p215  IX

Dutch Maps and Geographical Names

The Dutch period of exploration and settlement on the Delaware started in 1609 and ended in 1664, when the English seized control. During this period of fifty-five years Dutch navigators and traders, and later, Dutch settlers, all had a hand in giving names to certain physical features in the Delaware Valley, as they did elsewhere in New Netherland.

In the process of place-naming, newcomers to an area often transfer names from their homeland; they also make up new names, customarily using words from their own language. These are in addition to names taken over from the native population, for example, Armenveruis, Arowamex, Matinakonk, Narraticonck, Sickoneysincks, Sankickans, Appoquinimink — just to name a few of the previously cited Algonkian place-names which are found in seventeenth‑century Dutch records. Whatever their origin, geographical names, as a necessity of communication, are of immediate concern to the explorers who map out an area and to the settlers who come there to live. Some of the names first applied to a new territory often continue to be used by new generations, while other names become obsolete, new or modified ones taking their place.

The student of Dutch geographical names in the Delaware Valley must depend, to a considerable extent, upon the writings of explorers, promoters, colonizers, administrators, and travelers; to mention a mere half dozen, the works of de Laet, de Vries, Hartgers, and van de Donck, all previously cited, as well as the  p216 anonymous Vertoogh and Kort Verhael. Equally important as a source of information are the early maps and charts of the New Netherland area, to which attention will now be given.

Hudson's detention in England on his return from the third voyage brought knowledge of his discoveries to the drawing boards of English cartographers before the information reached the Netherlands. The first charting of Delaware Bay, as we saw in Chapter 1, appeared on an English map, a copy of which found its way to Spain and ultimately became known as the "Velasco Map." Since Hudson's exploration of the Delaware was confined to the mouth of the bay, the lines marking the bay on the "Velasco Map" break off inside the capes, and the shape of the upper stretches of the bay and river is left indefinite. The extension of these lines, and the detailing of the tributaries and the land they drained, had to await more thorough exploration. The data obtained after 1609 by successive Dutch explorers and traders permitted further delineation of the Delaware river system as each made his contribution.

In 1616, Hendricksen attempted to chart the full length of the Delaware on his "Figurative Map"; the data he furnished amplified the "Velasco Map," but more detailed mapping could only come with a fuller survey of the headwaters and tributaries. After the Walloons settled on Burlington Island in 1624, more of the middle section of the Delaware River became known, and when Fort Nassau was constructed in 1626, further geographical data about the eastern side of the river became available to Dutch map-makers. The settlement of Swanendael in 1631 brought knowledge of the southwestern sector of the bayshore; the purchase by Hossitt of land on the opposite side of the bay added further to the fund of information. The Schuylkill region became better known as Dutch traders from Fort Nassau sought contact with the Minquas. Later, land routes between the Delaware settlements and Manhattan were established on the old  p217 Indian paths. These, and other, developments permitted the charting of physical features not found on earlier maps.

When we examine the Dutch maps and charts made before 1675 on which Delaware Bay and River are fully delineated, we find they fall into three broad categories: (1) those which show a long stretch of coastline, including the middle Atlantic sector, (2) those which show only New Netherland, (3) those which show only a part of New Netherland — in this case the Delaware River area. Listed below are the maps in these three categories.

(1)

(2)

 p219  (3)

It is true in general that the maps in category (3) above — which show only a segment of New Netherland, usually in considerable detail — contain more Dutch geographical names for Delaware Valley features than the maps in categories (1) and (2). But since some of the names appearing in maps in categories (1) and (2) differ from those in category (3), maps of all three types must be studied with care in order to develop a list of Dutch geographical names which in any way approaches completeness.

