New York Colony Facts for Kids
America's 13 colonies, stretching from New Hampshire to Georgia, provide much of the early history of the United States. New York's location made it central to the success of early America. Its importance as a trading post made it one of the most powerful cities in the world -- a status it still holds today. New York got its name from the Duke of York (the brother of King Charles II) and became a state in 1788 when it ratified the Constitution.
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Henry Hudson
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In the early 1600s, Henry Hudson laid claim to the bay of New York and the nearby island of what is now known as Manhattan, landing there with his 20-member crew on the ship the Half Moon. The island quickly became a trading post thanks to the Dutch, featuring goods like furs from the Iroquois Indians and spices from the Dutch. Hudson, born in London and married with three children, founded New York after three failed attempts to find a passage to Russia to the north. The Dutch United East India company paid him to explore across the Atlantic, arriving in the Hudson Bay and even going all the way to Albany. Henry Hudson's discovery still bears his name -- New York's Hudson River and the Hudson River Valley
Iroquois Indians
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The Iroquois first met Henry Hudson because they are the tribe native to New York, making their original home along the St. Lawrence River. The Iroquois had five nations: the Cayuga, Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga and Oneida. They hunted deer and used their hides for clothing, including moccasins. Families called longhouses home. The structures housed anywhere from 30 to 60 families.
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Sons of Liberty
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New York is where the first group of the Sons of Liberty formed -- a group of middle- and upper-class shopkeepers and businessmen that opposed the Stamp Act. The Sons roused support, published anti-Stamp Act newspapers and held demonstrations in the streets to get people to oppose the new act. They even boarded a British ship in the New York harbor containing stamps, threatening the crew. Once England repealed the Stamp Act, the Sons of Liberty took on several other conservative causes, but their strength decreased.
Peter Stuyvesant
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Appointed to the fledgling colony by the West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant came to New Amsterdam to tame the city, which was spiraling out of control, and to make peace with the Indians upset the colonists ruined the land. He enforced strict new laws by closing taverns early, forced everyone to attend church and, if an animal got loose, soldiers had orders to shoot. Stuyvesant had a peg leg, carried a sword and wore a mustache. The Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn is named partially for one of New York's early leaders.
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References
- Photo Credit Thomas Northcut/Photodisc/Getty Images
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