new york colony research

New York Colony

New York Colony history, facts, and timeline. New York was one of the 13 Original Colonies that declared independence from Great Britain in 1776 and founded the United States of America.

King James II was the Duke of York when he was granted land in America by King Charles II. Image Source: Wikipedia .

New York Colony Facts

New York was officially founded in 1664 when English forces captured New Amsterdam and took control of the Dutch colony of New Netherland. The Dutch initially founded their colony in 1614, which included portions of present-day New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, and Delaware. Following the English takeover, New York was one of the most diverse colonies and was heavily influenced by its Dutch origins and the impact of European immigrants, including French Huegenots. New York was briefly part of the Dominion of New England and then became a Royal Colony following the Dominion’s collapse. By the end of the French and Indian War, New York was allied with the Iroquois Confederacy and New York City was one of the most profitable port cities in Colonial America.

New York has been known as New Netherland, New York Colony, Colony of New York, and the Province of New York.

1664 Charter Establishing the Duke of York’s Territory

Date Granted — King Charles II the charter to James, the Duke of York, on March 12, 1664.

Recipients of the Charter — The charter was granted solely to James, the Duke of York.

First Government — The charter gave James and his “heirs and assignees” the power to establish a government for the colony. Although James was technically the Governor, he never visited the colony and ruled through the Lieutenant-Governor. The first Lieutenant-Governor of New York was Richard Nicolls.

Type of Charter and Colony — Because the charter was granted to a person, it was a Proprietary Charter, which made New York a Proprietary Colony. Under the charter, the Proprietor was given the freedom to govern the colony, as long as its laws were based on English law at the time.

Early History of New York Colony

The early history of what eventually became the Province of New York centered around the Hudson River Valley, stretching 150 miles from Long Island Sound to Canada via the Hudson River and a series of lakes. 

Native American Indians

As with the other 13 Original Colonies , Native American Indians were the first inhabitants of the New York Colony. 

Flint spear tips as old as 9,000 years have been found by archaeologists, along with evidence of sophisticated tools and agricultural practices. Around 5000 B.C., native people living in the Paleolithic Age inhabited a region encompassing present-day New York, New Jersey , Delaware , Pennsylvania , and Connecticut . 

By the 12th Century, the cultures of the Iroquois and Algonquins emerged and dominated New York. Algonquian tribes like Mahican and Delaware lived in Eastern New York while the Iroquois settled in Western New York.

The Algonquian tribes were small and mobile, living near water — New York’s coastal plain and the river valleys. They found food through hunting, fishing, and plant gathering. They trapped for furs and made pottery and baskets, which they used to trade with other tribes.

These Algonquians were the first to encounter Europeans and suffer from European diseases. They also suffered from conflicts with Europeans and the Iroquois, especially over the Fur Trade.

Iroquois tribes built large, palisaded towns centered around longhouses. They inhabited the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Valley regions, relying on hunting, gathering plants, and cultivating corn. 

In the 14th Century, cold temperatures made growing maize difficult for all the tribes living across New York, leading to a shortage of arable land and natural resources. Famine led to competition and frequent wars between the tribes.

To ensure peace among the western tribes, five Iroquois nations formed the Iroquois Confederacy — the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca — which was also known as the Great League of Peace and “Haudenosaunee,” meaning “people of the longhouses.” The French referred to it as the Iroquois Confederacy while the English called it the Five Nations. In the early 18th Century, the Tuscarora joined the confederacy, and it became the Six Nations.

Arrival of European Explorers

In the early 1600s, European explorers and traders entered the Hudson Valley. Most of them were looking for the legendary Northwest Passage — a water route to Asia and the Far East — or riches, including gold and silver.

Verrazano and Gómez

The first European explorer of New York was Giovanni da Verrazano, commissioned by the King of France to find the Northwest Passage. In 1524, Verrazzano anchored between Staten Island and Brooklyn but had to leave due to a storm, preventing further exploration. 

In 1525, a Portuguese pilot named Esteban Gómez sailed up the Hudson River but quickly abandoned the search for the Northwest Passage.

Although European explorers failed to find the Northwest Passage, gold, or silver, they did find the Fur Trade, a lucrative business that required coordination with some Indian tribes — and created competition with others.

The early European settlements and trade networks were primarily established by Europeans between Albany in the North and New York City in the South. Over time, they extended to the eastern side of the Mohawk River Valley and northeast along the coast of New England. There were also settlements on Long Island.

Henry Hudson and the Dutch West Indian Company

In 1609, the first significant exploration of New York took place when Henry Hudson, an Englishman working for the Dutch East India Company, sailed 90 miles up the river that would be named after him — the Hudson River. Hudson’s voyage laid the foundation for the Dutch claim to territory in North America from Cape Cod to Delaware Bay.

Dutch West Indian Company

By 1621, a group of Dutch merchants established the Dutch West India Company (DWIC), a national joint-stock company that was granted a monopoly over Dutch trade in West Africa and the Americas. 

The early economic ventures in New Netherland were in constant competition with the English, who were a constant threat. The English sought to establish trading posts in the Hudson River Valley and Connecticut River Valley to strengthen their claims over the entire East Coast of North America.

New York Colony Before the English — New Netherland

The first colonists in the hudson river valley.

In 1624, the DWIC sent 30 families to the region to establish the colony of New Netherland. Nearly all of these settlers were Walloons — French-speaking Protestants from the southern Netherlands — present-day Belgium. They established Fort Orange at present-day Albany.

In May 1626, Peter Minuit, the first Director General of New Netherland, arrived at Manhattan Island. He acquired the island from the Indians for goods valued at around 60 Dutch florins. He established the settlement called New Amsterdam, which quickly became the primary settlement in the colony.

By 1628, roughly 270 European people were living in New Amsterdam and Fort Orange was home to between 14 and 30 fur traders. 

Early Struggles of New Netherland

The DWIC intended for New Netherland to become a self-sustaining colony, and its purpose was to help carry out the Fur Trade with the Indians. However, the trading posts struggled, much to the disappointment of the DWIC’s directors in Amsterdam.

Impact of the Patroon System

To help spur growth, the directors developed the “Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions” which laid out the Patroon System. It offered significant land grants to investors who were known as “Patroons.” Each Patroon invested in the colony by paying for 50 settlers and their families to move to New Netherland. In return, the Patroon was granted land along the Hudson River, and acted as a landlord, overseeing the families that lived on the property. Patroons were also given opportunities to become involved in the Fur Trade.

Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, one of the original investors in the DWIC, operated one of the few profitable Dutch patroonships, known as “Rensselaerswyck.” 

However, due to the company’s monopoly over the Fur Trade, additional investors were excluded, and the Patroon System is historically considered unsuccessful, especially in comparison to the Headright System that was used in the Southern Colonies.

Diversity in New Netherland

In the early 17th century, the Netherlands was known for being at peace with other nations, job opportunities, and religious freedom. It was an attractive place for immigrants, including English Separatists seeking religious freedom, and native Dutch wanted to stay, making it difficult for the DWIC to recruit colonists.

As a result, the DWIC was forced to recruit colonists from all over Europe — mostly young, unmarried men — and a diverse culture developed. It is estimated that as many as 18 different languages were spoken in the colony as Dutch, Belgians, Swiss, English, Germans, and Scandinavians found their way to the Hudson River Valley and nearby regions.

Labor and the Introduction of Slavery

The difficulty in recruiting colonists contributed to a labor shortage in New Netherland, leading the DWIC to introduce African slaves in 1626. Most of the slaves were given tasks such as guarding livestock, working on farms, and loading and unloading ships. They also helped with military projects.

Under Dutch rule, black slaves received the same religious, economic, and legal rights as whites. In 1644, when some of the first slaves petitioned for their freedom, the company granted them “half-freedom.” 

The arrangement allowed slaves to gain their liberty and some land but required them to work for the company and earn wages. They were allowed to marry, own property, travel in the colony, and even testify in court cases against free whites. However, they had to pay an annual fee to the DWIC to retain their status. The descendants of these slaves formed free black families, and owned farms in the countryside outside of New Amsterdam.

By 1664, around 700 people of African descent lived in New Amsterdam, out of nearly 9,000 residents.

New England and New Sweden

While New Netherland struggled to grow its population, the English colonies in New England were quickly expanding due to the Great Puritan Migration. As New Englanders looked for new places to settle, they migrated south to Long Island.

In 1640, a group from Massachusetts founded the English settlement in New York. However, the English and Dutch had significant cultural differences, which led to conflict between the two factions.

Economic Changes

By the mid-17th century, New Netherland was still not profitable for the DWIC. Half of the company’s debt, roughly 1 million guilders, was because of New Netherland. English encroachment on Long Island threatened New Netherland, which still failed to attract enough settlers to help defend its territory. 

The DWIC looked to change its fortunes in the region.

• In 1639, the company gave up its monopoly over the Fur Trade, allowing white settlers to become involved. 
• A year later, the Patroon System was revised, so any colonist who brought five other settlers would receive 200 acres of land.

These changes increased interest in the fur and slave trade and created additional economic activities, such as the growth of tobacco and the harvesting of timber. Ultimately, the economic opportunities helped increase immigration to New Netherland.

Growth of New Amsterdam

The economic changes contributed to the population of New Netherland increasing from 1,000 inhabitants to nearly 2,000 between 1638 to 1643. The arrival of new colonists helped transform New Amsterdam from a struggling trading post into a successful port city under the guidance of Stuyvesant. 

In 1650, Stuyvesant negotiated a treaty with New England that restricted Puritan settlements to Long Island.

Dutch-Indian Conflicts Lead to the Arrival of Peter Stuyvesant

The conflict between Europeans and Indians in the Hudson River Valley started in 1609 with the Battle of Lake Champlain . A small contingent of French, led by Samuel de Champlain, fought with Algonquin, Huron, and Montagnais warriors against the Iroquois Confederacy. It was the first battle in the Beaver Wars . 

In the lower Hudson Valley, the Dutch kept peace with the Iroquois Confederacy for the sake of the Fur Trade, while land disputes created tension with the southern Algonquin tribes. 

As New Netherland grew, tensions escalated with Indians in the region, especially the Algonquins in the lower Hudson River Valley. The Dutch viewed the Algonquin as impeding expansion, while the Algonquin resented the Dutch for taking their lands and allowing their livestock to damage their cornfields.

From 1641 to 1645, Kieft’s War raged, as Willem Kieft, the director of New Netherland, led a  campaign that resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,600 Indians. This Lenape suffered significant losses, and never fully recovered and numerous communities on Long Island and Staten Island were destroyed in Indian attacks.

