new amsterdam was the main settlement in the dutch colony of
New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (Dutch: Nieuw Amsterdam) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The factorij became a settlement outside of Fort Amsterdam. The fort was situated on the strategic southern tip of the island of Manhattan and was meant to defend the fur trade operations of the Dutch West India Company in the North River (Hudson River). In 1624, it became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic and was designated as the capital of the province in 1625.
Dutch colonization of the Americas In 1664, an English naval expedition ordered by Prince James, Duke of York and of Albany (later King James II & VII) sailed in the harbor at New Amsterdam, threatening to attack. Being greatly outnumbered, Director-General Peter Stuyvesant surrendered after negotiating favorable articles of capitulation. The Province then took a new name, New York (from James's English title). Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany (from James's Scottish title). The region between the lower Hudson and the Delaware was deeded to proprietors and called New Jersey.