Introduction to History of New York
In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazano, according to his own account, discovered New York Harbor. In 1609 Henry Hudson, seeking a northwest passage to Asia for the Dutch East India Company, sailed up the Hudson River almost to the mouth of the Mohawk River. His reports on the rich country brought Dutch ships to establish a fur trade with the Indians—Algonquian tribes along the lower river and Iroquois tribes to the north. In 1614 Adriaen Block discovered Long Island Sound. He named the island of Manhattan after the Indians living on it, and gave the name of New Netherland to the whole area.
Important dates in New York1609 Henry Hudson explored the Hudson River. Samuel de Champlain visited the New York region.1624 The Dutch established Fort Orange (Albany), the first permanent white settlement in the New York region.1625 Dutch settlers began building New Amsterdam (New York City).1664 The Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to England.1735 Publisher John Peter Zenger was found innocent of libel, an important victory for freedom of the press.1776 New York approved the Declaration of Independence.1779 Military expeditions under Generals James Clinton and John Sullivan opened Iroquois land to white settlement.1788 New York became the 11th state on July 26.1789 George Washington was inaugurated in New York City as the first President of the United States.1825 The Erie Canal was opened.1831 New York's first railroad, the Mohawk and Hudson, began running between Albany and Schenectady.1863 Mobs rioted in New York City in opposition to drafting men into the Union Army.1901 President William McKinley was assassinated at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo.1939-1940 New York held a World's Fair.1948 New York established its first state university--the State University of New York.1952 United Nations Headquarters was completed in New York City.1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway opening made "ocean" ports of New York's ports on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.1960 The New York State Thruway (now the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway) was completed.1964-1965 New York held another World's Fair.1967 The state legislature established a lottery with profits going to education.1986 The voters approved a bond act to finance environmental projects, especially the cleaning up of hazardous waste sites.2001 The twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were destroyed in the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.New Netherland
A group of Dutch merchants in 1614 established a post, Fort Nassau, on an island in the Hudson just below present Albany. The Dutch West India Company brought over a group of colonists in 1624, and settled most of them at the fort, which had been moved to the west bank and renamed Orange. The remainder stayed on a small island in the harbor. With additional settlers who arrived the next year, the second group moved to Manhattan Island and founded New Amsterdam in 1625.
Since its only interest was trade, the Dutch West India Company made little effort to colonize New Netherland. Land was given out in vast estates to Dutch patroons (proprietors), but only one, Killiaen Van Rensselaer, sent over tenant farmers who founded a permanent settlement. The autocratic colonial governors in New Amsterdam aroused the hostility of the Algonquian Indians, and there was periodic conflict. New England colonists moved into Long Island. An agreement ceding the eastern half of the island to the New England Confederation was reached in 1650.
The English were annoyed that New Netherland lay between New England and Virginia, occupying an area that they themselves claimed. In 1664 Charles II granted the territory to his brother, the Duke of York (later James II), who sent a fleet to capture it. The Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, could not arouse the prosperous colonists to take up arms, and New Netherland became the colony of New York without a shot being fired. New Amsterdam was renamed New York; Fort Orange, Albany. Most of the Dutch settlers remained.
In 1673 a Dutch fleet retook the colony, but it was restored to England by treaty the next year. The Iroquois Indians, always friendly to the Dutch, transferred their allegiance to the English.
English Rule
In 1688 James II annexed New York to the Dominion of New England. Upon hearing that the king had been deposed, Jacob Leisler led a revolt to overthrow the government, and himself acted as military governor for almost two years. After restoration to legal authority in 1691, New York was granted an elected assembly.
Many New Englanders migrated to the fertile lands of New York. Foreign immigrants included French Huguenots in the late 1600's, Germans in the early 1700's and Scotch-Irish around 1740. Meanwhile French fur traders from Canada were establishing routes in upper New York. As tension between the French and the British colonies increased, both began to build forts along their trade routes.
