Jessé de Forest
Jessé de Forest (1576 – October 22, 1624) was the leader of a group of Walloon Huguenots who fled Europe due to religious persecutions. They emigrated to the New World, where he planned to found New-Amsterdam, which is currently New York City.
Background
Jessé de Forest was born between 1576 and 1578 in
.In Leiden, he moved to obtain the right to emigrate with his own and other Walloon families to the New World. During his stay, he also met
On February 5, 1621, Jessé de Forest sent a
New-Belgium
It was de Forest's desire to establish a Colony in the New World, so that the
The foundation of the Dutch West India Company in 1621 had given rise to multiple opportunities. In 1581, Philip II of Spain had prohibited commerce within his realm with Dutch ships, including in Brazil. Since the Dutch had invested large sums in financing sugar production in the Brazilian Northeast, a conflict began for control of the area. Proposing his services and those of his fellow countrymen to the Dutch West India Company, de Forest informed them that a group of families practicing various trades had the opportunity to emigrate to America. The States of The Netherlands, realizing the importance of such an opening for future colonization, immediately consulted the Directors of the Company, who were meeting in The Hague.
On August 27, 1622, after efforts delivered by
Legacy
There is a monument in the
References
- ^ CNN/SI - 1999 Tour de France - Stage 7
- ^ "The DeFreest Family History ". Archived from the original on 2009-04-18. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
- ^ "Jessé de Forest (New York and Its Origins. Legends and Reality)". Archived from the original on 2009-08-27. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
- ^ Walloon Settlers Memorial (NYC - Battery Park)
Other sources
- De Forest, John William The De Forests of Avesnes (and of New Netherland): A Huguenot thread in American colonial history, 1494 to the present time (New Haven, CT: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co. 1900)
- De Forest, Emile Johnston A Walloon Family in America; Lockwood De Forest and His Forbears; in Two Volumes. Together with a Voyage to Guiana, Being the Journal of Jesse De Forest and His Colonists 1623-1625 (The Apple Manor Press. 2007, originally published in 1914)
- Griffis, William Elliot The Story of the Walloons at Home, in Lands of Exile and in America (Houghton Mifflin. 1923)
- Bayer, Henry G. The Belgians, First Settlers in New York and in the Middle States (Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books, 1987, c1925)
External links
- Walloon Settlers Monument. Battery Park
- Jesse de Forest Monument in Avesnes, France
- The Life of Jesse de Forest, the Petitioner for Freedom
- College Jesse de Forest
- Excerpt from Annual Bulletin No. 6 March 1985 from the Alumni Association of College and Primary School Boys Avesnes upper.
- A Walloon family in America
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