New Amsterdam never gave way to New York. The Dutch kept the whole of their North American colony out of the hands of the perfidious English, in fact. New Netherland today constitutes a thriving Republic stretching from the Atlantic coast to Québec, dividing New England from the rest of the United States.
This Republik van Nieuw Nederland is the brainchild of Paul Burgess, who’s been fleshing out its allohistorical details since his mid-20s – he’s even devised a pretty cool flag for the Republic, not to mention an anthem (’Onze Patrie’ – ‘Our Fatherland’), names for the baseball teams in the Knickerbocker League, a list of the best places to smuggle goods across the border to the US and even call letters for New Netherland radio stations. And, of course, this map.M
r Burgess’ fictional country has its origins in a PoD (Point of Divergence) in the year 1638, when not the irascible Willem Kieft, but the level-headed David Pietersen de Vries is appointed Director-General of the colony. De Vries pushes for colonisation, good relations with the Five Nations tribes, self-government and expansion and consolidation of the borders.
New Netherland achieved independence in 1798, after the ‘old’ Netherlands were overrun by the French. Philip Schuyler, the last Director-General of the colony, became the first Prime Minister of the independent Republic. Influential successors were PMs Maarten van Buren (1820-1856), and the Roosevelts: Theodore (1897-1919), Franklin D. (1930-1945) and Quentin (1948-1965), Theodore’s son.
The Landdag (Parliament) is comprised of the lower House of Burghers and the higher House of Peers.According to the 1980 census, New Netherland measures 71,288 square miles, counts 31,2 million inhabitants and is divided in 13 provinces, one city (New Amsterdam) and one freeport (Philadelphia). Most populous city is the capital, New Amsterdam (7 million). About 85% of the New Netherlanders speak Dutch, 9% English (mainly in Philadelphia, New Haven, Hartford and eastern parts of Vermont and Long Island) and 6% one of the Iroquois languages. This excludes the rather more complicated situation on the New Netherland Antilles. The provinces and their capital cities are (English names in between brackets):
• Adirondacken (Adirondacks), capital Plattsburgh
• Antillen (Antilles), capital Willemstad
• Bergen, capital Amboy
• Kaatskillen (Catskills), capital Wiltwyck
• Zwaanendael (Delaware), capital New Amstel
• Erie, capital Buffalo
• Genesee, capital Irondequoit
• Hudson, capital Fort Orange
• Iroquois, capital Onondaga
• Nassouwen (Nassau), capital Heemstede
• Nieuw-Haven (New Haven), capital New Haven
• Oranje (Orange), capital Fort-Nassau
• Vermont, capital Burlington
With thanks to Mr Burgess, for providing a higher-resolution map than the one on this website (please scroll down).
This. Is. Cool.
Get Harry Turtledove on the line; I sense a new alternative history series here.
Comment by Bill Peschel — February 11, 2008 @ 2:41 am
I notice they kept the East-West Jersey division when appropriating it.
How cool would living in a “Free Port” be?!
I’ll bet the Antillers feel even more left out than the Puerto Ricans do now.
One thing though, how did they get the current north border of New Jersey? It originally was further north… Also, does Delaware own the whole river here too?
This one is great.
Comment by Lurker — February 11, 2008 @ 5:43 am
About the inset map… The Broncks? Whaaat?
But there’s no “the” in Dutch… Wouldn’t it be either het Broncks or de Broncks, then?
Comment by Bo — February 11, 2008 @ 1:01 pm
Nifty. Interesting that the “Broncks” extends into modern day Yonkers. You really have to zoom in on the map to notice. Nice touch. Though I’m disappointed that I don’t see any history of how New Amsterdam expanded.
Comment by JB — February 11, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
Love it! As a native of Erie Province (and an alum of the University at Fort-Orange) I would also point out that the far western border of Erie Province would probably be a continuation of the straight latitude line, since that was the original border of the (now nonexistent) Connecticut Western Reserve. That’d give the country two more decent ports, at erstwhile Erie and erstwhile Cleveland.
PS- I wonder if the republic, more friendly with the Iroquois, were able to secure the islands in the Niagara River, since the Americans did it by trickery, deception, and overall unniceness.
Comment by Was Buf Now Was — February 11, 2008 @ 1:40 pm
As someone who has many times traveled down Old New Utrecht Road in Brooklyn, i’m wondering why it looks like Nieuw Utrecht and Midwout look like their locations are reversed from *here*… were these the original placements of the towns?
Comment by Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) — February 11, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
New Netherland was orignally founded by Belgians. In the beginning it was even called Nova Belgica. Peter Minuit, who purchased Manhattan from the natives, was a Walloon. The Dutch gradually took over the colony.
Comment by merc — February 11, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
[...] via strangemaps – Garrick Van Buren [...]
Pingback by Maps of Parallel Americas: Republik van Nieuw Nederland | Garrick Van Buren .com — February 11, 2008 @ 4:05 pm
to bad there are still so much english names in the map. Why not ‘lang eiland’ instead of Long Island?
