400 years ago, English explorer Henry Hudson, funded by the Dutch, sailed blindly into the unknown and discovered what became the Hudson River (September 1609) and thus began the European settlement of what is now New York.  The Big Apple celebrations start in June.

You can search TopFoto.co.uk for gorgeous images of New York past and present, not least from The Granger Collection, New York and The Image Works, Woodstock. 

Here, we look at Henry Hudson himself, one of the great Elizabethan-age explorers.  In April 1610 Hudson set sail again. Trapped in Greenland's winter ice, murderous rows broke out and in June 1611, some of the men mutinied over food.  Hudson and his 12 year old son were cast adrift and never seen again.

Click here for Henry Hudson - captain, navigator, victim.