The Dutch Surrender New Netherland - History in the Headlines The Dutch Surrender New Netherland September 8, 2014 By Jesse Greenspan 1660 Map of New Amsterdam Share this: The Dutch Surrender New Netherland Author The Dutch Surrender New Netherland URL Google On September 8, 1664, the Dutch surrendered the colony of New Netherland to the English, who subsequently renamed it New York after the king’s brother, the Duke of York. Yet despite losing power over 350 years ago, Dutch cultural influence persists to this day. Here are six things you may not know about their often-overlooked mid-Atlantic settlements, which developed concurrently with Jamestown to the south and Plymouth to the north. 1. An Englishman gave the colony its start. Hired by English merchants, explorer Henry Hudson twice entered the Arctic Ocean in an attempt to find a Northeast Passage to Asia, only to be stymied each time by sheets of sea ice. Though unable to gain additional backing in his home country, the state-sponsored Dutch East India Company soon jumped in to green-light a third voyage.

In April 1609, Hudson set off on his ship, the Halve Maen (Half Moon), but quickly reached treacherous, ice-filled waters above Norway. Choosing to disobey his instructions rather than admit defeat, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Nova Scotia and then roughly followed the coastline south to North Carolina before reversing course again and heading up what’s now called the Hudson River. In the end, shallow waters forced him to turn around, by which time he realized the river would not be a Northwest Passage to Asia. Based on his voyage, however, the Dutch claimed parts of present-day New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware for the colony of New Netherland. Hudson, meanwhile, died in 1611 following a mutiny in which he was set adrift on a small lifeboat in the Canadian Arctic. 2. The Dutch settled tiny Governors Island before Manhattan. Fur-trading expeditions up the Hudson River got going almost immediately after Hudson’s voyage, but the colony grew at a snail’s pace. The first major group of settlers did not arrive until 1624, when 30 French-speaking Protestant families from present-day Belgium came over, fleeing oppression.

Most were sent to Albany, whereas others set up on the Delaware River, on the Connecticut River and on Governors Island, a small landmass at the Hudson River’s mouth that is now largely parkland. On Governors Island, they built a fort, a windmill and likely other structures as well. But they quickly outgrew it, and by 1626 had founded New Amsterdam on the southern tip of nearby Manhattan Island. For safety purposes, the families elsewhere in the colony also moved to New Amsterdam following a war between the Mohawk and Mahican Indians that the Dutch became involved in on the losing side. From that point forward, the city was New Netherland’s largest and most important settlement. Peter Minuit's "purchase" of Manhattan, May 1626. 3. Contrary to legend, the Dutch didn’t buy Manhattan for $24. As part of their settlement of Manhattan, the Dutch purportedly purchased the island from the Native Americans for trade goods worth 60 guilders. More than two centuries later, using then-current exchange rates, a U.S. historian calculated that amount as $24, and the number stuck in the public’s mind.

Yet it’s not as if the Dutch handed over a “$20 bill and four ones,” explained Charles T. Gehring, director of the New Netherland Research Center at the New York State Library. “It’s a totally inaccurate figure.” He pointed out that the trade goods, such as iron kettles and axes, were invaluable to the Native Americans since they couldn’t produce those things themselves. Moreover, the Native Americans had a completely different concept of land ownership. As a result, they almost certainly believed they were renting out Manhattan for temporary use, not giving it away forever. Due in part to such cultural misunderstandings, the Dutch repeatedly found themselves at odds with various Native American tribes, most notably in the brutal Kieft’s War of the 1640s. “The Dutch were instructed by their authorities to be fair and honest with the Indians,” said Firth Haring Fabend, author of “New Netherland in a Nutshell.” “But you can’t say they were much better [than the other European nations colonizing the Americas.] They were all terrible.” 4. Manhattan was a melting pot even then.

From the very beginning, New Amsterdam hosted a diverse population, in sharp contrast to the homogeneous English settlements going up in New England. In addition to the Dutch, many Africans (both free and slave), Scots, English, Germans, Scandinavians, French Huguenots, Muslims, Jews and Native Americans, among others, roamed the city’s streets. As early as 1643, a Jesuit missionary reported that New Amsterdam’s few hundred residents spoke 18 different languages between them. The various groups did not always get along. In 1654, for instance, Peter Stuyvesant, the peg-legged director-general of New Netherland, attempted to turn away a boatload of Jewish refugees, calling them “very repugnant” and “deceitful.” He also persecuted Lutherans and Quakers and owned dozens of slaves. Yet compared to other European colonies, relative tolerance prevailed. “It was limited, it was grudging, it wasn’t celebrating diversity or anything like that, but it was a distinct step forward,” explained Russell Shorto, author of “The Island at the Center of the World,” a history of Manhattan’s founding.

