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
Jegou's Island Jegou's Island Jegou's Island or Chygoe's Island is a former island located at the junction of Assiscunk Creek and the Delaware River, on which the central portion of the city of Burlington, in Burlington County, New Jersey, is located. The Moat, a now partially filled distributary of Assiscunk Creek, formerly separated the island from the mainland. This island was named for Peter Jegou, an early settler thereof. It has been corrupted at times to Chygoe's Island, and erroneously attributed to the name of a Lenape sachem. In 1668 New Jersey Governor Philip Carteret granted land on the island to a