Objective: To examine the development of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Painting by Johannes Vingboons of New Amsterdam in 1664, the year it was conquered by the English.

The Dutch West India Company set up the colony of New Amsterdam in what is today New York City in 1624.

New Amsterdam slave auction, 1655 Originally settled by 110 Dutch laborers in 1624, the first eleven slaves were brought to New Amsterdam from Angola two years later. New Amsterdam slave auction, 1655

In what the Native Americans thought was a temporary arrangement, the Dutch bought the island of Manhattan for 60 gilders, or approximately $600. A 1909 postcard depicts the acquisition of Manhattan by the Dutch. The artifact was part of an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York commemorating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage to modern-day New York.

Fur Trade in New Amsterdam beaver otter mink New Amsterdam was set up as a business venture with the main industry being animal skins such as beaver, otter, and mink. Fur Trade in New Amsterdam beaver otter mink

The colony faced severe problems such as frequent drunkenness, low morale, a decreasing population, and crumbling buildings. Peter Stuyvesant was hired to help bring the colony back to prosperity and to help bring order back to the settlement.

Soon after taking control of New Amsterdam, Stuyvesant passed the following laws: - No drinking on Sunday. - No public knife fighting. - Fines were imposed for speeding on Broadway (on your horse and wagon) and for missing church services.

A wall was built from the East River to the Hudson River in order to protect the Dutch from the English and Native Americans.

This is the location where Wall Street is currently located in lower Manhattan.

New Amsterdam to New York City…A Melting Pot From the Beginning! Since there was a labor shortage, anyone able to work was allowed to settle in New Amsterdam. Settlers hailed from countries such as Holland, France, England, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Poland. New Amsterdam to New York City…A Melting Pot From the Beginning! Major ethnicities of current New York city neighborhoods: Astoria – Queens – Greek & Egyptian Bensonhurst – Brooklyn - Italian Borough Park- Brooklyn- Chassidic Jews Brighton Beach – Brooklyn - Russian Chinatown – Manhattan - Chinese Flatbush – Brooklyn - West Indian Flushing – Queens – Korean Gerritsen Beach – Brooklyn - German Greenpoint – Brooklyn - Polish Highbridge – Bronx - Ghana Jackson Heights – Queens - Colombian Morris Park – Queens - Albanian Ridgewood – Queens – Romania & Yugoslavia Rockaway Park – Queens - Irish Soundview – Bronx - Puerto Rican Spanish Harlem – Manhattan - Mexican Tremont – Bronx - Ecuador University Heights – Bronx - Vietnamese & Cambodian Wakefield – Bronx - Jamaican & Caribbean Williamsburg – Brooklyn - Israeli

Stuyvesant tried to have the Dutch West India Company kick the Jews out of the colony. However, the Company said that because of their dire need for labor, no one should be turned away and the Jews were allowed to remain. Congregation Shearith Israel in it’s current location on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Originally founded in 1655 by Spanish and Portuguese Jews settling in New Amsterdam, the congregation worshipped in four other locations before settling down here in 1897. Shearith Israel is the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States.

The British navy arrived in 1664 and easily took control of New Amsterdam without a fight. Stuyvesant tried to motivate the settlers to fight back, but the British were much too powerful. Peter Stuyvesant, in 1664, standing among residents of New Amsterdam who are pleading with him to surrender to the British who have arrived in warships to claim the territory for England

In fact, many citizens, including Stuyvesant’s own son, signed a petition stating that they would not fight and asked Stuyvesant to surrender. In addition, since most of settlers were not Dutch citizens, they felt no obligation to fight to defend the colony. Stuyvesant tearing up the petition demanding surrender.

New Amsterdam was then renamed New York, after the Duke of York, who was the brother of King Charles. Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrendering New Amsterdam to the British, September 8, 1664: wood engraving, American, late 19th century.