Kieft was recalled to the Netherlands and replaced by Peter Stuyvesant, the last — and one of the most capable — director of the company.

Anglo-Dutch Wars and the End of New Netherland

Despite the population growth, economic success, and peace, New Netherland found itself entangled in the conflict between England and the United Provinces — the Dutch Republic — for over commerce and naval power. 

The English Navigation Act of 1651 , which prohibited foreign ships from participating in English trade, was seen by the Dutch as England waging economic warfare and led to the First Anglo-Dutch War .

The Second Anglo-Dutch War erupted In 1665 over competition in Africa and perceived violations of the 1660 English Navigation Act.

New York Colony Begins

In 1664, King Charles II issued a charter to his brother James, the Duke of York, granting him all the land between the Delaware and Connecticut Rivers — which included New Netherland. James sent a fleet to New Amsterdam, which intended to capture the colony by force. 

At first, Peter Stuyvesant hesitated to surrender, but he surrendered the colony without a battle. The English promptly renamed both the city and the colony New York, in honor of James. 

New York was the only English colony in America acquired through conquest. Despite English control, Dutch influence remained, and the colony’s diversity continued to be a prominent characteristic of culture.

Duke’s Laws

Soon after the English took control of New York, Governor Richard Nicolls called for a meeting of representatives from the 16 towns on Long Island and Westchester County. The outcome of the meeting, which took place on March 1, 1765, was a set of laws — known as the “Duke’s Laws” — that governed the City of New York. 

The laws were based on English law, Dutch law, and existing Colonial law, and established a court system and local law enforcement. The laws were extended to the entire colony on June 12. The colonists were critical of the Duke’s Laws because they did not provide for the election of an assembly, however, the laws mandated religious tolerance.

Preferential treatment for merchants in New York City also helped create a political divide in the colony. 

Settlers in Albany were upset with the privileges granted to New York City merchants, such as a 1678 law establishing their monopoly over export trade and a 1684 law making New York City the colony’s sole entry port. To address their concerns, New York officials granted Albany merchants a monopoly in the Fur Trade in 1686.

The Third Anglo-Dutch War

In 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, William of Orange sent a Dutch fleet to retake New York City. The city surrendered without a fight and was renamed New Orange.

However, Dutch control only lasted 15 months. When the Third Anglo-Dutch War concluded in 1674, the Dutch returned the colony to the English as part of the peace negotiations. 

Although the Duke of York granted a charter in 1683 that ensured a legislature and personal freedoms — the Charter of Liberties — the colony remained a Dutch society ruled by English officials. Settlements along the Hudson River retained the Dutch language and culture well into the 18th century.

The Covenant Chain with the Iroquois

In 1677, Governor Sir Edmund Andros and the Iroquois Confederacy established an alliance known as the “Covenant Chain,” which was represented by an Iroquois wampum belt.

However, each side interpreted the meaning of the Covenant Chain differently. The Iroquois saw it as recognizing their autonomy, while the English viewed it as asserting their authority over the Iroquois, reducing concerns about the Iroquois forming an alliance with the French.

Dominion of New England

In 1688, a royal decree from James II incorporated New York into the Dominion of New England , which was administered from Boston. The Dominion was an unpopular government that encompassed New England, the Jerseys, and New York.

When news of the overthrow of King James II in 1689 reached the American Colonies, the colonists, already anxious due to rumors of a French-Native American conspiracy and the weakened state of their colony, rebelled against Lieutenant Governor Nicholson.

The Glorious Revolution and Leisler’s Rebellion

Even before word reached North America in 1689 of the Glorious Revolution , colonists had already rebelled against the Dominion, leading to its overthrow. 

In New York, Captain Jacob Leisler and the New York Militia took control of Fort James in Manhattan and held it in the name of King William and Queen Mary, forcing Governor Nicholson to flee.

Leisler, an immigrant from Germany who had married a wealthy Dutch widow, used rumors of a French invasion to maintain control of the colony. However, Leisler established his own form of strict government, frequently infringing on English legal and economic rights. 

When Leisler refused to relinquish authority, he was deposed and convicted of treason. He and his son-in-law were executed in 1691.

New York Becomes a Royal Colony

In 1691, New York became a Royal Colony with the establishment of the General Assembly, English courts, and the preservation of traditional English liberties. 

Characteristics from the Dutch period remained, including tenant farming on large estates, the concentration of political power within a few prominent families, ongoing conflicts between New York City and settlements further up the Hudson River, an economic focus on Atlantic trade, and the diverse ethnic and religious culture.

Between 1691 and 1710, several European wars between England and France carried over into North America. However, New York refrained from participating in King William’s War (1689–1697) and Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713), due to the colony’s inadequate defensive fortifications and the high costs. 

The French also refrained from carrying out military campaigns against New York to avoid upsetting the Iroquois, whom they were involved with in the Fur Trade. Around 1701, the Iroquois negotiated treaties with both the British and French, which ended the Beaver Wars and ensured their neutrality in future British-French conflicts.

The Court and Country Factions

In the 18th century, the political disputes that developed during Leisler’s Rebellion evolved into a conflict between the competing interests of merchants and landowners. 

Over time, the legislature gained privileges as Royal Governors consistently sought higher revenues through taxes. However, the Governors found it difficult to remain out of local power struggles, which were shaped more by family alliances and cultural distinctions than by specific political ideologies.

In 1709, Lewis Morris formed a coalition of Hudson Valley farmers, artisans from New York City, and small traders in Albany and New York City. Morris brought together these groups by pledging to improve roads, land regulations, and provide access to affordable currency for farmers. He also committed to offering traders import safeguards, incentives for local production, and regulations on peddlers. Additionally, he agreed to levy higher taxes on the wealthy.

From 1710 to 1720, Governor Robert Hunter aligned himself with the Morris faction, offering special privileges to artisans, shopkeepers, and small farmers. He also extended protection to religious dissenters and the Dutch community. 

In 1720, Adolph Philipse and Pieter Schuyler started to seek support from wealthier merchants in New York City and Albany, prominent landowners, Anglicans, and less affluent freemen. 

When William Burnet succeeded Hunter, he formed a coalition with the Morris faction, creating tension with the Philipse-Schuyler group.

These two groups became known as the Court – the Philipses-Schuyler faction — and Country — the Morris faction. 

The Court faction focused on engaging in overseas trade, intercolonial commerce, the slave trade, and negotiations with native peoples. 

The Morris faction focused on building a robust intracolonial economy.

Zenger Trial

In 1734–1735, the political landscape changed when John Peter Zenger, the printer of the recently established New York Weekly Journal , a newspaper associated with the Country faction, published articles that were critical of Cosby’s administration.

Governor William Cosby, who was aligned with the Court faction, responded by arresting Zenger on charges of libel. However, a jury acquitted Zenger in a famous court case that helped establish the concept of Freedom of the Press.

Population Growth

During the 1750s and 1760s, a new wave of immigration brought settlers from New England and Western Europe, including Palatine Germans, French Huguenots, Scots, Scots-Irish, and other Germans.

Certain farmers, led by New Englanders who were accustomed to owning land, found themselves in confrontations with the old Patroon families that owned large plantations along the Hudson River. These conflicts sometimes escalated into violence, prompting the deployment of British troops to restore peace.

New York Colony, the Iroquois, and New France

The conflicts between Britain and France for control over North America often took place in the frontier between New York and New France, and both nations sought to secure the support of the Iroquois Confederacy. 

Due to their control of the Fur Trade and influence in Western New York, the Iroquois skillfully manipulated the English and French, pitting them against each other to serve their own interests. 

The first three Anglo-French conflicts — King William’s War (1689–1697), Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713), and King George’s War (1744–1448) — had significant consequences in North America due to:

• Destruction of frontier settlements.
• Disruptions in the Fur Trade.
• Increased importance of New York in the effort to remove France from North America. 

As English settlers encroached on Iroquois territory, the Iroquois Confederacy became increasingly estranged from their allies, leading them to declare the Covenant Chain was broken.

In 1754, as the French and Indian War loomed, British officials convened a major conference in Albany to restore the Covenant Chain. As a result of the Albany Congress , the Iroquois allied with the British during the French and Indian War (1754–1763) . 

Most of the major battles on the mainland took place north of Albany, which is where the final invasion of Canada was launched. Albany became the focal point for mainland operations, and the French were finally driven out of North America in 1763.

New York Colony Geography

New York Colony was located along the Atlantic Coast in the Middle Colonies Region of the British Colonies. On the North, New York was bordered by New France. To the East, New York was bordered by the New Hampshire Grants, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Portions of New Jersey and Pennsylvania ran along the southern border. Much of the western border was dominated by Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, where the Iroquois Confederacy lived.

New York Colony Terrain

The terrain of New York was diverse. Mountains dominated the northeast, while lowlands extended from Lake Ontario along the border of Canada. Coastal plants dominated the Atlantic Coast. Like the other Middle Colonies, New York featured a combination of geographical attributes found in the New England Colonies and the Southern Colonies, including fertile soil and land that was well-suited for agriculture.

New York Colony Climate

New York enjoyed a temperate climate featuring warm summers and mild winters, which provided favorable conditions for farming and agriculture.

New York Colony Economy and Natural Resources

New York’s economy was predominantly focused on trade, with a strong emphasis on exporting food products from the Hudson Valley to the West Indies and furs to Europe, which is why the Fur Trade with the Iroquois and other tribes was so important 

The Fur Trade in New York revolved around Albany and Oswego served as important trading posts for the French, Indians, and the British.

An important feature of New York’s economy, which carried over from New Netherland, was the active involvement of women in trade. Building on Dutch traditions, women in New York and Albany played significant roles as merchants and shopkeepers.

New York also possessed abundant natural resources, including fertile farmland, timber, furs, and coal. Of particular significance was access to iron ore, a valuable natural resource that allowed for the production of tools. 

Iron ore was also an important export, as were grains, timber, and fur pelts.

New York Colony Religion

From the days of New Netherland, the colony had religious diversity. While the Dutch Reformed Church was initially the official church of New Netherland, many groups were tolerated, including Lutherans, Jews, and Quakers. Over time, the Church of England became the official church, but religious diversity continued in the Province of New York.

New York Colony Slavery

Following the transition from Dutch to English control, slavery continued in New York Colony. However, two significant incidents took place that led to the passage of Slave Codes that significantly reduced the rights of slaves.

