Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHRONOLOGY
Early days
New York and the surrounding area is occupied by Native Americans, most notably the
Lenape tribe.
1609
English explorer Henry Hudson, working for the Dutch, sails past Manhattan upriver as far
as Albany.
1624
Dutch colony established on Governors Island.
1626
Peter Minuit arrives as governor. He moves the Dutch settlement to Manhattan, which is
named New Amsterdam, and numbers some 300 inhabitants.
1647
New Amsterdam's most famous governor, Peter Stuyvesant, is appointed.
1664
Revolt against Stuyvesant's dictatorial rule coincides with surrender to British naval troops,
who rename the colony New York.
1754
Ivy League Columbia University begins life as King's College.
1776
British naval vessels arrive to capture New York after the Declaration of Independence; fire
destroys much of the city, which is occupied by British troops until 1783.
1789
George Washington takes the oath as America's first president on Wall Street. New York is
capital of the new nation for one year.
1792
Buttonwood Agreement, signed by 24 stockbrokers on Wall Street, signals beginning of
New York Stock Exchange. It is formally organized in 1817.
