List of colonial governors of New York

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A drawing by Johannes Vingboons of the city of New Amsterdam in 1664--the year the Dutch authorities surrendered the New Netherland colony to the English under Richard Nicholls GezichtOpNieuwAmsterdam.jpg
A drawing by Johannes Vingboons of the city of New Amsterdam in 1664—the year the Dutch authorities surrendered the New Netherland colony to the English under Richard Nicholls

The territory which would later become the state of New York was settled by European colonists as part of the New Netherland colony (parts of present-day New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware) under the command of the Dutch West India Company in the Seventeenth Century. These colonists were largely of Dutch, Flemish, Walloon, and German stock, but the colony soon became a "melting pot." In 1664, at the onset of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, English forces under Richard Nicolls ousted the Dutch from control of New Netherland, and the territory became part of several different English colonies. Despite one brief year when the Dutch retook the colony (1673–1674), New York would remain an English and later British possession until the American colonies declared independence in 1776.

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With the unification of the two proprietary colonies of East Jersey and West Jersey in 1702, the provinces of New York and the neighboring colony New Jersey shared a royal governor. This arrangement began with the appointment of Queen Anne's cousin, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury as Royal Governor of New York and New Jersey in 1702, and ended when New Jersey was granted its own royal governor in 1738.

Dutch Era of New Netherland (1624–1664; 1673–1674)

A 1685 reprint of the 1650 map Novi Belgii Novaeque Angliae showing Virginia, New Netherland, and New England. Map-Novi Belgii Novaeque Angliae (Amsterdam, 1685).jpg
A 1685 reprint of the 1650 map Novi Belgii Novæque Angliæ showing Virginia, New Netherland, and New England.

New Netherland (Dutch: Nieuw-Nederland) was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and the Dutch West India Company. It claimed territories along the eastern coast of North America from the Delmarva Peninsula to southwestern Cape Cod. Settled areas of New Netherland are now constitute the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut, and parts of Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. [1] [2] The provincial capital New Amsterdam was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan at Upper New York Bay. [3]

New Netherland was conceived as a private business venture to exploit the North American fur trade. [4] By the 1650s, the colony experienced dramatic growth and became a major port for trade in the North Atlantic. The leader of the Dutch colony was known by the title Director or Director-General. On August 27, 1664, four English frigates commanded by Richard Nicolls sailed into New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded the surrender of New Netherland. [5] [6] This event sparked the Second Anglo-Dutch War, which led to the transfer of the territory to England per the Treaty of Breda. [7] [8]

#PortraitDirector (or
Director-General)
Took officeLeft officeNotes
1 Cornelius Jacobsen May
(fl. 1600s)
16241625
2 Willem Verhulst
(or van der Hulst)
(fl. 1600s)
16251626
3 Peter Minuit portrait New Amsterdam 1600s light.jpg Peter Minuit
(1580–1638)
16261631
  • Purchased the island of Manhattan from Native Americans on May 24, 1626 for 60 Dutch guilders worth of goods. [9]
4 Sebastiaen Jansen Krol
(1595–1674)
16321633
5 Wouter van Twiller.jpg Wouter van Twiller
(1606–1654)
16331638
  • Previously a Dutch West India Company warehouse clerk, used family connections to the Rensselaer family to gain appointment
  • Purchased Nut Island (Noten Eylant), later called Governor's Island from Canarsee tribe for two axeheads, a string of beads and iron nails
  • Lost the colony's claim of the Connecticut River valley to New England settlers
  • Pushed back encroaching Virginia settlers who tried to settle Delaware River valley
6 Willem Kieft
(1597–1647)
16381647
7 Peter Stuyvesant.jpg Peter Stuyvesant
(c.1612–1672) (Director General)
16471664

Restoration of the colony, 1673–1674

In 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch were able to recapture New Amsterdam (renamed "New York" by the British) under Admiral Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and Captain Anthony Colve. [14] Evertsen renamed the city "New Orange." [15] Evertsen returned to the Netherlands in July 1674, and was accused of disobeying his orders. Evertsen had been instructed not to retake New Amsterdam but instead to conquer the British colonies of Saint Helena and Cayenne (now French Guiana). [16] In 1674, the Dutch were compelled to relinquish New Amsterdam to the British under the terms of the Second Treaty of Westminster. [17] [18]

PortraitGovernorTook officeLeft officeNotes
Anthony Colve
(fl. 1600s)
16731674
  • Colve's authority was brief, starting with the taking of New York, but ended on February 9, 1674 with the signing of the Treaty of Westminster, which restored the colony to the English. News did not reach the New World of the treaty's terms until late in the year.

Under British control (1664–1673; 1674–1783)

Apart from a short period between May 1688 and April 1689, during which New York was part of the Dominion of New England, the territory was known in this period as the Province of New York.