• In 1712, black slaves set fire to several buildings, resulting in the deaths of at least nine individuals who tried to extinguish the flames. 25 slaves were convicted of participating in the incident, which is known as the New York Slave Revolt , and 18 of them faced execution, some even subjected to torture.
• Rumors of additional slave rebellions persisted throughout the 1720s and 1730s. These tensions culminated in a 1741 investigation into a slave conspiracy . The plot allegedly involved setting fire to New York City, murdering its white population, and delivering the port to the Spanish, with whom Britain was at war. A year-long series of trials related to the conspiracy ended in the execution of 31 people by burning and hanging, including four whites, and the banishment of over 70 others.

Conflict Over the New Hampshire Grants

New York laid claim to the New Hampshire Grants until 1791 when the territory became the state of Vermont. Starting in 1741, New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth sold land in the region, which is how it became known as the New Hampshire Grants. 

When the Crown established the region as belonging to New York, it set off a violent conflict between New York authorities and settlers who bought their land from New Hampshire . New York authorities tried to evict people, and a militia group known as the Green Mountain Boys formed, under the leadership of Ethan Allen and Seth Warner , fought back, protecting the property rights of the landowners.

New York Colony Timeline

The Native American Indians in the New York Region belonged to Algonquian or Iroquoian groups. Algonquian tribes like Mahican and Delaware lived in the East, while the Iroquois migrated and settled in the West.

Early 16th Century

Western Iroquoians established the League of Five Nations (or “League of Peace”). This league included the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca tribes. It ensured peace within the confederacy and asserted dominance over eastern Algonquin and non-League Iroquois to the west and south, like the Huron and Susquehanna peoples.

Seven provinces in the Low Countries, meeting in Utrecht, established the United Provinces and its governing body, the States-General. This alliance aimed to defend against Spain. The Dutch, through this unity, would enhance their standing among European nations and emerge as a leading commercial power in Western Europe. They expanded trade across continents, including Africa, Asia, and eventually the Americas.

The States-General officially incorporated the Dutch East India Company.

English captain Henry Hudson, working for the Dutch East India Company, sailed the Half Moon along the North American coast. His goal was to find the mythical Northwest Passage to Asia. On August 26, he entered Delaware Bay, and on September 12, he reached Manhattan Island.

During a second voyage to North America, this time under the English flag, Hudson explored the Canadian Shield, including Hudson Bay. However, his crew mutinied and abandoned him, along with a few others. The crew returned to England, and a search the following year failed to find Hudson.

Three Dutch businessmen established the United New Netherland Company. They secured a trading monopoly in the region known as New Netherland, spanning from Cape Cod to Delaware Bay, granted by the States-General. Their primary goal was to engage in the Fur Trade with the Indians. Although the company sent four expeditions to America, none of them were successful. By 1617, the United New Netherland Company dissolved, and its exclusive trading privileges were revoked.

A truce between Spain and the Netherlands ended, and the Dutch sought to expand their share of maritime and colonial trade, challenging Spain. In June, they established the Dutch West India Company, which started operations in 1623.

During the spring, the Dutch West India Company established the first settlement of the New Netherland colony by resettling approximately 30 Walloon families — French-speaking refugees from the southern Low Countries — at Fort Orange, which is now known as Albany, situated along the Hudson River.

In May, Peter Minuit, the first Director General of New Netherland, arrived at Manhattan Island. He acquired the island from Indians for goods valued at around 60 Dutch florins. The Indians viewed it as a land-use agreement, not exclusive possession. Minuit named the settlement New Amsterdam, and it became the colony’s primary settlement.

The Dutch West India Company changed its approach by concentrating settlers in New Amsterdam, rather than spreading them out through Dutch territory. Outposts like Fort Orange were limited to a small number of licensed fur traders.

The directors of the West India Company approved the Vryheden, also known as the “Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions.” The document laid the foundation for the Patroon System. To become a Patroon, qualified shareholders were required to transport a minimum of 50 settlers to New Netherland. Becoming a Patroon granted extensive land rights, including a tract of land measuring four leagues — over 70 miles in length — as well as judicial and administrative authority within the granted territory and limited access to the Fur Trade.

In March, New Sweden was founded at Fort Christina on Cape Henlopen, which was on the shores of Delaware Bay. The expedition, led by Peter Minuit, included Swedish and Dutch settlers. Over the next four years, expeditions carried a small number of settlers to the colony, which struggled.

Sir Edwin Plowden, an Englishman, established a settlement called “New Albion” at Salem Creek, located in the southern part of New Netherland. Plowden encountered various challenges, including a rebellious crew that deserted him and rivalry from New Sweden. New Albion failed and Plowden returned to England in 1648, where he faced imprisonment due to debts.

Kieft’s War, named after Governor William Kieft, started a period of conflict between New Netherland colonists and Indian tribes. Kieft’s policies caused the conflict, leading to significant loss of life and destruction in New Netherland. At one point, the colonists were pushed back to New Amsterdam. Kieft hired English mercenaries from Connecticut to carry out raids on the Indians, which turned the tide of the war. By 1645, the Dutch and Indians were weary of war and negotiated a peace treaty.

The Dutch West India Company’s trade monopoly with New Netherland ended. However, the company maintained its authority in policymaking and suggested addressing the labor shortage in New Netherland by increasing the use of African slaves. The company’s rationale was that European laborers were expensive to transport and less reliable as workers.

In May, Peter Stuyvesant, an experienced colonial administrator, assumed the role of Director-General of New Netherland.

The Treaty of Hartford was finalized between the Dutch and English, setting the boundary between New Netherland and the New England colonies as ten miles east of the Hudson River. It was a significant concession by New Netherland to the territorial claims of New England.

In September, Stuyvesant led an expedition into territory claimed by both New Netherland and New Sweden. He established Fort Casimir, 6 miles south of New Sweden’s Fort Christina. Fort Casimir was a sparsely populated outpost, with only 14 Dutch families residing there by the spring of 1653.

In England, Parliament passed the first Navigation Act, which triggered the First Anglo-Dutch War. Commercial restrictions and escalating tension between the Netherlands and England led to 20 years of conflict.

In May, Johann Rising led a New Sweden expedition that captured Fort Casimir. Stuyvesant responded by assembling a fleet of 7 Dutch ships, carrying more than 300 soldiers. The fleet sailed to Fort Casimir, captured it, and forced the surrender of Fort Christina. With the victories, New Sweden was merged into New Netherland.

Bakers in New York City went on strike, protesting low prices.

The First Espous War took place, as Dutch settlers fought with Esopus Indians. A group of Dutch settlers fired on a gathering of Esopus who were celebrating with brandy, which they had been given as payment for working on Dutch farms. The Esopus retaliated with raids on Dutch settlements and the war party laid siege to the walled settlement of Wiltwijck. The colonists received reinforcements from New Amsterdam, and the war conflict came to an end in July 1660, when the Indians agreed to exchange land for food.

The tumultuous times in England, including the English Civil Wars and Oliver Cromwell’s Interregnum, ended with the Stuart Restoration. King Charles II ascended to the throne. Soon after, English interest in New Netherland increased.

In July, the Council for Foreign Plantations appointed a committee to assess the possibility of seizing New Netherland through military action.

The Second Esopus War broke out in 1663. In June, New York leaders contacted the Esopus tribe, seeking to establish a treaty. The Esopus responded by expressing their custom of conducting unarmed and open peace talks.

On June 7, a party of Esopus arrived at Wiltwijck and were allowed inside the town. Unknown to the settlers at Wiltwijck, the Esopus had already attacked and destroyed the nearby village of Nieu Dorp, which is present-day Hurley, New York.

The Esopus spread out and launched a surprise attack, setting fire to houses and abducting women before eventually being repelled by the settlers. The Esopus managed to escape, and the settlers promptly repaired their defenses. 

The Indians took roughly 45 women and children as prisoners, including Catherine Du Bois and her three children, one of whom was just a baby.

Throughout July, New York military forces searched for the Esopus but were unable to locate them. The Esopus responded by carrying out hit-and-run attacks. Finally, the Dutch secured the service of a Mohawk as a guide and gathered a force large enough into Esopus territory.

As the Dutch marched, they burned Esopus fields. Eventually, they engaged the Esopus and killed their chief, which ended the war and expanded the territory of New Netherland.

Meanwhile, Catherine’s husband, Louis Du Bois, organized a search party to look for his wife and children.

According to legend, about 10 weeks after the women and children were taken from Wiltwijck, the Indians took Catherine Du Bois and the baby, whose name was Sarah, and tied them to a pile of logs, intending to set fire to the wood. As the Esopus went to light the wood, Catherine started singing Psalm 137, which entertained them and they waited. When she finished, they asked her to sing more, which she did. Before she finished the last song, Dutch soldiers arrived and saved Catherine, Sarah, and the other captives.

King Charles II granted a large tract of land to his brother, James, Duke of York. It included the area between the Delaware River and the Connecticut River. 

James was a director of the Royal African Company, competing with the Dutch in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. He was also an Admiral of the Royal Navy and looked to use his military power to challenge the Dutch and take New Netherland.

In April, a parliamentary committee released a report stating that the Dutch were England’s primary commercial competitors, justifying James’s intention to conquer New Netherland.

On August 28, an English expedition led by Richard Nicolls, appointed by James as Lieutenant Governor, arrived at the Hudson River near New Amsterdam. They demanded the formal surrender of New Netherland. Meanwhile, English forces from Connecticut took control of Long Island.

Stuyvesant decided to agree to the terms of surrender on August 29.

On September 8, a formal surrender treaty was signed, transferring the Dutch colony of New Netherland to England. At that point, it was a Proprietary Colony and the name was changed to New York. 

The agreement preserved Dutch property rights, such as homes and land, and granted all European residents in the province the status of “free denizens,” regardless of their nationality.

As Proprietor, James gave substantial land grants to his supporters, covering the entire region between the Hudson River and the Delaware River. A significant portion would eventually become the New Jersey Colony. 

Richard Nicolls, the Acting Governor of New York, issued the “Duke’s Laws,” the first English laws in New York. Initially, the laws only pertained to the towns of Long Island, most of which were English settlements before 1664. In 1674, the laws were applied to Manhattan Island and then extended to the entire colony by 1676.

In April, the Duke of York designated Francis Lovelace as the successor to Nicolls, and he assumed the role of Lieutenant Governor. Lovelace arrived in March 1668.

The Third Anglo-Dutch War started in the spring of 1672. During the conflict, the Dutch reoccupied New York for over a year, starting in July 1673. The 1674 Treaty of Westminster ended the war and returned New York to England.

