Before the Europeans sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, Native Americans were the only people who lived in North America. If there were no European cities in North America, why would people choose to leave their homes and take a two-months-long trip across the entire Atlantic Ocean in a sailing ship? To understand why the Dutch colonized North America you first have to learn about the history of The Netherlands itself.
After a series of wars, The Netherlands entered its "Golden Age", which is a fancy way of saying the country was making a lot of money. Historians can tell that The Netherlands was a rich country by looking at the buildings that were built during this time period, many of these Golden Age buildings are covered in gold statues. During this time, a company called The Dutch East India Trading Company was formed. The Dutch East India Trading Company did very well during the Golden Age and made a lot of money. In fact, it is the wealthiest company that has ever existed. If it still existed today it would be worth seven trillion dollars (that amount of money could buy 2,000,000,000,000 Chick-fil-a sandwiches)! The Dutch East India Trading Company was based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and they helped pay for the ships and people to colonize North America.