#PortraitGovernorTook officeLeft officeNotes
1 Richard Nicolls
(1624–1672)
16641668as military governor
2 FrancisLovelace.jpg Francis Lovelace
(1621–1675)
16681673
3 Anthony Colve (Dutch Governor)16731674 Dutch former naval captain who became Governor under a restored Dutch rule
4 Sir Edmund Andros RI State House.jpg Edmund Andros
(1637–1714)
16741683
5 Anthony Brockholls
(c.1656)
16811683Commander-in-Chief of British Forces and acting governor
6 Colonel Thomas Dongan.jpg Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick
(1634–1715)
16831688
7 Francis nicholson Dahl.jpg Francis Nicholson
(1655–1728)
16881691as lieutenant governor of the Dominion of New England serving under Edmund Andros; de facto rule only until June 1689
8 Jacob Leisler statue (New Rochelle, New York).jpg Jacob Leisler
(c.1640–1691)
16881691Militia officer in rebellion
9 Henry Sloughter
(d. 1691)
16911691
10 Richard Ingoldesby
(d. 1719)
16911692Military officer as acting governor
11 Benjamin Fletcher
(1640–1703)
16921697
12 RichardCoote FirstEarlBellomont.jpg Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont
(c.1636–1700/1)
16981700/1
13 John Nanfan
(1634–1716)
17011702as acting governor
14 Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon
(1661–1723)
17021708
15 John Lovelace, 4th Baron Lovelace
(1672–1709)
17081709
16 Pieter Schuyler.jpg Pieter Schuyler
(1657–1724)
17091709as acting governor
17 Richard Ingoldesby
(d. 1719)
17091710as acting governor
18 Gerardus Willemse Beekman.png Gerardus Beekman
(1653–1723)
17101710as acting governor
19 Robert Hunter (governor).jpg Robert Hunter
(1664–1734)
17101719
20 Pieter Schuyler.jpg Pieter Schuyler
(1657–1724)
17191720as acting governor
21 WilliamBurnetByJohnWatson.jpg William Burnet
(1687/8–1729)
17201728
22 John Montgomerie
(d. 1731)
17281731
23 RipVanDam.jpg Rip Van Dam
(c.1660–1749)
17311732as acting governor
24 Portrait of General William Cosby .PNG William Cosby
(1690–1736)
17321736
25 George Clarke, by James Fellowes, c 1750.png George Clarke
(1676–1760)
17361743as acting governor
26 George Clinton
(c.1686–1761)
17431753
27 Danvers Osborn (1715-1753), Governor of New York, by Petrus Johannes van Reysschoot.jpg Sir Danvers Osborn, 3rd Baronet
(1715–1753)
17531753
28 James De Lancey
(1703–1760)
17531755as acting governor
29 Admiral Sir Charles Hardy, 1780.jpg Charles Hardy
(c.1714–1780)
17551758
30 James De Lancey
(1703–1760)
17581760as acting governor
31 Cadwallader Colden MET ap22.45.6.jpg Cadwallader Colden
(1688–1776)
17601762as acting governor
32 Robert Moncton Martinique.jpg Robert Monckton
(1726–1782)
17621763
33 Cadwallader Colden MET ap22.45.6.jpg Cadwallader Colden
(1688–1776)
17631765as acting governor
34 Sir Henry Moore, 1st Baronet
(1713–1769)
17651769
35 Cadwallader Colden MET ap22.45.6.jpg Cadwallader Colden
(1688–1776)
17691770as acting governor
36 Sir Joshua Reynolds - John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore - Google Art Project.jpg John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore
(1730–1809)
17701771
37 Tryon1767.jpg William Tryon
(1729–1788)
17711774
38 Cadwallader Colden MET ap22.45.6.jpg Cadwallader Colden
(1688–1776)
17741775as acting governor
39 Tryon1767.jpg William Tryon
(1729–1788)
17751780
40 James Robertson
(1717–1788)
17801783as military governor
41 Andrew Elliot
(1728–1797)
17831783as military governor

See also

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Stuyvesant</span> Dutch director-general of New Netherland (c.1610–1672)

Peter Stuyvesant was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was split into New York and New Jersey with lesser territory becoming parts of other colonies, and later, states. He was a major figure in the early history of New York City and his name has been given to various landmarks and points of interest throughout the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Netherland</span> 17th-century Dutch colony in North America

New Netherland was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to southwestern Cape Cod, while limited settlements were in parts of the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Amsterdam</span> Fort on the southern tip of Manhattan, New York during the colonial period (1625–1788)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Province of New Jersey</span> British colony in North America (1664–1673, 1702–1776)

The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1776. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after the surrender of Fort Amsterdam in 1664, becoming a proprietary colony. The English renamed the province after the island of Jersey in the English Channel. The Dutch Republic reasserted control for a brief period in 1673–1674. After that it consisted of two political divisions, East Jersey and West Jersey, until they were united as a royal colony in 1702. The original boundaries of the province were slightly larger than the current state, extending into a part of the present state of New York, until the border was finalized in 1773.