Edmund Andros assumed the role of Lieutenant Governor in New York, which started a period of more stringent government oversight in New York. Andros formed an alliance with the Iroquois Confederacy and strengthened royal authority in New York. However, his approach and favoritism created political opposition. He also refused to convene the legislature, governing through courts of assize — county towns — which he controlled because he appointed the judges.

Following Bacon’s Rebellion , war parties from the Five Nations went south and raided the Virginia Piedmont Region, seeking to take control of the Piscataway and Susquehannock. Militia forces from Maryland and Virginia engaged the Iroquois.

In New York City, cartmen went on strike. 12 of them were charged with contempt and lost their jobs, which was the first time striking workers were prosecuted in America. 

Louis DuBois and a group of French Huguenots, known as the New Paltz Patentees, bought 40,000 acres from the Esopus Indians. The land stretched from the Hudson River to the Shawangunk Mountains.

DuBois and the New Paltz Patentees established the town of New Paltz in present-day Ulster County, New York, on a small rise over the Wallkill River. The other Patentees were:

• Louis Bevier
• Pierre Deyo
• Christian Deyo
• Antoine Crispell
• Abraham DuBois
• Isaac Dubois
• Abraham Hasbrouck
• Jean Hasbrouck
• Andries LeFevre
• Simon LeFevre

A smallpox outbreak spread across New York City, killing hundreds of people.

Coopers in the city tried to establish unified labor rates. They were indicted and convicted on charges of conspiracy. This was one of the first times legal means were used to discourage the formation of a union.

The Duke of York recalled Edmund Andros to England due to reports of civil unrest in the New York Colony. Unrest continued, leading the Duke to reevaluate the government.

In August, Thomas Dongan, the successor to Andros, arrived in New York, carrying instructions from James. These instructions ordered the establishment of a colony-wide legislature, for the purpose of easing political tensions.

In October, the legislature met at Fort James in October and produced the Charter of Liberties and Privileges. This document safeguarded individual freedoms and outlined the legislature’s powers. Although it was approved by Dongan, his council, and the Duke, it was never officially sanctioned by the Crown. 

In 1684, King Charles II started to reorganize the administration of the colonies.

Dongan organized a conference at Albany between the Iroquois Confederacy and delegates from New York, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. The purpose of the conference was to end hostilities between Virginia and the Iroquois Confederacy. A treaty was agreed to, known as “Lord Howard’s Treaty.” It was named after Lord Howard of Effingham, the Governor of Virginia. 

From New York’s perspective, it was more important to ensure the Covenant Chain remained intact and the center of the Fur Trade remained at Albany. Ultimately, peace was achieved by appeasing the Iroquois:

• The Iroquois were allowed to move through the Piedmont Region to raid other Indian tribes, but they agreed to keep to the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains and stay away from English settlements and plantations.
• By allowing the Iroquois to pass through at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it essentially blocked English settlement, which allowed the Iroquois to use the region for hunting.

In February, King Charles II died and the Duke of York became King James II. Meanwhile, the Lords of Trade met and reviewed colonial charters, including New York’s. Based on the review, which indicated New York was straying from royal control, James revoked the New York Charter on March 3.

In October, the Edict of Nantes was revoked by King Louis XIV. French Huguenots were faced with a choice between converting to Catholicism, spending life in a prison or convent, or fleeing the country. There were about 800,000 Huguenots living in France and nearly 25 percent of them left France. A significant number of them immigrated to New York in the 1680s and 1690s.

In May, Governor Dongan received instructions from London informing him New York’s Charter was revoked. 

Meanwhile, the Dominion of New England was established, which eventually included New York, New Jersey, and all the New England Colonies , and it was administered by a royally appointed Governor, Joseph Dudley, who was based in Boston.

Edmund Andros returned to America in 1686 and replaced Dudley as Governor. By 1686, New York was fully incorporated into the Dominion.

The French launched an expedition known as the Hudson Bay Expedition and attacked trading posts run by the Hudson’s Bay Company. The French captured several English trading posts, including Fort Albany in New York. In September, English forces tried to retake the fort but were defeated in the First Battle of Fort Albany.

In England, King James II was criticized for being Catholic and for his efforts to improve relations with France. 

Opposition reached its peak in June when Parliament extended an offer to the throne to James II’s daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, who ruled the Netherlands. On November 5, William, leading a small army, arrived in England to remove James II from the throne.

James responded by fleeing to France and scheming with King Louis XIV to retake the English throne, reinstate Catholic rule, and expand French borders. When France invaded the Rhineland, it started the Nine Years’ War in Europe, as Protestant nations fought to stop the expansion of Catholic France. The war carried over to North America as King William’s War (1688–1697).

William and Mary were established as joint monarchs after consenting to the English Bill of Rights, which was written by Parliament.

In April, the news that James had been overthrown reached Boston. A Boston crowd pursued and arrested Governor Andros, effectively ending the Dominion of New England.

Soon after, Jacob Leisler, a German immigrant and devout Calvinist, took power in New York, and Governor Francis Nicholson fled the colony. In June, Leisler issued a proclamation in the name of William and Mary.

Leisler was quick to abuse his power and in December 1689, William and Mary appointed Henry Sloughter as Governor of New York.

On February 9, a French expedition of 200 men, including Indian allies, attacked Schenectady, New York. Around 60 British and Dutch settlers were killed and 27 were taken as prisoners. 

In April, Leisler organized a conference at Albany to address the French threat. Representatives from Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connecticut attended, but the conference failed to accomplish anything.

In January, Richard Ingoldesby, who had been commissioned Lieutenant-Governor of New York, landed in New York City with two companies of soldiers. He demanded possession of Fort James, but Leisler refused to surrender it without an order from the King or the Governor. 

Ingoldesby attacked the fort on March 17 but failed to capture it.

Soon after, Governor Sloughter arrived in New York and ordered Leisler to hand over the fort. Leisler refused until Sloughter was officially sworn in as Governor. Once that took place, Leisler complied and Sloughter had him arrested and charged with treason. 

Leisler’s trial was held from March 31 to April 17, resulting in his conviction. He was executed on May 16.

During the summer, Sloughter unexpectedly died. Richard Ingoldesby assumed the role of Governor.

Benjamin Fletcher succeeded Ingoldesby. His administration was marred by corruption, including bribery and embezzlement from customs revenue. Fletcher also used connections with Indians to increase his personal wealth.

The Ministry Act established support for the Church of England in four New York counties, which was opposed by the Dutch Reformed Church and its congregations.

To address Dutch dissatisfaction, Governor Fletcher granted a charter of incorporation to the Dutch Reformed ministers. This effectively elevated the Dutch Reformed Church to the same status as the Church of England.

Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont became Governor of New York.

As war between England and France loomed, New York entered into a treaty with the Iroquois Confederacy, establishing a state of armed neutrality between the two sides. The Iroquois also reached similar agreements with the French. These treaties helped bring an end to the Beaver Wars.

The General Assembly passed an act granting suffrage to freeholders whose property had a net value of 40 pounds. This allowed approximately half of New York’s adult white males to vote.

A yellow fever epidemic led to the deaths of more than 10 percent of the population of New York City.

Queen Anne appointed her cousin, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, as Governor of New York and New Jersey. Cornbury’s tenure was controversial and scandalous, as he used questionable legal means to increase his power and was known for wearing the latest in English women’s fashion in public.

In 1702, Queen Anne’s War erupted between the English and the French. New York was the most vulnerable of the English Colonies because its frontier bordered French territories in the Great Lakes Region and St. Lawrence Region.

The General Assembly issued orders for the construction of two roads. One through New York County and Westchester County, leading to Connecticut. The other one was to go across Long Island to East Hampton.

John Lovelace, 4th Baron Lovelace of Hurley, replaced Lord Cornbury as Governor.

Paper money was issued for the first time by order of the General Assembly.

Richard Ingoldesby was the acting Governor of New York.

Robert Hunter replaced Ingoldesby as Governor.

The New York City Council established the city’s first slave market by declaring that all slaves for hire should gather at the Wall Street Market for the convenience of potential employers. As the 18th Century progressed, more than 10 percent of the city’s population would be enslaved, rising to 15 percent by the 1720s.

Fears of a slave revolt became a reality on the night of April 6–7 when approximately 25 slaves gathered and armed themselves. They set fire to outhouses and buildings and waited for white townspeople to respond to the alarm. When the townspeople arrived, the slaves attacked, resulting in several deaths. On April 7, a manhunt led to the capture or death of the slaves involved in the uprising. A total of 27 were tried for conspiracy, and 21 of them were found guilty and executed.

The Treaty of Utrecht ended Queen Anne’s War.

William Burnet became Governor of New Yori.

In September, a conference was held in Albany, with delegates from New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia meeting with leaders of the Iroquois Confederacy. An agreement was reached known as the Treaty of Albany, which was similar in scope to the 1684 Albany Agreement. The Iroquois were allowed to travel south, provided they did not cross into the Piedmont Region south of the Potomac River.

New York expanded its frontier defenses by building Fort Oswego on the Niagara frontier, at the location of a trading post that had been established two years earlier.

Governor Burnet was transferred to Massachusetts and replaced by John Montgomerie. 

William Cosby was appointed Governor of New York. Like many other administrations, Cosby’s was plagued by corruption and controversy.

John Peter Zenger, the printer of the New York Weekly Journal , faced trial for libel when his newspaper, which opposed Governor Cosby, published editorials criticizing the governor. Zenger’s lawyers were successful and he was acquitted. The case legitimized political opposition to the Crown, which was represented by the Governor. It established the foundation for Freedom of the Press in America.

James Alexander, a prominent member of the anti-Cosby faction, wrote a detailed account of the case titled “Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger,” which Zenger published in 1736.

The General Assembly secured the right to make specific annual appropriations instead of relying on vague long-term grants, as determined by the Governor. The change essentially gave the Assembly control of colonial funds, including the salaries of the Governor and other appointees.

From October 24 through November 19, English revivalist George Whitefield preached to New York City crowds, estimated to be in the thousands. Whitefield was the most prominent evangelist of the First Great Awakening .

In April, striking bakers in New York City faced trial on charges of conspiracy. They had refused to bake bread for a week in protest of the high price of wheat. However, no convictions were made in the trial, establishing a precedent for the use of strikes as a tactic for protests by New York workers.

On April 8, Fort George caught fire and over the following weeks, a series of fires swept through the city, destroying both public and private buildings. Rumors spread that the fires were intentional and that slaves were planning a revolt., similar to the 1712 incident.

