The Bowery Boys Podcast is going to Amsterdam and other parts of the Netherlands for a very special mini-series, marking the 400th anniversary of the Dutch first settling in North America in the region that today we call New York City.

But before they go, they're kicking off their international voyage with a special conversation -- with the man who inspired the journey.

Chances are good that if your bookshelf contains a respectable number of New York City history books, we imagine that one of those is The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America written by Russell Shorto.

The best-selling book re-introduced the Dutch presence in America to a new generation of readers and revitalized interest in New York City history when it was published in 2004.

Kevin Baker (a recent guest on our show), penning the original review for the New York Times, proclaimed, "New York history buffs will be captivated by Shorto's descriptions of Manhattan in its primordial state, of bays full of salmon and oysters, and blue plums and fields of wild strawberries in what is now Midtown."

And so before Greg and Tom begin their mini-series by speaking with Shorto about his classic book, his experiences in Amsterdam and his work with the New-York Historical Society, where he has curated a new exhibition New York Before New York: The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam.

Russell also gives Tom and Greg some tips on places to go and advice on how to explore Amsterdam's old canals and corridors. Is it possible to find traces of New York City's past in that city's present?

And then -- immediately after the interview -- they head for the airport!

Visit the website for more information

Announcing an epic new Bowery Boys mini series -- The Bowery Boys Adventures in the Netherlands. Exploring the connections between New York City and that fascinating European country.

Simply put, you don't get New York City as it is today without the Dutch who first settled here 400 years ago. The names of Staten Island, Broadway, Bushwick, Greenwich Village and the Bronx actually come from the Dutch. And the names of places like Brooklyn and Harlem come from actual Dutch cities and towns.

Over the course of several weekly shows, we'll dig deeper into the history of those Dutch settlements in New Amsterdam and New Netherland -- from the first Walloon settlers to the arrival of Peter Stuyvesant.

But we'll be telling that story not from New York, but from the other side of the Atlantic, in the Netherlands.

Walking the streets of Amsterdam and other Dutch cities, searching for clues. Uncovering new revelations and new perspectives on the Dutch Empire, And finding surprising relationships between New York and Amsterdam.

For this series we visited Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht, Haarlem and more places with ties to New York.

We kick off this mini series next week (June 7). talking with the man who literally wrote the book on New Amsterdam -- Russell Shorto (The Island at the Center of the World)

That's the Bowery Boys Adventures in the Netherlands. Coming soon.

June 7 The New Amsterdam Man
June 14 Adventures in the Netherlands Part One
June 21 Adventures in the Netherlands Part Two
June 28 Adventures in the Netherlands Part Three
July 4 Adventures in the Netherlands Part Four

Consider the following show an acknowledgment – of people. For the foundations of 400 years of New York City history were built upon the homeland of the Lenni-Lenape, the tribal stewards of a vast natural area stretching from eastern Pennsylvania to western Long Island.

The Lenape were among the first in northeast North America to be displaced by white colonists -- the Dutch and the English. By the late 18th century, their way of life had practically vanished upon the island which would be known by some distorted vestige of a name they themselves may have given it – Manahatta, Manahahtáanung or Manhattan.

But the Lenape did not disappear. Through generations of great hardship, they have persevered.

In today’s show, we’ll be joined by two guests who are working to keep Lenape culture and language alive throughout the United States, including here on the streets of New York

-- Joe Baker, enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians and a co-founder of the Lenape Center, an organization creating and presenting Lenape art, exhibitions and education in New York.

-- Ross Perlin, linguist and author of Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York