回，彼得·斯特文森特接替他担任总督。