A 16-year-old indentured servant named Mary Burton came forward with information. She took advantage of the city leaders’ promise of immunity and a financial reward by testifying that she had overheard workers and slaves planning an uprising in the tavern where she worked. The testimony implicated the tavern owner, his wife, two of their slaves, and a prostitute, all of whom were tried and executed.

Similar to the Salem Witch Trials , Burton’s accusations continued, implicating more individuals, many of them black, as part of the conspiracy. The panic died down when Burton started accusing wealthy members of the city’s white upper class.

George Clinton became Governor of New York.

The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended King George’s War between the English and the French. 

Following the war, the French strengthened their position in North America, particularly in the upper Ohio Valley. They sought to form an alliance with the Iroquois Confederacy, which was the only native group in the region still allied with the British. 

The French constructed Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio — the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers at present-day Pittsburgh — an important location on the frontier. 

To address the threat posed by the French and their Indian allies in the Ohio Valley, an intercolonial conference was held in Albany in June and July. 23 delegates from 7 colonies attended and met with Iroquois leaders, who were upset over English encroachment into their lands. The meetings successfully restored the Covenant Chain with the Iroquois.

After the negotiations with the Iroquois were completed, the colonial delegates discussed a formal plan of union, which was initially proposed by Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania. The Albany Plan of Union aimed to establish an intercolonial government to oversee frontier defenses. However, it was rejected by both the legislatures of the individual colonies and the British ministry.

Meanwhile, a Virginia militia expedition led by George Washington attempted to remove the French from Fort Duquesne. Washington led an attack on a French party at the Battle of Jumonville Glen and the French retaliated at the Battle of Fort Necessity. Washington was forced to surrender and return to Virginia. However, the battles initiated the last conflict between New France and the English Colonies — the French and Indian War.

British General Edward Braddock designed a three-pronged strategy to capture French forts in the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes region, including Niagara and Crown Point near Lake George in the upper Hudson River Valley. Unfortunately, Braddock’s Expedition ended in failure, with Braddock and his forces suffering a massacre in July along the Monongahela River.

William Johnson’s expedition managed to defeat a combined force of French and Indian allies who had ambushed them at the Battle of Lake George . However, the victory came at a high cost, with Johnson’s forces suffering heavy casualties in the process, including the death of King Hendrick , an important Iroquois leader.

The war escalated as England and France declared war on each other. The French and Indian War spread to Europe as the Seven Years’ War.

William Johnson formed a military alliance with the Iroquois, who were considered British subjects.

In August, the British and their colonists suffered a significant defeat when the French captured Fort Oswego, leading to a general British retreat to Albany.

To raise revenue for defense, the New York General Assembly passed a Stamp Act, which will be followed by similar measures over the next three years.

In July, a British attack on French forces at Fort Ticonderoga ended in failure. The British were unable to breach the French outer defenses and suffered heavy casualties. The British regulars suffered over 1,600 casualties, while colonial militia units lost more than 330 men.

In New York City, King’s College graduated its first class.

The French and Indian War turned in favor of the British and the French were defeated at Fort Niagara in July, severing the link between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Meanwhile, Fort Ticonderoga fell to the British and colonial forces, and the French abandoned Crown Point.

On September 8, the French surrendered Montreal, the last step in the conquest of New France. The fighting in the North American portion of the war ended.

The Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years’ War, with the French ceding their territory in North America to the British.

New York Colony APUSH Review

Use the following links and videos to study the New York Colony, the Middle Colonies, and the Colonial Era for the AP US History Exam. Also, be sure to look at our Guide to the AP US History Exam .

New York Colony APUSH Definition and Significance

The definition of New York Colony for APUSH is a colony established by the Dutch West India Company in the early 17th century, originally known as New Netherland. It included parts of present-day New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut. In 1664, the English seized control of New Netherland and renamed it New York in honor of the Duke of York, who later became King James II of England. The colony was known for its diverse population, with Dutch, English, and other European settlers. 

The significance of New York Colony for APUSH is its critical role in the Fur Trade, and its strategic location made it a center for trade and commerce. Later, it became one of the Original 13 Colonies and played a significant role in the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War.

• Written by Randal Rust

Founding and History of the New York Colony

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New York was originally part of New Netherland. This Dutch colony was founded after Henry Hudson explored the area in 1609. He had sailed up the Hudson River. By the following year, the Dutch began trading with Indigenous peoples . They created Fort Orange located at present-day Albany, New York , to increase profit and take the greater part of this lucrative fur trade with the Iroquois Confederacy.

Between 1611 and 1614, further explorations were explored and mapped in the New World. The resulting map was given the name, "New Netherland." New Amsterdam was formed from the core of Manhattan, which had been purchased from Indigenous peoples by Peter Minuit for trinkets. This soon became the capital of New Netherland.

Motivation for Founding

In August 1664, New Amsterdam was threatened with the arrival of four English warships. Their goal was to take over the town. However, New Amsterdam was known for its heterogeneous population and many of its inhabitants were not even Dutch. The English made them a promise to let them keep their commercial rights. Due to this, they surrendered the town without a fight. The English government renamed the town New York, after James, Duke of York. He was given control of the colony of New Netherland.

New York and the American Revolution

New York did not sign the Declaration of Independence until July 9, 1776, as they were waiting for approval from their colony. However, when George Washington read the Declaration of Independence in front of City Hall in New York City where he was leading his troops, a riot occurred. The Statue of George III was ripped down. However, the British took control of the city with the arrival of General Howe and his forces in September 1776.

New York was one of the three colonies that saw the most fighting during the War. In fact, the Battles of Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775, and the Battle of Saratoga on October 7, 1777, were both fought in New York. New York served as the major base of operations for the British for most of the war.

The war finally ended in 1782 after the British defeat at the Battle of Yorktown. However, the war did not end formally until the signing of the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783. The British troops finally left New York City on November 25, 1783.

Significant Events

• The Albany Congress occurred at Albany, New York in 1754 to help unite the colonies for defense against the Iroquois Confederacy.
• The Federalist Papers were published in New York newspapers to sway voters to accept the new constitution.
• New York was the 11th state to ratify the Constitution.
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New York Colony – History of ‘New York Colony’ in the Colonial Period!

New netherlands – dutch control of the colony.

The ‘New York’ Colony was originally controlled by the Dutch and was called ‘New Netherlands’ after their homeland!

Anglo Dutch War Second war: 1664–1667

The English were in a power struggle with the Netherlands at the time and during the Second War of the ‘Anglo Dutch Wars’ the English secured several important victories against the Dutch (The were Naval battles) During these conflicts the English Navy captured ‘New Netherlands’ (present day New York) led by King of England’s brother Charles who was also the ‘Duke of York’.

Birth of the New York Colony under British Rule

England seized control of the ‘New Netherlands’ colony from the Dutch in 1664

After this war the Amsterdam colony ‘New Netherlands’ became a a British proprietary colony and was re-named ‘New York’ after King Charles gave the area to his younger brother the ‘Duke of York’ – Duke of York became ‘New York’!

New York Colony Fast Facts

• The New York colony was owned by the King of England at the time, it became a proprietary colony with different rulers and was later that under the control and administration of United Kingdom Government.
• The Province of New York was established around the years of 1664–1776.
• The ‘New York colony’ is located in the area of modern New York on the Northeast Coast of America.
• King Charles II also granted a part of ‘New Netherlands’ ‘New York to William Penn who in turned named the area under his control as Pennsylvania.
• The New York Colony was one of the Famous 13 colonies that joined forces with other American colonies against the British in the Wars of Independence.

Control of the New York Colony Time-line

• Anglo Dutch War Second war: 1664–1667.
• England seized control of ‘New Netherlands 1664.
• Sovereign control in 1667 – Treaty of Breda.
• Treaty of Westminster (1674).
• 1674 – English Common law was in place in the Colony.

The Middle Colonies

Most of ‘New Netherlands’ came under the province of New York however there were some areas were the ‘King of England’ and the ‘Duke of York’ granted land ownership to others – The Province of New Jersey and the Province of Pennsylvania were created.

Pennsylvania was created by William Penn ‘Penn-Sylvania’. Later Delaware would separate from Pennsylvania and become it’s own colony. There was also the Chesapeake colony that completed the Middle Colonies.

America Takes control of New York

In the Year 1775 the revolutionary New York Provincial Congress of local representatives took control and the government declared ‘New York Province’ as the “State of New York” in the year 1776. The first New York Constitution was ratified in 1777.

Britain Regains Control on the American Revolutionary War

The British re-gained control of ‘New York’ for a short period in the American Revolutionary War in which New York was used a headquarters for their military operations, however large parts of the colony was still under the control of the patriots armies.

Treaty of Paris 1783 and George Washington’s Return

New York established it’s independence from Britain in the Treaty of Paris in 1783. British troops were over-powered by American troops would finally evacuate ‘New York’ which was celebrated in large scale party and parade by George Washington’s Continental army of the 25 November 1783.

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: December 13, 2022 | Original: November 9, 2009

The Dutch first settled along the Hudson River in 1624 and established the colony of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. In 1664, the English took control of the area and renamed it New York. One of the original 13 colonies, New York played a crucial political and strategic role during the American Revolution .

Between 1892 and 1954, millions of immigrants arrived in New York Harbor and passed through Ellis Island on their journey to becoming U.S citizens. It is estimated that up to 40 percent of Americans can trace at least one ancestor to that port of entry.

New York City, the largest city in the state, is home to the New York Stock Exchange and is a major international economic center.

New York’s Native American History

Semi-nomadic Indigenous people have been living in the area now known as New York for at least 13,000 years , settling in the space  around Lake Champlain , the Hudson River Valley and Oneida Lake.

The Haudenosaunee Native Americans arrived in the Adirondack region of New York between 1,400 and 4,000 years ago. They created an alliance of Iroquoian-speaking nations  including the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca tribes. Named the Iroquois Confederacy by the French, this democratic alliance created the Great Law of Peace, which promoted reason instead of force to ensure the principles of justice, health and righteousness. This inspired America’s Founding Fathers, including Benjamin Franklin , and influenced the U.S. Constitution .

Algonquian people, which include the Mahican and the Lenape nations, also inhabited parts of the Adirondacks and the Hudson River Valley, including Manhattan island. They occasionally battled with the Mohawk over territories.

As the French and Dutch arrived in the 17th century, they traded guns and ammunition with the Algonquians in exchange for fur. They also brought deadly diseases and encroached on Indigenous territories, forcing them to migrate. Some Indigenous people raided European property and captured women and children. During the American Revolution, the Mohawks aided the British. Many Mohawks moved to Canada at the end of the war, and others were driven out by the Oneida, who had sided with the Americans.

