May 27, 2009 By David Darlington Along the lines of Perspectives
on History’s May 2009 theme issue of history and digital
technology, historians may be interested in the web site Henry
Hudson 400. This site celebrates the 400th anniversary of
explorer Henry Hudson’s 1609 voyage to the Americas in search of
a water passage to the Pacific Ocean. Borrowing from the
National Archives of the Netherlands, Henry Hudson 400 has taken
a selection of rare maps and documents, and in collaboration
with Google, overlaid them onto contemporary Google maps of the
same areas. The site features 32 historical maps of the 17th-
century Dutch trading empire and New Amsterdam. Users will find
planning and survey maps of New York City and Amsterdam,
historical world maps and illustrations, and charts tracing
Hudson’s four voyages (1607–11) to the New World. Each of the
maps and charts has a paragraph describing its origins and
importance. The maps tell the story of 17th-century exploration
and the history of the early Dutch settlem