Dutch colonization of the Americas In 1624, the first colonists, mostly Walloons and their slaves-bound servants, arrived to New Netherland by the shipload, landing at Governors Island and initially dispensed to Fort Orange, Fort Wilhelmus and Kievets Hoek. In 1626, Director of the WIC Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape natives and started construction of Fort Amsterdam, which grew to become the main port and capital, New Amsterdam. The colony expanded to outlying areas at Pavonia, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Long Island. On the Connecticut River, Fort Huys de Goede Hoop was completed in 1633 at present day Hartford. By 1636, the
Barren Island, Brooklyn Eastern European immigrant family's experiences on the island. It was placed on the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction "longlist" and has won the Association of Writers & Writing Programs' 2015 Award Series."Barren Island" also received a National Jewish Book Award. Barren Island, Brooklyn Barren Island is a former island in Jamaica Bay, off the southeast shore of Brooklyn in southern New York City, New York. It was originally part of a Lenape Native American land before being settled in the 17th century. Barren Island, whose name is a corruption of a Dutch word for bears, was geographically part of