Did you know that New York was once called New Amsterdam?

It's hard to imagine today that New York City could ever have had a different name, but not so long ago the city was renamed. New York was once called New Amsterdam and was the capital of New Holland.

Plan of New York or New Amsterdam
 image source: Wikimedia

Why was the colony of new york first called new amsterdam - The history of the name change

The history of New York's name changes can be traced back to a time during the 17th century, when England, France, and the Netherlands fought to expand their territories and establish more colonies.

Although Great Britain and France were rivals, they could still cooperate and form an alliance against their common enemy - the Netherlands, a small country that had fought for independence for 80 years and now began to conquer the world.

The Netherlands became more and more powerful. One of the goals was to establish colonies in North America.

The first recorded exploration by the Dutch of the area around what is now New York Bay was made in 1609 during the voyage of the ship Halve Maen.

In 1626, Dutch Governor Peter Minuit officially purchased Manhattan from a local Indian tribe.

According to legend, the Manhattan Indians of Algonquian linguistics agreed to give up the island in exchange for trinkets worth just $24.

A Dutch settlement was established on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. It was considered a good strategic location. A fort was built and the city served as the seat of the New Netherland colonial government.

Change of power

Conflict soon broke out between the Dutch settlements and the Indians, who were ignorant of European property customs and treaties. Over 1,000 Indians and settlers died as a result of the Dutch-Indian conflict.

New Amsterdam history
 image source: Wikimedia

In 1664 New Amsterdam came under English control and the English and Dutch settlers lived together peacefully.

On September 8, 1664, New Amsterdam was renamed New York.

The British renamed the colony the Province of New York in honor of the King's brother James, Duke of York, and on June 12, 1665, appointed Thomas Willett as the first mayor of New York. The city grew to the north and remained the largest and most important city in the province of New York and became the third largest city in the British Empire after London and Philadelphia.

A few years later, in 1673, the Dutch managed to regain control of their settlement, but not for long. The next year they lost the city again and New York was returned to the British.

After the American Revolution, the Treaty of Paris was ratified and New York became the first capital of the United States.

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