There are eight federally-recognized Native American tribes in New York today , including the Cayuga Nation, Oneida Nation, Onondaga Nation, St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Seneca Nation of Indians, Shinnecock Indian Nation, Tonawanda Band of Seneca and Tuscarora Nation.

New York’s Colonial History

The Dutch, English and French were the first Europeans to explore and colonize the area now known as New York. Voyaging for the French, Italian-born explorer Giovanni da Verrazano became the first European to explore the east coast of America when he landed in New York Bay in 1524. In 1609 and 1610, the English-born explorer Henry Hudson navigated the river now known as the Hudson and other parts of New York seeking new routes to Asia for the Dutch and British. Around the same time, French explorer Samuel de Champlain visited the east coast of North America , including New York, and founded the city of Quebec as the capital of New France.

Following Hudson’s voyages, the Dutch established New Netherland as a fur trading outpost and their first colony in the New World. Dutch merchants soon began sponsoring trips to the new colony, and the first 31 Dutch colonists' families arrived in 1623. They established New Amsterdam—now known as New York City—in 1624. The area diversified as people from all over Europe fled religious persecution, war and natural disaster to settle in New Netherland.

The English, however, believed they had claims to New Netherland, as they had sponsored explorer John Cabot ’s voyages to the New World in 1497 and 1498. They waged three wars against the Dutch between 1652 and 1674, and in 1664 New Netherland passed to the British . The British renamed the area New York after James II, Duke of York, the son of King Charles I.

Between the early 17th century and the mid-18th century,  France sponsored Catholic missions to New France , including areas that are now part of New York state . French merchants in the area also competed with the English to dominate the fur trade and create alliances with Indigenous peoples. Conflicts over land and trade led Britain and France to the French and Indian War . Also known as the Seven Years' War , the confrontation included several major battles fought in New York and ended with the French ceding New France to the British in 1763. 

New York's Role in the Revolutionary War

New York was one of the 13 original colonies that battled for independence from England during the American Revolution. Nearly a third of all Revolutionary War battles were fought in New York . The Battle of Saratoga was considered a turning point in the war. The colonists’ defeat of the British forces convinced French King Louis XVI to ally with the Americans against the British. France’s military and financial support for the Americans was a critical contributor to the colonists’ victory at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, marking the war's end.

After the Constitution was ratified in 1788, New York City became the first capital of the United States . On April 30, 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as the nation’s first president at Federal Hall, located on Wall Street .

Immigration in New York

Starting in the 1850s through the end of the 19th century, millions of European immigrants came to the United States to flee religious prosecution, famine and rising taxes on the promise of freedom and economic prosperity. Over 70 percent of these immigrants arrived through New York City, entering through lower Manhattan until a new federal immigration processing center was opened on Ellis Island in 1892.

Many immigrants who arrived in New York settled there, making the state the most populous in the nation. New York’s population increased from 3 million in 1850 to 9 million  by 1930. A majority of early New York immigrants were from Ireland and Germany, although the Chinese settled in smaller numbers between the Gold Rush in 1849 and the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. Italians began arriving in large numbers between 1880 and the 1920s, while the turn of the 20th century saw the arrival of Jewish people from Eastern Europe. These immigrants were often poor and lived in tenement slums on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. They toiled in sweatshops until the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire led to new labor and safety laws and the growth of unions to protect workers’ rights.

Following more than 40 years of strict immigration quotas , the 1965 Hart-Celler Act reopened immigration in the U.S. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants poured into New York City, coming from the Caribbean, India, Africa, Mexico, Greece, Turkey and many other parts of the world, making the city diverse and culturally vibrant.

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Black Americans and the Harlem Renaissance

Black Americans have been an important part of New York’s population since the colonial days when they were brought to America as enslaved people by the Dutch. New York later became home to leaders of the Abolitionist Movement , including activists Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman .

Many more African Americans arrived in New York during the Great Migration of the 1910s to the 1970s. They came mainly from southern farming states including Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia and moved to large northern cities including New York City for factory jobs and to escape Jim Crow laws . Around this time, Black immigrants also arrived from Jamaica and the West Indies. More than 175,000 African Americans landed in the Harlem area of Manhattan, including many artists and scholars, leading to the explosion of poetry, art, music, philosophy and dance known as the Harlem Renaissance . Famous residents included W.E.B. Du Bois , Marcus Garvey , Louis Armstrong , Duke Ellington  and  Billie Holiday . 

Women's Suffrage and LGBTQ Movements

The Seneca Falls convention, held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, kicked off the women’s suffrage movement . The effort was led by famous New Yorkers including Sojourner Truth , Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony . Their work culminated in the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote.

A vibrant LGBTQ community formed in New York City during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although gay rights activism began nationwide in the 1920s, New York City became the “birthplace” of the LGBTQ movement following the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Greenwich Village, which inspired a new wave of gay rights activism.

Cultural and Business Center

A diverse and eclectic business and cultural hub, New York City has housed countless entrepreneurs, businesspeople, financiers and inventors, including Thomas Edison , Cornelius Vanderbilt , John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan . The city attracts more than 65 million tourists annually and nearly a third of all international visitors to the U.S. who come for its Broadway shows, museums, galleries and restaurants, as well as monuments such as the Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge .

Date of Statehood: July 26, 1788

Capital: Albany

Population: 20,201,249 (2020)

Size: 54,555 square miles

Nickname(s): Empire State

Motto: Excelsior (“Ever Upward”)

Tree: Sugar Maple

Flower: Rose

Bird: Bluebird

Interesting Facts

• The name “Manhattan” comes from a dialect of the Lenape Native Americans and roughly translates as “a place where we gather wood to make bows and arrows”—tools they relied on for hunting.
• The Haudenosaunee Native Americans were organized into matrilineal clans. These extended families lived together in longhouses and were guided by a clan mother, who made all major decisions for the clan.
• New York City was the first capital of the United States after the Constitution was ratified in 1788. On April 30, 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as the nation’s first president at Federal Hall, located on Wall Street.
• The popular tabloid New York Post was initially established in 1801 as a Federalist newspaper called the New York Evening Post by Alexander Hamilton, an author of the Federalist papers and the nation’s first secretary of the treasury.
• The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France in honor of the United States’ enduring dedication to freedom and democracy and of the alliance held between the two countries during the American Revolution. Erected in 1886 on Bedloe’s Island (later renamed Liberty Island) in New York Harbor, the statue stood as a welcoming symbol to the 14 million immigrants who entered the United States through New York until 1924.
• After the towns of Woodstock and Wallkill refused permission to host what ultimately became the country’s most renowned musical festival, a dairy farmer in nearby Bethel agreed to provide access to his land for “Three Days of Peace and Music.” With musical acts kicking off on August 15, 1969, the Woodstock Music Festival attracted more than 400,000 attendees—most of whom were admitted for free since the event organizers were unprepared to control access for such a large crowd.
• Adirondack Park in northeastern New York contains roughly 6 million acres of protected land. Comprised of public and private areas, the park is larger than Yellowstone, Glacier, Everglades and Grand Canyon National Parks combined.
• New York City contains roughly 660 miles of subway track connecting 468 subway stations—the lowest of which is located 180 feet below street level. In 2011, more than 1.6 billion people rode the subway.
• Comprised of three waterfalls in the United States and Canadian territory, Niagara Falls attracts 12 million visitors each year. The American Falls, in New York, is nearly 180 feet high and 1,100 feet long. The Niagara River produces enough hydroelectric power to supply more than a quarter of all power used in the state of New York and Ontario.
• The National Baseball Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown, New York.

Photo Gallery 

Fact Sheet: Ellis Island - Statue of Liberty NM, NPS. gov

Exhibitions: First Peoples, nysm.nysed.gov

"Adirondacks: Native Americans," NPS. gov

Haudenosaunee Guide for Educators, americanindian.si.edu

"Manahatta to Manhattan Native Americans in Lower Manhattan," k12.wa.us

Federal and State Recognized Tribes, NCSL.org

Giovanni da Verrazzano, Verrazzano.com

Discovering the Past: Henry Hudson, Albany.edu

Samuel de Champlain, PBS.org

American Journeys, americanjourneys.org

"The Rise and Fall of New Netherland," NPS.org

"What Was New Netherland?" nysm.nysed.gov

Colonial New York Under British Rule, history.nycourts.gov

"Who was John Cabot?" JohnCabot.edu

Missions in New France, heritage.bnf.fr

Jesuit Mission Years in New York State 1654 to 1879, jesuitonlinelibrary.bc.edu

"The story of New France: the cradle of modern Canada," Nationalgeographic.com

New York State K-8 Social Studies Framework, NYSED.gov

Revolutionary War, Parks.ny.gov

Saratoga: Freeman's Farm/Bemis Heights, Battlefields.org

The Nine Capitals of the United States, Senate.gov

George Washington's First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789, Archives.gov

Immigration to the United States, 1851-1900, LOC. gov

A People's History of New York City , historynyc.commons.gc.cuny.edu

U.S. Census Bureau History: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911, Census.gov

Immigration to New York, 1900-2000, PBS.org

"A New African American Identity: The Harlem Renaissance," nmaahc.si.edu

The Great Migration, macaulay.cuny.edu

'See 100 years of LGBTQ history mapped out across New York City," Nationalgeographic.com

"The Origin and Meaning of the Name 'Manhattan,'" repository.si.edu

"How New York Was Named," Newyorker.com

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British colonial charters.

The New York colonial charters were the fundamental law under which the colonists were permitted certain rights by the sovereign. These documents were the Duke’s Laws of 1665, the Charter of Liberties and Privileges of 1683 and the charter that was in force at the time of the Revolution, the Charter of Liberties and Privileges of 1691.

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St. Augustine (Est. 1565)

Roanoke (Est. 1585 & 1587)

Jamestown (Est. 1607)

Plymouth (Est. 1620)

The Mayflower

New York (Est. 1624)

Massachusetts (Est. 1629)

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 (Est. 1629)

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Connecticut (Est. 1633)

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In the 17th century, New Amsterdam was a small trading and farming settlement on the southern tip of Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River. It had a magnificent harbor and a majestic river that provided access deep into the rich interior of the region. Its Dutch inhabitants, however, experienced much conflict.

The English eventually seized New Amsterdam, renamed it New York, and began to solidify and expand what would become one of America's most strategic and influential centers of trade, culture, and power.