“It was something that was really a different way of approaching things.” Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant surrenders New Amsterdam to the British, September 8, 1664. 5. The Dutch gave up the colony without a fight. At its peak, only about 9,000 people lived in New Netherland, leaving it vulnerable to attack from the English, who fought three wars against the Dutch, their main commercial rivals, between 1652 and 1674 and who vastly outnumbered them in the New World. The breaking point came in March 1664, when English King Charles II awarded the colony’s land to his brother, the Duke of York, even though the two countries were then technically at peace. A few months later, four warships with several hundred soldiers onboard arrived in New Amsterdam’s harbor and demanded that the Dutch surrender. Though Stuyvesant at least outwardly prepared to fight, prominent city residents persuaded him to stand down, and on September 8 he signed the colony over without any blood being shed. In 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch re-conquered Manhattan with an invasion force of some 600 men.

But they gave it up the following year as part of a peace treaty in which they retained Suriname in South America. “They thought that was going to be worth more,” Fabend said. “They were wrong.” 6. Signs of New Netherland are still visible. In taking over New Netherland, the English did not expel any of its residents or seize their property, and they even permitted a series of Dutch mayors in New York City. As a result, the Dutch maintained a cultural and linguistic presence, with words like “cookie” and “coleslaw” creeping into the American vernacular. Their distinct architectural style also lived on, as did place names, such as Brooklyn (Breuckelen), Harlem (Haarlem), Coney Island (Conyne Eylandt) and Broadway (Breede Wegh). Furthermore, the street pattern of lower Manhattan below Wall Street, along with that of Kingston, New York, and Albany, stayed largely intact. “If you don’t look up [at the skyscrapers], you can kind of fool yourself into thinking you’re in New Amsterdam,” Shorto said. Despite the massive amount of development that has taken place in New York City, a small amount of physical evidence remains.

In Brooklyn, for example, the so-called Wyckoff House, first built around 1652, still stands. As for their political legacy, some historians credit the Dutch with influencing the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Tags Empire State History - New York Under The Duke of York New York Under The Duke of York (what you missed in the previous chapter.... Rule of the Dutch 1609-1664 ) (1664 - 1688) About the time of the discovery of New York, a company of English Puritans, persecuted for their religion, fled to Holland. They asked the Dutch authorities to be allowed to settle in the new country. They were refused and sailing for English soil landed, as the world knows, at Plymouth Rock, on the 21st of December, 1620. This was three years before the arrival of the first families in New Netherland. Had the Puritans' request been granted, the entire history of America would have been changed. The Duke of York These men of New England by emigrating to New Netherlands helped to accomplish, what the Dutch authorities had at first feared, the capture of the province by the British crown.

Meanwhile in England the Puritans had driven out the king and placed Oliver Cromwell at the head of the government. Soon after Cromwell's death, however, Charles II, returned to the throne in 1660; and one of his first acts was to give his brother, James, Duke of York, all the land lying between Connecticut and Delaware rivers. The Duke to secure this gift, which was not his brother's to give, armed and sent out a fleet under the command of Colonel Richard Nichols. The easy conquest of Nicholas was a deed of robbery. There was not even the excuse of war, since Holland and England were at peace. So that it is little to the credit of the conquerors that they offered the surprised garrison favorable terms and encouraged the Dutch settlers to remain on their land. The Beginning of English Rule The eight or nine thousand colonists now found themselves in a province named New York, in honor of the Duke. New York was the name given to New Amsterdam also, and as if that was enough, the fort was called Fort James and Fort Orange was called Albany from another title of the Duke.

The director-general became governor; the burgomasters, magistrates; the schepens, alderman; the schouts, sheriffs; the koopmen, secretaries. But the change in affairs of the colony was mostly a change of name. True, the people received assurance of religious liberty, equal taxation, toleration of former customs and the security of land titles; but they obtained nothing of the coveted New England liberty, no right to elect their officers and to levy taxes. The First English Governor The first English governor, to whom all power was given, was Colonel Nichols himself. The most important of his appointments was that of Thomas Willet to be the first mayor of New York city, a city which was then incorporated after the manner of English towns. Nichols had received from the Duke on leaving England minute orders for the government of the colony which he had expected to seize. These instructions placed in his hands more power than the governor of any other English colony in America had, and more power than even the Dutch governors had possessed. in many respects Nichols was no more able ruler than were the Dutch director-generals; but he had one quality which they had not, the tact to manage the people.

