The Dutch – from one of the smallest countries in Europe – established a trading empire, New Netherland, in the Hudson Valley, a series of trading posts, towns, and forts up and down the Hudson River.
- New Netherland (Hudson Valley) produced immense wealth for the Dutch and other nations began to envy the riches flowing out of the Hudson River Valley.
- Netherlands/Dutch are the 4th largest investors in the United States.
- Cornelius Vanderbilt – American entrepreneur who built wealth in shipping and railroads and known as “The Commodore.”
- Jacob Westervelt, renowned and prolific shipbuilder and Mayor of New York (1853)
- Thomas Edison – businessman and inventor of devices that influenced the world – phonograph, electricity, light bulbs, principles of mass production, and the first industrial research lab – with over 1093 U.S. patents.
