Adriaen van der Donck (1618–1655), lawyer and landowner in New Netherland
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Flory Van Donck (born 1912), Belgium's most successful golfer in the twentieth century
Van der Donck is a central figure in Russell Shorto's The Island at the Center of the World, which argues, based on newly translated records from the colony, that he was a great early American patriot, forgotten by history because of the eventual English conquest of New Netherland.
According to Russell Shorto, "Van der Donck's grant began on the mainland directly to the north of the island (Manhattan), continued along the river for twelve miles, and carried eastward as far as the Bronx River ... he became lord of much of what is today the Bronx and southern Westchester County".