He needed all hi ingenuity, for he had to control a people two-thirds of whom had customs and language different from his own; and he had to levy heavy taxes in order to prepare the forts for the expected attempt of Holland to regain the stolen colony. He succeeded in making himself more popular with the Dutch than with the English. The Puritan inhabitants of Long Island and Westchester, a part of the colony then known as Yorkshire, had been brought up to believe the town meetings of New England; and at an assembly called to meet at Hempstead, thirty-four delegates appeared and asked for the rights to elect their officers. This they were refused by the governor, and, having nothing else to do, obediently agreed to a code of laws made out by the Duke and known as "The Duke's Laws." Neighboring Colonies The grant to the Duke of York was, as has been said, of the land between Connecticut and the Delaware; and the same paper gave him claim to all the islands between Cape Cod and Cape May.

Connecticut, however, had no more intention of giving her settlements on eastern Long Island and on the west bank of the Connecticut river to an English colony than to the Dutch; but rather than quarrel with Nichols, her people agreed to leave the disputed boundary to a commission. The men thus appointed gave to New York all of Long Island, much to the disgust of its eastern towns, and to Connecticut a favorable boundary on the main land, about indeed as it now remains. When Governor Nichols saw such a considerable portion taken from the eastern side of his province, he turned the western boundary, and found there a still larger part gone; for the Duke, unknown to Nichols, had given to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret the land lying between the Hudson and the Delaware. To this caprice of the Duke is due the fact that there is a State of New Jersey and that New York is not bounded on the south by Delaware Bay. For some years still the present State of Delaware was a part of New York until bought by William Penn; and for a long time tribute was exacted from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Change of Governor What was left of the Duke's grant was quite enough to worry the well meaning Nichols.

The work was hard, the honor and pay small; and he obtained his recall. A little later while fighting the very nation from whom had stolen a colony, he was killed. His four years' rule must in the main be called credible, and was especially acceptable to the Indians, the importance of whose good will he clearly saw. In his place came Lord Lovelace, a favorite of the English court, who soon incurred the dislike of the people. Ten towns sent in a petition against unjust taxation, only to have their paper burned by the common hangman and to be told their governor that "the people should have liberty for no thought but how to pay their taxes." Still the colony was not entirely mismanaged. the Hollanders were encouraged to mingle with the English and to adopt the customs of their rulers. The Indians were kept on friendly terms and their lands fairly bought. But in the decade following the surrender of Stuyvesant the colony did not prosper. The trade with England did not equal the interrupted traffic with Holland; wars in Europe prevented immigration and interfered with commerce.

A letter to the Duke described Long Island as "very poor and inconsiderable, and besides the city of New York," said writer,"there are but two Dutch towns of any importance, Esopus and Albany." New York city contained less than four hundred houses; though it appears as a sign of progress that a line of post messengers was at this time established between that city and Boston, along paths marked by blazed trees. Digital History Digital History Digital History ID 3586 In 1648, after an eighty-year struggle, the Dutch Republic won its independence from Spanish rule. The seventeenth century was the Netherlands's golden age, during which the Dutch produced some of the world's greatest painters, like Rembrandt, great philosophers, like Spinoza, and great mathematicians and astronomers, like Christian Huygens. During the golden age, the Netherlands also developed a colonial empire with bases stretching from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Brazil to Aruba, the Antilles, and the southern tip of Africa. It was also the only western country permitted to trade with Japan.

A major sea power, the Dutch in 1650 owned 16,000 of the 20,000 ships engaged in European commerce. In an effort to find a sea route around the Americas to Asia, the Dutch East India Company sent Henry Hudson and a crew of 20 to search for a westward passage. On his third voyage, in 1611, Hudson sailed into the harbor of present-day New York City and journeyed up the river named after him as far as Albany, thereby establishing Dutch claims to the region. In 1621, the Dutch West India Company (which had been founded to trade in West Africa and the Americas) began to colonize New Netherlands, which encompassed parts of present-day New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Connecticut. From the outset, New Netherlands was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. Only about half the population was Dutch; the remainder included French, Germans, and Scandinavians, as well as a small number of Jews from Brazil. The Dutch considered New Netherlands a minor part of their colonial empire, valuable primarily as a source of furs.

