Henry Hudson Sails Into the River That Would Take His Name

Henry Hudson had one job in the summer of 1609: find an eastern sea route to Asia for the Dutch East India Company. Ice near Norway's North Cape stopped him cold, so in mid-May, without permission, he turned his ship around and pointed it west instead. By September 3 he had reached the estuary of the river that would later carry his name, and on September 11 he pushed into what is now Upper New York Bay. The next day his crew traded with Lenape people who paddled out in canoes loaded with oysters and beans. It was a detour from a failed assignment, but it put a European ship at the door of what would become New York for the first time.