
Discovery and Settlement
- Manhattan. Giovanni da VERRAZANO may have been the first European to explore the region, and Henry HUDSON visited it, but Dutch settlements truly began the city.
- Brooklyn. Brooklyn was settled 1636, and chartered as part of New York City in 1898. ...
- Queens. Queens was largely unsettled except for small farms and rural settlements. ...
- Staten Island. ...
What did the first New York settlers wear?
Women in colonial New York wore long gowns, petticoats, and a coat-like-gown called a mantel. Men wore breeches made from different materials, which came in a fine tan color.They also wore long, billowy coats called "the German Kontush", a popular style at the time.
What were some of the settlements in New York?
Important Cities of the New York Colony
- New York City. Colonial New York City, much like today, was a busy, thriving commercial center. ...
- Albany. Albany was the second-most important city in the colony of New York. ...
- Brooklyn. Brooklyn remained an independent city until well after America gained independence. ...
- Rochester. ...
What is a New York mandatory first installment?
Mandatory first installment (MFI) – If the franchise, excise, or gross receipts tax for your second preceding year exceeds $1,000, but does not exceed $100,000, you must pay 25% (.25) of such tax with Form CT-300, Mandatory First Installment (MFI) of Estimated Tax for Corporations. If the second preceding year’s tax exceeds $100,000,
How is debt settlement defined in New York?
Debt settlement is defined in New York as settling the debt for less than the amount you owe. There are certain defenses, and maybe certain objections to the amount that’s claimed in these cases. It could be a 100% objection, or it could be an objection to a certain percentage of what is trying to be collected, but we use those defenses to ...

What borough in NYC was settled first?
Many firsts came from our Bronx as well as many great historical figures from all walks of life and professions but this one comes with major bragging rights: The Bronx—NYC's FIRST borough.
Why was New York settled in the first place?
In 1626, Peter Minuit, Governor of the Dutch West India Company bought the island of Manhattan from Native Americans for 24 dollars and founded a colony called New Amsterdam. The colony developed a profitable fur trade in the region with the Native American tribes.
When did people first live in New York?
The history of New York begins around 10,000 B.C. when the first people arrived. By 1100 A.D. two main cultures had become dominant as the Iroquoian and Algonquian developed. European discovery of New York was led by the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 followed by the first land claim in 1609 by the Dutch.
What was New York's first city?
New AmsterdamThe settlement was named New Amsterdam (Dutch: Nieuw Amsterdam) in 1626 and was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under English control in 1664 and was renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York....New York City.New YorkRegionEurope and North America53 more rows
Who were the first settlers in NY?
The Dutch first settled along the Hudson River in 1624; two years later they established the colony of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. In 1664, the English took control of the area and renamed it New York.
What is the oldest part of New York City?
Stone Street is one of New York's oldest streets, incorporating two 17th-century roads in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. In 1658 it became the first cobbled street in New Amsterdam....Stone Street (Manhattan)Significant datesDesignated NYCLJune 25, 199614 more rows
Who was the first immigrant in New York?
Juan RodriguezAccording to historical documents, Juan Rodriguez arrived in lower Manhattan in 1613 – twelve years before the founding of New Amsterdam by Dutch colonists, and 51 years before the English took control of the colony and renamed it New York.
Where did immigrants settle in New York?
More than 70 percent of all immigrants, however, entered through New York City, which came to be known as the "Golden Door." Throughout the late 1800s, most immigrants arriving in New York entered at the Castle Garden depot near the tip of Manhattan.
What indigenous land is New York on?
The Lenape, Manhattan's original inhabitants, called the island Manahatta, which means “hilly island.” Rich with natural resources, Manahatta had an abundance of fruits, nuts, birds, and animals.
What was New York called by the Dutch?
What did the Dutch name New York? To establish the Dutch footprint in the New World, they planted a trading post on the southern tip of the island and called it New Amsterdam, after their capital city in the Netherlands. New Amsterdam was established in 1625.
What was New York called in the 1800s?
Building the Erie Canal After the canal's opening in 1825, New York City became the most important center for commerce on the continent, and New York became known as The Empire State.
What is under New York City?