The settlement of New York began with the exploration of the Hudson River. In 1609, English explorer Henry Hudson (the river's namesake) sailed as far as present-day Albany in the service of the Dutch East India Company. Although Hudson's mission to find a passage to the Indies failed, Hudson's employers were still pleased with the explorer's findings. Dutch interest was more in trade rather than colonization, and by establishing an outpost called Fort Nassau in 1614, the Dutch East India Company began participating in a lucrative fur trade with the local inhabitants.

Click to view a map of the city of New Amsterdam in the colony of New Netherland in 1600.

In 1624, the first of seven ships loaded with colonists, supplies, and livestock was dispatched by the newly formed Dutch West India Company to establish the colony of New Netherland. Settling multiple forts along the Hudson River, including Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island and Fort Nassau (which would later become Fort Orange) at present-day Albany, the Dutch hoped New Netherland would become a prosperous farming and fur-trading colony.

The new colony developed slowly as the Dutch West India Company tried to populate New Netherland with a plan called patroonships. Patroonships were land grants given to anyone who, at their own expense, brought 50 people to settle on their patroon in the colony within four years. The system was unpopular because the company still retained rights to the fur and fishing trades, and very few patroons were successful.

DID YOU KNOW? In 1626, Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from American Indians with trinkets worth 60 guilders, which is equal to about $24.

The principal economic activity on Manhattan Island and along the lower Hudson River was farming, which often brought the colonists into conflict with American Indians over land disputes. Initially, the Company tried to avoid such conflict as they purchased land from the American Indians. In 1626 Peter Minuit, the first Director-General of New Netherland, reportedly purchased the island of Manhattan from local American Indians with beads and other trinkets worth 60 Dutch guilders before formally founding the settlement of New Amsterdam on the southern tip of the island near Fort Amsterdam.

Fort Orange hosted the majority of the fur trade business for New Netherland. For the first few years, the company attempted to steer a middle course between the Mohicans, an Algonquian-speaking tribe, and the Mohawks, one of the nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, as the two groups battled for control of the area. After a Mohawk attack on the Mohicans in 1624, however, the Mohicans lost access to the Dutch traders.

Meanwhile, the growth of the colony had stagnated. Ownership of the colony was concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy persons. The company's monopoly on the economic life of New Netherland was eroding. A partial reorganization took place in 1640 when the West India Company gave up its trade monopoly. Other businessmen invested in New Netherland, bringing a flow of economic activity into the colony, including the production of food, timber, and tobacco.

Peter Stuyvesant was appointed fourth and last Director-General of New Netherland in July 1646. Stuyvesant's dictatorial style helped boost the troubled colony. He restored order to the colony by issuing strict laws and making it mandatory to attend church. He insisted that American Indians be properly paid for the lands and services that had been taken from them. Stuyvesant bargained for captive Europeans from an earlier conflict with American Indians and eventually negotiated a peace treaty in 1660.

Dutch settlement was not confined to the Hudson River Valley; the Company also had claims to the Delaware River. These claims were disputed by Sweden, which had secured a charter specifically for the Delaware Bay region. Ironically, the first group of Swedes had been placed there in March of 1638 by the former governor of New Netherland, Peter Minuit, who established Fort Christina near present-day Wilmington. New Sweden was an entity that was under constant struggle. In 1655 under Stuyvesant's command, ships from New Amsterdam sailed south to the Delaware River where they took over the fledging settlement.

Click to learn more about New Sweden in America.

Swedish encroachments were not the only problem facing the Dutch. More threatening was the spread of English settlements on Long Island and along the coast. The English saw the Dutch colony as a serious impediment, sandwiched between the two fast-growing areas of English settlement, the Chesapeake and New England. Conflict was inevitable. In 1664, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, a British fleet seized New Netherland without firing a shot. Stuyvesant, with the fortifications at New Netherland still incomplete, found himself hopelessly outnumbered and surrendered under generous terms from the British Commander.

Several important changes took place under British rule. In 1664, the king annexed New Jersey and gave it to his brother James, the Duke of York. Both the city of New Amsterdam and the colony itself were renamed New York, after the Duke of York. Fort Amsterdam became Fort James, and Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany.

While control of the region changed hands several times after 1664, New York City served as a British military stronghold until the entire region was liberated after the Revolutionary War. New York joined the union as the 11th state on July 26, 1788.

[Return to Top]

New York | Bibliography

• Country Studies US. "New Netherland and Maryland." Accessed 5/30/19. http://countrystudies.us/united-states/history-8.htm
• Dunn, Richard S., Ph D. "John Winthrop, Jr., of Connecticut, The First Governor of the East End." September 12, 1998. East Hampton Library. Accessed 5/30/19. http://www.easthamptonlibrary.org/pdfs/history/lectures/19980912-2.pdf
• Encyclopædia Britannica. "Peter Minuit." Accessed 5/30/19. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/384645/Peter-Minuit
• Encyclopædia Britannica. "Peter Stuyvesant." Accessed 5/30/19. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-Stuyvesant
• Infoplease. "States by Order of Entry into Union." Accessed 5/30/19. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763770.html
• National Park Service. "Dutch Colonies." Accessed 5/30/19. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/kingston/colonization.htm
• New York State Museum. "Early Albany Timeline." Accessed 5/30/19. http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/timeline.html
• Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association/Memorial Hall Museum. "Glossary." Accessed 5/30/19. http://1704.deerfield.history.museum/list/glossary/all.do
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). "1628 Across the Continent." Accessed 5/30/19. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/colonialhouse/history/1628_northeast.html
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). "Peter Stuyvesant." Accessed 5/30/19. https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/pnp377425eng/peter-stuyvesant-pnp377425-eng/
• University of Notre Dame, Department of Special Collections. "A Brief Outline of the History of New Netherland." Accessed 5/30/19. http://www.coins.nd.edu/ ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/NNHistory.html

New York | Image Credits

• Henry Hudson | Encyclopædia Britannica, courtesy of the Library of Congress
• Director General Peter Stuyvesant | Artist: Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, 1936; National Park Service: Cultural Resources
• Map of Dutch and English Colonization in New England | National Park Service: Cultural Resources

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Colonial Immigration Records

This collection contains genealogical information and biographical sketches of immigrants to New York during the Dutch and English colonial era.

Searches entered from this page will query all volumes in the collection (with the exception of one). Read below for detailed information on the contents of each volume and waypoint links.  

Watch a free Collection Close-Ups webinar recording for this collection, in which the NYG&B team explains what you can find and how you can search it.

What's this?

Quick links, colonial immigration records from the new york genealogical and biographical record, scandinavian immigrants in new york, 1630-1674, papers relating to the first settlement of new york by the dutch containing a list of the early immigrants to new netherlands, 1657-1664, true and authentic register of persons who in the year 1709 journeyed from germany to america or new world, settlers of rensselaerswyck, 1630-1658, list of passengers to new netherland, 1654 to 1664, year book of the holland society of new york, names, trades, etc. of the german protestants to be settled at new-york.

• Argyle Patent and Accompanying Documents

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record has published many articles that will be useful to those tracing their New York colonial ancestors.

This colonial immigration collection includes transcribed colonial immigration records that can be found in The Record . Searching this collection will query all of these articles, which can also be read by clicking the links below. Make sure to search the full archive of The Record to find useful compiled genealogies, case studies, and biographical sketches in addition to these articles:

• Emigrants to New Netherland: Account Book 1654 to 1664
• A List of Early Immigrants to New Netherland
• Representative Pioneer Settlers of New Netherland and Their Original Home Places
• Settlers of the Colony of Rensselaerswyck, 1637
• New York "Knickerbocker" Families; Origin and Settlement
• Ulster County Naturalizations, 1715
• Colonial Naturalization Act of 1740 With List of Persons Naturalized 1740-1769
• Some Emigrants to America from the Ludwigsburg District, Wurttemberg, Germany, 1738-1750

Note: The above articles can also be found our collections related to The Record . They have also been included in this collection for convenience.

Back to Quick Links

This volume focuses on Scandinavian immigrants in New York during the colonial era. Researchers will find biographical sketches and genealogical information on immigrants from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. There are also appendices that discuss Germans in New York as well as Scandinavians in Mexico, South America, and Canada.

Information includes place of birth, occupation, family names and the lives they left behind in their home countries. This volume is organized alphabetically by surname.

Use the waypoint links below to jump to a specific section or to get an overview of what can be found:

• Introduction
• Norwegian Immigrants in New York, 1630-1674
• Danish Immigrants in New York, 1630-1674
• Swedish Immigrants in New York, 1630-1674
• Appendix I, Scandinavians in Mexico and South America, 1532-1640
• Appendix II, Scandinavians in Canada, 1619-1620
• Appendix III, Some Scandinavian Immigrants in New York in the Eighteenth Century
• Appendix IV, German Immigrants in New York, 1630-1674

This book was written by John O. Evjen in 1916.

This volume contains a list of early immigrants to the Dutch’s New Netherland settlement. Only the heads of families are included; names of wives and children were not listed.

Researchers will find the following information:

• Name of the ship families took to New Netherlands
• Name of individuals or head of families and information about their families
• Town or city people migrated from
• Year people migrated to New Netherland

Click here to view this volume.

This list was compiled by E.B. O’Callaghan in 1888.

This volume contains a register of people that traveled to North America in 1709. The author briefly recounts his story, which speaks to leaving a well-developed Germany to a Western Hemisphere full of uncertainty. His story gives researchers a perspective on how their ancestors possibly felt moving from Germany to North America.

Here researchers will find the following information:

• Where people settled when they landed in North America

This register was translated by Ulrich Simmendinger in 1962.

This volume is extracted from the New York State Library’s Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts and contains information about the settlers that arrived in New Amsterdam between 1630-1658.

Organized first by year, names are then listed alphabetically by last name.

Information includes:

• Settlers’ First & Last Names
• Settlers’ Place of Origin
• Name of Ship Settlers Arrived In
• Dates Ships Departed & Arrived

This volume was written by A.J.F. Van Laer in 1908.

This volume contains a list of the passengers to New Netherland between 1654-1664.

This list had been published in a volume of E.B. O'Callaghan's work, Documentary History of New York, but was republished to address errors found in that version .

Researchers will find ship names, names and ages of passengers (including children), occupations and other genealogical information.

Click here to view this volume .

This book was arranged by Theodore M. Banta in 1902.

Note: This volume is not searchable, images must be browsed.

This volume is extracted from Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York and contains a table with information on German Protestants that settled in New York during the colonial era.

Researchers will find information including names, ages, and occupations of the heads of households, their wives, and/or children.

The book this table was extracted from was written by E.B. O’Callaghan in 1853.

This volume is a part of a book titled, History of the Somonauk United Presbyterian Church .

