Province of New York
The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783.
This article is about New York prior to the formation of the United States. For New York after the American Revolution, see New York (state).
Province of New York
- Colony of England (1664–1707)
- Colony of Great Britain (1707–1783)
Proprietary colony
(1664–1686)
Crown colony
(1689–1783)
Charles II (first)
George III (last)
Richard Nicolls (first)
Andrew Elliot (last)
Council
(1664–1686,
1689–1775)
Provincial Congress (1775-1777)
28 August 1664
4 July 1776
3 September 1783
In 1664, the English under Charles II of England and his brother James, Duke of York raised a fleet to take the colony of New Netherland from the Dutch. The Governor surrendered to the English fleet without recognition from the Dutch West Indies Company that had authority over it. The province was renamed for the Duke of York, as its proprietor.[1] England's rule was established de facto following military control in 1664, and became established de jure as sovereign rule in 1667 in the Treaty of Breda and the Treaty of Westminster (1674). It was not until 1674 that English common law was applied in the colony.
In the late 18th century, colonists in New York rebelled along with the other Thirteen Colonies, and supported the American Revolutionary War that led to independence and the founding of the United States. British claims in New York were ended by the Treaty of Paris of 1783, with New York establishing its independence from the crown. The final evacuation of New York City by the British Army was followed by the return of General George Washington's Continental Army on November 25, 1783, in a grand parade and celebration.
Geography[edit]
This British crown colony was established upon the former Iroquois nation and then Dutch colony of New Netherland, with its core being York Shire, in what today is typically known as Downstate New York.
History[edit]
New Amsterdam and Dutch Rule (1617-1664)[edit]
In 1617, officials of the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland created a settlement at present-day Albany, and in 1624 founded New Amsterdam, on Manhattan Island. The Dutch colony included claims to an area comprising all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine in addition to eastern Pennsylvania.
Upstate New York (as well as parts of present Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania and Ohio) were occupied by the Five Nations (after 1720 becoming Six Nations, when joined by Tuscarora) of the Iroquois Confederacy for at least a half millennium before the Europeans came.
Economy[edit]
The fur trade established under Dutch rule continued to grow. As the merchant port of New York became more important, the economy expanded and diversified and the agricultural areas of Long Island and the regions further up the Hudson River developed.[62] Fishermen also made a decent living because New York was next to the ocean, making it a port/fishing state. Inland, farming crops made farmers a lot of money in the colony. Tradesmen made a fortune selling their wares.