Mirror of New York

Rotterdam the New York of The Netherlands?

New York was renamed from a Dutch city New Amsterdam on the island Manhattan. The Dutch and British made an agreement and sold the island Manhattan to the British in exchange with the Banda Islands in Indonesia. For the Dutch the archipelago that now forms the Republic of Indonesia was far more important than Manhattan and the old city New Amsterdam that became the fancy, glamorous New York we know now.  For them, the Dutch, spice was more important and gave  them a golden age in which famous Dutch Masters like, Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer, van Gogh took advantage of it. Rich merchants gave them order to create paintings that later would be famous worldwide. This is only possible with the colonizations of this archipelago. Lot of people from former Dutch colony such as Suriname, Antillean, Indonesian now migrate to this small country. So you find different kind of races in The Netherlands and especially Rotterdam: Hindustani, Antillean, Manado, Moluccas . Despite of the past, now people have to learn to live together. Have better understanding on other cultures and respect each other.

Rotterdam was and is still the harbor city of The Netherlands. In the past people migrating to the USA or New World, sailed from Rotterdam. It was a beautiful city until it was destroyed at the beginning of the World War II.

A pity! Now they are rebuilding their image, the same the city of Hamburg and Berlin did after coming from the ashes after the war. We would like to document this city and it’s people and to show you a city with it’s multicultural identity. A Dutch city with the first major from a foreign background. A city that could be a metropolis in the next future. All picture taken by me and my wife Ambarum Sari.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Advertisement