New York Was Always a Global City: The Impact of World Trade on Seventeenth-Century New Amsterdam

Abstract

New York has always been a “global” city, if we employ that adjective the way it is presently being used. “Global” suggests a connection to a wider world; “globalization” is offered to characterize our current “interconnected system” (1). But the world's interconnectedness is not a new phenomenon. The “world that trade created” has existed for centuries (2). An awareness of a unique type or degree of globalization before the post Cold War era opens up new opportunities for teaching American history, and offers to teachers and students new ways to consider current issues using the historical past (3). This new view is especially relevant to the colonial period in American history and to the history of New York in particular (4). From its earliest beginnings as Dutch New Amsterdam, New York's involvement in global commerce had an impact on the people who lived and worked in the city. The underlying purpose of this lesson is to consider some of the issues that were raised by the citizens of New Amsterdam and how their political institutions sought to resolve them. To guide the lesson, the essential question to keep in mind is: How effective were New Amsterdam's political institutions in offering solutions to trade-related issues?