As america celebrates its birthday on July 4th, New York is celebrating the discovery of its Hudson river. The Dutch East India Company hired Henry Hudson, an English explorer, to find a north-west passage to Asia. He failed: the route defied all explorers until Roald Amundsen in 1906. But Hudson's journey of 1609 up the river that would later bear his name led to a valuable trade in furs and eventually to settlement by the Dutch. His shipmate recorded abundant fish and that the surrounding lands "were as pleasant with Grasse and Flowers, and goodly Trees, as euer they had seene, and very sweet smells came from them." The smells unfortunately, have not always been so sweet.
展开▼