But many merchants were attracted by the colony's promise of freedom of worship, local self-government, and free land that would remain tax exempt for ten years. But even before an English fleet captured New Amsterdam in 1664, many of the colony's residents had been alienated by corruption, trade monopolies, and arbitrary taxation and on-going conflict with neighbor Indian nations. Between 1652 and 1674, the Dutch fought three naval wars with England. The English had hoped to wrest control of shipping and trading from the Dutch but failed. As a result of these conflicts, the Dutch won what is now Surinam from England, while the English received New Netherlands from the Dutch. In 1664, the English sent a fleet to seize New Netherlands, which surrendered without a fight. The English renamed the colony New York, after James, the Duke of York, who had received a charter to the territory from his brother King Charles II. The Dutch briefly recaptured New Netherlands in 1673, but the colony was returned to the English the next year. Under Dutch rule, New Netherlands had suffered from ethnic tension, political instability, and protracted Indian warfare, which retarded immigration. Similar problems persisted under English administration.

One source of tension was the Duke of York's refusal to permit a representative assembly, which was not established until 1683. Another source of tension was the "patroon" system, which the Dutch West India Company set up in 1629 to promote settlement. Patroons were given huge estates, which they rented to tenant farmers. Patroons had the power to control such aspects of settlers' lives as their right to move, establish businesses, and marry. The Duke of York allowed Dutch landowners to retain these estates, and gave equally large tracts of land to his supporters. By 1703, five families held approximately 1.75 million acres of New York. By 1750, these families had become among colonial America's wealthiest landed elite. Although these landowners lost their feudal privileges as a result of the Revolution, they still owned about 1.8 million acres of land in the early nineteenth century. Between 1839 and 1846, tenant farmers on these properties staged "Anti-Rent Wars," demanding title to lands that they felt rightfully belonged to them. In 1846, New York granted the tenants their farms.

A Brief History of the Colony of New York, 1609-1692 Colony Of New York A Brief History "New York, originally called New Netherlands, was so named in honor of the Duke of York and Albany, England, to whom the territory was granted on its conquest from its first settlers, the Dutch. On September 13th 1609, a vessel called the Crescent came to anchor within Sandy Hook [New Jersey], about seventeen miles from the present city of New York. It was the first vessel ever within those waters. Her commander, Henry Hudson, was an English captain in the service of the Dutch East India Company, and on a voyage for discovering a northern passage to India; but, failing in this, he proceeded along the shores of Newfoundland, and thence southward, as far as Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. On returning, he was exploring the coast, with the hope of finding a passage through the continent to the Pacific Ocean, when he came to anchor at Sandy Hook.

Having spent a week here, he passed through the Narrows at the entrance to New York Harbor, and 'went sounding his way above the highlands,' until at last the Crescent had sailed some miles above the city of Hudson, and a boat had advanced a little beyond Albany. Having employed ten days in this manner, and in frequent intercourse with the Indians resident on the banks of the river, Hudson descended on October 14th and sailed for England, 'leaving once more to its solitude' the waterway which after some years would bear his name. In November, he reached England, when he forwarded to his Dutch employers, 'a brilliant account' of his discoveries; but the English monarch, James I, forbid his return to Holland, lest the Dutch, by virtue of his having sailed under their patronage, should lay claim to the country. The Dutch, as feared, did lay claim to it; and the following year the East India Company fitted out a ship with various merchandise, bound for the newly discovered river, to trade with the natives. The enterprise was successful, and more voyagers succeeded.

Several rude houses were erected on the island, called by the natives Manhattan; and here, in 1613, Captain Argall, when on his return, with his fleet, from an expedition against the French at Port Royal, found several Dutch traders. But he promptly demanded a surrender of the place to the English crown, as properly constituting a part of Virginia . The surrender was reluctantly made; but, on his departure, the Dutch continued their residence. During the following year in 1614, the Dutch constructed a rude fort on the southern part of the island, which was the beginning of New Amsterdam, afterward called New York. In 1615, a settlement was begun near the present site of Albany, to which the name of Fort Orange was given. The country received the name New Netherlands. Notwithstanding the claim of Argall in 1613, to the territory of New Netherlands, as belonging to the English crown, the Dutch held possession of it until 1664, with the English meanwhile neglecting further pretensions to it.

