Native Americans in German popular culture need to learn to view Native Americans as people, rather than idealized cultural fantasy characters. The specific image of Indians originated earlier than May's writings. Already in the 18th century a specific German view on the fate of Native Americans can be found in various travel reports and scientific excursions. Philipp Georg Friedrich von Reck (1710–1798) traveled to Massachusetts and Georgia in 1733/34 and saw the Muskogee nation. James Fenimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales" were admired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and still are among the German youth literature classics. In 1815–18, the poet Adelbert von Chamisso took part in a
Dutch Americans South Carolina and Cornelius P. Van Ness of Vermont were also born to Dutch American families. According to the 2013 American Community Survey, an estimated 4.5 million Americans claim total or partial Dutch heritage. Today the majority of the Dutch Americans live in Michigan, California, Montana, Minnesota, New York, Wisconsin, Idaho, Utah, Iowa, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. In 1602, the Dutch government chartered the Dutch East India Company ("Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie", VOC). It sent explorers under the command of Henry Hudson who arrived in 1609 and mapped what is now known as the Hudson River. Their initial goal was