Eleanor Van Zandt

The first Dutch settlers arrived in America in 1624 and founded a number of villages, a town called New Amsterdam and the Colony of New Netherland on the East Coast. New Amsterdam became New York when the Treaty of Breda was signed in 1667. According to the 2006 United States Census, more than 5 million Americans claim total or partial Dutch heritage. Today the majority of the Dutch Americans live in the U.S. states of California, New York, Michigan, Iowa, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Monta…