A Tale of Two Trading Posts

Summary

In the 17th century New Netherland, a colony run by the Dutch West India Trading Company in what is now New York, was the locus of the Dutch Fur Trade. Throughout the early years of the colony, this trade was restricted to Fort Orange, the company’’s official trading post located in modern day Albany. While this trade thrived, the colony did not, forcing company officials to release their monopoly on the Fur Trade and opening it to all residents in the colony. Following this declaration, a privately run trading post opened at the Flatts, located just upriver of Fort Orange. These sites remained in competition with each other until the colony was conquered by the English in 1664. Subsequently both sites have been excavated by the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation Archaeology Department. This project explores the dichotomy between the official and privately run trading posts and how they might have interacted with their Native American trading partners, allowing for a more nuanced view of the Fur Trade in New Netherland and providing an early case study of competition between the public and private sectors on the frontier.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014   •
• ‘O Brave New World’: Archaeologies of Changing Identities

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-18,08