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Since Henry Hudson discovered Manhattan in 1609, the peoples of the Netherlands and North America have built their relationship in various ways. Four Centuries of Dutch-American Relations,1609-2009, written by a team of nearly one hundred Dutch and American scholars, is the first book to offer a comprehensive history of this bilateral relationship. Close to 1200-pages long, this illustrated volume covers the main paths of contacts, conflicts and common plans and is based on the most up-to-date research in the field. From the first exploratory contacts in the early seventeenth century to the intense and multifaceted exchanges in the early twenty-first, the bilateral relations are imbedded in a larger transatlantic interdependent framework.

For anyone interested in the history and culture of the United States and the Netherlands and their bilateral relations in past and present, Four Centuries of Dutch-American Relations is a must-read and will be a much-used reference work by both academics and the general public in the years to come.

The editors of the book are affiliated with the Roosevelt Study Center in Middelburg, the Netherlands. Sponsorship of the book has been provided by Delta N.V. in Middelburg, the Netherlands, The Netherland-America Foundation in New York, the A.C. Van Raalte Institute of Hope College, in Holland, Michigan, and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague. 

Four Centuries of Dutch-American Relations, 1609-2009 is published by Boom in Amsterdam (ISBN 9789085066538) and State University of New York Press in Albany, New York (ISBN13: 978-1-4384-3013-3).

Reviews
A review by Lucas Ligtenberg for NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch) can be found here. A review by Johan de Voogd for the Netherland-America Foundation 2009 Fall Newsletter can be found here (pages 2-7).

Bibliography
There is an online bibliography of 1650 publications available on the RSC website.

Presentations
The official presentation of Four Centuries of Dutch-American Relations, 1609-2009 has taken place on September 2, 2009, in Middelburg’s Abbey and was attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, who was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s godchild. Also attending the book launch that day was FDR’s great-grandson Scott Michael Roosevelt, and the Netherlands Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Maxime Verhagen, who delivered a keynote address on Dutch transatlantic policy. (link to pdf file, 22,9 kb) In the United States the editors presented the book on September 18 at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, including comments by former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, L. Paul Bremer III, and current Dutch ambassador to the U.S., Renée Jones-Bos. A video of this presentation can be viewed here and on September 21 at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Academic Conferences
The book was also presented during a conference at the FDR Library in Hyde Park, New York on September 25 . A video of this presentation can be viewed here and on September 28 at the Van Raalte Institute of Hope College in Holland, Michigan. On October 15-16 a major conference on Four Centuries of Dutch-American Relations took place in Amsterdam in cooperation with a number of historical and cultural organizations. A number of conference lectures are available as pdf files.