Episode 9: "Mayken"

By 1634, a year into the chaotic administration of the sniveling Wouter van Twiller, the mood on the Manhattans was edgy. It was tense. It was strained. And the only thing that the beleaguered colonists of this vastly disparate and sputtering civilization seemed to be able to agree on, was that it was desperately in need of reform. Reform in structure, and reform in spirit. Our dramatic conclusion to Season Two is now here -- Episode 14: SALVATION Climb aboard -- --history is cool :)

Griet's smile widened at the prospect of these 53 combat mariners and 104 Company soldiers disembarking de Soutbergh, having accompanied the incoming Governor and incoming Minister to this Island, as she readies herself for a bit of a business boom... And with this morning's arrival, Supercargo Hans Jorisz Hontom certainly promises to continue imposing his own special brand of chaos on this Island, unlike anyone else. And along with his return, comes the return of yet another key player of the earliest days of this place -- someone who goes all the way back to the earliest voyages of Adriaen Block.  But long experience does not necessarily dictate long integrity -- and sure enough, with Hans Jorisz Hontom as half of any duo, trouble can't be far away. But with the arrival of the feckless Wouter van Twiller, the trouble is just getting started on this raw and increasingly uncivilized island of Manhattan.    Episode 13 - Trouble.    Climb aboard...history is cool ;) 

A young revolutionary once wrote that "...in the big lie, there is always a certain force of credibility." And with the insurgence of Marcus de Vogelaer's vehemently anti-patroon faction, his planted Provincial Secretary Jan Remunde wasted no time in teaming up with the increasingly embittered first Minister in order to effect that very big lie. And in short order, scored a decisive victory, by manipulating the dismissal of Walloon Pierre Minuit.  And in the fallout of this upheaval, the Island now being called "the Manhattans" would be introduced to a young man who would eventually be the namesake of today's "Governor's Island" -- a 26-year old former clerk (who just happened to also have an uncle by the name of Kiliaen van Rensselaer.) Yes, this story is complicated.   And as this inexperienced incoming "Governor" tacked east toward the Strand at Pearl Street, it was not the sight of the three active windmills that actually caught his attention...but rather the posture of a buxom German woman provocatively perched atop that dock, with her hazel eyes locked directly into his... And if nothing else, the one thing this paunchy Dutch boy knew for sure was that he was not in Amsterdam anymore. Episode 12 - Governor. Climb aboard. #historyiscool :) 

As Walloon Pierre Minuit stared into the dark eyes of those twenty-two displaced Angolans, huddled together along de Heere Wegh, alongside that fledgling "construction project" of sorts at the Island's southern tip, his refugee heart wrestled with the dutiful commitment that he had made to his employer. Because this Walloon, whose family had been in exile his entire life, had never enslaved anyone. And so, this life-long refugee and stalwart servant of God was going to need to dig deep -- into his own soul, in order to arrive at a reckoning -- one that would not only square him with the people before him -- but most ultimately with his God. And the Company, believe it or not, would actually assist him with that, when they beat the Plymouth Pilgrims to the punch by sending the first ordained minister to Manhattan. But the particular one they chose to send is no Protestant pacifist. No. Jonas Michaelius is every bit the fighting Flemish fanatic that his father was before him. And with his arrival, this wild Island is about to get a little bit wilder. Episode 10 - Minister. Climb aboard.

In doing anything and everything he can to see to it that this fledgling "colony" survives, Minuit suddenly finds himself facing a reckoning - a moral stranglehold that forces the pious Calvinist, but devoted public servant to re-evaluate his every move. Because by late summer 1627, when the "possessions" being taken from their Iberian enemies transition from silver and timber to twenty-two human beings from Angola, Governor Pierre Minuit needs to look deep inside the soul of Walloon Pierre Minuit in a powerful struggle between the tenets that drive his soul, and the Company that pays his salary. Episode 9 - "Mayken". Climb aboard. History is cool ;) Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" (ancient Portuguese proverb) London Dispatch 1828 Ten years before Henry Hudson ever sailed up the river that now bears his name, the six chief Dutch captains occupying the Strait of Magellan at the southern tip of South America formed "The Brotherhood of the Unleashed Lion" - a fraternity in which these defiantly stoic men vowed that no danger, threat nor adversity would ever dissuade them from acting in the interests of their beloved, nascent Dutch Republic. The objective of this Brotherhood? To inflict concerted and exacting harm upon their Iberian enemy with extreme prejudice; to covet the assets of Spain and Portugal and thereby harness that wealth to their own purpose. In other words, steal from the richest empire on Earth, and give to the youngest...and poorest. And as the Directors of the newfound Dutch West India Company focus their efforts on this concept, they institute the Company's first major initiative, in 1623, that they called "The Grand Design", the purpose of which was to unleash this very lion, once and for all, in every way possible. And as Governor Pierre Minuit, unrelenting refugee of the Eighty Years War, readies himself to pilot this rag-tag, ad-hoc, so-called "colony" to a place where no man has gone before, he finds himself at a perplexing intersection of profit and ideals. Episode 8 - The Grand Design. This episode marks the start of Season Two. Climb aboard. History is cool :) Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The spirit of the Walloons rises to new heights, when Walloon Pierre Minuit goes from unpaid volunteer to Governor of this fledgling "colony" in a matter of a year. And when tragedy strikes the northern reaches of that colony, Minuit, a man of action, does what no one had ever thought to do before -- and suddenly this Island has more significance and importance to this colony than ever before. Episode 7 - ISLAND: Part Two - Our Season One conclusion. Climb aboard. History is cool :) Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Dutch West India Company finally find their boots on the ground in the fierce and passionate race of refugees who would not only become our bonafide "Manhattan Pilgrims", but would in fact forge the most impactful society ever known to man. And by 1626, these Walloons would make their mark on this incredible Island, for evermore. Episode 7 - ISLAND: Part One (of Two parts) Climb aboard. History is cool :) Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"To every time, there is a season." And while Ecclesiastes' prophetic words sounded a bit different out of the mouths of the original settlers of this incredible place that we now call "New York", it meant the same thing in the seventeenth century as it does today. And faced with the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, these bold, intrepid servants of God refused to accept the tyranny and oppression imposed upon them by the Holy Roman Empire and Hapsburg Spain. And in 1624, this fiercely passionate race of humans came here when no one else would and with their own sweat and blood they forged the roots of what would become the greatest city -- and eventually the greatest nation -- on Earth. "Il y a un temps pour tout, un temps pour toute chose sous les cieux." There is a time for everything. And in 1624, it was the time for THEM. Let us never forget the story of our true "Manhattan Pilgrims". Let us never forget the story of the Walloons. Episode 6 - Wampum & Walloons. Climb aboard. History is cool :) Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.