The territory which would later become the state of New York was settled by European colonists as part of the New Netherland colony (parts of present-day New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware) under the command of the Dutch West India Company in the Seventeenth Century. These colonists were largely of Dutch, Flemish, Walloon, and German stock, but the colony soon became a "melting pot." In 1664, at the onset of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, English forces under Richard Nicolls ousted the Dutch from control of New Netherland, and the territory became part of several different English colonies. Despite one brief year when the Dutch retook the colony (1673–1674), New York would remain an English and later British possession until the American colonies declared independence in 1776.
With the unification of the two proprietary colonies of East Jersey and West Jersey in 1702, the provinces of New York and the neighboring colony New Jersey shared a royal governor. This arrangement began with the appointment of Queen Anne's cousin, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury as Royal Governor of New York and New Jersey in 1702, and ended when New Jersey was granted its own governor in 1738.
Dutch Era of New Netherland (1624–1664; 1673–1674)
New Netherland (Dutch: Nieuw-Nederland) was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and the Dutch West India Company. It claimed territories along the eastern coast of North America from the Delmarva Peninsula to southwestern Cape Cod. Settled areas of New Netherland are now constitute the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut, and parts of Pennsylvania and Rhode Island."Grant of Exclusive Trade to New Netherland by the States-General of the United Netherlands; October 11, 1614" from Documentary History of the State of Maine (Portland: Maine Historical Society / Bailey and Noyes, 1869–1916). Published online at the Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy, Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library. Retrieved 6 April 2013.Jacobs, Jaap. New Netherland: A Dutch Colony In Seventeenth-Century America. (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 35. The provincial capital New Amsterdam was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan at Upper New York Bay.van der Sijs, Nicoline. Cookies, Coleslaw and Stoops: The Influence of Dutch on the North American Languages. (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009), 21.
New Netherland was conceived as a private business venture to exploit the North American fur trade.Dolin, Eric Jay. Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011) passim. By the 1650s, the colony experienced dramatic growth and became a major port for trade in the North Atlantic. The leader of the Dutch colony was known by the title Director or Director-General. On August 27, 1664, four English frigates commanded by Richard Nicolls sailed into New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded the surrender of New Netherland.World Digital Library. Articles about the Transfer of New Netherland on the 27th of August, Old Style, Anno 1664. Retrieved 21 March 2013Versteer, Dingman (editor). "New Amsterdam Becomes New York" in The New Netherland Register. Volume 1 No. 4 and 5 (April/May 1911): 49–64. This event sparked the Second Anglo-Dutch War, which led to the transfer of the territory to England per the Treaty of Breda.Farnham, Mary Frances (compiler). "Farnham Papers (1603–1688)" in Volumes 7 and 8 of Documentary History of the State of Maine. (Portland, Maine: Collections of the Maine Historical Society, 2nd Series. 1901–1902), 7:311–314.Parry, Clive (editor). Consolidated Treaty Series 231 Volumes. (Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, 1969–1981), 10:231.
#PortraitDirector (or Director-General)Took officeLeft officeNotes1 Cornelius Jacobsen May (fl. 1600s) 1624 1625 Explored Delaware Bay, New York Bay, Hudson River. Established base at Nut Island (Noten Eylant) and outposts including Fort Nassau on Delaware River. Cape May was named in his honor.2 Willem Verhulst(or van der Hulst)(fl. 1600s) 1625 1626 Initiated construction of Fort Amsterdam on southern tip of Manhattan Island, and Fort Wilhelmus on the Delaware River. Unpopular with the colonists, he was quickly replaced.3 Peter Minuit (1580–1638) 1626 1631 Purchased the island of Manhattan from Native Americans on May 24, 1626 for 60 Dutch guilders worth of goods.Burrows, Edwin G., and Wallace, Mike. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), xivff.4 Sebastiaen Jansen Krol (1595–1674) 1632 1633 Commander at Fort Orange (New Netherland) before and after his term as Director General5 Wouter van Twiller (1606–1654) 1633 1638 Previously a Dutch West India Company warehouse clerk, used family connections to the Rensselaer family to gain appointment Purchased Nut Island (Noten Eylant), later called Governor's Island from Canarsee tribe for two axeheads, a string of beads and iron nails Lost the colony's claim of the Connecticut River valley to New England settlers Pushed back encroaching Virginia settlers who tried to settle Delaware River valley6 Willem Kieft (1597–1647) 1638 1647 Attempted to drive out Lenape tribe. Attacks on Pavonia and Corlears Hook, led to Kieft's War.Merwick, Donna. The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland Early American Series. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006). Fired by the Dutch West India Company in 1647. Died at sea near Swansea, Wales on September 27, 1647 while returning to Amsterdam aboard the Princess Amelia.Shorto, Russell. The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America. (New York City: Vintage Books, 2004).7 Peter Stuyvesant (–1672) (Director General) 1647 1664 Authorized charter for Communipaw and Bergen (now Jersey City) in 1660. New Amsterdam, Pavonia, and Staten Island attacked by the Lenape during the brief Peach War (1655) Obtained victory the Esopus Wars against the Lenape and Esopus tribesOtto, Paul. The Dutch-Munsee Encounter in America: The Struggle for Sovereignty in the Hudson Valley. (Oxford/New York: Berghahn Books, 2006), 152; and Kraft, Herbert C. The Lenape: Archaeology, History, and Ethnography. (Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Society, 1986), 241. Surrendered New Netherland to the British. Also the Director of Curaçao (1642–1664)
