Dutch New York
New Netherlands
New Netherlands, known today as New York, unlike New England and the Jamestown, Virginia area was not settled by the English.
New York was first settled by the Dutch and was called New Netherlands. However, in time, it would fall under English possession and rule.
It all began for New York/New Netherlands, in 1609, when Holland sent Henry Hudson to locate the Northwest Passage. In the process he sailed his ship up a river in America that now bears his name-the Hudson River. Hudson did not discover the Northwest Passage. He did, however, discover some peaceable Indians.
In 1614, The Dutch authorized the establishment of several trading posts strung out along the Hudson River. Where Albany, New York now sits a Dutch trading company built a fort. Now the sale of the century was about to take place.
The Dutch, for the grand sum of 24 dollars, bought Manhattan Island from the local Indians in 1629. However, they paid more than that to other tribes who also laid claim to the island. Following this purchase, large land grants were made to those who would settle fifty adults in America, resulting in numerous landed Dutch families being established in America.
By some unique British calculation, British rulers considered the Dutch intruders in America, but failed to do any thing to change the situation until 1664.
By 1664, King Charles II had been on the British throne for some four years and made a bold and somewhat strange move in furthering English dominance in America. He granted a vast area that included parts of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey to his brother, the Duke of York. But there was a major catch in the situation.
The Duke of York could have all of this land but first he had to take it away from the Dutch.
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