Juan Rodriguez was the son of an African woman and a Portuguese sailor born in Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic). He came to New Amsterdam aboard the Jonge Tobias in 1613 captained by Thijs Volckenz Mossel. He was brought along as a translator, and learned Algonkian quickly. Eventually he married a Lenape woman, and when Mossel's ship returned to the Netherlands, he stayed behind and set up his own trading post.
Alternately described as 'a 'Spaniard', a free man, a trader, a crewman, a runaway, 'Portuguese', and a member of the Lenape community, he is an example of the fluid nature of identification in this period.
Accounts of Adrian Block and Mossel describe him as having set up his own trading post and trading in competition with them. His close ties to the Native American community there meant he was trusted, and so the preferred trading partner.