Journey Into Mohawk Country TP

Description

Early in the winter of 1634, a young Dutch trader set out from a distant outpost of the tiny Dutch colony on the Southern tip of Manhattan Island to explore the Iroquios country, where the powerful Mohawk tribe controlled the most important trade routes in the region. Twenty-three-year-old Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert and his friends traveled deep into what is now New York State, trading tools and weapons for food, shelter, and furs, and seeking to establish new tribal friendships that would strengthen the faltering Dutch trade. Throughout the journey, Van den Bogaert kept a journal of their adventures, recording their fears, successes, and the terrible hardship of making such a journey in the depths of winter. Here is that journal, nearly four centuries later, in Van den Bogaert's own words.