 p220  As further comment on the maps listed above, it might be said that whereas the names of engravers and publishes sometimes got into the record, the names of few of the surveyors and original drafters are known. That Willem Verhulst was instructed to have Peter Minuit make a careful exploration of the Delaware as early as 1625 appears in a passage in the Van Rappard Documents, and Minuit's activities as a map maker have been taken for granted, as have those of de Vries.⁠10 It can also be assumed that Gillis Hossitt made a map of the Delaware River, as Samuel Godyns ordered him to do in the document dated June 1, 1629 (reprinted in Appendix A). And the Swedish governor, Johan Rising, shortly after his arrival on the Delaware in 1654, "caused [the river system] to be mapped, as well as it could be done in a hurry all the way from the bay even up to the falls, by one A. Hudden."⁠11 This was the same Andries Hudde mentioned earlier in this volume. For the most part, however, the surveying and drafting work for the maps destined to find their way to European engravers and publishers⁠12 is anonymous.

 p221  In view of the possibility of finding early Dutch geographical names on non-Dutch charts and maps of the area, it becomes necessary to broaden this survey to some extent. After the exploration of the Delaware by Thomas Yong in 1634, the bay and river were fully delineated on the maps of Cecill,⁠13 Dudley,⁠14 Daniel,⁠15 Farrer,⁠16 Seller,⁠17 and others. These maps, however, produce little of interest for the student of Dutch names. On the other hand, the map by Augustine Herrman is detailed enough to be worth close examination.⁠18 The maps of Peter Lindeström, who made his own surveys on the scene, must also be examined with care, even though it is sometimes difficult to say whether certain of the names he records are of Dutch or Swedish origin.⁠19

The Dutch names in Delaware Valley, as revealed by the sources available to us, are given in the list below. In this list numbers and letters are keyed to the accompanying map (Figure 3). The names on the map are those of the early Dutch geographical names still in use.

Not included in the list is the major area name Nieu Nederland (1614) and the lesser area names Swanendael (1629) and Jagersland⁠20  p222 (1659). Also omitted are the Dutch names for Delaware Bay: Zuyt Baye (1624), Nieuw Port May (1625), and Godins Bay (1630‑1640); and for the Delaware River: Zuydt-Revier (1624), Willems Rivier (1630‑1640), Prince Hendricx Riv[i]er (1649), and Nassaw Riv[i]er (1659). These have all been cited earlier in this volume.⁠21

The first group of names that follows includes those of Dutch (or occasionally German) provenience listed and discussed by Dunlap in his 1956 monograph on Dutch and Swedish place-names in the state of Delaware.⁠22 The date in parentheses following the name is that of the earliest form on record; the spelling is also (as a rule) that of the earliest form, and thus may vary considerably from later forms of the same word. Where a translation of the word seems in order, the Dunlap translation is given. Multiple names for the same feature in the list are separated by commas; when a number or letter represents a cluster of features, these features are separated by semicolons.

The list continues with the names found on the west bank of the Delaware River above the present Delaware-Pennsylvania border, as well as those belonging in New Jersey on the east bank of the river (the latter are indicated by letter references). A number of the names, the ones followed by asterisks, were discussed by Dunlap & Weslager, 1958, and the definitions enclosed in quotation marks are those given in that work. To avoid repetition of the same date, the names marked with asterisks are all c. 1629. The remaining names, not included in either Dunlap, 1956 or Dunlap & Weslager, 1958, are documented by footnote below.

Like names in other times and places, the seventeenth‑century Dutch names in the Delaware Valley may be classified according to certain types. The Stewart method of classification is followed here.⁠72 Where there is still some question that a word may not be Dutch, it is preceded in the list below by a dagger.

1. Descriptive names, those which originate from some quality of the place: Boomptjes Hoeck, Bosie, the Bought, Buswick (possibly belongs in class 4), Doolhoff, Dreck Creek, Einboome [Hoeck], De Groote Kill, Hooghe eylant, Houten Eylant, Knolbushaven, Knotsenburgh, Landerijen, Mill drope, Moder Eyland, Muscle Crupple, New-Hooven, Niew Clarelandh, Pompion Hook, Primehook Neck, Pruym Hoeck, Reeden Point, Ret Eylandt, Roden hoeck, Ruyge-Bosje, Santhoeck, Schoon Eylandt, Steenhooke, Strandwijk, Swart-hooke, Strunt Kill (occurs twice), Swart Nutten Island, Taswaijeeskijl, Timmer Kil, Val (occurs twice), Verkeerde Kil, 't Vogele Sant (possibly belongs in Class 3), Wyngaerts Kill, Zuydt-Revier.

