What was New York City called when it was a Dutch settlement before English control?
Answer
New Amsterdam
New York City was called New Amsterdam when it was a Dutch settlement before English control.
New Amsterdam was the main settlement of the Dutch colony of New Netherland on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. The Dutch established the settlement in the seventeenth century as a trading and administrative center connected to the Atlantic fur trade. Its location at the mouth of the Hudson River made it strategically valuable.
In 1664, an English expedition took control of the settlement with little fighting. The English renamed it New York in honor of the Duke of York, who later became King James II. Dutch forces briefly recaptured the colony in 1673 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, but the English regained control in 1674.
New Amsterdam should not be confused with New Netherland, the larger Dutch colony, or Fort Orange, another Dutch settlement farther up the Hudson River at present-day Albany. The name New Amsterdam remains visible in place names, cultural references, and historical discussions of Manhattan’s colonial origins.