Rensselaerswyck Patroonship

• New Netherland

Rensselaerswyck was the most successful and longest-lasting Dutch patroonship in North America, founded in 1630 by Kiliaen van Rensselaer and administered for generations by members of the van Rensselaer family. Functioning as a semi?-feudal estate for more than two centuries, it eventually encompassed nearly one million acres across present-day Albany, Rensselaer, and parts of Columbia and Greene counties in New York. It was the only patroonship to survive the shift from Dutch to British rule, remaining intact until the mid-19th century. - AsNotedIn