If you read last week's entry (1660-1669), you'll remember that the English took over New Netherland without firing a shot in 1664. New Amsterdam became New York and all was well with the time line until the 1670's when the place became Dutch again. WHAT?!
After two Anglo-Dutch Wars (in the 1650's and 1660's) England was drawn into a third conflict as an ally of France in 1672. In July of the following year, the Dutch landed 600 men at Sandy Hook and were encouraged to seize New York by a number of Dutch merchants living in the city. The invaders took them up on the invitation and renamed the city New Orange (after Prince William of Orange).
Before their tulips could bloom, however, the Treaty of Westminster was signed in Europe, ending the third Anglo-Dutch War and returning New Orange to the English in exchange for Surinam. The New Orangeites didn't hear about this transaction until June. That October, 1674, the Dutch formally surrendered the city for the last time.
The former English governor was recalled (partly for being out of town when the Dutch invaded) and the new governor, Edmund Andros, took charge. He spent the rest of the decade cleaning up New York City and making it more profitable. He had the wall repaired and filled in the canal on Broad. ("This ain't Amsterdam!") He also published orders that required ALL imports and exports of the colony to pass through the city, much to the chagrin of those up in Albany and elsewhere.
ALSO DURING THIS DECADE:
When King Philip's War breaks out (proportionately the bloodiest and costliest of all the Indian Wars in our history), Andros creates an alliance with the Iroquois, ancient enemies of the Algonquins. This helps keep New York safe while New England is ravaged. From Gotham: "What was more, New York City had become one pole of an Anglo-Iroquoian axis around which the affairs of North America south of Canada and east of the Mississippi would turn for another century. A grateful Charles II rewarded Andros with a knighthood."
All of Long Island (and not just the western half) comes under the jurisdiction of New York in the 1670's.
Sources: Gotham by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace; Manhattan in Maps by Robert T. Augustyn and Paul E. Cohen; The Historical Atlas of New York City by Eric Homberger.
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