Dutch+Immigration+in+the+1600s+and+on

The Dutch immigrants first arrived in America in 1609 when a Dutch East India Company ship stopped at Sandy Hook before going up the Hudson River. After the first arrival of the Dutch, people in America decided that they wanted more population of Dutch, and so they offered free land along the Hudson River. For the Dutch people, immigrating to America was great for many reasons. One reason was that back in Holland, almost everyone was a farmer, which was not good in Holland because it was below sea level. The farms were always flooded which meant that land was sparse, so when there was free land in America for farming and living on, this was a huge pull. Most Dutch immigrants settled in New York, around Albany, Kingston, and Wilmington. Peter Stuyvesant governed the Dutch people for 18 years (in which the population of Dutch immigrants went from 2,000 people to 8,000 people) until the British took over in 1660s and almost stopped Dutch immigration. Many Dutch Immigrants did not start coming over to America again until the 1900s where the taxes in Holland were high, the people came searching for religious freedom, and where agricultural laborers came in search of land again. Now there are 8 million people of Dutch descent in America. Most live in California, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Iowa. Total amount of people from Netherlands from 1820-2003 was 393,069 immigrants. The highest record of immigrants during 1820-2003 was in 1881-1890 where there were 53,701 immigrants in just those 9 years.