New Netherland

New Netherland, territory included in a commercial grant by the government of Holland to the Dutch West India Company in 1621. Colonists were settled along the Hudson River region; in 1624 the first permanent settlement was established at Fort Orange (now Albany, N.Y.). The principal settlement in the tract after 1625 was New Amsterdam (later New York City) at the southern end of Manhattan island, which was purchased from Native Americans in 1626. Colonization proceeded slowly, hampered by trouble with the native people, poor administration, and rivalry with New England settlers. After 1655 the former territory of New Sweden, along the lower Delaware River, was also part of the colony. In 1664 the colony was taken by the English, who divided most of it into the two colonies of New York and New Jersey.

Bibliography

See R. Shorto, The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America (2004).

---

New Netherland

a Dutch North American colony of the early 17th century, centred on the Hudson valley. Captured by the English in 1664, it was divided into New York and New Jersey

---

New Netherland 

in the 17th century, the name for the Dutch colonial possessions in North America. New Netherland occupied the territory between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers and at the mouth of the Hudson River. The first Dutch trading posts were established in 1613. In 1621 control of the colonies passed to the Dutch West India Company. In 1664 the English captured the main city of New Amsterdam, renaming it New York, and the outlying Dutch colonies. As a result of the war between the English and the Dutch (1672–74), English supremacy in New Netherland was secured.