New York Colonial Records

History
A Dutch trading post at Fort Nassau built in 1614, was the first permanent European settlement in New York. A charter was granted the Dutch West India Company in 1621, and settlers arrived in the area called New Netherlands in 1624. In the 1640s, English Puritans from the New Haven Colony in Connecticut established several communities. Great Britain conquered New Netherlands in 1664 and divided it into New York and New Jersey. The Dutch reconquered the land for a short time in 1673. New York was one of the original 13 colonies of the United States.