Island

Tucked stealthly into this blind cove atop the Guajira Peninsula in Venezuela in 1627, the rugged privateer by the name of Marijn Adriaensen, for all his confidence and tenacity, could not possibly have prepared himself the nature of the particular "possessions" that he and his shipmates were about to wrest control of from their Iberian rivals.

 After all, four years into this ambitious "Grand Design" committed young seabeggars like Adriaensen and his team were devout in their pursuit of enriching their beloved upstart Dutch Republic via the maneuvers of this war-machine of a Company that employed them. And while all is fair in love and war, the cargo that he and his crew would be taking from this approaching Portuguese vessel was neither silver nor gold, timber, nor salted fish. But rather, a frightened, but courageous teenage girl, and two hundred and twenty four of her fellow Angolans.

But then, fate plays a pervasive and intriguing supporting role in this overall epic story. And just as they had changed the trajectory of this massive Portuguese ship, so too, would these bold mariners alter the course of the lives of these captive people...because, thanks to Marijn Adriaensen and his crew, these Angolans would not be brought by the Portuguese to the selling block at Caragena, but rather, were now going Dutch, on a direct course for the wild and still quite untethered Island of Manhattan.

ISLAND™ Episode 9 - MAYKEN

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In the waning days of 1626, Walloon Pierre Minuit would find himself having gone, in less than two years, from unpaid volunteer, to the most senior official in the Dutch West India Company's latest and most nebulous projects on Earth - the remote outpost that Captain Adriaen Block had established as "New Netherland" a dozen years earlier.

And in the spirit of the Unleashed Lion, the pious and proud Minuit was a fitting apostle to this ambitious "Grand Design": building a 1000-ton man-of-war to conquer Spaniards, while simultaneously vowing to the Algonquin powers-that-be that he will never become his oppressor. 

All while balancing diplomacy with the Puritans 200 miles northeast. 

And with that, this unrelenting refugee of the Eighty Years War is ready to pilot this rag-tag, ad-hoc, so-called "colony" to a place where no man had gone before.

Episode 8 - The Grand Design.

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In doing anything and everything he can to see to it that this fledgling "colony" survives, Minuit suddenly finds himself facing a reckoning - a moral stranglehold that forces the pious Calvinist, but devoted public servant to re-evaluate his every move.

Because by late summer 1627, when the "possessions" being taken from their Iberian enemies transition from silver and timber to twenty-two human beings from Angola, Governor Pierre Minuit needs to look deep inside the soul of Walloon Pierre Minuit in a powerful struggle between the tenets that drive his soul, and the Company that pays his salary.

Episode 9 - "Mayken".

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"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" (ancient Portuguese proverb) London Dispatch 1828

Ten years before Henry Hudson ever sailed up the river that now bears his name, the six chief Dutch captains occupying the Strait of Magellan at the southern tip of South America formed "The Brotherhood of the Unleashed Lion" - a fraternity in which these defiantly stoic men vowed that no danger, threat nor adversity would ever dissuade them from acting in the interests of their beloved, nascent Dutch Republic. The objective of this Brotherhood? To inflict concerted and exacting harm upon their Iberian enemy with extreme prejudice; to covet the assets of Spain and Portugal and thereby harness that wealth to their own purpose. In other words, steal from the richest empire on Earth, and give to the youngest...and poorest.

And as the Directors of the newfound Dutch West India Company focus their efforts on this concept, they institute the Company's first major initiative, in 1623, that they called "The Grand Design", the purpose of which was to unleash this very lion, once and for all, in every way possible.

And as Governor Pierre Minuit, unrelenting refugee of the Eighty Years War, readies himself to pilot this rag-tag, ad-hoc, so-called "colony" to a place where no man has gone before, he finds himself at a perplexing intersection of profit and ideals.

Episode 8 - The Grand Design. This episode marks the start of Season Two.

