The first water that Hudson named is Gravesend Bay. The Dutch hired Block to retrace Hudson's travel up river so, perhaps Block named it. I doubt that the Dutch would have done that! Nancy On Apr 12, 2007, at 10:14 AM, Robert Spiegelman wrote: > It would be grealy appreciated if David Allen could add more detail to > the > statement that "The English started calling it the Hudson River at a > fairly early date as a way of asserting their claims to the area." Is > there any source or dates you can point to on this. Was Hudson their > man, > or a Dutch operative, or England's appropriation of a Dutch operative's > name? Any light you can shed here is welcome. > Thank you. > Robert Spiegelman > NYC > >> One advantage of this phrase is that it allows lazy writers to duck >> the >> more >> difficult question of how these eponymous places got their names. >> Hudson >> almost certainly did not name the river after himself. The Dutch >> used >> the >> equivalents of "North River," "River of Orange," or "Great River of >> New >> Netherland." The English started calling it the Hudson River at a >> fairly >> early date >> as a way of asserting their claims to the area. It is not known for >> certain >> whether Champlain or Block named the geographic features that now >> bear >> their >> names. As I recall, Lake Champlain appears on Champlain's 1632 map >> of >> New >> France, which makes it possible that he named the lake after >> himself, but >> he was >> a modest man, and perhaps he was just going along with somebody >> else's >> suggestion. The case of Adriaen Block is also a bit problematic. >> "Adrian Blox >> eyland" appears on the 1614 "Adriaen Block Chart," which is a copy >> of a >> chart >> by Cornelis Doetsz that Block apparently modified. It is certainly >> possible >> that Block named the island after himself, but the name could have >> been >> added >> by the person who copied the map. Incidentally, Long Island >> appears on >> the >> Block chart as "Matowacks." The Dutch did not start calling Long >> Island >> "t'Lange Eylandt" until later. >> >> David Allen >> Encinitas, CA >> >> >> >> ************************************** See what's free at >> http://www.aol.com. >> > > http://www.eyeonthehamptons.net