GOVERNORS ISLAND

The archaeological details raised by Diana di Zerega Wall and Anne-Marie Cantwell about the historic timeline of human habitation on Governor's Island is noteworthy.  It is a point of interest that seems to be somewhat hidden in the literature on the founding of Mannahatta.  The detail that Governor's Island was the first settlement of the first small group of Dutch settlers to arrive in New Amsterdam is little noted.  The first Dutch settlers built their settlements on Governor's Island over the settlements of Woodland Indian habitants of the island.  According to de Zerega Wall and Cantwell, archaeological debris from Governor's Island indicate that indigenous habitation existed on the island for 4000 years.  This alters the import of the tiny piece of land south of Manhattan as a point of interest.  Governor's Island is a dense conglomeration of New York history, anthropological, archaeological, historical, military, maritime, penitentiary, and now, leisure.  It must have been a powerful place for peoples more in tune with nature: an island facing the ocean at the confluence of two rivers covered with oysters and blessed with extraordinary access to natural food supplies.