e river.

The ship was called the Half Moon, and it had come all the way from
Amsterdam, in the Dutch Netherlands. The Netherlands was quite a small
country in the northern part of Europe, not nearly as large as the State
of New York, and was usually called Holland, as Holland was the most
important of its several states. But the Dutch owned other lands than
these. They had islands in the Indian Ocean that were rich in spices of
every sort, and the other European countries needed these spices. These
islands, being quite close to India, were called the East Indies, and
the company of Dutch merchants who did most of the business with them
was called the East India Company. They had many ships, and the Half
Moon was one of them.

It was a long way to the East India Islands from Holland, for in these
days there was no Suez Canal to separate Asia and Africa, and the ships
had to go around Africa by way of the Cape of Good Hope. Besides being a
long distance, it was a dangerous passage; for although from its name
one might take the Cape of Good Hope to be a very pleasant place, the
winds blew there with great force, and the waves rolled so high that
they often dashed the fragile ships to pieces.

So the merchants of Holland, and of other countries for that matter,
were always thinking of a shorter course to the East Indies. They knew
very little of North or South America, and believed that these countries
were simply islands and that it was quite possible that a passage lay
through them which would make a much nearer and a much safer way to the
East Indies than around the dread Cape of Good Hope. So the East India
Company built the ship Half Moon and got an Englishman named Henry
Hudson to take charge of it, and started him off to find the short way.
Hudson was chosen because he had already made two voyages for an
English company, trying to find that same short passage, and was
supposed to know ever so much more about it than anyone else.

When the Half Moon sailed up the river, Hudson was sure that he had
found the passage to the Indies, and he paid very little attention to
the red-skinned Indians on the island shore. But when the ship got as
far as where Albany is now, the water had become shallow, and the
river-banks were so near together that Hudson gave up in despair, and
said that, after all, he had not found the eagerly sought-for passage
to India, but only a river!

Then he turned the ship, sailed back past the i