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The spirit of the Walloons rises to new heights, when Walloon Pierre Minuit goes from unpaid volunteer to Governor of this fledgling "colony" in a matter of a year. And when tragedy strikes the northern reaches of that colony, Minuit, a man of action, does what no one had ever thought to do before -- and suddenly this Island has more significance and importance to this colony than ever before.

Episode 7 - ISLAND: Part Two - Our Season One conclusion.

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The Dutch West India Company finally find their boots on the ground in the fierce and passionate race of refugees who would not only become our bonafide "Manhattan Pilgrims", but would in fact forge the most impactful society ever known to man.

And by 1626, these Walloons would make their mark on this incredible Island, for evermore.

Episode 7 - ISLAND: Part One (of Two parts)

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"To every time, there is a season."

And while Ecclesiastes' prophetic words sounded a bit different out of the mouths of the original settlers of this incredible place that we now call "New York", it meant the same thing in the seventeenth century as it does today.

And faced with the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, these bold, intrepid servants of God refused to accept the tyranny and oppression imposed upon them by the Holy Roman Empire and Hapsburg Spain. And in 1624, this fiercely passionate race of humans came here when no one else would and with their own sweat and blood they forged the roots of what would become the greatest city -- and eventually the greatest nation -- on Earth.

"Il y a un temps pour tout, un temps pour toute chose sous les cieux."

There is a time for everything.

And in 1624, it was the time for THEM.

Let us never forget the story of our true "Manhattan Pilgrims". Let us never forget the story of the Walloons.

Episode 6 - Wampum & Walloons.

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After toiling away in this fertile new land for the entirety of his young adult life, Jacob Eelkens was certain that the advent of this "New Netherland Company" would be his opportunity to shine in this priceless market. But upon Captain Hendrick Carstyaensen's return to the Hudson, Jacob would be shattered to learn that not only was he and his uncle Hendrick Eelkens not included in the exclusive list of investors for this company, but that Jacob's entire existence here, would now be thoroughly regulated by this newfound entity.

And suddenly Jacob's childhood as a shamed outcast in Rouen, France cloaks the fallen Catholic in a murky darkness, and when he retreats to the hills above Sapokanikan, he formulates his own, odd three-way alliance, between himself, the increasingly detached Orson, and the man who most wants to see Hendrick Carstyaensen disappear -- the inimitable Hans Jorisz Hontom.

Episode 5 - New Netherland.

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Over the long winter of 1613, Manhattan's first immigrant, Juan Rodrigues, becomes an integral component of the Sachem's trade and in the process an invaluable asset to the Dutch traders upon their return.

But, Rodrigues' choice of Dutchmen to trade with is certainly NOT the ones who brought him to this island, Thijs Volkertz Mossel and the despicable Hans Jorisz Hontom. Rather, Rodrigues, now thoroughly versed in the finer points of this burgeoning trade system, makes it quite clear to Carstyaensen and Block that it is they whom he wishes to work for and as "a free man", feels it is his right to make that choice. But, unfortunately, just as Frans Jansen has said, this Mossel and Hontom are nothing but trouble...or ONRUST, which is exactly what unfolds on this wild and untamed Island of Manna-hata in the spring of 1614.

Episode 4 - Onrust.

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Following two successful voyages to this fertile new land called "Manna-hata", Lambert van Tweenhuysen recognizes the inevitable reality of the competition developing over this lucrative new fur trade. And as Adriaen Block and Hendrick Carstyaensen race back to their Sachem at Sapokanikan for a third time, the rude encroachment of this new wave of poachers creates newfound trouble on this otherwise idyllic island. And with the sudden presence of a dark-skin crewman being called "Jan", there emerges a newfound sense of unrest, for Jacob Eelkens and the entire Adriaen Block team. And as a direct result of the untoward ways of one such poacher, Captain Thijs Volkertz Mossel and his despicable supercargo Hans Jorisz Hontom, results the defection of the one they're calling "Jan", creating Manhattan's very first immigrant -- who hails not from the Netherlands, France, Spain nor England, but rather, from the island that was tagged by Columbus as "Hispanola", or the one we call the Dominican Republic today.

Episode 3 - "Jan".

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