This book contains appended documents that trace migration from New York to the Somonauk Colony (located in DeKalb County, Illinois), as well as the original immigrant ancestors of those who migrated from New York. Predominantly Scots and Scots Irish people, many settlers of Somonauk were from Washington County, New York.

The documents that are in this volume consist of patents, petitions, arrival lists, and more.

• History of the Somonauk Church & the Immigrants

This book was written by Jennie M. Patten in collaboration with Andrew Graham in 1928.

Suggested citations for this collection:

New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, “Colonial Immigration Records” digital images, New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, ( www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org ), 2022.

New York - Researching: Slavery in New York

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Slavery in New York State

This page covers options for researching slavery in New York state including:

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• The book below names many primary sources, particularly laws, that can be researched in other places:
• HeinOnline Law Library This link opens in a new window Find archive of NY session laws from 1691-2020 including the New York Colony (1691-1775). Once inside HeinOnline, find the Browse Databases by Name heading and select New York Legal Research Library.

Census Resources

Open access digital collections, black loyalists & the american revolutionary war, african burial ground in new york city.

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• Historical Newspapers & Periodicals See the News & Magazines tab for historical newspapers & periodicals.
• Finding Primary Sources See this page for additional databases, digital collections, and physical archives in the Metro NYC area.

Narratives & Memoirs by the Enslaved

Sojourner Truth drawing via the 1878 edition of  Narrative of Sojourner Truth  

Public History Projects

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Bizarre stinging ‘spaghetti monsters’ invade beach — experts warn to steer clear of them

Jeepers peepers.

Marine experts are warning beach-goers to avoid a mystery stinging critter following a string of sightings in Texas, which they detailed in a viral Facebook post.

“We’ve had several reports of eyeball-looking creatures being found along the water line on Mustang Island [a barrier island on the state’s gulf coast],” warned Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies.

Accompanying pictures show one of the scientists holding one of the freaky flotsam, which indeed resembles a disembodied eyeball.

They analogized the gelatinous entity to “The Flying Spaghetti Monster,” the signature deity of the Pastafarians , a satirical religious sect that originated in opposition to teaching intelligence design in schools .

As it turns out, these sea peepers — whose “eye” is actually a gas-filled float — are organisms known as Rhizophysa or thread jellies.

Despite their name, they’re not true jellyfish but rather a siphonophores, a colony of animals living as one.

Perhaps the most famous example of these colonial creatures is the Portuguese Man Of War, a sapphire-blue critter known for its lighter fluid-esque sting.

Much like their cobalt-colored cousins, Rhizophysa also packs a helluva “sting,” per the post.

“If you see these floating up on the beach, just admire their creepy beauty, take photos, but don’t touch, unless you want to feel the pain of the eyeball from the sea,” the institute warns.

Also known as bathyphysa conifer , these retinal doppelgangers can grow to 131 meters long, making them one of the world’s longest animals.

However, they’re rarely seen as they prefer to roam the depths of the ocean.

Thread jellies aren’t the only dangerous entities to wash ashore in the Lone Star State recently.

Earlier this month, blue dragons — a resplendent-looking stinging mollusk known as “the most beautiful killer in the ocean” — invaded the Texas coastline, bungling plans for many spring breakers.

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More Studies by Columbia Cancer Researchers Are Retracted

The studies, pulled because of copied data, illustrate the sluggishness of scientific publishers to address serious errors, experts said.

By Benjamin Mueller

Scientists in a prominent cancer lab at Columbia University have now had four studies retracted and a stern note added to a fifth accusing it of “severe abuse of the scientific publishing system,” the latest fallout from research misconduct allegations recently leveled against several leading cancer scientists.

A scientific sleuth in Britain last year uncovered discrepancies in data published by the Columbia lab, including the reuse of photos and other images across different papers. The New York Times reported last month that a medical journal in 2022 had quietly taken down a stomach cancer study by the researchers after an internal inquiry by the journal found ethics violations.

Despite that study’s removal, the researchers — Dr. Sam Yoon, chief of a cancer surgery division at Columbia University’s medical center, and Changhwan Yoon, a more junior biologist there — continued publishing studies with suspicious data. Since 2008, the two scientists have collaborated with other researchers on 26 articles that the sleuth, Sholto David, publicly flagged for misrepresenting experiments’ results.

One of those articles was retracted last month after The Times asked publishers about the allegations. In recent weeks, medical journals have retracted three additional studies, which described new strategies for treating cancers of the stomach, head and neck. Other labs had cited the articles in roughly 90 papers.

A major scientific publisher also appended a blunt note to the article that it had originally taken down without explanation in 2022. “This reuse (and in part, misrepresentation) of data without appropriate attribution represents a severe abuse of the scientific publishing system,” it said .

Still, those measures addressed only a small fraction of the lab’s suspect papers. Experts said the episode illustrated not only the extent of unreliable research by top labs, but also the tendency of scientific publishers to respond slowly, if at all, to significant problems once they are detected. As a result, other labs keep relying on questionable work as they pour federal research money into studies, allowing errors to accumulate in the scientific record.

“For every one paper that is retracted, there are probably 10 that should be,” said Dr. Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch, which keeps a database of 47,000-plus retracted studies. “Journals are not particularly interested in correcting the record.”

Columbia’s medical center declined to comment on allegations facing Dr. Yoon’s lab. It said the two scientists remained at Columbia and the hospital “is fully committed to upholding the highest standards of ethics and to rigorously maintaining the integrity of our research.”

The lab’s web page was recently taken offline. Columbia declined to say why. Neither Dr. Yoon nor Changhwan Yoon could be reached for comment. (They are not related.)

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where the scientists worked when much of the research was done, is investigating their work.

The Columbia scientists’ retractions come amid growing attention to the suspicious data that undergirds some medical research. Since late February, medical journals have retracted seven papers by scientists at Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute . That followed investigations into data problems publicized by Dr. David , an independent molecular biologist who looks for irregularities in published images of cells, tumors and mice, sometimes with help from A.I. software.

The spate of misconduct allegations has drawn attention to the pressures on academic scientists — even those, like Dr. Yoon, who also work as doctors — to produce heaps of research.

Strong images of experiments’ results are often needed for those studies. Publishing them helps scientists win prestigious academic appointments and attract federal research grants that can pay dividends for themselves and their universities.

Dr. Yoon, a robotic surgery specialist noted for his treatment of stomach cancers, has helped bring in nearly $5 million in federal research money over his career.

The latest retractions from his lab included articles from 2020 and 2021 that Dr. David said contained glaring irregularities . Their results appeared to include identical images of tumor-stricken mice, despite those mice supposedly having been subjected to different experiments involving separate treatments and types of cancer cells.

The medical journal Cell Death & Disease retracted two of the latest studies, and Oncogene retracted the third. The journals found that the studies had also reused other images, like identical pictures of constellations of cancer cells.

The studies Dr. David flagged as containing image problems were largely overseen by the more senior Dr. Yoon. Changhwan Yoon, an associate research scientist who has worked alongside Dr. Yoon for a decade, was often a first author, which generally designates the scientist who ran the bulk of the experiments.

Kun Huang, a scientist in China who oversaw one of the recently retracted studies, a 2020 paper that did not include the more senior Dr. Yoon, attributed that study’s problematic sections to Changhwan Yoon. Dr. Huang, who made those comments this month on PubPeer, a website where scientists post about studies, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

But the more senior Dr. Yoon has long been made aware of problems in research he published alongside Changhwan Yoon: The two scientists were notified of the removal in January 2022 of their stomach cancer study that was found to have violated ethics guidelines.

Research misconduct is often pinned on the more junior researchers who conduct experiments. Other scientists, though, assign greater responsibility to the senior researchers who run labs and oversee studies, even as they juggle jobs as doctors or administrators.

“The research world’s coming to realize that with great power comes great responsibility and, in fact, you are responsible not just for what one of your direct reports in the lab has done, but for the environment you create,” Dr. Oransky said.

In their latest public retraction notices, medical journals said that they had lost faith in the results and conclusions. Imaging experts said some irregularities identified by Dr. David bore signs of deliberate manipulation, like flipped or rotated images, while others could have been sloppy copy-and-paste errors.

The little-noticed removal by a journal of the stomach cancer study in January 2022 highlighted some scientific publishers’ policy of not disclosing the reasons for withdrawing papers as long as they have not yet formally appeared in print. That study had appeared only online.

Roland Herzog, the editor of the journal Molecular Therapy, said that editors had drafted an explanation that they intended to publish at the time of the article’s removal. But Elsevier, the journal’s parent publisher, advised them that such a note was unnecessary, he said.

Only after the Times article last month did Elsevier agree to explain the article’s removal publicly with the stern note. In an editorial this week , the Molecular Therapy editors said that in the future, they would explain the removal of any articles that had been published only online.

But Elsevier said in a statement that it did not consider online articles “to be the final published articles of record.” As a result, company policy continues to advise that such articles be removed without an explanation when they are found to contain problems. The company said it allowed editors to provide additional information where needed.

Elsevier, which publishes nearly 3,000 journals and generates billions of dollars in annual revenue , has long been criticized for its opaque removals of online articles.

Articles by the Columbia scientists with data discrepancies that remain unaddressed were largely distributed by three major publishers: Elsevier, Springer Nature and the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. David alerted many journals to the data discrepancies in October.

Each publisher said it was investigating the concerns. Springer Nature said investigations take time because they can involve consulting experts, waiting for author responses and analyzing raw data.

Dr. David has also raised concerns about studies published independently by scientists who collaborated with the Columbia researchers on some of their recently retracted papers. For example, Sandra Ryeom, an associate professor of surgical sciences at Columbia, published an article in 2003 while at Harvard that Dr. David said contained a duplicated image . As of 2021, she was married to the more senior Dr. Yoon, according to a mortgage document from that year.

A medical journal appended a formal notice to the article last week saying “appropriate editorial action will be taken” once data concerns had been resolved. Dr. Ryeom said in a statement that she was working with the paper’s senior author on “correcting the error.”

Columbia has sought to reinforce the importance of sound research practices. Hours after the Times article appeared last month, Dr. Michael Shelanski, the medical school’s senior vice dean for research, sent an email to faculty members titled “Research Fraud Accusations — How to Protect Yourself.” It warned that such allegations, whatever their merits, could take a toll on the university.

“In the months that it can take to investigate an allegation,” Dr. Shelanski wrote, “funding can be suspended, and donors can feel that their trust has been betrayed.”

Benjamin Mueller reports on health and medicine. He was previously a U.K. correspondent in London and a police reporter in New York. More about Benjamin Mueller