SETTLEMENT.--Soon after the discovery of the Hudson, as previously described (p. 39), Dutch ships began to visit the river to traffic in furs with the Indians. Afterward the West India Company obtained a grant of New Netherland, and under its patronage permanent settlements were made at New Amsterdam and also at Fort Orange (Albany). The company allowed persons who should plant a colony of fifty settlers to select and buy land of the Indians, which it was agreed should descend to their heirs forever. These persons were called "patroons" (patrons) of the manor. [Footnote: Some huts were built by the Dutch traders on Manhattan Island in 1613. and a trading-post was established a year or two after. A fort was completed, in 1615, south of the present site of Albany. Eight or nine years later, a party of Walloons or Protestants from Belgian provinces were brought over by the company. About the same time, Fort Orange was erected, and eighteen families built their bark huts under its protection. In 1626, Minuit, the first governor, arrived in New Amsterdam, and purchased Manhattan Island of the Indians for about $24, nearly 1 mill per acre.--Some of the old Dutch manors remain to this day. The famous anti-rent difficulties (p. 182) grew out of such titles.] EPOCH II. The history of New York for twenty years is only an account of Indian butcheries., varied by difficulties with the Swedes on the Delaware, and the English on the Connecticut. [Footnote: These disputes arose from the fact that the Dutch claimed the territory lying between the Delaware and the Connecticut.] THE FOUR DUTCH GOVERNORS These disturbances are monotonous enough in the recital, but doubtless thrilled the blood of the early Knickerbockers. Peter Stuyvesant was the last and ablest of the four Dutch governors. He agreed with Connecticut upon the boundary line, and taking an armed force, marched upon the Swedes, who at once submitted to him. But the old Governor hated democratic institutions, and was terribly vexed in this wise. There were some English in the colony, and they longed for the rights of self-government which the Connecticut people enjoyed. They kept demanding these privileges and talking of them to their Dutch neighbors. At this juncture an English fleet came to anchor in the harbor, and demanded the surrender of the town in the name of the Duke of York. Stout-hearted old Peter pleaded with his council to fight. But in vain. They rather liked the idea of English rule. The surrender was signed, and at last the reluctant governor attached his name. In September, 1664, the English flag floated over Manhattan Island. The colony was named New York in honor of the proprietor. [Illustration: THE ENGLISH LANDING AT NEW YORK, 1664]