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Pictured above is a decolonized map of north america, or as they call it, turtle island. What interests us here is that it shows the original native names for places across the continent. As colonizers are apt to do, most places have been given entirely new names in order to subvert the people already living there. However, there are a few places that maintain the native names. One of those places is Quebec, and another is Manhattan.
This is interesting, right? What does it tell you about the group landing in a place that they would respect the native name of the land?
Interesting enough for me to pick up a book on the subject! (In actuality, my mom told me about the book while I was whacked out on codeine for a toothache, I just wanted to bring up the decolonial atlas, it's a neat map.)
The book follows the entire history of New York from the exploration of it by Henry Hudson, all the way to the modern day, spending the bulk of the time on the colony under Dutch rule. Shorto is a superb writer as well as terrific narrator for his own book. It is, as the subtitle claims, A genuinely epic tale. One of pirates and prostitutes, business and barbarity, Swedes and Dutchmen. New ideas struggling against old power structures.
The primary thesis of the book is that America is not solely an English colony, but in fact a synthesis of many different cultures and forces, a major one of them being that of the Dutch.
I sympathize with those who feel... hurt by the idea of America. Those who see reactionaries attributing Americanism to the genocidal slavers of old and conclude that this nation is inherently a savage beast that chews people up and spits them out. But I think that's accepting a faulty framework. America is the confederacy, America is the union soldiers grinding the confederacy into dust. America is segregation, America is the civil rights movement. America is the deranged puritans killing innocent people for fear of witches and America is the Dutch settlers living in (comparative) harmony with the native people.
I think I have a more positive view of America than I think most radicals have. The American dream that everyone has a chance is more myth than fact, but all myths are based on something! Sure, immigration is a contentious issue but compared to most nations the US is positively xenophilic.
And I think a lot of that comes down to the historic influence that the Dutch, as well as every packed ship of immigrants coming to America has had on this nation of ours! It's very hard to be a land of tyranny when your nation is made up of a wide variety of people who would otherwise be separated into their own states.
Most importantly to me, my life has been made better and I arguably only exist thanks to this great mosaic. My own mother is an immigrant from France, and I've benefited greatly from the culture of tolerance I live in. At a time where transphobia is rampant, countless rights are being rolled back, and demonization of queer identity, I've been wholly sheltered from it all by virtue of simple geography. And I have to be thankful for that.
"The Island at the Center of the World" is a terrific history of early New York, narrated engagingly by it's own author. Although history nerds would consider it more pop history, all that means in this context is that both a good read and furthers your understanding of the American past. If it is not already clear I recommend it extremely highly.