ABSTRACT
The Reformed Church in the Netherlands was Presbyterian in organisation and the settlements of the Dutch West India Company in New Netherlands were placed under the ecclesiastical authority of the classis (or presbytery) of Amsterdam. Even before the transfer of the territory to the English in 1664, ethnic and religious pluralism was a feature of the area and a source of tension both between the population groups and between ministers supported by their Reformed Church congregations and the Directors of the West India Company who favoured a measure of toleration probably to encourage economic activity.