In 1621, the Dutch republic of Holland granted to the Dutch West India Company—a corporation then recently formed—a territory whose boundaries were not accurately defined; but which the latter construed as including the lands between Delaware River on the south, and Connecticut River on the north. The foregoing boundaries, therefore included, besides New York, the present States of Delaware, New Jersey, a considerable part of Connecticut, and Long Island; and to these several territories the Dutch subsequently laid claim, and these claims, in after years, involved them in serious and very troublesome disputes with the English. Small settlements, in addition to those at New Amsterdam and Albany, were early begun, in New Jersey, in Delaware, on the west end of Long Island; and a trading house or fort, at Hartford, on the Connecticut River, which Bancroft says the Dutch had discovered a little previous to the erection of the trading house, by Holmes, at Windsor, Connecticut . The first governor of New Netherlands, appointed by the West India Company, was Peter Minuits, who arrived at New Amsterdam in 1625; and with him came a company who settled at Brooklyn on Long Island.

Under him were several officers, or functionaries, as a Opper-Koopman, or chief merchant, an Onder-Koopman, a Koopman, and an assistant. During the administration of Governor Minuits, the foundation was laid for the manors of New York; some of which remained until the 1800s, and which, on account of rents demanded from those who improve the leased lands belonging to those manors, were for many years the cause of sad disturbances in that state. In 1629, the above West India Company, in order to give an impulse to colonization in their territory, allowed some persons, within four years, to undertake colonization, consisting of selected lands, which should descend to their posterity forever. Of this privilege several availed themselves. Such were called lords of the manor, or patroons, or patrons. By these patrons, Wouter Van Twiller was dispatched as an agent, to inspect the condition of the country, and to purchase the lands of the Indians previous to settlement—a condition specified by the West India Company. It was also recommended that a minister and schoolmaster should be provided.

In 1633, Minuits was recalled due to disturbances in the colony, and Wouter Van Twiller, the former agent, succeeded him. A few months before his arrival, the Dutch, who had discovered the Connecticut River, had erected a trading house or fort, where Hartford stands, as noticed in the history of Connecticut. Under Van Twiller, the interests of the colony considerably advanced; with the exception of controversies occasioned by the encroachments of the English on the eastern end of Long Island and western part of Connecticut began. In 1638, Van Twiller was succeeded by Sir William Kieft, a man of enterprise and ability, but impetuous and imperious. From this time, the history of the Dutch is little less than a chronicle of struggles and contentions with English, Swedes, and Indians. About the same time that Kieft began his administration, a colony of Swedes, under ex-Governor Minuits, had arrived, and formed a settlement on Christiana Creek, near Wilmington, in the present State of Delaware.

To this movement Kieft opposed; but the Swedes gradually extended their settlements, a length occupying the territory from Cape Henlopen to the Falls of Delaware, opposite Trenton. This territory was called New Sweden. But the Dutch were destined to troubles far more serious. For some time dishonest traders had overreached the Indians of Long Island and New Jersey, and they sought revenge. In 1640, they ruined the settlement on Staten Island. In consequence of this, the Dutch fitted out a roving expedition, south of the Hudson River, against the Indians; but it proved fruitless. Then, a Hollander was killed by the son of a chief. The Indians expressed their grief, but refused to surrender the murderer. Kieft was irate, and united with a party of Mohawks, just then arrived from the north, in an expedition of blood and death against the neighboring tribes. In the stillness of a dark winter's night in February 1643, the united forces crossed the Hudson, and the work of destruction began. Nearly a hundred of the Indian men, women and children, perished in the carnage.

No sooner was it discovered by the surrounding tribes that the Dutch united with the Mohawks in this midnight attack, but they were seized with the frenzy of revenge. And their revenge was seemingly full. Villages were laid waste; the farmer was murdered in his field, and his children swept into captivity. It was on this occasion that the celebrated Anne Hutchinson, who was banished from Massachusetts , perished with her family. So greatly were the Dutch pressed, and so imminent became their danger, that they were compelled to sue for peace. Fortunately, that peace-maker Roger Williams , then in Manhattan, on his way to England, intervened, and a truce between the contending parties was effected. But harmony and confidence were not restored. The Indians found themselves not satisfied. They thirsted for further revenge, and the war was renewed. The Dutch, however, had no competent leader. They therefore engaged the services of Captain John Underhill, one of the bravest men of his day, but who had been banished from Massachusetts for his religious eccentricities. With one hundred and twenty men, Underhill met and attacked and routed the Indians, on Long Island, and at Strickland Plains, Horseneck.

