Arent van Curler (1620 – 1667) is known by few. According to recent research by the American historian Jim Bradley, however, this Dutchman is a key figure in the development of Rensselaerwijck, one of the colonies from which Albany, the capital of the state of New York, would grow. A portrait of a businessman, daredevil and diplomat.
New Dutch history has attracted the attention of American historians in recent years. Charles Gehring, for example, is making great strides in the translation of the colonial administration. Those new pieces and some recent excavations shed new light on life not only in Manhattan, but also upstream, in the area around present-day Albany.
The American historian and freelance archaeologist Jim Bradley investigated the Dutch roots of that area. In his research he often came across Arent van Curler and was able to form a picture of the role that this striking Dutchman played in the area. Who was this man and why was he so important?
Bradley portrays Van Curler as a smart businessman, a daredevil and above all a very agile diplomat. According to Bradley, Van Curler's merits lie in making the fur trade flourish, thereby laying the economic foundation for a prosperous lasting settlement. That success came from the strategically daring but right decision to move the colony from the east to the west side of the Hudson at an early stage. All this was mainly possible because of Van Curler's diplomatic talent. He was a regular at home with the Indians and treated them – highly unusual – with respect and got so much done.
Arent van Curler
Arent van Curler sees the light of day in 1620 in Nijkerk. He is a great-nephew of the smart and successful diamond trader Kiliaen van Rensselaer. In the mid-twenties, this Kiliaen van Rensselaer acquires a large piece of land in New Netherland. He stationed several dozen farmers and craftsmen on the eastern bank near Fort Oranje to build up a community. Van Rensselaerwijck regularly comes into conflict with the West India Company, the owner of the rest of New Netherland. Especially if Van Rensselaer starts concentrating on the fur trade.
To snatch something from the flourishing fur trade, Van Rensselaer sends his great-nephew Arent van Curler to the new world. Van Curler will start as an assistant to the Executive Director. But within a year he was appointed trade commissioner. An influential position. All correspondence, accounting and commercial matters go through him. Later that year, it was 1639, the West India Company relinquished its monopoly on the beaver fur trade:it yielded too little. Van Rensselaer orders his protégé to strike.
Trade spirit
Van Curler won't let that be said twice. He immediately visits the Mahicans, who own a lot of land around Van Rensselaerwijck. He also seeks contact with the Mohawks, who live further north and dominate the fur trade. Later documents show that Van Curler learns the various Native American languages and is familiar with the cumbersome rituals and manners.
The documents also show that Van Curler behaves like a modern merchant. He makes an inventory of what the Indians need and what means of exchange have to be transferred from Europe. There is a myth, says Bradley, that Native Americans were already content with mirrors and cheap merchandise. But accounting shows a very different picture. Van Curler orders expensive rugs and blankets that have to meet specific fashionable requirements.
Big decisions
The year 1643 is an important year for Van Curler. Without consulting his boss, he makes some big decisions. He moves his farm to the west bank of the Hudson on a fertile plot of land above Fort Orange, on the route from the fort to the Mohawk area. For example, he steals a lot of trade from the West India Company. To stimulate the supply of fur, Van Curler visits the Indians with a delegation. Loaded with gifts, he is received festively everywhere. It results in a friendship treaty with the Mohawk. The trade is flourishing and both Van Rensselaer and Van Curler earn a lot of money.
Van Curler expands his fortune considerably that same year by getting married to Anthonia Schalboom. She is the widow of Johannes Bronk, the wealthy merchant after whom the New York borough of The Bronx is named. Van Curler moves into the patron's farm and develops the estate into the richest estate in the area. He uses his capital to hire farmers, build roads, set up a horse farm and buy a ship, with which he trades the horses to the Caribbean.
Extension
In the late 1940s, Van Curler increasingly withdrew from the administration of the colony and concentrated on his own business. However, he remains closely involved in diplomacy with the Indians. He manages to keep the colony out of the many wars between the Mahicans and Mohawk. Undoubtedly, Curler's personal relationship with the Mohawk plays a big part in this. In 1652 he had a child by a Mohawk woman.
However, the balance of power is starting to become more and more unbalanced. The many wars harm the fur trade. The Mohawks clash with the French advancing from the north. The English Puritans are also increasingly appearing in New Netherland. And the first Anglo-Dutch war, which started in 1652, further dried up the trade.
It is striking that Van Curler is expanding his assets considerably in these difficult times. Excavations around his farm show that expensive building materials and utensils are used. He also amass pieces of land in Nieuw Amsterdam (Corlaers Hook, a few tens of meters south of the Williamsburg Bridge) and in the rapidly growing Beverwijck, a new settlement around Fort Oranje.
He is also expanding in the fast-growing Beverwijck, a new settlement around Fort Oranje. He buys a few plots of land and a number of houses there. After his farm burns down, he settled in one of those Beverwijck houses in 1661. The settlement already has more than a thousand inhabitants. He is then the one with the longest service in the new world and is often consulted by the board.
Schenectady
From that moment on, Van Curler starts on his new, ambitious project. For some time now, he has set his sights on a particularly fertile piece of land, northwest of Rensselaerwijck. However, it is in the middle of Mohawk area and they do not sell land to Europeans. They make an exception for Van Curler. He then establishes a settlement, which will grow into the small town of Schenectady. He knows how to get local farmers and merchants warm to buy pieces of land and also puts in a lot of his own capital, as well as borrowed money.
The purchase immediately draws him back into political scheming. Things are not going well with Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of New Netherland. Its primary purpose is to strengthen the colony, that is to say the colony of the West India Company. He refuses permission to the settlers in Schenectady to trade. The settlement must remain agricultural. For Van Curler this means a financial dagger in the back:he can never recoup his investments without trading. The situation becomes even more dire for him when Stuyvesant announces that he will open a new trading post above Curler's, so closer to the Indians.
French vs. English
The changed balance of power brings new opportunities and new problems. Richard Nicolls, the English governor in the area, asks Van Curler to stay on as commissioner of what is now called Albany. The umpteenth war between the Mohawk and Mahican Indians threatens the fur trade, which is already suffering from the many European naval wars. Van Curler has to persuade the Indians to use their weapons again for beaver hunting and not on each other.
The French governor in Quebec, a few hundred miles north, is also upset with the Indians. With a number of punitive expeditions he gets the tribes in line. Except for the Mohawk in the south, which is exactly the direction in which the French governor wants to expand his influence. They persist in their resistance. The governor asks Van Curler to intervene. Ultimately, the Frenchman sends a punitive expedition. With little effect:Van Curler warns the Mohawk in time.
In the summer of 1667, the French governor in Montreal courted him. The royal envoy is betting that the Dutch will recapture their colonial possessions and wants to strengthen ties. Lieutenant Governor Nicolls gives him permission to go, but then accompanied by an assignment:en route Van Curler must map Lake Champlain and the French forts in the area.
Evil Spirit
In August 1667, Van Curler boarded a boat to complete the crossing. He never makes it to the other side. The cause of the accident has never been clarified. Some think he overplayed his hand in the balancing act between the English and French. The Indians suspected that there was an evil spirit at work that even the great Van Curler could not tame.
This is how a businessman, daredevil and diplomat dies from the New Netherlandish frontier :Arent van Curler.