2. Possessive Names, those applied because of a feeling that someone owned a particular place: Peter Alricks Islands, Ariens Kil, Bloemaerts Kil, † Andries Bonns Kill, Carel Hook, Claesburg, Godins Bay, Juniosa Island, † Jaques Eylan [t], Jan Landemakers Hook, Jacob Vannivers Island, Verhulsten Eylandt, and possibly Seutters Island.

3. Incident names, those which identify a place by means of some incident which occurred at or near it (this class includes  p230 animal names, although some of these may also be considered descriptive): Bevers Eylant, † Calcoen Island, † Calcoone Hook, Cuypers Ejlent, † Draake Kijlen, Fliegen Bourgh, Fort Beversreede, Gansen Eylandt, Goutmijn, Hoeren Kil,⁠73 † Honde Creek, Kickout Neck, Kievits Hook, Mastemaaeckers hook, † Murderkill Creek, Myggen Borch, † Paerd Hook, Rottn Bourgh, Slangen Borgh, Steenbackers Hoeck, Steurvangers kil, Swaenewyck, Swaennen Eylandt, Swanendael, Verkens Cil, † Wilde Hooke, Wolve Kil, and possibly Forkins Kill, and Jagersland.

4. Commemorative names, names of places or people which are given a new application for honorific ends: Amsterdam, Bommelerweert, Cape Cornelius, Cabo Hinloopen, Cabo May, Elb-Revier, Fort Altena, Fort Casimir, Fort Nassau, Graef Ernsts riuier, Groeningen, Island of Kattenburgh, Middleburgh, Nassaw Riv[i]er, New-Leyden, New Seavenhoven, New Sevenhoven, New Tiell, New Utrick, New Uytreght, Nieuw Amstel, Nieu Nederland, Nieuw Port May, Ommelanden, Graeff Hendricx Riv[i]er, Prince Hendricx Rii[i]er, Prince Maurice R.[iver], Willems Rivier.

5. Shift names, those shifted from one feature to another in the same general vicinity: Amsterdam Branch, Bout Creek, Bouttowne, Hinloopen Creek, Omelanden Point, Pertdic Creek, Primehook Creek, Reedy Island Neck, Zuijt Hoek, Zuyt-Baye.

The following names of uncertain origin or meaning are left unclassified: Apen Island, † Brainwend (Brandywine) Kill, Cameelkijlen, Cammens Eijlandh, Colake hoeck, Creveceur, Draijers Creek, Haert Kill, Kees und Brodts [Eiland], Onbekent Eyland, Schuylers Kil, t'vupebol, t'vassebos, Verdrietige Hoeck, † Young Keiricks Creek.

A study of the above names by chronological periods reveals interesting changes in the patterns of Dutch name-giving on the  p231 Delaware. In general, names tended to change in this sparsely settled valley with the changing conditions of promotion. As the posts for whaling and fur-trading gave way to settlements of a somewhat more permanent nature, new names appeared, not only for features in areas previously unoccupied by the Dutch, but also for some of the features already named — as the replacement of names like Cape Cornelius, Godins Bay, Bloemaerts Kil, Elb-Revier, Wyngaerts Kill, and so on, bears witness. More specifically, it might be pointed out that before 1651 (the date of the founding of Fort Casimir) there was a larger proportion of names commemorating prominent people than in the rest of the Dutch period; and that after 1651 the proportion of names given for places in the homeland became greater than before. Among these new names were a number to remind their users of such familiar places across the Atlantic as Amsterdam, Groeningen, Leyden, Middleburgh, Tiel, Utrecht, and Zevenhoven.