At length, after the war had continued two years, both Dutch and Indians became weary of the contest. At this time, the Mohawks stepped In, and claimed sovereignty over all the tribes in the neighborhood of Manhattan, and through their influence, these tribes made peace with the Dutch in 1645. Such was the joy diffused through the colony at this event, that a general Thanksgiving was observed. Kieft, the author of much of the blood which had been shed, had infamy is attached to his life. His conduct was reprobated both at home and abroad. Deprived of his office, he left, some time after, for Europe, in a richly-laden ship; but before reaching his destination, his vessel was engulfed in the briny waters, and the guilty Kieft perished: The fourth and last governor of New Netherlands was Peter Stuyvesant, who succeeded Kieft in 1647. He was a brave officer, who had served as viceroy in one of the West India Islands; a scholar of some learning, and an honest man. His policy toward the Indians was marked by kindness; in consequence of which, a more peaceable disposition prevailed among them.

But the controversy of the Dutch with other parties still continued. In 1650, Stuyvesant went to Hartford, to demand a full surrender of the lands on the Connecticut River. After several days spent in controversy, it was agreed that Long Island should be divided: the Dutch claims to extend to Oyster Bay, thirty miles east of the city; and on the mainland as far as Greenwich, near the present boundary between the States of New York and Connecticut. The Dutch were compelled to relinquish the lands on the Connecticut River, excepting those of which they then held actual possession; and these were some time after isolated. On the Delaware River, the Swedes made strenuous efforts to maintain their power; but in 1655 Stuyvesant sailed, with six hundred men, for their reduction, and in this enterprise he was successful. The Swedish power was annihilated. Some of the colonists, with their governor, Rising, returned to Europe; others removed to Maryland and Virginia. The rest, taking an oath of allegiance to Holland, continued on their lands, under Dutch rule.

In 1663, a sudden eruption was made by the Indians upon the village of Esopus, now Kingston, ninety miles above New York on the Hudson. Sixty-five of the inhabitants were either killed or made captives. But the Indians suffered greatly in return, by means of a force sent up from New Amsterdam, which laid waste to their fields, and killed many of their warriors. In December, a truce was proclaimed, and the captives taken by the Indians were released. In the following May, a treated of peace was concluded. But the government of the Dutch over New Netherlands was now drawing to a close. The English had never ceased to regard the territory as belonging to them, by virtue of its discovery by Hudson, as an Englishman, but still more on the ground of the first discovery of the continent, by Cabot. In 1664, therefore, Charles II, King of England, disregarding all other claims, made a grant, to his brother James, then Duke of York, to the whole territory from the Connecticut River to the Delaware River, including, therefore, besides a part of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. The duke was not slow to assert his claim.

He fitted out a squadron, consisting of four frigates and three hundred men, under command of Sir Robert Nichols, who immediately sailed for New Amsterdam. On entering the harbor, Stuyvesant addressed him a letter, desiring to know the reason of his approach. To this Nichols replied, the next day, by a summons to surrender. Stuyvesant, determining on a defense, refused to surrender; but, at length, finding himself without the means of resistance, and that many of the people were desirous of passing under the jurisdiction of the English, he surrendered the government into the hands of Colonel Nichols, who promised to secure to the governor and inhabitants their liberties and estates, with all the privileges of English subjects. The jurisdiction of the territory having thus passed into the hands of the English, New Amsterdam was changed to New York, and Fort Orange received the name of Albany. About the same time, the Swedes, on Delaware Bay and River, capitulated to Sir Robert Carr, an associate of Nichols; thus completing the subjection of New Netherlands to the British crown. Long Island, notwithstanding that it had been long before granted to the Earl of Sterling, the duke purchased; and it became and since continued, part of New York.

Colonel Nichols now assumed the government, in the name of the Duke of York, and continued in office for a little more than three years. His administration was marked by moderation, yet the people were allowed no representation, but he himself exercised both legislative and executive power. Contrary to all right, however, the titles to lands held by the Dutch they were compelled to renew at exorbitant charges, which went to the profit of the governor. Nichols resigned to Governor Lovelace in 1667, whoso administration corresponded, in its essential features, to that of his predecessor; but a remonstrance of the people to taxation without representation he ordered to be dealt with by the common hangman. In 1672, during the administration of Lovelace, war was declared by England against Holland; upon which, in the following year, a small Dutch squadron was sent against New York. Lovelace being absent at the time of its arrival, August 9th, the city was surrendered, by Captain Manning, without firing a gun, or otherwise attempting to defend the place. For this he was tried, condemned, and cashiered.

