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Chapter 7
第7章
New Netherland and New Sweden
新荷蘭和新瑞典
57.The Dutch.
57．荷蘭人
At this time the Dutch were the greatest traders and shipowners in the world. They were especially interested in the commerce of the East Indies. Indeed, the Dutch India Company was the most successful trading company in existence. The way to the East Indies lay through seas carefully guarded by the Portuguese, so the Dutch India Company hired Henry Hudson, an English sailor, to search for a new route to India.
這個時候，荷蘭人是世界上最大的商人，他們擁有最大的船，對東印度地區的商貿特別感興趣，荷蘭東印度公司是他們促成的最為成功的商業公司。通往東印度地區的海路由葡萄牙人嚴密守護，因此，荷蘭東印度公司雇傭英國水手亨利·哈得孫尋找通往印度的新航線。
58. Hudson's Voyage, 1609.
58．哈得孫的航海（1609年）
He set forth in 1609 in the Half-Moon, a stanch little ship. At first he sailed northward, but ice soon blocked his way. He then sailed southwestward to find a strait, which was said to lead through America, north of Chesapeake Bay. On August 3, 1609, he reached the entrance of what is now New York harbor. Soon the Half-Moon entered the mouth of the river that still bears her captain's name. Up, up the river she sailed, until finally she came to anchor near the present site of Albany. The ship's boats sailed even farther north. Everywhere the country was delightful. The Iroquois came off to the ship in their canoes. Hudson received them most kindly—quite unlike the way Champlain treated other Iroquois Indians at about the same time, on the shore of Lake Champlain. Then Hudson sailed down the river again and back to Europe. He made one later voyage to America, this time under the English flag. He was turned adrift by his men in Hudson's Bay, and perished in the cold and ice.
哈得孫1609年乘“半月”號這艘堅固的小型艦艇出發，他首先向北行進，但是，不久冰阻止了他的前行，隨之，哈得孫向南進發尋找一個據說是通往切薩皮克海灣北部美洲的海峽，在1609年8月3號，哈得孫到達現在的紐約港的入口處，很快“半月”號進入這條以她的船長的名字命名的河的河口，她一路前行，前行，最終在今天的奧爾巴尼附近拋錨，而艦艇上放下來的小船繼續北上。這個國家處處都令人高興，易洛魁族人乘著小舟從遠處來到“半月”號，哈得孫以最和善的方式接受了他們，他對待他們的方式與同一時期尚普蘭在尚普蘭湖畔對待他們的方式截然不同。隨后，哈得孫沿河回到歐洲。哈得孫后來再次航海去美洲，但這次是打著英國的旗幟，他被隨從丟在哈得孫灣漂泊，死于嚴寒。
59. The Dutch Fur-Traders.
59．荷蘭皮毛商人
Hudson's failure to find a new way to India made the Dutch India Company lose interest in American exploration. But many Dutch merchants were greatly interested in Hudson's account of the "Great River of the Mountain." They thought that they could make money from trading for furs with the Indians. They sent many expeditions to Hudson's River, and made a great deal of money. Some of their captains explored the coast northward and southward as far as Boston harbor and Delaware Bay. Their principal trading-posts were on Manhattan Island, and near the site of Albany. In 1614 some of the leading traders obtained from the Dutch government the sole right to trade between New France and Virginia. They called this region New Netherland.
哈得孫沒有找到通往印度的新航線，這使得東印度公司失去了到美洲探險的興趣。但是，許多荷蘭皮毛商人為哈得孫描述的“高山大河”所深深打動，他們以為可以通過與印第安人的皮毛生意賺錢，這些人派出許多探險隊去哈得孫河，并賺了很多錢。其中部分船長沿著河岸向北、向南分別直達波士頓港和特拉華海灣，他們的主要貿易支柱點在靠近奧爾巴尼的曼哈頓島。1614年，一些最有影響的商人從荷蘭政府那里獲得在新法國和弗吉尼亞之間進行商業活動的獨占權，他們把這個地區叫做新荷蘭。
