Colonial New York Fun Facts

Manhattan

    Giovanni da VERRAZANO may have
been the first European to explore
the region, and Henry HUDSON
visited it, but Dutch settlements
truly began the city. In 1624 the
town of New Amsterdam was
established on lower Manhattan;
Peter MINUIT supposedly bought the
island from its Native American
inhabitants for about $24 worth of
trinkets. In 1664 the English
seized the colony and renamed it;
during the AMERICAN REVOLUTION they
held it from 1776 to 1781.

    Brooklyn

    Brooklyn was settled 1636, and
chartered as part of New York City
in 1898. The largest of New York's
five boroughs, it has diverse
industries and a waterfront
handling foreign and domestic
commerce. From Dutch and Walloon
settlements it became the village
of Brooklyn Ferry (1816) and the
city of Brooklyn (1834), absorbing
settlements like Flatbush and
Gravesend as it grew; it became
(1855) the third largest U.S. city.

    Bronx

    The Bronx was originally
settled by Jonas Bronck in 1636. He
claimed the area for his farm. The
population explosion that took
place in the 19th and 20th
centuries was due to an influx of
Italian and Irish immigrants.