Peace was restored in February of the following year; and in early November, New York, to which the old title of New Netherlands had been once more given, was again restored to the English, as were New Jersey and Delaware, which had submitted temporarily to Dutch rule. To remove all controversy respecting his title to the lands granted him while they were in possession of the Dutch, the Duke of York took out a new patent, and appointed Sir Edmund Andros governor, who entered upon this position in October 1674. But his administration was arbitrary and severe. He admitted the people to no share in legislation, but ruled them by laws to which they had never given their assent. Connecticut also experienced the weight of his oppression and despotism. The part of her territory west of the Connecticut River, although long before granted to the colony of Connecticut, was included in the grant to the Duke of York. By virtue of this grant, Andros now claimed jurisdiction over the territory, and in July 1675, made an attempt with an armed force, to take possession of Saybrook Fort. The Governor and Council of Connecticut, having notice of his design, dispatched Captain Bull to defend the fort.

On the arrival of Andros at the mouth of the river with a show of force, he invited Captain Bull to a conference. This was granted; but no sooner had he landed, than he attempted to read his commission and the duke's patent. Captain Bull firmly and positively forbid this; and Sir Edmund, finding the colony determined, in all events, not to submit to his government, relinquished his design, and sailed away for Long Island During the year 1682, an important change was effected in respect to the 'Territories,' as the present State of Delaware was then called—namely, a transfer of them, by the Duke of York to William Penn, from which time, until the American Revolution, they remained attached to Pennsylvania, or were under her jurisdiction. On the return of Andros to England, Colonel Thomas Dongan, who, as well as the duke, was a Roman Catholic, was appointed governor, and arrived in the colony in 1683, with instructions to call an assembly, to consist of a council of ten, and of eighteen representatives, elected by the freeholders.

On the accession of the Duke of York to the throne, under the title of James II, he refused to confirm to the people the privileges granted them while he was duke. No assembly was permitted to be convened, printing presses were prohibited, and the more important provincial offices were conferred on Catholics. In 1688, New York and New Jersey were added to the jurisdiction of New England, and the arbitrary Andros was appointed captain-general of the whole. At the same time, Dongan was removed, and Francis Nicholson, who had been lieutenant governor under him, was appointed governor under Andros. Such was the position of affairs in 1689, when news of the flight of James II, and of the accession of William and Mary to the throne, had arrived. Andros, as has been related, was seized in Boston and imprisoned. This was joyful intelligence to the people of New York, who immediately rose in open rebellion to the existing government. Immediately upon this, one Jacob Leisler and forty-nine others seized the fort at New York City, and held it for William and Mary.

Nicholson and his officers made what opposition they were able; but being overpowered, he, the council and magistrates, of whom Colonel Bayard was at the head, retired to Albany. While affairs were in this posture, a letter from Lords Carmathen and Halifax had arrived, vesting Nicholson with the chief command. As Nicholson had absconded, Leisler construed the letter as directed to himself, and from that time assumed the title and authority of lieutenant governor. The southern part of New York generally submitted to him; but Albany refusing subjection. Milborn, his son-in-law, was sent to demand the surrender of the fort; but failing, he returned without accomplishing his object. On March 29th 1691, Colonel Sloughter arrived at New York, in the capacity of king's governor. Nicholson and Bayard, who had been imprisoned by Leisler, were released. The latter now surrendered the fort, and, with Milborn, his son-in-law, was apprehended, tried for high treason, and condemned. Their immediate execution was urged by the people; but the governor, fearful of consequences, chose to defer it.

To effect their purpose, an invitation was given him by the citizens to a sumptuous feast, and while his reason was drowned by intoxication, a warrant for their execution was presented to him. Before he recovered his senses, the prisoners were no more. Such violent measures greatly agitated the existing parties; but in the end, the revolution which had taken place restored the rights of Englishmen to the colony. Governor Sloughter convoked an assembly, which formed a constitution. This, among other provisions, secured trials by jury; freedom from taxation, except by the consent of the assembly; and toleration to all denominations of Christians, except Roman Catholics. It may be added, that the civil history of New York, from this period to the French War, presents few events of special interest. In general, for the next fifty years, the governors of New York were strongly attached to the interests of the crown, and were more solicitous to subserve their own selfish purposes, than to advance the permanent welfare of the colony. Thus, collisions frequently arose between them and the colonial assemblies, which disturbed the general peace, and retarded the prosperity of the colony. — A History of the United States, by Charles A.

