Which city was originally New Amsterdam before becoming a British colony? New York was originally the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.
New Amsterdam stood at the southern tip of Manhattan Island and served as the administrative centre of the Dutch colony of New Netherland. The Dutch West India Company developed the settlement in the 1620s to protect trade on the Hudson River, especially the valuable fur trade. It received municipal rights in 1653.
In 1664, English forces seized New Amsterdam while England and the Dutch Republic were temporarily at peace. The settlement was renamed New York in honour of James, Duke of York, who later became King James II. The wider colony of New Netherland was also renamed New York.
The Dutch briefly recaptured the colony in 1673 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War and renamed the city New Orange. The Treaty of Westminster returned it to England in 1674, restoring the name New York. Dutch influence remains visible in place names such as Harlem, Brooklyn and Staten Island.