Settlers from the portions of Europe that were affiliated with the Dutch West India Company, or that considered themselves to be 'Dutch'.
For the sake of this project we have used the term 'affiliation' as it is not always possible to determine citizenship, and/or genetic background of the diverse people who settled in New Netherland.
For example settlers in New Amsterdam are listed as being Turkish, German, English, etc. but in many cases we have included them in the Dutch affiliation as they were choosing to settle in a colony organized by the Dutch.
In the case of enslaved peoples who clearly did not choose to become part of the Dutch, English, or other European settlements, we have used this affiliation to show the colony they inhabited, and whenever possible have also affiliated them with their county of origin.
We have also assumed that people might have more than one affiliation because of heritage, intermarriage, or perhaps circumstances, land deals, court cases, and the change in power of the colonies over time.