Patroon

[1] Through the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions of 1629, the Dutch West India Company first started to grant this title and land to some of its invested members.

By the end of the 18th century, virtually all of the American states had abolished primogeniture and entail;[2] thus patroons and manors evolved into simply large estates subject to division and leases.

In 1640, the charter was revised to cut new plot sizes in half, and to allow any Dutch American in good standing to purchase an estate.

Patroons were entitled to the acquisition of enslaved labor by the Dutch West India Company's Rights and Exemptions Charter.

[5] After the English takeover of New Netherland in 1664 and American independence in 1783, the system continued with the granting of large tracts known as manors, and sometimes referred to as patroonships.