Comment by Jasper — February 11, 2008 @ 4:26 pm
and Konijn Eiland! (Coney Island) (Rabbit Island)
Comment by Craig — February 11, 2008 @ 5:36 pm
w00t!
Comment by michael5000 — February 11, 2008 @ 8:57 pm
I’d like to know why New Amsterdam seems to be almost as big population-wise (if not as much so, which may have been the aim) as New York is in our world. I don’t think New Amsterdam would have beena s big as it got were it not part of the US, and is part of a country (New Netherland) that seems to be expanding peacefully rather than agressively (like the US of our world). True, it’s probably one of the more important port cities of New Netherland, but then the world abounds with insignificant port cities that are important to the insignificant countries they are part of.
(And what happened to the rest of the Netherlands? Did the mainland European part stay part of France? What did the country later known as Indonesia be called? (Wasn’t it originally “New Netherlands?)
Comment by David — February 12, 2008 @ 12:11 am
Willem Kieft was a Dutch footballer from the late eighties to early nineties, lol.
Comment by Waris — February 12, 2008 @ 12:24 am
Is the assumption that Brooklyn was incorporated into Nww Amsterdam just as it was into New York, and that the five boroughs would be as they are?
I also find it interesting that the American habit of drawing borders along lines of longitude and latitude persists even in this Dutch colony.
Would Central Park still be Central Park if it had never been established through eminent domain? Wouldn’t Dutch culture and language have more global influence if it gained a foothold in the New World? Conversely, would the Republic of New Netherland be as desirable a place for immigrants if it were Dutch? New York grew because it served as a gateway into the great American west. What would bring immigrants into New Amsterdam if they could only go as far as Erie?
Comment by WarrenW — February 12, 2008 @ 1:26 am
Cool idea, but like others I have suggestions:
Isn’t it more likely than the states being split, that the northern ones would have remained British possessions? This would also probably delay the States independence, if they could even pull it off. If so, since the southern states predominate one could expect slavery to last much longer (shudder).
Comment by Kevin — February 12, 2008 @ 5:56 am
If you like this map, read ‘Island at the Center of the World’ [Shorto, 2004, Doubleday] — a description of the Dutch colonial years based on 30 years’ work translating colonial documents in Old Dutch. It’s a remarkable work.
The 7 million population for Nieuw Amsterdam is entirely believable and largely dependent upon geographic reality. That’s why England wanted it so badly, and in the event, took it.
Comment by Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) — February 12, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
Contrary to Merc’s statement, New Amsterdam nor New Netherland were founded by Belgians: at that time, Belgium did not exist and most of it was known as the Spanish Netherlands. “Belgica” was the Latin name used for the entire Low Countries (current Benelux). It was the Dutch West-Indian Company, in which there were indeed a number of people who had fled from the occupied part of the Netherlands. Peter Minuit himself was the son of Walloon refugees, and was born in current-day Germany after which he became an officer of the Netherlands. After all, it would have been awkward for Belgian colonists to name the city they founded “New Amsterdam”…
Comment by Maarten — February 12, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
[...] Als ik Jason Kottke goed begrijp hebben we nog een kleine kolonie in de VS waar we nooit afstand van gedaan hebben. We hebben schijnbaar nooit afstand gedaan van Nieuw Amsterdam.Leuk aandenken aan de muur van Bea misschien? [...]
Pingback by Nieuw Amsterdam · Bakkel dot com — February 12, 2008 @ 8:15 pm
hey rockhopper is cool
Comment by doctora1 — February 12, 2008 @ 8:51 pm
To Maarten, considering the homesickness of most refugees from the Southern Netherlands (modern day Belgium), I guess they would have could it “New Antwerp” instead of “New Amsterdam”. They more or less did actually, let’s not forget that the part of New York that’s called Hoboken was named after the Antwerp suburb carying the same name.
Comment by Horta — February 12, 2008 @ 11:18 pm
Interesting map, but I really think ‘we’ (the Dutch) would have used more Dutch names, ‘Nieuw Amsterdam’ instead of ‘New Amsterdam’, ‘Haarlem’ instead of ‘Harlem’, ‘Oranje’ instead of ‘Orange’, and so on.
By the way, Indonesia was known as ‘Nederlands Oost-Indië’ in the colonial era (Netherlands East Indies)
Comment by Hans van der Maarel — February 13, 2008 @ 10:07 am
Hoboken is in New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City
Comment by Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) — February 14, 2008 @ 4:59 am
Beautiful and interesting map. A few things seem a bit unrealistic, even in a fantastic context. For instance, Central Park and LaGuardia Airport? Would they really be in their current positions in an alternate world? And what of immigrant influences on the nation? Surely the 31.2 million people can’t all be ethnically Dutch. It’d be like if the Norwegians had colonized India… hey, there’s a thought…
Comment by CommodoreRockstar — February 14, 2008 @ 5:54 am
Cool premise .
