Visiting this museum was a very interesting experience for me as a foreigner. Before I went to this museum, I didn't even know that NYC was founded by Dutch people.
Manhattan's original name was New Amsterdam which means another or a new found Nether land. Manhattan was originally purchased from the Indians with beads worth only $24.
New Amsterdam was founded by the Dutch as a place to do business and was operated by a trading company. The Dutch had to fight with the Spanish and Portuguese empires to dominated trade with Asia so New Amsterdam was a perfect place for them to do business without competition. The first trade was fur and tobacco. Fur trading was a successful export back to Europe. They exported or exchanged salt, sugar and slaves to the English colonies and to the Caribbean. New Amsterdam became the largest trade network.
Dutch influence remained strong in NY for many decades after English takeover. The majority of the city's inhabitants were ethnically dutch until the early 1700s. Certain areas in Manhattan still show their dutch heritage evident in their names such as Bleaker Street, Varick Street, Broadway, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Coney Island, Flushing and Harlem etc.
I learned a lot about NYC from this visit. I especially remember the short movie about New York's history. The movie broke up New York's past into perfect time periods, making understanding the city's history easier. I thought that starting with visiting Museum of the City of New York was a great beginning to this class, Architecture of New York City.
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