Department News
Prof. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri weighs in on a historical deep dive into one man’s life in the ‘melting pot’ of seventeenth-century New Amsterdam
December 2, 2021
Prof. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri weighs in on a historical deep dive into one man’s life in the ‘melting pot’ of seventeenth-century New Amsterdam, a story about religion, territory, and piracy, as well as an exercise in reimagining American history.
“The New York of Anthony Jansen van Salee” by Tom Verde
https://www.aramcoworld.com/Articles/November-2021/The-New-York-of-Anthony-Jansen-van-Salee
Tom Verde explores the life of Anthony Jansen van Salee, who grew to become one of the wealthiest and most important citizens in New Amsterdam (now New York) in the 1600’s. The tale is a fraught one, involving piracy, lawsuits, old maps, neighborly squabbles, a changing cityscape, and reimagining American history. Our own Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, professor of Religion and Humanities, weighs in on the importance of van Salee’s life as “the first person from a Muslim background that we know of who ended up settling and owning land in the territory that became the United States.”
Van Salee’s life is interesting not only in its ability to provide us a historical time capsule into 17th century New York life, but in his lasting legacy. The property he owned “remains some of the priciest real estate in the U.S.” to this day. Van Salee was at the heart of economic and cultural development on the east coast of North America. And his influence carried through time- “van Salee’s descendants include US presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, actor Humphrey Bogart,” and other such recognizable names.
Prof. GhaneaBassiri communicates in the last word of the article the importance of figures like Anthony van Salee to a history largely forgotten in the United States. A leading scholar of Islam in America, Prof. GhaneaBassiri tackles issues around how histories are told in relation to religion and religious identities. His courses at Reed, such as The Erasure and Placement of Muslims in “Western” Humanities, helps students locate Muslims within the context of exchanges and rivalries that have historically and genealogically connected Europe, Africa, and Asia. Van Salee’s story itself is but one iteration of these larger connections around the Atlantic world, of which Muslims were (and are) a vital part. Religious studies helps us notice these global and historical trends, to connect the dots through the complicated web of connections which makes human life -- both historical and current -- so rich and unique.