Welcome to Wiltwyck
An alternate history explored in Banished
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| New Netherland map published by Nicolaes Visscher II |
Backstory
Throughout the 1620s and 1630s traffic on the North River
moved steadily between New Amsterdam-the capital of New Netherland, located on
the island of Manhattan-and Fort Orange, the outpost 150 miles to the north,
which would eventually become the city of Albany. But, as Henry Hudson
discovered on first exploring the region in 1609, the river grew shallower
about halfway up. Dutch sea captains soon realized it made sense to move cargo
onto lighter vessels once they reached this point. In 1651, a group of Fort
Orange settlers moved south to this spot and formed a village. They named it
Esopus after the Esopus Creek, a waterway that fed into the river here, and
along whose fertile banks they farmed. It was shortly after renamed Wiltwijck, which was later anglicized to Wiltwyck.
