United States · north america
How New Amsterdam Became New York
A Dutch trading post, a forgotten war, and a name change that made history.
How a muddy Dutch colony on the tip of Manhattan was quietly handed to the English in 1664 — and why the real prize for the Dutch was a tiny island of nutmeg in Indonesia.
This story is still being researched by our editorial team. The published article will replace this placeholder shortly.
In the summer of 1664, four English warships dropped anchor in the harbour of a Dutch trading town called New Amsterdam. Within weeks, the town had a new name.
What the article will cover
- Why the Dutch cared more about a nutmeg island than a continent
- How Peter Stuyvesant’s 1,500 colonists were outmanned and outmanoeuvred
- The Second Anglo-Dutch War, the Treaty of Breda, and the land swap that gave England Manhattan and the Dutch their tiny prize, Run Island
- What the city would have looked like if the Dutch had kept it
Come back soon to read the full story.