Dutch.

The Dutch in New Netherland came under the auspices of a private corporation, the Dutch West India Company, not the Estates General of the Netherlands. Political organization reflected these corporate origins. What the company needed was an inexpensive way to maintain order and insure the fur trade. It had no intention of replicating the kind of government enjoyed by the Netherlands. The first director of New Netherland was Cornelis Jacobsen May, who commanded the ship which brought the first thirty families to the company's New World holdings in 1624 and whose job was to coordinate trade. He was replaced in 1626 by Willem Verhulst. This director was supposed to be aided by an advisory council of company officials, but in fact he was the government. In 1629 the company decided to open up their colony to private investors, known as patroons, who were granted lands and...