On this day in 1664, New Amsterdam was renamed New York after being handed over to the English by the Netherlands in an act of peaceful surrender. The Dutch had established the colony on Manhattan in 1814 as a hub for trade with Native American tribes. Over time, the Netherlands would lay claim to other land in the region as part of a larger New Netherland, even reaching as far south as modern Delaware. But the only major permanent settlement would be New Amsterdam, even after violent conflicts with Native American tribes over the territory over many years.
Peter Stuyvesant became Director-General of the colony in 1647. The colony's corrupt government, broken economy, and constant threat of violence from surrounding tribes and the colonies of other nations made it an easy target by 1664. The English, a perennial war opponent of the Dutch, were swarming the region with new settlers.
Stuyvesant was unsurprised when British navy ships showed up off the coast to take over New Amsterdam, and he handed over power without a shot being fired. Dutch settlers were permitted to stay when Great Britain took the reins of power, and some even served as mayor of New York City while the population's colony quickly swelled.
You can read more about the colony of New Netherland at the National Park Service.