After the first engagement of the French and Indian War in 1754, a convention at Albany was attended by the Iroquois and representatives of seven British colonies, William Johnson, a Mohawk Valley trader won the Indians' promise of continued loyalty. All tribes except the Mohawks defected to the French, however, and New York's frontier villages suffered repeated raids and massacres. Nevertheless, in 1768 the Iroquois signed the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, opening a new area in southeast New York to white settlement.
Revolutionary War
The New York Assembly refused to send delegates to the Second Continental Congress convened in 1775. Consequently, the Sons of Liberty set up a Provincial Congress, which in 1776 declared New York a state. In the meantime patriots had captured Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point, but the American fleet on Lake Champlain was destroyed.
In southern New York General Washington's forces were defeated on Long Island. After repulsing the British at Harlem. Heights, they were forced out of White plains. They surrendered Fort Washington and retreated into New Jersey.
The British under General Burgoyne marched south from Lake Champlain in 1777, but were defeated at Saratoga (now Schuylerville) in October.
The state legislature, which met in New York City before it was occupied by the British, moved in turn to White Plains; Fishkill; Kingston, where a constitution was adopted in 1777; Hurley; and Poughkeepsie, which served as capital until the British evacuated New York City in November, 1783.
The Empire State
In 1785 New York City became capital of the nation under the Articles of Confederation. New Yorkers, however, were not enthusiastic about the U.S. Constitution produced by the convention in 1787. The essays later known as The Federalist , published first in New York newspapers, were written to win New York's support. The state was 11th to ratify the Constitution. New York City was capital of the new republic until 1790. In 1797 the state capital was moved to Albany.
There was steady migration from New England into New York. The population in 1790 was 340,120; in 1800 it was 589,051; and in 1810 it was 959,049. The War of 1812 brought military action along the Niagara River. A British invasion of New York by way of Lake Champlain in 1814 was repulsed.
The state was active in building turnpikes, which helped to develop agriculture. Construction of the Erie Canal in 1817–25, however, did most to open the state up to settlement and western trade. See also Erie Canal.) Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo became large, prosperous cities. New York soon led the nation in commerce, wealth, and population. Immigration of foreigners into the state increased sharply after 1820. The farmers, who had first grown wheat and then raised sheep, found that growth of the cities gave them a steady market for dairy products.
Growth and Development
The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad opened its line from Albany to Schenectady in 1831, and in only a few years a chain of short rail lines reached across the state. In 1853 they were combined into the New York Central Company. Other railways were built to serve other areas of the state, and canal traffic declined.
By mid-century New York City had become a center of manufacturing, and local industry had grown up throughout the state. The Civil War was a great stimulus to industrial development, especially the manufacture of garments and shoes. Population in New York almost doubled between 1860 and 1900, and more than doubled in the next 50 years. In addition to heavy foreign immigration, New York City attracted young professional people from all over the United States.
In the 19th century, the state had become the financial and cultural center of the country. Its preeminent national position has been reflected by the number of its governors who have been elected President of the United States—Martin Van Buren in 1836; Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892; Theodore Roosevelt in 1904; and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944.
Following World War II, New York, the nation's leading industrial state, experienced rapid economic growth. Much social-reform legislation was enacted under the governorships of Democrat W. Averell Harriman, 1955–58, and Republican Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1959–73.
A postwar migration of large numbers of mainly poor and unskilled southern blacks and Puerto Ricans to New York's urban areas created many social and economic problems. Beginning in the 1970's, the state faced severe financial difficulties, caused in part by the need to provide social services for these groups. State finances improved as a result of economic growth in the 1980's, and in 1987 the state legislature enacted the largest income tax cut in New York history. A nationwide recession in the late 1980's and early 1990's, however, caused another state fiscal crisis and led to tax increases and budget cuts.
Also in the 1970's and 80's, New York began to address the issue of its hazardous nuclear waste sites; it is estimated that there are at least 500 such sites in the state. New York has other challenges, including improving the quality of social services, fixing highways, controlling the illegal distribution and use of drugs, and managing prisons better.
On September 11, 2001, the worst terrorist attack in United States history occurred. Two hijacked commercial planes crashed into and collapsed the twin 110-story World Trade Center towers in New York City, killing thousands of people.