Henry Hudson 400 | Amsterdam - New York | April - September 2009
http://www.henryhudson400.com/home.php

Amsterdam - New York henryhudson400.com

This site was created to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's legendary voyage for the Dutch to the Hudson River and New York. The unique character of New York City, originally New Amsterdam, has been shaped by the legacy of the multiethnic and tolerant culture of 17th century Amsterdam. Besides celebrating the historic event with a series of special events in 2009, Henry Hudson 400 will promote future ties between these two great cities which are linked by their shared belief in the value of free, diverse, and entrepreneurial societies.

Henry Hudson 400 New York and Amsterdam were created in 2006 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's legendary voyage for the Dutch to the Hudson River and New York. The unique character of New York City, originally New Amsterdam, has been shaped by the legacy of the multiethnic and tolerant culture of 17th century Amsterdam. Besides celebrating the historic event with a series of special events in 2009, Henry Hudson 400 will promote future ties between these two great cities which are linked by their shared belief in the value of free, diverse, and entrepreneurial societies. (photo credit: View of New Amsterdam, Johannes Vingboons, around 1665, Nationaal Archief - National Archives of the Netherlands)

Henry Hudson 400 has taken a selection of rare maps and documents, and in collaboration with Google, overlaid them onto contemporary Google maps of the same areas. The site features 32 historical maps of the 17th-century Dutch trading empire and New Amsterdam. Users will find planning and survey maps of New York City and Amsterdam, historical world maps and illustrations, and charts tracing Hudson’s four voyages (1607–11) to the New World. Each of the maps and charts has a paragraph describing its origins and importance. The maps tell the story of 17th-century exploration and the history of the early Dutch settlement of New York. On Hudson’s third voyage (1609), ice storms near the North Pole forced a U-turn that led the explorer and the crew on his boat, the Half Moon, to drop anchor along “Manna hata,” or “Land of the Hills,” which led to the first Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. The overlay of the historic maps over Google allows users to follow Hudson on each of his journeys.

These beautiful historical maps, overlaid on Google contemporary maps of the same areas, will be part of a spectacular Rare Maps exhibition on the early history of New York, opening at the South St. Seaport Museum (NY) in September 2009. This date marks 400 years since captain Henry Hudson dropped anchor near what the natives called Manna Hata, or ‘Land of the Hills’.

(google) map vergelijking oud-nieuw New York

This is a Google maps mash up with historical maps overlays - of the sort you could previously only do in Google Earth. I'm not sure how they did this or if teachers can replicate it, but this is a great history resource in and of itself.