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Reformed Church in America

(Encyclopedia)Reformed Church in America, Protestant denomination founded in colonial times by settlers from the Netherlands and formerly known as the Dutch Reformed Church. The Reformed Church in Holland emerged i...

Minuit, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Minuit, Peter mĭnˈyo͞oĭt [key], c.1580–1638, first director-general of New Netherland, b. Wesel (then the duchy of Cleves). Sent by the Dutch West India Company to take charge of its holdings in...

Berlage, Hendrik Petrus

(Encyclopedia)Berlage, Hendrik Petrus hĕnˈdrək pāˈtrüs berläˈgə [key], 1856–1934, Dutch architect. In both his writings and architectural practice, Berlage advocated a return to simplicity of form and cl...

antipodes, in geography

(Encyclopedia)antipodes [Gr.,=having feet opposite], people or places diametrically opposite on the globe. Thus antipodes must be separated by half the circumference of the earth (180°), and one must be as far nor...

Philipse, Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Philipse, Frederick fĭlˈĭps [key], 1626–1702, merchant and landowner in colonial America, b. Holland. He went (1647) with his family to New Amsterdam, where he became wealthy as a merchant. He bo...

Van Twiller, Wouter

(Encyclopedia)Van Twiller, Wouter, fl. 1632–1640, Dutch director-general of New Netherland. A nephew of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, he was appointed to succeed Peter Minuit and arrived in New Amsterdam in 1633. Consi...

Nicolls, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Nicolls, Richard, 1624–72, first English governor of New York, b. Bedfordshire, England. He served in the English civil war as a royalist and followed the Stuarts into exile, where he entered the se...

Allerton, Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Allerton, Isaac ălˈərtən [key], c.1586–1659, Pilgrim settler in Plymouth Colony. Possibly a London tailor, he was a merchant in Leiden before going to America on the Mayflower. From 1626 to 1631...

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

(Encyclopedia)Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, self-sustaining public corporation established in 1921 by the states of New York and New Jersey to administer the activities of the New York–New Jersey por...

Kieft, Willem

(Encyclopedia)Kieft, Willem vĭlˈəm kēft [key], 1597–1647, Dutch director-general of New Netherland. Arriving in New Amsterdam in 1638 to succeed Wouter Van Twiller, Kieft immediately assumed absolute control....