In concluding this chapter, it might be observed that, of the names presented, only the following have preserved some or most of their Dutch character: Cape Henlopen, Primehook Creek and Neck, Bombay Hook (from Boomptjes Hoeck), Drawyers Creek (from Draijers), Swanwick,⁠74 Middleburgh, Bout Creek, Schuylkill River, Maurice River, and Cape May. An additional group has survived in translation: Reedy Point, Reedy Point (Neck), Reedy Island, Bread and Cheese Island, and possibly (Big) Timber Creek and Red Bank.⁠75 Added together, these survivors  p232 constitute about 15 per cent of the total list, but the reader will immediately recognize that they form an exceedingly small percentage of the names now in use in the Delaware Valley; our linguistic heritage of Dutch seventeenth‑century geographical names has not been a rich one.

---

The Author's Notes:

1 There is a copy in the Hexham translation of the Mercator-Hondius-Jansson Atlas (1636), and another in Hartgers' Beschrijvinghe van Virginia (1651); both show alterations.

2 This chart should be compared with a facsimile made in the 1660's of a map of Minuit's time, c. 1630 (Iconography, 2: C. Pl. 39); also with the facsimile of a copy made in the 1660's of a survey likewise done in Minuit's time (ibid., 6: Pl. 81 b).

3 This map is a good representative of the Jansson-Visscher series, which includes maps by Danckers, van der Donck, Allardt, and others. See the discussion in Stokes and Haskell, Amer. Hist. Prints, pp6‑7; and for facsimiles and references see A. R. Dunlap, "A Checklist of Seventeenth-Century Maps Relating to Delaware," Delaware Notes, 18:68‑76.

4 Reprinted with minor changes, in 1660 in Doncker's De Zee-Atlas. Colom published, in the 1660's, a map which also included Virginia and New England (cf. Iconography, 2:156‑157).

5 A chart with a similar title was published in Goos's De Zee-Atlas, 1666; for a facsimile, see A. L. Humphreys, Old Descriptive Maps and Charts, Pl. 63.

6 This chart was published in 1675 in Part 1 of Roggeveen's Het Brandende Veen; but even though it postdates the final period of Dutch political sway on the Delaware, it was probably prepared, at least in part, before 1675.

7 The date of this map is discussed in Dunlap & Weslager, 1958.

8 A discussion of the different states of this map and their dates appears with F. C. Weider's facsimile. The word "Sweden," as Wieder observes, is on a slip which has been pasted over the word "Nederlandt." (For another map bearing the name "New Sweden," see Iconography, 6: Pl. 81 a.).

9 An unpublished Dutch map like those in this category, entitled "Caerte van de Suid Rivier," might also be mentioned, although it dates from c. 1683. Accompanying the manuscript of the journal of the second voyage of Jacob Danckaerts (on deposit in the Long Island Historical Society), it throws light on conditions along the Delaware River in the decade after the last period of Dutch authority. The non-Indian names are all Dutch, but many of them are "back" translations of established names; for example, Ende Kil (Duck Creek), Sloot (Thoroughfare), and Oudemans Kil (Oldman's Creek).

10 Iconography, 1:136; 2:111‑112, 142, 173 ff.; cf. Swedish Settlements, 1:117‑118. Note the reference in Iconography, 2:116‑117 to an unpublished sketch-map of Delaware Bay, possibly by de Vries, now in the State Archives at the Hague; and see also the letter from Blommaert to Oxenstierna dated November 13, 1638, Kernkamp, Zweedsche Archivalia, p162.

11 Narratives, Myers, p138; see fn. 2, where it is recorded that Rising paid Hudde twenty florins for "some maps of the river and other drawings"; see also Swedish Settlements, 1:516‑517. In 1657, Hudde was employed as surveyor at Fort Amstel, and reference to one of his maps (the same one?) appears in the Bontemantel papers under date of August 16: "Will try to send a map of the South River executed by Andries Hudde" ("Extract from the letter of the Director and Councillors from New Netherland dated August 16, 1657," New Netherland Papers, New York Public Library).

