Wall Street wasn’t born with white shoes and cigars.  When the Dutch first arrived in 1614, they barely managed to survive the winter; then the onslaught of disease, the random attacks from hostile Indians, the steady incursion of British settlers from New England and Long Island—the odds were stacked against it.  The very name “Wall Street,” though no one thinks of it anymore, came from the wall those frightened settlers built to defend themselves from attack.

Manhattan had a couple thousand Dutch settlers living below Wall Street (notice the stepped roofs in the picture).  Unlike the British colonies in Virginia, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, New Amsterdam (renamed New York in 1664) was exclusively a trading colony, set up to extract valuable resources from the surrounding area.  Beaver pelts, in particular, were in high demand in Europe.

The Dutch did not even need to trap the beavers, but could trade with the natives who were much more adept at it.  To the right, you see Henry Hudson trading with the Indians aboard his ship.

The Dutch provided the Indians with wampum (polished sea shells collected off the banks of Long Island), liquor, guns and ammunition, in return for beaver pelts and anything else they needed.  However, this was a double-edged sword because these mercenary colonists tended to make quick enemies of the natives, and once they were armed with European weapons, they became a serious threat – hence, the wall.

31 March 1644: Resolved: that a fence … shall be made beginning at the Great Bowery and extending to Emanuel’s plantation, and everyone is warned to repair thither on Monday, the 4^th of April, at 7 o’clock with tools to aid in constructing said fence . . .

The wall proved somewhat helpful in keeping out the Native Americans that roamed the hills of Mannahatta.  Unfortunately, the wall proved of little help against the real threat to New Amsterdam — the English.  One day, the English arrived in New York Harbor en masse with warships and captured the city without firing a shot.  So much for the famous wall.

Experience these and other stories in our Wall Street tour.  We offer a unique NY tour experience, told with audio narration, hundreds of pictures, video clips, gps-enabled map, trivia quizzes, local recommendations, and much more.  Walk New York with Racontrs in your hand and take a walk through history.