Date: Friday, April 28th, 2023

Time: 12:00 – 12:30 PM EST

Location: Livestreamed on Zoom. Register here. If you need assistance, please send an email to events@nyhistory.org. 

Marked by periods of regional cooling in the North Atlantic extending from the 16th to 18th centuries, the Little Ice Age presented challenges to Dutch colonists living in New Netherland. Research shows weather during the Little Ice Age was irregular with sometimes harsh winters, dry growing seasons, floods, and failed harvests. But there were also many years without a noteworthy climate event. Chelsea Teale, in conversation with Deborah Hamer, offers a short climate history of New Netherland and explains how the people who lived there understood and adjusted to climate. 

Live From New Amsterdam is an ongoing series hosted by the New Netherland Institute and the New Amsterdam Project at the New-York Historical Society. Through vibrant conversations with scholars and historians, each program will investigate new and exciting research related to New Amsterdam, New Netherland, and the lasting legacies of Dutch rule in New York.  

Chelsea Teale is a lecturer in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Analysis at Cal Poly Humboldt. Her research emphasizes the integration of proxy records (primarily plant fossils and tree rings) with written sources to reconstruct past environments.

Deborah Hamer is Director of the New Netherland Institute, where she is responsible for initiatives aimed at identifying, preserving, digitizing, and translating Dutch language documents in repositories around the world. She is a historian of the Dutch Atlantic world and received her Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Before the program, all registered attendees will receive a link and instructions for viewing the program on Zoom. If you do not receive a message, please check your spam folder. An additional reminder will be sent two hours prior to the program start time.