There are also seven secret tunnels like the Farley-Morgan Postal Tunnel, McCarren Pool Tunnels, East New York Freight Tunnel, Columbia University Steam Tunnels, Atlantic Avenue Tunnel, Hidden Concourse at 1271 6th Avenue, and Underground Spine of Goldwater Hospital.
Why did the Dutch settle in New York?
Colonists arrived in New Netherland from all over Europe. Many fled religious persecution, war, or natural disaster. Others were lured by the promise of fertile farmland, vast forests, and a lucrative trade in fur.
What made New York Colony unique?
Natural resources in the New York Colony included agricultural land, coal, furs, forestry (timber), and iron ore. The New York Colony was also referred to as a breadbasket colony because one of its major crops was wheat. The wheat was ground into flour and exported to England.
How was New York developed?
Modern New York traces its development to the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898 and an economic and building boom following the Great Depression and World War II.
When was New York City discovered?
The story of New York City goes back to 1524 when Giovanni da Verrazzano discovered New York harbor for the first time. Verrazzano was on an exploration journey of the coast of the new world when he came upon the harbor. During the logs of his trip it was noted that he found a great stream of water, which later was known as the Hudson River.
What was the name of the settlement in the New World?
The settlement was called New Netherland and was a settlement and fur trading center in the new world. In 1621, the West India Trading Company was formed by the Dutch government and given the task of expanding the presence in the area. The company expanded north to create Fort Orange / Beverwijck, which is now known as Albany ...
What was the name of the city that Verrazzano discovered?
Verrazzano Discovers New York Harbor. The Voyage of Verrazzano. Written Record of the Verrazzano Voyage of 1524. Verrazzano Discovering the Hudson River. In 1609, the first settlements in North America by the Dutch were established. These settlements were in the area north of what is now known as New York City.
What were the two new settlements?
The two new settlements proved to become very busy trade areas. The north was an important fur trading area, and the south with its location on the water became an important port for trade. New Amsterdam started to become an important port and started doing business with many trade partners.
What is New York City known for?
When we think of New York City, what comes to mind is a huge, metropolitan city with millions of citizens. It is also the capital of the financial world with Wall Street, the stock markets, and the corporate headquarters of some of the largest companies in the world.
When did the Dutch claim New Amsterdam?
While the Dutch were pleased with the settlement, and New Amsterdam was thriving by the time the mid-1600’s arrived, in 1664 , the British claimed the territory as their own. New Amsterdam, soon to become New York City, and New Netherlands soon to become New York State, became one of the thirteen colonies under British control.
Which countries were interested in New Amsterdam?
However, due to it being a popular location, it was also the target of other countries. The British, Spanish, and French were among the countries that would have liked to have the ideal location for a port. While the Dutch were pleased with the settlement, and New Amsterdam was thriving by the time the mid-1600’s arrived, in 1664, the British claimed the territory as their own. New Amsterdam, soon to become New York City, and New Netherlands soon to become New York State, became one of the thirteen colonies under British control.
Who discovered New York?
European discovery of New York was led by the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 followed by the first land claim in 1609 by the Dutch. As part of New Netherland, the colony was important in the fur trade and eventually became an agricultural resource thanks to the patroon system.
Who conquered New York in 1664?
The British conquered New Netherland in 1664; Lenient terms of surrender most likely kept local resistance to a minimum. The colony and city were both renamed New York (and "Beverwijck" was renamed Albany) after its new proprietor, James II later King of England, Ireland and Scotland, who was at the time Duke of York and Duke of Albany The population of New Netherland at the time of English takeover was 7,000–8,000.
What was the role of New York City in the American Revolution?
New York played a pivotal role during the American Revolution and subsequent war. The Stamp Act Congress in 1765 brought together representatives from across the Thirteen Colonies to form a unified response to British policies. The Sons of Liberty were active in New York City to challenge British authority. After a major loss at the Battle of Long Island, the Continental Army suffered a series of additional defeats that forced a retreat from the New York City area, leaving the strategic port and harbor to the British army and navy as their North American base of operations for the rest of the war. The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the war in favor of the Americans, convincing France to formally ally with them. New York's constitution was adopted in 1777, and strongly influenced the United States Constitution. New York City was the national capital at various times between 1785 and 1790, where the Bill of Rights was drafted. Albany became the permanent state capital in 1797. In 1787, New York became the eleventh state to ratify the United States Constitution .
What was the main entry point for European immigrants to the United States during the 19th century?