12 It should be said that of a considerable number of maps mentioned in the records there is now no trace. See, for example, van Laer, p40; NYCD, 1:126, 262; 2:14‑15, 224; 12:183, 1643. But the loss in every case was not absolute. In a letter dated April 7, 1657 from the Directors to Stuyvesant occurs the statement that "The plan of the Southriver, given by the Director-General to Walewyn van der Velveteen, has been lost with other papers in the ship de Otter so that we expect a like draught on paper by the first chance from there" (NYCD, 12:183). On this general subject, see Iconography, 2:161 ff.

13 Nova Terra Mariae Tabula (1635); facsimile in Narratives, Hall, frontispiece.

14 Carta Particolare della Nuova Belgica è Parte della Nuova Anglia (c. 1636); facsimile in Doc. Hist. N. Y., 1, frontispiece.

15 Facsimile in Iconography, 2: c. Pl. 34a. Compare Evelyn's reference to this map in his letter to Mabel Plowden (1641), reprinted in C. A. Weslager, "Robert Evelyn's Indian Tribes and Place-Names of New Albion," Bulletin 9, Archaeological Society of New Jersey, November, 1954, pp1‑2.

16 A Mapp of Virginia (1651); facsimile in Winsor, 3:463.

17 A Mapp of New Jersey (c. 1664); facsimile in Iconography, 1: Pl. 11a.

18 Virginia and Maryland (1670); facsimile in end pocket of P. L. Phillips, The Rare Map of Virginia and Maryland by Augustine Herrman.

19 Lindeström's maps are listed in Delaware Notes, 18:69‑70.

20 This word has not heretofore been mentioned in this volume. Apparently a territory name for the northeast corner of Maryland and parts of Delaware and Pennsylvania, it occurs first in Herrman's journal (Narratives, Hall, p314 [1659]), and later in a letter written in 1662 (NYCD, 12:409).

21 These names, and others within the confines of the state of Delaware, were treated in Dunlap, 1956. Many of those in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey parts of the Delaware Valley were discussed in Dunlap & Weslager, 1958.

22 Daggers precede the names that are of uncertain origin, though conceivably Dutch. Not discussed in this chapter, because of their narrow application, are certain seventeenth‑century "sub-geographical names," having Dutch association, e.g., Alricks Swamp, De Lagranges Marsh, Gysbert Walravens Marsh, the fly (vly) of Hans Block, Hans Blocks Dyke, the Bowerie, Broad Dyke, the Strand, and others.

23 This name was applied to False Cape as early as 1625, but it later became the name of the Delaware cape at the entrance to Delaware Bay. For a discussion of the shift, see Dunlap 1956, pp31‑33. The form given above appears on the map entitled Caerte vande Suydt Rivier in Niew Nederland.

24 A synonym for stront, "dung."

25 Meaning uncertain.

26 Probably a Dutch personal name.

27 "Reedy" (literally, "reeds") Point Neck, which later came to be known as Reedy Island Neck.

28 Reedy Point.

29 Meaning uncertain.

30 "Lands lying around a place," applied particularly to the country around Groeningen.

31 Boom means "tree."

32 An area presumably named for a settler called Claes.

33 This feature may have been part of Niew Clarelandh.

34 Meaning uncertain; perhaps "hog's creek."

35 Evidently a form of Paerd Hook.

36 Meaning of first element uncertain. Paerd means "horse" in Dutch, but pert or pertti, a Finnish dialect word meaning "cabin" or "bath-house," might have been etymologized by the Dutch (cf. Dunlap, 1956, pp46‑48).

37 Drope appears to be a metathesized form of Dutch dorp, "village."

38 Also Brainwend, Brandewyne, etc.

39 Narratives, Myers, p22. De Vries, it should be noted, does not make a west-bank location unmistakably clear.

40 Pascaert van Nieuw Nederlandt . . .; for facsimile, see Monumenta Cartographica, Pl. 77.

41 NYCD, 12:132. In the New Netherland Papers, New York Public Library, a note occurs about the new form of the name in a MS entitled "1657 July, Papers from New Netherland arrived with the ship Bever . . ."; "New Gottenburg, now named Cattenburg, is no fort, just a stately country house . . ." "Kattenburgh" is presumably a Dutch importation from the New Netherlands, although it may have been brought to mind by the sound of its Swedish predecessor, "(New) Gottenburg."

