The British renamed the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to New York in 1664 to honor James, the Duke of York (later King James II), brother of King Charles II. They also referred to the surrounding region as the Province of New York. The name change occurred after Colonel Richard Nicholls seized the colony from the Dutch.
The city was initially called New Amsterdam, capital of the Dutch Nieuw Nederlands colony. It gained its current name in the 1660s when the Dutch surrendered the colony to the English. It was named in honour of the Duke of York, who later became King James II of England.
New York is a city of nicknames. The City That Never Sleeps, Empire City, The City So Nice They Named It Twice… and of course Gotham, which we've covered before. Today let's just look at the Big Apple.
The settlement was named New Amsterdam in 1626 and was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under English control in 1664 and was temporarily renamed New York after King Charles II granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York, before this name was permanently adopted in 1674.
"The Big Apple" was popularized as a name for New York City by John J. Fitz Gerald in a number of horse-racing articles for the New York Morning Telegraph in the 1920s.
Originally known as Long Acre (also Longacre) Square after London's carriage district, Times Square served as the early site for William H. Vanderbilt's American Horse Exchange.
The Encyclopedia of New York City offers other derivations, including from the Munsee dialect of Lenape: manahachtanienk ("place of general inebriation"), manahatouh ("place where timber is procured for bows and arrows"), or menatay ("island").
Others carry the prefix "New"; for example, the largest city in the US, New York, was named after York because King Charles II gave the land to his brother, James, the Duke of York (later James II). Some places, such as Hartford, Connecticut, bear an archaic spelling of an English place (in this case Hertford).
Frequently shortened to simply "New York", "NY", or "NYC", New York City is also known as "The City" in some parts of the Eastern United States, in particular, the State of New York and surrounding U.S. states. New Yorkers also use "The City" to refer specifically to the borough of Manhattan.
No, the original Five Points neighborhood and its infamous intersection no longer physically exist in the way they once did, having been completely redeveloped with modern buildings like courthouses and Chinatown's expansion; however, its legacy lives on, with some street names (like Worth, Baxter) still referencing the area, and the location is now part of Manhattan's Civic Center and Chinatown, with Columbus Park occupying a central spot.
Hired by the Dutch West India Company to oversee its trading and colonizing activities in the Hudson River region, Minuit is famous for purchasing Manhattan from resident Algonquin Indians for the equivalent of $24.
Following its capture, New Amsterdam's name was changed to New York, in honor of the Duke of York, who organized the mission. The colony of New Netherland was established by the Dutch West India Company in 1624 and grew to encompass all of present-day New York City and parts of Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey.
New York City was originally called New Amsterdam when it was a Dutch colony in the 17th century. 2. The city became New York in 1664 after the English took control and named it in honor of the Duke of York.
The "20-hour rule NY" refers to New York's Paid Prenatal Leave Law, effective January 1, 2025, requiring private-sector employers to provide all employees (part-time or full-time) 20 hours of paid leave annually for prenatal healthcare appointments, separate from existing sick leave, covering fertility treatments, pregnancy monitoring, and end-of-pregnancy care for the person receiving care. This benefit is a new, standalone entitlement, not accrued, and applies to all private employers in the state, ensuring access to necessary care during pregnancy.
Families with 1 child need to earn at least $70,000 gross per year per person. For a single person, a minimum yearly gross income of $75,000 ($61,272 net) is considered a good salary in New York. This amounts to $6,250 monthly ($5,106 net), which is enough to cover your cost of living in New York of $4,299.
The "I love NY" slogan and logo was developed to promote tourism in New York State. Created by graphic artist Milton Glaser, it was first used in 1977. The use of a heart as a symbol for the word "love" has been widely imitated since then.
The name Manhattan originated from the Lenapes language, Munsee, manaháhtaan (where manah- means "gather", -aht- means "bow", and -aan is an abstract element used to form verb stems). The Lenape word has been translated as "the place where we get bows" or "place for gathering the (wood to make) bows".
FitzGerald, born in 1893, was a horse-racing writer for The Morning Telegraph in the 1920's and was the first to popularize the term "The Big Apple." While on assignment in New Orleans, FitzGerald overheard African-American stablehands refer to New York City race-courses as "The Big Apple." FitzGerald loved the term so ...
The site is owned by the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services, though Boston Properties and Norges Bank have a long-term leasehold on the building.
More than three-hundred and fifty years ago Wall Street was no more than a dirt road. In 1653, early Dutch settlers built a twelve foot high defensive wall on the road to keep out rival British settlers. Although the wall was never tested in battle, and was eventually dismantled in 1699, the name stuck.
