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Tags: Countries, Lang:en
Summary
Includes pictures Includes contemporary accounts of
colonial New York *Includes a bibliography for further reading
“One belongs to New York instantly; one belongs to it as
much in five minutes as in five years.” – Tom Wolfe
New York City. The Big Apple. The city of dreams. The city so
nice they named it twice. These are just some of the monikers
given to not only the most highly populated city in North
America, but perhaps the most culturally diverse region in all
the world. Modern age New York is stamped on the map for its
breathtaking skylines and iconic financial centers, as well as
being the quintessential melting pot, where people go to
“make it big” and take a chance on long-awaited
dreams. What is less known is the rich tapestry of history
behind this one-of-a-kind city. It is one that tells the story
of invigorating hope, new discoveries, and broadening horizons,
shaped by power wrangles and blood-shedding – all for the
sake of conquest. After much exploration in the early 17th
century, the Dutch returned to build settlements on the
southern tip of Manhattan and elsewhere, and by 1626 trade was
brisk both between the Native Americans and the European
settlers and between the settlers and their mother countries.
In the 1620s, the Dutch established their first permanent base
at Fort Orange, a city now known as Albany, and the Dutch
dispatched vessels housing 30 families to Nutten Island and
re-branded the settlement as “New Amsterdam.” All
in all, 110 men, women, and young children of the Belgian
Huguenots – a French Protestant sect – settled in
their new sanctuary. This would be the breeding ground for the
Dutch's new experiment. They aimed to create a city of
religious tolerance, where people from all backgrounds could
seek refuge and live alongside one another in peace. More so,
the Dutch were in the business of making money, a mission that
still rings true of the state in this day and age. In 1652,
England and the Netherlands were at war, but heavy losses on
both sides hurried the prospect of peace. Nevertheless, the two
countries’ representatives in the New World were
increasingly hostile toward each other, even though they were
an ocean away from the main belligerents. The Puritans of New
England were said to be intent on attacking Manhattan, so
preparations were made in New Amsterdam. A wall would be
erected at New Amsterdam’s northern border, at a cost of
5,000 guilders, with the labor being cheaply supplied by
slaves. Made of 15 foot planks, bastions, cannons, and two
gates (one at the corner of present-day Wall and Pearl, the
other at Wall and Broadway) the location of the wall would
become not a barrier to invasion but the center of the
financial world. In the meantime, however, the wall ultimately
proved as useless as all other Dutch defenses and strategies.
In 1664, Colonel Richard Nicolls was sent by the English Duke
of York to take Manhattan and all other Dutch holdings. Nicolls
sent Stuyvesant a letter that promised life and liberty for all
if the inhabitants would lay down their arms and surrender.
Stuyvesant hid this letter and tore up another, but powerful
residents in New Amsterdam forced him to give up in the face of
too formidable an enemy. In the end, the diversity of New
Amsterdam helped assure that the people would rather become
part of New York City than lose everything. The Dutch briefly
reclaimed the city, but the tide had turned, and New York
became an English settlement. For their own part, the
Lenni-Lenape who had lived there for so long dwindled until
there were only about 200 of them left at the beginning of the
18th century. Colonial New York City: The History of the City
under British Control before the American Revolution chronicles
the history of the city during its time in British hands. Along
with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will
learn about New York City as a British possession like never
before, in no time at all. **