42 NYCD, 12:406.

43 PA, 1st Series, 1:28.

44 Ibid., p29.

45 NYCD, 12:38.

46 Ibid., p37.

47 Ibid.

48 Ibid., 1:588. This name is often considered in the light of the context to be Swedish, but the context need not be so interpreted. Arguing in favor of the name's being of Dutch origin are these two points: (a) kiewit is a standard word in Dutch but a dialect word in Swedish; and (b) the Dutch gave this name to a feature in New England (ibid., p287).

49 Ibid., 1:598. Otherwise Wicacoa.

50 Interpretations of t'vupebol and t'vassebos, the names of two features at the lower (?) end of Wicacoa (see the document recording Hudde's purchase of lands from the Indians September 25, 1646, Appendix B) are still to be worked out.

51 Some commentators have erroneously located this island in Delaware Bay. For a correction of this error, see Dunlap, 1956, p58. Campanius, p5, makes the following observation: "Fogelsand ['t Vogele Sant] is a white sand bank which is dry in summer."

52 This feature is near 't Vogele Sant, "over against" a creek at the upper side of Wicacao (see Hudde's purchase, Appendix B). It may possibly have been named for a Dutch trader or settler.

53 Lindeström, Map A.

54 In a land record dated 1667 (see DYR, p125) there is mention of two islands patented to Peter Alricks (cf. Chapter 3 above, wherein reference is made to Peter Alricks' owning four different islands in the Delaware at different times).

55 Maps in the Jansson-Visscher Series; on the 1639 chart reproduced in Monumenta Cartographica, Pl. 77, as well as on similar ones reproduced in Iconography, 1: C. Pl. 39, and 6: Pl/81 b., this name appears simply as "Mine."

56 Van Laer, p51.

57 Cf. Chapter 10 below.

58 Cf. Chapter 3 above.

59 Not to be confused with present Timber Creek: cf. Chapter 5 above.

60 Cf. Chapter 5 for date and location.

61 PA 1st Series, 1:34.

62 Ibid., p57.

63 Map entitled Kaert vande Suyd Rivier, reproduced in Monumenta Cartographica Pl. 79.

64 Lindeström, Map A; meaning of first element uncertain, and it may not be the same stream as the one named Steurvangers Kil. Somewhere near this waterway was a feature named Steen-hooke (1677), "stone hook," the property of John Paul Jacquet (PA, 1st Series, 1:37).

65 Ibid., p35.

66 Ibid., p34.

67 Roggeveen's Chart: meaning of first element uncertain.

68 Cf. Chapter 5 for names of prominent members of the house of Nassau.

69 Lindeström, Map A: meaning of first element uncertain.

70 Roggeveen's Chart: meaning of first element uncertain.

71 Herrman's Map: cf. Chapter 5.

72 George R. Stewart, "A Classification of Place-Names," Names, Journal of the American Name Society, 2 (March, 1954), 1‑13.

73 A. R. D. thinks this should be included among names of uncertain origin, whereas C. A. W. believes it to be an incident name.

74 The current name, however, may be an example of revival rather than survival.

75 The stream known in the seventeenth century as Timmer Kill and present Big Timber Kill are not identical, as was pointed out in Chapter 5. The name might have shifted from one stream to the other, since they are close neighbors, but another possibility is that their Dutch names were both replaced by English names, the recurrence of "Timber" being fortuitous. It is also possible that the first element of present Red Bank goes back to the first element of Roden Hoeck, but Red Bank could be entirely English in origin. Other names which, if clearly of Dutch origin, might be put in this group are Murderkill Creek and Brandywine Creek.

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