New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.........

New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod. Settled areas are now part of the Mid-Atlantic States of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Its capital, New Amsterdam, was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan on the Upper New York Bay.





Initially a private venture to exploit the North American fur trade, New Netherland was slowly settled during the first decades of its existence, in part due to conflicts with Native Americans and mismanagement by the Dutch West India Company. During the 1650s it experienced exponential growth and became a major port for trade in the North Atlantic. Its surrender to the British in 1664 was finalized with the Treaty of Westminster in 1674.

Descendents of the original settlers played a prominent role in colonial America. New Netherland Dutch culture characterized the region (today's Capital District, Hudson Valley, western Long Island, northeastern New Jersey and the five boroughs of New York City) for two centuries. The concepts of civil liberties and pluralism introduced in the province became a mainstay of American political and social life.

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