Rossella Failla-

Russell Shorto’s “The Island at the Center of the World,” offers a new prespective on the story of the Dutch colonization of Manhattan. The first settlers on the island were the Dutch, pioneered by Henry Hudson and the Dutch East India Company.

What I found interesting were the motivations of the Manhattan settlers. Many settlers of the New World came for religious and political freedom. However, Manhattan settlers were mostly businessmen and traders who wanted to be a part of the new hub of the New World. ”

According to Shorto, the soul and persona of New York came from the short Dutch colonization. The colony was diverse, in cultures, languages and religions. According to Shorto, the Dutch were extremely tolerant of all the settlers. However, I don’t feel that they were tolerant per se. This notion might be true, but I think the idea of the Dutch merely putting up with the diversity is a more fitting way to put it.

The two protagonists of the novel are Peter Stuyvesant, and Adriaen van der Donck, which Shorto places a significant importance on these two figures. Adriaen van der Donck, or better known as the forgotten American patriot, brought the new liberalisms of thought into the New World. He was the first attorney of Manhattan, challenged Stuyvesant’s power. He advocated for a more Republican-style government, rather than the autocratic rule in place.  This vision brought him into conflict with Stuyvesant.

One of the most curious things, and feasibly less sapless, I came upon while reading was the records and documents of the Dutch, which were not translated until the 1970s. They survived the wear and tear of the years, and the infamous fire of 1911. These documents brought a new perspective on the Dutch rule, and its impact on Manhattan and the New World.

Let me be honest. The book provided some revealing, and telling facts about the colonization of the Dutch, and the reign of Peter Stuyvesant as the first “governor” of Manhattan. However, it was dryly written. The novel went into specific descriptions of sometimes irrelevant ideas that shifted my attention from the main point. I did find Shorto going off into many tangents, perhaps signifying that he had many ideas about Manhattan and its colonization. I do believe that it could have been a bit more precise, however.