In 1609 Henry Hudson, an English sailor in the service of Holland, was sent to find a northwest passage to India.
He reached our coast not far from Portland, Maine, and abandoning all idea of finding a passage, he sailed alongshore to the southward as far as Cape Cod.

Here he put to sea, and when he again sighted land was off Delaware Bay.

In attempting to sail up it, his ship, the _Half-Moon,_ grounded, and Hudson turned about.

Running along the Jersey coast, he entered New York Bay, and sailed up the river which the Dutch called the North River, but which we know as the Hudson.

Hudson's voyage gave the Dutch a claim to all the country drained by the Delaware or South River and the Hudson River, and some Dutch traders at once sent out vessels, and were soon trading actively with the Indians.