Goodrich, 1857 (edited) The surrender of New Netherland, 1664 | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History The surrender of New Netherland, 1664 A primary source by Richard Nicholls View this item in the Collection. The Dutch colonization of New Netherland (which included parts of present-day New York, Delaware, New Jersey and Connecticut) began in the 1620s. From the outset, New Netherland was a multiethnic, multireligious society: about half of the population was Dutch and the remainder included French, Germans, Scandinavians, and small numbers of Jews from Brazil. Settlers were attracted to the colony’s promises of freedom of worship, local self-government, and free land that would remain tax-exempt for ten years. Between 1652 and 1674, the Dutch and English fought three naval wars, battling for supremacy in shipping and trade. England’s Charles II promised New Netherland to his brother, James, Duke of York. In May 1664 James dispatched Colonel Richard Nicolls [or Nichols] to seize the colony.

Three hundred soldiers from four warships went ashore on Long Island in August and moved west to Brooklyn, enlisting support from the English towns on Long Island and distributing handbills ahead of the advancing troops offering fair treatment for those who surrendered. Nicolls approached Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch governor of New Netherland, promising that in return for surrender the settlers would “peaceably enjoy whatsoever God’s blessing and their own honest industry have furnished them with and all other privileges with his majesty’s English subjects.” Stuyvesant, who favored resistance, tried to convince New Amsterdam’s merchants and leaders to keep news of Nicolls’s lenient surrender terms secret. They balked, and Stuyvesant was forced to surrender the colony, though under terms that he, the merchants, and leaders agreed upon with Nicolls. The “Articles, Whereupon the Citty and Fort Amsterdam and the Province of the New Netherlands Were Surrendered” were remarkably generous. The Dutch were allowed to stay on their land, religious freedom was upheld, and the pubs stayed open. These terms, coupled with New Netherland’s multiculturalism, had a lasting impact on the character of New York City. A full transcript is available.

Excerpt Wee consent that the States Generall, or the West India Company shall freely enjoy all ffarms & Houses (except such as are in the fforts) and that within six months they shall have free Liberty to transport, all such arms and ammunition as now do belong to them, or else they shall be payd for them. 2. All publick Houses shall continue for the uses, wch. now they are for. 3. All people shall continue free Denizons and enjoy their Lands, Houses, Goods, Ships, wherever they are within this Country, and dispose of them as they please. 4. If any Inhabitant have a mind to remove himself he shall have a year and six weeks from this day to remove himself, Wife, Children, Servts. Goods and to dispose of his Land here. 5. If any officer of State of publick Minister of State have a mind to go for England they shall be transported fraught free in His Ma.t’s ffriggatts, when those ffriggats shall returne thither. 6.

It is consented to, that any people may freely come from the Netherlands and plant in this Country; and that Dutch Vessells may freely come hither, and any of the Dutch may freely return home, or send any sort of Merchandises home in Vessells of their own Country. 7. All ships from the Netherlands or any other places, and goods therin, shall be received here & sent hence, after the manner, wch. formerly they were before our coming hither for six months next ensuing. 8. The Dutch here shall enjoy their Liberty of their Consciences in Divine Worship and Church Dissipline. 9. No Dutchman here or Dutch Ship here shall upon any occasion be prest to serve in Warr against any Nation whatsoever. 10. That the Townesman of the Manhattoo shall not have any Soldiers quartered upon them wth.out being satisfied and payd for them, by their officers, and that at this present, if the ffort be not capable of lodging all the Soldiers, then the Burge Master by His officers shall appoint some House capable to re[illegible]e them. 11. The Dutch here shall enjoy their own Customes concerning their Inheritances. 12.

All publick writings and Records wch. Concerns the Inheritances of any people, or the Regulment of the Church or Poor or Orphans shall bee carefully kept by them in whose hands now they are, and such writings as particularly concern the states generall all may att any time be sent to them. 13. No Judgement that hath passed any Judicature here shall be called in question, but if any conceive that he hath not had Justice done him, if hee apply himself to the states Generall, the other party shall bee bound to answer for the supposed Injury. 14. If any Dutch living here shall att any time desire to travell or traffique into England or any place or Plantation in obedience to His Maty of England, or with the Indians he shall have (upon his Request to the Govr.) a Certificate that he is a free Denizon of this Place, and Liberty to do so . . . Questions for Discussion You are seeing this page because you are not currently logged into our website. If you would like to access this page and you are not logged in, please login or register for a gilderlehrman.org account, and then visit the link that brought you to this notice. Thanks!

Question: The city of New York was named after the brother of which English monarch?
Answer: King Charles II