PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
V10 2007 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE
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 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum | |
PREV ARTICLE
NEXT ARTICLE
FULL ISSUE
PREV FULL ISSUE
V10 2007 INDEX
E-SYLUM ARCHIVE