Historedia
Episode 3 of 4

Departure from Amsterdam

When
4 April 1609
Where
Port of departure
Part of
Henry Hudson's 1609 Exploration of the North American East Coast

Hudson departed Amsterdam in April 1609 aboard the Halve Maen to seek a passage to Asia.

Commanding the Dutch ship Halve Maen, Hudson left Amsterdam on 4 April 1609. The vessel was commissioned by the VOC Chamber of Amsterdam to covertly find a northern passage to Asia, though the specific route was initially intended to be easterly.

Sources

  1. Henry Hudson Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-13
  2. Halve Maen Wikipedia, revision of 2026-04-06

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.