Posts Tagged ‘2010’

The sea captain Jonas Brunck from Komstad, Sävsjö in southern Sweden gave name to the city distinct Bronx in New York. Brunck sailed overseas  in the 15th century at a time when many swedes immigrated to America, and came to own a vast land close to Manhattan. When Brunck lived in New York, the city was called New Amsterdam, a dutch colony.  The area around Bruncks land was Native American territory. Brunck bought his land from native Americans and tended the relations with the natives. Brunck was called “The Indians white friend” and that is also the title of a book about Brunck written by Frank Th Essel. Brunch was involved in natives rights to their land and hosted negotiations on this issue with the dutch on his farm Emmaus. The negotiations resulted in a treaty which benefited the native Americans. At the Mueum of Bronx this story and many others are told at Museum of Bronx history in Bronx NY. As a swede myself this was an interesting piece of history to come across and I wanted to share the story of Jonas Brunck in my blog. More New York stories will come during 2010, Happy New Year to all.