New York City

=== Dutch rule ===
{{Main|New Amsterdam|Fort Amsterdam|New Netherland}}
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 | image1    = Stad Amsterdam in Nieuw Nederland (City Amsterdam in New Netherland) Castello Plan 1660.jpg
 | caption1  = The [[Castello Plan]], a 1660 map of [[New Amsterdam]] in [[Lower Manhattan]]

 | image2    = GezichtOpNieuwAmsterdam.jpg
 | caption2  = [[New Amsterdam]], centered in what eventually became Lower Manhattan, in 1664, the year [[British colonization of the Americas|England]] took control and renamed it New York
}}

A permanent European presence near [[New York Harbor]] was established in 1624, making New York the [[List of North American settlements by year of foundation|12th-oldest continuously occupied]] European-established settlement in the [[continental United States]], with the founding of a Dutch [[Fur trade|fur trading]] settlement on [[Governors Island]]. In 1625, construction was started on a [[citadel]] and [[Fort Amsterdam]], later called ''Nieuw Amsterdam'' (New Amsterdam), on present-day Manhattan Island.<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/kingston/colonization.htm Dutch Colonies], [[National Park Service]]. Retrieved May 19, 2007. "Sponsored by the West India Company, 30 families arrived in North America in 1624, establishing a settlement on present-day Manhattan."</ref><ref name="Tolerance">[http://www.tolerancepark.org/id2.html GovIsland Park-to-Tolerance: through Broad Awareness and Conscious Vigilance], Tolerance Park. Retrieved February 9, 2017. See Legislative Resolutions Senate No. 5476 and Assembly No. 2708.</ref>

The colony of New Amsterdam was centered on what became [[Lower Manhattan]]. Its area extended from the southern tip of Manhattan to modern-day [[Wall Street]], where a {{Convert|12|ft|adj=on}} wooden [[stockade]] was built in 1653 to protect against Native American and English raids.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/crash-selected-wall-street-chronology/ |title = Timeline: A selected Wall Street chronology |publisher = [[PBS]] |access-date = October 28, 2021 }}</ref> In 1626, the Dutch colonial Director-General [[Peter Minuit]], acting as charged by the [[Dutch West India Company]], purchased the island of Manhattan from the ''Canarsie'', a small Lenape band,<ref>{{cite book |first1 = Frederick M. |last1 = Binder |first2 = David M. |last2 = Reimers |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=o08K8jlMI-IC |title = All the Nations Under Heaven: An Ethnic and Racial History of New York City |page = 4 |year = 1996 |isbn = 0-231-07879-X |publisher = [[Columbia University Press]] }}</ref> for "the value of 60 [[Dutch guilder|guilders]]"<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.s4ulanguages.com/laet2.html |title = Pieter Schaghen Letter |year = 1626 |quote = "...&nbsp;hebben t'eylant Manhattes van de wilde gekocht, voor de waerde van 60 gulden: is groot 11000 morgen.&nbsp;..." ("...&nbsp;They have purchased the Island Manhattes from the Indians for the value of 60 guilders. It is 11,000 morgens in size&nbsp;...) |access-date = October 28, 2021 |website = S4ulanguages.com }}</ref> (about $900 in 2018).<ref>{{cite web |title = Value of the Guilder versus Euro |url = http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/calculate.php |access-date = July 25, 2019 |publisher = [[International Institute of Social History]] }}</ref> A frequently told but disproved legend claims that Manhattan was purchased for $24 worth of glass beads.<ref>{{cite web |title = Peter Schaghen Letter |url = http://www.nnp.org/nnp/documents/schagen_main.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101023083225/http://www.nnp.org/nnp/documents/schagen_main.html |archive-date = October 23, 2010 |access-date = October 28, 2010 |publisher = Nnp.org }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1 = Miller |first1 = Christopher L. |last2 = Hamell |first2 = George R. |date = September 1986 |title = A New Perspective on Indian-White Contact: Cultural Symbols and Colonial Trade |journal = [[The Journal of American History]] |volume = 73 |issue = 2 |pages = 311–328 |doi = 10.2307/1908224 |jstor = 1908224 }}</ref>

Following the purchase, New Amsterdam grew slowly.<ref name="npsnetherland">{{cite web |title = Dutch Colonies |url = https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/kingston/colonization.htm |access-date = July 10, 2016 |publisher = [[National Park Service]] }}</ref> To attract settlers, the Dutch instituted the [[Patroon|patroon system]] in 1628, whereby wealthy Dutchmen (''patroons'', or patrons) who brought 50 colonists to New Netherland would be awarded swaths of land, along with local political autonomy and rights to participate in the lucrative fur trade. This program had little success.<ref name="locnetherland">{{cite web |title = The Patroon System |url = http://frontiers.loc.gov/intldl/awkbhtml/kb-1/kb-1-2-2.html |access-date = July 10, 2016 |publisher = [[Library of Congress]] }}</ref>

Since 1621, the Dutch West India Company had operated as a [[monopoly]] in New Netherland, on authority granted by the [[States General of the Netherlands|Dutch States General]]. In 1639–1640, in an effort to bolster economic growth, the Dutch West India Company relinquished its monopoly over the fur trade, leading to growth in the production and trade of food, timber, tobacco, and slaves (particularly with the [[Netherlands Antilles|Dutch West Indies]]).<ref name="npsnetherland" /><ref name="nahcnetherland">{{cite web |title = The Story of New Amsterdam |url = http://www.newamsterdamhistorycenter.org/bios/origins.html |access-date = July 10, 2016 |publisher = New Amsterdam History Center }}</ref>

In 1647, [[Peter Stuyvesant]] began his tenure as the last [[Director-General of New Amsterdam|Director-General]] of New Netherland. During his tenure, the population of New Netherland grew from 2,000 to 8,000.<ref>{{cite book |last = Jacobs |first = Jaap |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vgnh3E5Mm0cC |title = The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America |publisher = [[Cornell University Press]] |year = 2009 |page = 32 |isbn = 978-0801475160 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1 = Eisenstadt |first1 = Peter |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tmHEm5ohoCUC&q=New+Amsterdam+grew+from+under+2,000+to+8,000&pg=PA1051 |title = The Encyclopedia of New York State |last2 = Moss |first2 = Laura-Eve |last3 = Huxley |first3 = Carole F. |publisher = [[Syracuse University Press]] |year = 2005 |isbn = 978-0-8156-0808-0 |page = 1051 }}</ref> Stuyvesant has been credited with improving law and order in the colony; however, he earned a reputation as a [[despotism|despotic]] leader. He instituted regulations on liquor sales, attempted to assert control over the [[Dutch Reformed Church]], and blocked other religious groups (including [[Quakers]], [[Jews]], and [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]]) from establishing houses of worship.<ref name="nyhsstuyvesant">{{cite web |title = Peter Stuyvesant |url = http://www.nyhistory.org/peter-stuyvesant |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160624011523/http://www.nyhistory.org/peter-stuyvesant |archive-date = June 24, 2016 |access-date = July 11, 2016 |publisher = [[New-York Historical Society]] |url-status = dead }}</ref> The Dutch West India Company attempted to ease tensions between Stuyvesant and residents of New Amsterdam.<ref name="nnistuyvesant">{{cite web |title = Peter Stuyvesant |url = http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/peter-stuyvesant/ |access-date = July 11, 2016 |publisher = [[New Netherland Institute]] }}</ref>