Scarcity, Exploration, and Trade of Dutch Colonists

female narrator: YOU PROBABLY HAVE AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF BLUE JEANS IN YOUR CLOSET. JEANS HAVE BEEN A PART OF AMERICAN CULTURE SINCE THEY WERE INVENTED IN THE MID-1800s. BUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THERE WEREN'T ENOUGH OF THE MATERIALS NEEDED TO MAKE JEANS? THEY MIGHT BECOME SCARCE, MAKING THEM HARD TO FIND AND PROBABLY VERY EXPENSIVE.

SCARCITY IS WHEN THE DESIRE FOR A RESOURCE IS GREAT BUT THE SUPPLY IS SMALL. DURING THE 1600s, BEAVER FUR WAS IN HIGH DEMAND. IT WAS USED TO MAKE TWO POPULAR EUROPEAN FASHIONS: HATS AND WINTER COATS. BUT THE DEMAND FOR FUR LED TO THE OVERHUNTING OF EUROPEAN BEAVERS, AND SUPPLIES WERE LIMITED. THIS LEFT THE FUR TRADERS WITH THREE OPTIONS: THEY COULD GO WITHOUT THE PROFITS, THEY COULD PAY MORE FOR SMALLER QUANTITIES OF FUR, OR THEY COULD SEARCH OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD FOR SOURCES OF BEAVER FUR. AND THAT'S JUST WHAT THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY DID.

IN 1609, THE COMPANY SPONSORED EXPLORER HENRY HUDSON ON HIS EXPEDITION TO FIND A WATERWAY ACROSS NORTH AMERICA TO ASIA. THEY HOPED THAT A SO-CALLED NORTHWEST PASSAGE WOULD LEAD TO MORE TRADE AND HIGHER PROFITS. THOUGH HUDSON NEVER FOUND A PASSAGE TO ASIA, HE DID DISCOVER ONE OF THE BEST FUR TRADING REGIONS IN NORTH AMERICA: THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY. ENCOURAGED BY HUDSON'S STORIES OF ABUNDANT WILDLIFE, THE DUTCH DECIDED TO CLAIM THIS TERRITORY.

IN 1624, THE DUTCH WEST INDIA COMPANY FOUNDED NEW NETHERLAND TO EXPAND THE FUR TRADE. IT WAS A PROFITABLE DECISION. BETWEEN 1626 AND 1632, THE DUTCH SHIPPED HOME ABOUT 40,000 PELTS. THEY ESTABLISHED FORT ORANGE, WHICH IS PRESENT-DAY ALBANY, AS THE CENTER OF THEIR FUR TRADE. AND THEY FOUNDED NEW AMSTERDAM, PRESENT-DAY NEW YORK CITY, AS THEIR SHIPPING HUB.

BUT EXPLORING DEEP INTO THE WILDERNESS FOR PELTS WAS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS. SO TO MEET THE EUROPEAN DEMAND FOR FUR, DUTCH TRADERS TURNED TO LOCAL NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES. SCARCITY BROUGHT THE TWO GROUPS TOGETHER. THE DUTCH HAD KNIVES, AXES, NEEDLES, GLASSWARE, AND KETTLES, ITEMS THAT WERE SCARCE AMONG THE LOCAL TRIBES. AND THE DUTCH WANTED MORE BEAVER PELTS, ITEMS THAT THE NATIVE AMERICANS COULD SUPPLY. EACH GROUP HAD SOMETHING THE OTHER WANTED. THEY HAD AN INCENTIVE TO TRADE. NATIVE AMERICANS EXPANDED THEIR TERRITORIES AND HUNTED DURING A GREATER PORTION OF THE YEAR TO SUPPLY THE DUTCH WITH PELTS. IN RETURN, THE NATIVE AMERICANS RECEIVED THE GOODS THEY WANTED, AND THE DUTCH MADE A FORTUNE. AS THE BEAVER POPULATION DWINDLED, PROFITS FROM THE FUR TRADE DECLINED, AND THE SYSTEM OF TRADE BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND THE NATIVE AMERICANS ENDED. BUT THE DUTCH FUR TRADE HELPED TO ESTABLISH ONE OF THE BUSINESS CAPITALS OF THE WORLD TODAY, NEW YORK CITY.