S.Peelman said:
The street 'Wall Street' is likely named as such simply because there was once a wall there;
There is however, an English map that calls the current Wall Street 'Waalstraat', which you are maybe refering to. This could have indeed meant it was named after Walloon Belgians (a 'Waal'), but is was probably just a typo though with an extra 'a', because the word 'wal' is used in Dutch and means palisade/stockade or earthen wall in English, all types of 'walls'. A more sensible name for a street formed by an actual wall, that also had had various remodels over time. This would be similar to how the English butchered the word 'Deutsch' into 'Dutch' during the same era, which is why most Americans now think we speak German. Even if it wasn't just a typo, the 'Waal' is a river in the Netherlands, so it finally could also have been named after that, though this is just as unlikely. So in short, there is a slight possibility the street was named after Belgians, however unlikely, but the other part is definitely not true. New York, called Nieuw-Amsterdam (New Amsterdam) at the time of it's founding, was definitely not 'founded' by Belgians, Walloon or otherwise. It was founded by a Dutch merchantship leaving from Amsterdam after Englishman Henry Hudson in service of the Dutch Republic first explored the region searching for a passage to Asia, but found an abundancy of beavers instead. The Dutch built a fortress on what is now Lower Manhattan (it's successor is visible on the map above), along with a fur trading post. In the town that developed soon after, there were some Walloon settlers, yes, but they were among Dutch and others. Today the flag of New York City is even the old 17th century Dutch 'Prince's Flag' turned sideways. |
http://www.newyorkfoundation.net/the_birth_of_new_york/the_birth_of_new_york.html
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/battery-park/highlights/12796
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Minuit
The ship might have been from the West Indie Company (which wasn't owned by the state at the time), but the vessel carried mostly Walloons with a couple of Flemmings.
What you refer to is a common urban myth which has been proven false and is only kept alive by the Dutch.
