Juan Rodriguez and the Beginnings of New York City

A comprehensive reassessment of the story of Juan Rodriguez, the free mulatto or black man from Santo Domingo-La Española that arrived in the Hudson's Harbor onboard a Dutch ship in 1613 and stayed among the local peoples at least until 1614 as the only non-Native American in the place, thus becoming the first settler, first Black, first free Black, and first Latino on record to have ever resided in what is today New York City before it began to be called New Amsterdam. The monograph highlights the connections between Rodriguez's known actions in the Hudson and the socio-cultural context where he is known to have come from: colonial Santo Domingo-La Española. It includes the most comprehensive gathering of Dutch and Dominican archival manuscripts, transcriptions, and translations related to Rodriguez published until now.