Adrien (Adriaen) Block (1567-1627) was a Dutch explorer, trader, and ship’s captain best known for his early exploration of the northeast coastal regions of North America. He was among the first to establish trade with various North American Indigenous peoples, and the map of his 1614 voyage was the first to note Long Island and Manhattan as separate islands. This served as an important step in the establishment of the Dutch New Netherland settlement in 1624.

Block was born in Amsterdam. Though little is known about his early life, he was married in 1603 to Neeltje Hendricks van Gelder, and they settled in his hometown where they raised their family. He became active in the shipping trade in the 1590s and made four voyages to North America between 1611 and 1613. While there, he helped to establish the fur trade and to chart coastal areas that were first explored by Henry Hudson for the Dutch in 1609.

In 1613, he sailed on the Tyger for what would be his last voyage to the New World. While moored off of Lower Manhattan, the ship caught fire and was destroyed. With the help of the local Lenape, the crew built a new ship that they called the Onrust (Dutch for “Restless”), and they continued to explore up the East River. They entered Long Island Sound through a passage Block called “Hellegat” (Hell Gate), a narrow and dangerous waterway separating modern day Randall’s Island and Astoria. The first known European to sail from the Hudson into Long Island Sound, Block went on to explore the Housatonic River and the Connecticut River, sailing as far as Hartford and also through Narragansett Bay. The crew later rendezvoused with another ship near Cape Cod and returned to Europe.

Block compiled a map of his travels that showed for the first time many details of the northeastern coast from present day New Jersey to Massachusetts and was the first to describe the region as New Netherland. The “figurative map of Adriaen Block” also identified several Indigenous communities, including the Pequot and Narragansett, who were future trading partners with the Dutch. Block died in 1627, and he is buried in Amsterdam’s Oude Kirk.

Named in his honor, I.S. 025 Adrien Block is located at 34-65 192nd Street in Flushing and construction for the school was completed in 1970.