Restoration of the colony, 1673–1674 In 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch were able to recapture New Amsterdam (renamed "New York" by the British) under Admiral Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and Captain Anthony Colve.Roosevelt, Theodore. "IV. New Amsterdam becomes New York The Beginning of English Rule. 1664–1674," in New York: A Sketch of the City’s Social, Political, and Commercial Progress from the First Dutch Settlement to Recent Times. (New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1906). Evertsen renamed the city "New Orange."Barrevald, Dirk J. From New Amsterdam to New York: The Founding of New York by the Dutch in July 1625. (Lincoln, Nebraska: Writers Club Press, 2001), 248. Evertsen returned to the Netherlands in July 1674, and was accused of disobeying his orders. Evertsen had been instructed not to retake New Amsterdam but instead to conquer the British colonies of Saint Helena and Cayenne (now French Guiana).Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D. Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672–1674. (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1988), 73, 139–151; De Waard, Cornelis. De Zeeuwsche expeditie naar de West onder Cornelis Evertsen den Jonge, 1672–1674. (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1928). (in Dutch) In 1674, the Dutch were compelled to relinquish New Amsterdam to the British under the terms of the Second Treaty of Westminster.Westdorp, Martina. "Behouden of opgeven? Het lot van de nederlandse kolonie Nieuw-Nederland na de herovering op de Engelsen in 1673" in De wereld van Peter Stuyvesant (in Dutch). Retrieved 21 March 2013.Prak, Maarten. The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century: The Golden Age. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 116. PortraitGovernorTook officeLeft officeNotes Anthony Colve (fl. 1600s) 1673 1674 Colve's authority was brief, starting with the taking of New York, but ended on February 9, 1674 with the signing of the Treaty of Westminster, which restored the colony to the English. News did not reach the New World of the treaty's terms until late in the year.
Under British control (1664–1673; 1674–1783) Apart from a short period between May 1688 and April 1689, during which New York was part of the Dominion of New England, the territory was known in this period as the Province of New York.
#PortraitGovernorTook officeLeft officeNotes1 Richard Nicolls (1624–1672) 1664 1668 as military governor2 Francis Lovelace(1621–1675) 1668 1673 3 Anthony Colve (Dutch Governor) 1673 1674 Dutch former naval captain who became Governor under a restored Dutch rule4 Edmund Andros(1637–1714) 1674 16835 Anthony Brockholls() 1681 1683 Commander-in-Chief of British Forces and acting governor6 Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick(1634–1715) 1683 16887 Francis Nicholson(1655–1728) 1688 1691 as lieutenant governor of the Dominion of New England serving under Edmund Andros; de facto rule only until June 16898 Jacob Leisler(–1691) 1688 1691 Militia officer in rebellion9 Henry Sloughter(d. 1691) 1691 169110 Richard Ingoldesby(d. 1719) 1691 1692 Military officer as acting governor11 Benjamin Fletcher(1640–1703) 1692 169712 Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont(–1701) 1698 1701 Died on March 5, which was 1700 Julian but 1701 Gregorian.13 John Nanfan(1634–1716) 1701 1702as acting governor14 Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon(1661–1723) 1702 170815 John Lovelace, 4th Baron Lovelace(1672–1709) 1708 170916 Pieter Schuyler(1657–1724) 1709 1709as acting governor17 Richard Ingoldesby(d. 1719) 1709 1710as acting governor18 Gerardus Beekman(1653–1723) 1710 1710as acting governor19 Robert Hunter(1664–1734) 1710 171920 Pieter Schuyler(1657–1724) 1719 1720as acting governor21 William Burnet(1687/8–1729) 1720 172822 John Montgomerie(d. 1731) 1728 173123 Rip Van Dam(–1749) 1731 1732as acting governor24 William Cosby(1690–1736) 1732 173625 George Clarke(1676–1760) 1736 1743as acting governor26 George Clinton(–1761) 1743 175327 Sir Danvers Osborn, 3rd Baronet(1715–1753) 1753 175328 James De Lancey(1703–1760) 1753 1755as acting governor29 Charles Hardy(–1780) 1755 175830 James De Lancey(1703–1760) 1758 1760as acting governor31 Cadwallader Colden(1688–1776) 1760 1762as acting governor32 Robert Monckton(1726–1782) 1762 176333 Cadwallader Colden(1688–1776) 1763 1765as acting governor34 Sir Henry Moore, 1st Baronet(1713–1769) 1765 176935 Cadwallader Colden(1688–1776) 1769 1770as acting governor36 John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore(1730–1809) 1770 177137 William Tryon(1729–1788) 1771 177438 Cadwallader Colden(1688–1776) 1774 1775 as acting governor39 William Tryon(1729–1788) 1775 178040 James Robertson(1717–1788) 1780 1783as military governor41 Andrew Elliot(1728–1797) 1783 1783as military governor
See also For a list of governors of New York state after independence (1777–present), see: List of governors of New York. Director-General of New Netherland, for a list of the Governors of New Netherland from 1624 to 1664. List of colonial governors of New Jersey
Bibliography Paterson, David "Black, Blind, & In Charge: A Story of Visionary Leadership and Overcoming Adversity."Skyhorse Publishing. New York, New York, 2020 References
External links Colonial Governors of New York