ALL ABOUT NEW YORK
History
Dutch rule
Main articles: New Amsterdam, Fort Amsterdam, and New Netherland
The Castello Plan, a 1660 map of New Amsterdam in Lower Manhattan
New Amsterdam, centered in what eventually became Lower Manhattan, in 1664, the year England took control and renamed it New York
A permanent European presence near New York Harbor was established in 1624, making New York the 12th-oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States, with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on a citadel and Fort Amsterdam, later called Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam), on present-day Manhattan Island.[43][44]
The colony of New Amsterdam was centered on what became Lower Manhattan. Its area extended from the southern tip of Manhattan to modern-day Wall Street, where a 12-foot (3.7 m) wooden stockade was built in 1653 to protect against Native American and English raids.[45] In 1626, the Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit, acting as charged by the Dutch West India Company, purchased the island of Manhattan from the Canarsie, a small Lenape band,[46] for "the value of 60 guilders"[47] (about $900 in 2018).[48] A frequently told but disproved legend claims that Manhattan was purchased for $24 worth of glass beads.[49][50]
Following the purchase, New Amsterdam grew slowly.[24] To attract settlers, the Dutch instituted the patroon system in 1628, whereby wealthy Dutchmen (patroons, or patrons) who brought 50 colonists to New Netherland would be awarded swaths of land, along with local political autonomy and rights to participate in the lucrative fur trade. This program had little success.[51]
Since 1621, the Dutch West India Company had operated as a monopoly in New Netherland, on authority granted by the Dutch States General. In 1639–1640, in an effort to bolster economic growth, the Dutch West India Company relinquished its monopoly over the fur trade, leading to growth in the production and trade of food, timber, tobacco, and slaves (particularly with the Dutch West Indies).[24][52]
In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant began his tenure as the last Director-General of New Netherland. During his tenure, the population of New Netherland grew from 2,000 to 8,000.[53][54] Stuyvesant has been credited with improving law and order in the colony; however, he earned a reputation as a despotic leader. He instituted regulations on liquor sales, attempted to assert control over the Dutch Reformed Church, and blocked other religious groups (including Quakers, Jews, and Lutherans) from establishing houses of worship.[55] The Dutch West India Company attempted to ease tensions between Stuyvesant and residents of New Amsterdam.[56]
DRIVING DIRECTIONS
