New York Before New York: The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam 

New Amsterdam History Center’s Mapping Early NY project will be part of
the New York Historical Society’s upcoming exhibition of the original Castello Plan

The exhibit will be opened from March 15th and run through July 15th 2024

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Dutch founding of a colony that would give rise to New York, this special installation is organized around the Castello Plan, a map depicting New Amsterdam around the peak of its settlement circa 1660, just before the English took control. While modest in size, the map provides a remarkably rare glimpse of everyday life in New Amsterdam revealing a complex colony of about 1,500 people at the southern tip of the island of Mannahatta. The installation unpacks the Plan, highlighting the remarkable global reach of the tiny settlement, its dense mix of ethnicities and languages, the Dutch ideas of tolerance that undergirded it, and the dark legacies of slavery and of the dispossession of Native Americans that it relied upon. Through documents and objects, and a 3D model, the installation explores how settlers, Indigenous people, and enslaved Africans experienced the world illustrated in the Castello Plan.

"Our 3D Model has been significantly enhanced by NAHC’s 3D Modeler, Eduard Van Dijk in collaboration with Russell Shorto and the staff at New-York Historical Society. Director Charles Gehring of the New Netherland Institute Research Center has also provided significant input,” said Toya Dubin, Project Manager. “It has been a real team effort, and we look forward to seeing the model in an interactive touch screen near the case displaying the original Castello Plan, affording us a rare opportunity to view it in America.”

The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
at Richard Gilder Way (77th Street)