Public Presentation: The Ship Halve Maen in North American & World History

Too many Americans believe that our modern history began with the English 1621 voyage of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower (which actually started in Rotterdam!). But by 1621 the Halve Maen's voyage of discovery in 1609 was already over a decade in the past.

The Dutch were settling in Nieuw Amsterdam, and the rapidly changing mercantile world of the 17th Century was full of intrigue and geopolitics.

The Halve Moon was part of the 'network effect' linking ideas as well as trade. Water was not a barrier but a carrier, and ships at that time were like the internet today.

Eduard van Breen is a Director of the New Netherland Museum in Albany, has sailed on the replica Half Moon, and is uniquely qualified to explore the impact the Halve Maen had on North America and New Jersey.