The Dutch called present-day New York City New Amsterdam (Dutch: Nieuw Amsterdam). Established in 1625–1626 as a fortified trading post at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, it served as the capital of the New Netherland colony. The colony was renamed New York by the British in 1664.
In 1625, Dutch settlers founded Nieuw-Amsterdam as the capital of Nieuw-Nederland on the island of Manna-hata, which according to the Native Americans meant "island of many hills". An Englishman working for the Dutch turned the Native American name into Manhattan.
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. A successful Dutch settlement in the colony grew up on the southern tip of Manhattan Island and was christened New Amsterdam.
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.
New York City (1609-1789) Colonial Manhattan NYC New Amsterdam Dutch colony New Netherland Holland
Is Brooklyn a Dutch word?
The name Brooklyn is derived from the original Dutch town of Breukelen. The oldest mention of the settlement in the Netherlands is in a charter of 67 by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I as Broecklede.
The Lenape, Manhattan's original inhabitants, called the island Manahatta, which means “hilly island.” Rich with natural resources, Manahatta had an abundance of fruits, nuts, birds, and animals.
Two further boroughs of New York - Queens and Staten Island - have European origins. Queens was named after the Portuguese royal princess, and later English Queen, Catherine of Braganza. Staten Island was named Staaten Eylandt by the Dutch.
New York began as Amsterdam. Back in 1624, Dutch settlers founded New Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. It wasn't until the British took over in 1664 that the city was renamed New York, but pieces of that Dutch past are still there, hiding in plain sight. Brooklyn is Breukelen.
The area of present-day Manhattan was originally part of Lenape territory. European settlement began with the establishment of a trading post founded by colonists from the Dutch Republic in 1624 on Lower Manhattan; the post was named New Amsterdam in 1626.
Brooklyn is named after Breukelen, a small Dutch town in the province of Utrecht. The Bronx takes its name from Jonas Bronck, who, in 1639, was the first European settler in the area.
The Dutch town of Breuckelen would later be anglicized to Brooklyn and encompass the whole area. This town covered modern-day Brooklyn Heights, while the other towns included Amersfoort, New Utrecht, Boswijck, Midwout, and Gravesend. Amersfoort, which covers modern-day Flatlands, is the oldest of the group.
The name Manhattan most likely originated, via loaning by Dutch, from the Lenape's local language Munsee, manaháhtaan (where manah- means "gather", -aht- means "bow", and -aan is an abstract element used to form verb stems).
They are also used west of the Rocky Mountains by Indigenous peoples of the Plateau such as the Yakama and the Cayuse. They are still in use in many of these communities, though now primarily for ceremonial purposes rather than daily living.
Brooklyn is a renowned place name of gender-neutral persuasion with German, Dutch, and British origins. Largely associated with the NYC borough's eclectic vibes and creative diversity, Brooklyn finds its true roots in the Dutch town of Breukelen.
Dutch surnames based on locations usually include prefixes like de (the), van (from), van de, van der, van den (from the), or te, ter, ten (on). It was often the case that when a Dutch immigrant came to the United States, or other non-Dutch speaking countries, these prefixes would become lumped into the surname.
