Juan Rodriguez (trader)

Common card · No. 496997

Juan Rodriguez (Dutch: Jan Rodrigues, Portuguese: João Rodrigues) was the first documented non-indigenous inhabitant to live on Manhattan Island. As such, he is considered the first non-native resident of what would eventually become New York City. As he was born in the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo, the first colony of Spain, to a Portuguese sailor and a West African woman, he is considered by many to be the first person of European and/or West African origin to settle on the island of Manhattan.

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