-
Mike in “Ochenang” ;D
Comment by mikeinportc — February 15, 2008 @ 2:05 am
Question: How do you get a House of Peers (Lords, etc.) in a republic? How are these honors conferred? Or is this like the unelected Senates in Commonwealth realms where the upper house is proportioned roughly according to the power structure of the lower house?
Comment by Lurker — February 15, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
[...] this is a long-winded way of pointing you at a Strange Maps post on a map of the Republic of New Netherland – maps and alternative history – nice match. While I’m on the subject, C.M. Kornbluth’s [...]
Pingback by Diary of a Mad Natural Historian » Alt history — February 16, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
[...] What if Spartacus had had a Piper Cub? What if the Dutch had never lost hold of New York? (via Upstate [...]
Pingback by Other people's blogs : NYCO’s Blog — February 17, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
I love it. But shouldn’t Albany be the capital of the republic?
Comment by nygdan — February 19, 2008 @ 6:19 pm
Nevermind, just realized from reading his site that he’s calling Albany “Fort Orange”.
Comment by nygdan — February 19, 2008 @ 6:28 pm
“Nevermind, just realized from reading his site that he’s calling Albany “Fort Orange”.”
That’s what Albany was called until the English took over.
Comment by ghqrehog — February 25, 2008 @ 12:18 am
I think the whole history of North America would be very different. With New Netherlands splitting the colonies, the Revolution, if it happened, would’ve happened quite differently. New England would almost certainly have been a separate nation (perhaps with a more Canada-like history?)
If the southern colonies broke off and formed a new nation, perhaps still called the United States, they would probably extend further south. In our history, there were many proposals to take Cuba from Spain, but they were opposed by northerners who didn’t want Southern slaver power extended. In that timeline, that wouldn’t've been an issue. And what of Central America? Many southerners wanted to take control of Central America to extend the plantation system. Maybe Nicaragua would be a US state with a Nicaragua Canal …
(Would this truncated US, lacking New England and New York have purchased Louisiana from the French? There’s an interesting notion … La Republique de la Louisianne …)
(Hmm … what of Haiti, finding itself surrounded by a slave-holding nation?)
A lot of althistorical thoughts abound!
Comment by Nik — March 4, 2008 @ 6:57 pm
Also, how did the New Dutch end up with Philadelphia and Delaware?
Comment by Nik — March 4, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
Wow, neat! I feel smarter having visited ;)
Comment by maggies mind — March 6, 2008 @ 12:08 am
Nik – the Dutch conquered New Sweden, which was founded in the vicinity of present-day Philadelphia. It then became part of New Netherland and later, part of the British colonies.
Comment by James — June 21, 2008 @ 3:52 am
fyi, the correct Dutch term for republic is “republiek”, not “republik”.
nice posting though.
Comment by doitsurt — September 8, 2008 @ 10:13 pm
Interesting stuff, probably Dutch motherland’s history would have changed as well while holding possesions in N.Am.
We would not have had many Suriname immigrants and therefore a less colored population.
I think I like it the way it is.
Comment by txatarra — September 8, 2008 @ 11:38 pm
Hi this info is very helpful…
Comment by jazmine — December 2, 2008 @ 6:27 pm
txatarra is a dumb boer.
A lot of Surinam people fled to Holland because of the ‘Decembermoorden’ in 1982.
But the Dutch people like muslims very much because they invited half of morocco and turkey and other muslim countries to come and live in Holland in the early 60’s.
No, txatarra Surinam did not caused the exploding colored population.
But what do you expect from a boer who doesnt know his own History. Does the ‘Vrede van Breda’ rings a bell?
Comment by Hagenees — January 1, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
I’m just happy to see my home town of Olean appear in the province of Erie. But I know Olean has native American origins… any idea how often the Dutch incorporated native names into their place names?
Comment by west ny — January 29, 2009 @ 8:10 am
Dutch place names (the original ones) should have also been used for the New Haven territory (aka western Connecticut).
E.g:
Hartford = Huys de Goede Hoop
New Haven = Rodenberg
Long Island = Lange Eylandt
Connecticut River = Versche Rivier
Long Island Sound = Lange Eylandt Zee
Saybrook = Zeebroeke (or Kievet’s Hoek)
Comment by Connecticut — February 16, 2009 @ 1:57 am
CommodoreRockstar :
Norway did, as a constituent part of Denmark-Norway, actually have a couple of small colonies in India. But they weren’t at all big or important enough to be the seeds of a Scandinavian-Indian nation.
In this timeline, though, maybe Denmark-Norway kept their Caribbean possessions? I sure would like to have a holiday home in Jomfruøyene.
Comment by Ole P. — March 19, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
its a fake map, the real one looks great, this was made by a teenager
Comment by n — April 30, 2009 @ 8:55 pm
thank you
Comment by Tony — May 4, 2009 @ 3:32 am
thanks for this map
good
luck
..
Comment by Solomon — May 11, 2009 @ 8:49 am
merci
Comment by aspicco . — May 17, 2009 @ 6:28 am
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 5:05 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 7:30 am