New Amsterdam was a settlement established by the United Provinces in 1624 on what is now Manhattan island, New York City, New York. The settlement was originally a factorij trading post, and it was home to a fort that protected fur trade operations in the Hudson River. In 1664, England seized the colony during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, and the Treaty of Breda in 1667 led to the Dutch ceding New Amsterdam to England in exchange for the island of Run in the East Indies. The English renamed the settlement to "New York" in honor of the Duke of York, the future King James II of England, and the name endures today.
Advertisement