You know the proverb "When it rains, it pours." Within the last few months, three publications have given us a downpour of new understanding into the early origins of New Netherland, the Dutch colony founded in the seventeenth century in North America. A colony that extended from Lake Champlain and the Hudson Valley to Delaware in the south and took in parts of what are now the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, and Delaware.

New Netherland vanished when the English took control of it in 1664, turning its capital, New Amsterdam, into New York City. Its history also vanished as only bits and pieces have been included in 4th and 7th grade social studies classes. In fact, most of your Dutch history probably consists of knowing that Manhattan was sold to the Dutch for $24, and Peter Stuyvesant was a cranky governor who gave it all away to the English without a fight.

That's all about to change! Russell Shorto and Janny Venema have released major works recently, and following close behind is Schenectady's Susan Staffa, who is now finishing up a similar work on early Schenectady.

Shorto's "The Island at the Center of the World," released this week from Doubleday is about the early Dutch beginnings of Manhattan and New Netherland, and brings to life some familiar (and not) names, like Henry Hudson, Peter Minuet, Peter Stuyvesant, and Willem Verhulst, but also people who have largely been ignored, such as Adriaen Van der Donck, the father of American democracy, who fought Stuyvesant tooth and nail over individual freedom (and was imprisoned by Stuyvesant for treason for a time). That's right, not Jefferson and company, but a Dutch lawyer who locked heads with those in power to argue the rights of man (and woman) long before the American Revolution.

Shorto's epic book excels in making us understand why New Netherland was the first melting pot (Dutch, Germans, Norwegians, Jews, Swedes, and others) in America, and how even the use of the word "American" was first applied to this island community and promoted by my hero Van der Donck. Shorto shows that the Dutch Republic's philosophy of tolerance was transferred to our shores and religious pluralism and individual rights began from the start on the little island of Manhattan, home to people already speaking some 18 languages.

Janny Venema's "Beverwijck, A Dutch Village on the American Frontier, 1652-1664" (SUNY Press) is the story of the village that grew up to become modern Albany. She has taken a slice of time, 1652-1664, and explored the geography, life, and industry of the people that settled this frontier region of New Netherland as a small village that grew up around Fort Orange.

Venema discusses the way the village was designed and describes the homes, lots, fences, bridges, and gardens in detail like a real estate catalog. She explains the development of social institutions like churches, schools, and what appears to be even the earliest poorhouse in the country. However, the most compelling part of the book are the stories of some of the inhabitants who, like those from Manhattan, were of various nationalities, not just Dutch: the blacksmiths, bakers, brewers, and tavern keepers; they all come to life as we learn where they came from, who they married, their dealings with the Native population, and their final destinies.

The Van Rensselaer family, in particular the life of Jan Baptist and Jeremias, plays an important part in this book, as they should, since it was this family who created a lucrative trade and land tenure system that would last up to the 19th century.

Both Shorto's and Venema's books are written from a wealth of original source material. Venema is part of the transcription/translation team of the New Netherland Institute that has been combing through mountains of old
Dutch manuscripts. Much of the revelations in these two books are original interpretations and bring to light a missing chapter in the founding of
America.

The early Dutch never had the chance to tell their own story since they were replaced by the English, their documents buried (and some burned), and all the while, the stories of Jamestown and Plymouth have been erroneously promoted as the beginnings of American society. The story is now being told 400 years later - though better late than never.

To ensure that this material will become part of the educational process, the New Netherland Museum (owners of the replica Half Moon) has just released Voyages of Discovery: New Netherland, An Exploration of Past and Present. This is an interdisciplinary curriculum for 4th grade containing seven lessons that explain how and why New Netherland was created.

The truth is now told (de waarheid wordt nu verteld).