Demographics: Affiliation - Turkish

Description

Settlers from the areas of Europe and the Middle East that were referred to as Turkish or Moorish by the documents, or that considered themselves to be 'Turkish'.   In the language of the 17th and 18th centuries, 'Turkish" or "Moorish" might also indicate Moslem or Muslim religious affiliation, but could indicate African genetic background also.

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,  whenever possible we have also affiliated them with their country 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.