New Amsterdam

This article is about the settlement that became New York City. For other uses, see New Amsterdam (disambiguation).
New Amsterdam
Nieuw Amsterdam (Dutch)
New Orange (English)
Nieuw Oranje (Dutch)
Settlement
View of New Amsterdam
View of New Amsterdam
Flag of New Amsterdam
Flag
Official seal of New Amsterdam
Seal
Map
Dutch colony New Netherland
Settled1624 (400 years ago) (1624)
Conquered by the English1664 (360 years ago) (1664)
Recaptured by the Dutch1673 (351 years ago) (1673)
Relinquished to the English1674 (350 years ago) (1674)
Government
 • TypeColonial government
 • BodyCouncil of Mayors, Schepen and a Schout
 • Director-general of New AmsterdamPeter Stuyvesant (Dutch West India Company)
Area
[1]
 • Land94 km2 (36.29 sq mi)
Highest elevation
122 m (401 ft)
Lowest elevation
0 m (0 ft)
Population
[2]
 • Estimate 
(1664)
2,500
 • Rank1st in New Netherland
DemonymNew Netherlander
Time zoneUTC–05:00 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC–04:00 (EDT)
The Castello Plan, a 1660 map of New Amsterdam (the top right corner is roughly north). The fort gave The Battery (in present-day Manhattan) its name, the large street going from the fort past the wall became Broadway, and the city wall (right) gave Wall Street its name.

New Amsterdam (Dutch: Nieuw Amsterdam, pronounced [ˌniu.ɑmstərˈdɑm]) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading factory gave rise to the settlement around Fort Amsterdam. The fort was situated on the strategic southern tip of the island of Manhattan and was meant to defend the fur trade operations of the Dutch West India Company in the North River (Hudson River). In 1624, it became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic and was designated as the capital of the province in 1625. New Amsterdam became a city when it received municipal rights on February 2, 1653.[3]

History of New York City
Lenape and New Netherland, to 1664
New Amsterdam
British and Revolution, 1665–1783
Federal and early American, 1784–1854
Tammany and Consolidation, 1855–1897
(Civil War, 1861–1865)
Early 20th century, 1898–1945
Post–World War II, 1946–1977
Modern and post-9/11, 1978–present
See also
Transportation
Timelines: NYC • Bronx • Brooklyn • Queens • Staten Island
Category

By 1655, the population of New Netherland had grown to 2,000 people, with 1,500 living in New Amsterdam. By 1664, the population of New Netherland had risen to almost 9,000 people, 2,500 of whom lived in New Amsterdam, 1,000 lived near Fort Orange, and the remainder in other towns and villages.[2][4]

In 1664, the English took over New Amsterdam and renamed it New York after the Duke of York (later James II & VII).[5] After the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665–67, England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands agreed to the status quo in the Treaty of Breda. The English kept the island of Manhattan, the Dutch giving up their claim to the town and the rest of the colony, while the English formally abandoned Surinam in South America, and the island of Run in the East Indies to the Dutch, confirming their control of the valuable Spice Islands. The area occupied by New Amsterdam is now Lower Manhattan.

  1. ^ "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "The Colony of New Netherland", 2009, by Jaap Jacobs, page 32.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference municipal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Park, Kingston Ubarn Cultural. "Dutch Colonization". nps.gov.
  5. ^ "Manhattan | History, Map, Population, & Points of Interest | Britannica". www.britannica.com. April 20, 2024. Retrieved April 21, 2024.