The Development of the Middle Colonies of North America New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania

New Netherland In 1621 the Dutch founded a colony just south of New England and called it New Netherland. The capital was a port city at the mouth of the Hudson River called New Amsterdam. The colony emphasized its fur trade, but most people migrated there for its religious and ethnic tolerance.

The English Take Over New Netherland The English viewed New Netherland as a wedge separating its northern and southern colonies. In 1664, King Charles the II granted the Duke of York to drive out the Dutch, which he did without firing a shot. The Duke of York named it New York. He gave a southern portion to his friends and they named it New Jersey.

The Quakers Settle Pennsylvania To pay a debt, King Charles II gave William Penn a large amount of property that he called Pennsylvania or “Penn’s Woods”. Penn then acquired land from the Duke of York, which he named Delaware in Penn was his colony as a “holy experiment” where Quakers could live keeping with their ideals of fairness and peace. He established the “City of Brotherly Love”, or Philadelphia. Pennsylvania had friendly relations with Natives.