New Netherland Genealogy

== History ==

New Netherland (Dutch: Nieuw-Nederland) was the former Dutch colony on the east coast of North America founded in 1614 or 1615. It included significant settlements in, or claims to, parts of what are now the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maryland (between Cape Cod and Virginia).

In 1654 New Sweden captured Fort Casimir from New Netherland in what is now New Castle County, Delaware. The next year, 1655, the Dutch counter-attacked, conquered, and absorbed all of former New Sweden, but granted it some autonomy.

One of the important legacies of the New Netherland colony was religious tolerance. The Dutch Reformed Church, a Calvinist denomination, was predominant at first. However, from the beginning the colony was also a haven for religious minorities such as Huguenots (French Protestants), and Jews.

Because of repeated wars between the Dutch and the British empires, the New Netherland colony was ceded to the British Empire in 1664. In August 1673 the Dutch recaptured their colony, but had to give it up to the British again in November 1674.