AMSTERDAM—Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen joined his New York counterpart Michael Bloomberg at Manhattan's Battery Park today to open the year-long celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's landing in Manhattan.

The English explorer, on a trip sponsored by the Dutch East India Company, arrived on the tip of Manhattan on board the Dutch vessel Half Moon in 1609. Henry Hudson was actually looking for another route to Asia but stumbled across Manhattan instead.

New York is planning numerous events to mark the occasion. According to Mayor Cohen, all New Yorkers are a little bit Dutch because of Henry Hudson's discovery.

New York City, once New Amsterdam, will be celebrating its Dutch roots all year, culminating in a Harbor Day on September 13th. The mayors unveiled a model of the New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion, designed by Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio, Amsterdam. The 5,000 square foot rather futuristic-looking structure, reminiscent of oragami, or perhaps a lithe modernist butterly taking flight, is a tribute to 400 years of friendship, and will be permanently erected in Battery Park in downtown Manhattan later this year.

AFP/Expatica