Thereafter, the state helped create the industrial age and consequently was home to some of the first labor unions . During the 19th century, New York City became the main entry point for European immigrants to the United States, beginning with a wave of Irish during their Great Famine.
Why was the New York State Thruway called Dewey's ditch?
The project was unpopular with New York City Democrats, who referred to it as "Dewey's ditch" and the "enemy of schools", because the Thruway disproportionately benefited upstate. The highway was based on the German Autobahn and was unlike anything seen at that point in the United States. It was within 30 miles (50 km) of 90% of the population at its conception. Costing $600 million, the full 427-mile (687 km) project opened in 1956.
How did the canal affect New York City?
Its impact was enormous: one source stated, "Linking the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, the canal was an act of political will that joined the regions of the state, created a vast economic hinterland for New York City, and established a ready market for agricultural products from the state's interior.".
What was New York named after?
In 1664, England renamed the colony New York, after the Duke of York and Albany, brother of King Charles II. New York City gained prominence in the 18th century as a major trading port in the Thirteen Colonies . New York played a pivotal role during the American Revolution and subsequent war.
What was the first settlement house in London?
In 1884 British university students opened Toynbee Hall, the first settlement house, in London’s impoverished East End. The students believed that living among the working class would bring about cross-cultural understanding and resolve the class tensions of an industrialized, urban society.
How many settlements were there in 1908?
By 1908 there were more than 100 settlements across the United States, including 19 in New York City. [iii] The first settlements, especially in England, focused on the spiritual awakening of the individual.
Why did settlements work?
In the United States, settlements—while maintaining cultural programs—often put more focus on the social environment and less on the individual. Economic and social forces had created dehumanizing conditions, settlement leaders argued, and settlements should work to confront these conditions directly.
What happened in 1893?
On a rainy March morning in 1893, the life of a young nurse named Lillian Wald changed forever. Wald was giving a lesson in bed-making at a school on the Lower East Side when a young girl appeared and hurriedly requested that Wald attend to her sick mother. Following the girl over broken roadways, “dirty mattresses,” and “heaps of refuse”;
What is the playground in Henry Street Settlement?
The playground in the backyard of Henry Street Settlement is shown. Settlements provided a range of activities and classes for children and encouraged safe, supervised play. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Why do settlement workers work with their clients?
Ideally, settlement workers formed close relationships with their clients, so that settlements could offer the social-service programs that answered the most urgent community needs. In neighborhoods where few residents spoke English, for example, settlement workers might offer evening language classes.
What is settlement house?
Today, the settlement house remains one of the primary community-based social-service providers in New York City. In neighborhoods throughout the city, places with names like “neighborhood house,” “settlement house,” and “community center” are often part of the settlement-house tradition. Recognizing the strength of neighborhood-based services, ...
Where is the first settlement house?
America’s First Settlement House. Situated at the corner of Eldridge and Rivington Streets stands University Settlement, a non-profit social justice organization that has a deeply-rooted place in Lower East Side history.
How long has University Settlement been around?
University Settlement’s enduring existence today speaks not only to how vital its work continues to be, but also how it has continually grown and learned from the neighborhood it settled in over 130 years ago.
Why was the University Settlement named after the Neighborhood Guild?
Stover, University Settlement was started to provide resources for the predominantly immigrant residents on the Lower East Side. Settlement houses were named as such because the aim was that their staff and volunteers would ‘settle’ in the community as neighbors.
What was the purpose of the University Settlement?
From its inception, University Settlement offered a variety of services to the surrounding community, including recreational camps and classes for children, resources for residents to advocate for neighborhood issues such as housing or street sanitation, and classes about obtaining U.S. citizenship. By 1911, University Settlement hosted 142 different clubs with over 3000 members, and regularly rented out its spaces for unions and reform groups to hold meetings.
When did Mulberry Settlement House children read?
New York Public Library Archives, The New York Public Library. “ Mulberry Settlement House children reading in Settlement house library, Oct.1920.”: The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1920.

Overview
Dutch and British colonial period
On April 4, 1609, Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, departed Amsterdam in command of the ship Halve Maen (Half Moon). On September 3 he reached the estuary of the Hudson River. He sailed up the Hudson River to about Albany near the confluence of the Mohawk River and the Hudson. His voyage was used to establish Dutch claims to the region and to the fur trade that prospered there after a trading post was established at Albany in 1614.
Prehistory
The first peoples of New York are estimated to have arrived around 10,000 BC. Around AD 800, Iroquois ancestors moved into the area from the Appalachian region. The people of the Point Peninsula complex were the predecessors of the Algonquian peoples of New York. By around 1100, the distinct Iroquoian-speaking and Algonquian-speaking cultures that would eventually be encountered by Europeans had developed. The five nations of the Iroquois League developed a …
Pre-colonial period
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer in the service of the French crown, explored the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay. On April 17, 1524 Verrazzano entered New York Bay, by way of the Strait now called the Narrows. He described "a vast coastline with a deep delta in which every kind of ship could pass" and he adds: "that it extends inland for a league and opens up to form a beau…
Province of New York (1664–1776)
Thousands of poor German farmers, chiefly from the Palatine region of Germany, migrated to upstate districts after 1700. They kept to themselves, married their own, spoke German, attended Lutheran churches, and retained their own customs and foods. They emphasized farm ownership. Some mastered English to become conversant with local legal and business opportunities. They ignored the Indians and tolerated slavery (although few were rich enough to own a slave).
New York in the American Revolution
New York played a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War. The colony verged on revolt following the Stamp Act of 1765, advancing the New York City–based Sons of Liberty to the forefront of New York politics. The Act exacerbated the depression the province experienced after unsuccessfully invading Canada in 1760. Even though New York City merchants lost out on lucrative military contracts, the group sought common ground between the King and the people; however, compro…
Statehood to the Civil War
Upon war's end, New York's borders became well–defined: the counties east of Lake Champlain became Vermont and the state's western borders were settled by 1786.
Many Iroquois supported the British (typically fearing future American ambitions). Many were killed during the war; others went into exile with the British. Those remaining lived on twelve reservations; by 1826 only eight reservations remained, all of which survived into the 21st century.
New York in the American Civil War
A war was not in the best interest of business, because New York had strong ties to the Deep South, both through the port of New York and manufacture of cotton goods in upstate textile mills. Half of New York City's exports were related to cotton before the war. Southern businessmen so frequently traveled to the city that they established favorite hotels and restaurants. Trade was based on moving Southern goods. The city's large Democrat community f…
Overview
The history of New York City has been influenced by the construction and maintenance by Lenape of pyramids, lending the name Manahatta, or place of many hills, to the region. The area was long inhabited by the Lenape; after initial European colonization in the 16th century, the Dutch established New Amsterdam in 1626. In 1664, the British conquered the area and renamed it New York.
Dutch settlement
In 1613, the Dutch established a trading post on the western shore of Manhattan Island. Juan Rodrigues was the first documented non-native to live on Manhattan Island.
In 1614 the New Netherland company was established, and consequently they settled a second fur trading post in what is today Albany, called Fort Nassau. It was not until 1623, however, that the Dutch interests in the area were other than commercial, and under the auspices of the newly for…
Human prehistory
Archaeological excavations indicate that the first humans settled the area as early as 9,000 years ago. The area was abandoned, however, possibly because the warming climate of the region lead to the local extinction of many larger game species upon which the early inhabitants depended for food.
A second wave of inhabitants entered the region approximately 3,000 years ago and left behind …
Arrival of the British
In 1664, British ships entered Gravesend Bay in modern Brooklyn, and troops marched to capture the ferry across the East River to the city, with minimal resistance: the governor at the time, Peter Stuyvesant, was unpopular with the residents of the city. Articles of Capitulation 1664 were drawn up, the Dutch West India Company's colors were struck on September 8, 1664, and the soldiers of the garrison marched to the East River for the trip home to the Netherlands. The date of 1664 ap…
Further reading
• Jackson, Kenneth T. and David S. Dunbar, eds. Empire City: New York Through the Centuries (2005), 1015 pages of excerpts excerpt
• Stokes, I.N. Phelps. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909 compiled from original sources and illustrated by photo-intaglio reproductions of important maps plans views and documents in public and private collections (6 vols., 1915–28). A highly detailed, heavily illustrated chronology of Manhattan and New York City. see The Iconogra…
External links
• New York and its origins. Legend and Reality (about the Walloon contributions to the founding of New York City)