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Anthony or Anthonij Colve was a Dutch captain of Marines and the Governor-General of New Netherland during a brief restoration of Dutch rule in New Netherland during the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Casimir</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest</span> Dutch admiral

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Holland (Acadia)</span> Former Dutch colony in North America

New Holland was a colony established by Dutch naval captain Jurriaen Aernoutsz upon seizing the capital of Acadia, Fort Pentagouet in Penobscot Bay, and several other Acadian villages during the Franco-Dutch War. The Dutch imprisoned the Governor of Acadia Jacques de Chambly. The French and native allies under the command of St. Castin regained control of the area the following year in 1675, however, a year later the Dutch West India Company appointed Cornelis Steenwijck, a Dutch merchant in New York, governor of the "coasts and countries of Nova Scotia and Acadie." The formal Dutch claim to Acadia (1676) was finally abandoned at the end of the war with the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Binckes</span> Dutch commodore (1637–1677)

Jacob Binckes was a Dutch commodore. Jacob himself used the name Benckes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conquest of New Netherland</span>

The conquest of New Netherland occurred in 1664 as an English expedition led by Richard Nicolls that arrived in New York Harbor effected a peaceful capture of New Amsterdam, Fort Amsterdam and the Articles of Surrender of New Netherland were agreed. The conquest was mostly peaceful in the rest of the colony as well, except for some fighting in New Amstel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutch Raid on North America</span> Dutch Naval Campaign against English and French colonial possessions in North America

The Dutch Raid on North America, took place from December 1672 to February 1674 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, a related conflict of the Franco-Dutch War. A naval expedition led by Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and Jacob Binckes attacked English and French possessions in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Battle of the James River (1673)</span>

The Second Battle of the James River, also known as the Battle of Lynnhaven Bay was a naval battle between a Dutch fleet under joint command of admirals Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and Jacob Binckes and an improvised English squadron on 12 and 13 July 1673 in the Hampton Roads near the James River, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reconquest of New Netherland</span> 1673 Dutch conquest of New York City

On 9 August 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War a combined Dutch fleet commanded by Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest of the Admiralty of Zeeland and Jacob Binckes of the Admiralty of Amsterdam recaptured New York, which had been English since the Peace of Breda of 1667. The town of New York was re-christened "New Orange" and New Netherland was re-established as a Dutch colony under governor-general Anthony Colve. The Dutch Republic, however, returned the colony to English rule under the Treaty of Westminster (1674), in exchange for the colony of Suriname, which eventually led to the replacement of governor Colve by governor Edmund Andros on 10 November 1674 (N.S.)

References

  1. "Grant of Exclusive Trade to New Netherland by the States-General of the United Netherlands; October 11, 1614" from Documentary History of the State of Maine (Portland: Maine Historical Society / Bailey and Noyes, 1869–1916). Published online at the Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy, Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  2. Jacobs, Jaap. New Netherland: A Dutch Colony In Seventeenth-Century America. (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 35.
  3. van der Sijs, Nicoline. Cookies, Coleslaw and Stoops: The Influence of Dutch on the North American Languages. (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009), 21.
  4. Dolin, Eric Jay. Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2011) passim.
  5. World Digital Library. Articles about the Transfer of New Netherland on the 27th of August, Old Style, Anno 1664 . Retrieved 21 March 2013
  6. Versteer, Dingman (editor). "New Amsterdam Becomes New York" in The New Netherland Register . Volume 1 No. 4 and 5 (April/May 1911): 49–64.
  7. Farnham, Mary Frances (compiler). "Farnham Papers (1603–1688)" in Volumes 7 and 8 of Documentary History of the State of Maine. (Portland, Maine: Collections of the Maine Historical Society, 2nd Series. 1901–1902), 7:311–314.
  8. Parry, Clive (editor). Consolidated Treaty Series 231 Volumes. (Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, 1969–1981), 10:231.
  9. Burrows, Edwin G., and Wallace, Mike. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), xivff.
  10. Merwick, Donna. The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland Early American Series. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006).
  11. "Journal of New Netherland 1647. Written in the Years 1641, 1642, 1643, 1644, 1645, and 1646". World Digital Library . 1641–1647. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  12. 1 2 Shorto, Russell. The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America. (New York City: Vintage Books, 2004).
  13. Otto, Paul. The Dutch-Munsee Encounter in America: The Struggle for Sovereignty in the Hudson Valley. (Oxford/New York: Berghahn Books, 2006), 152; and Kraft, Herbert C. The Lenape: Archaeology, History, and Ethnography. (Newark, New Jersey: New Jersey Historical Society, 1986), 241.
  14. Roosevelt, Theodore. "IV. New Amsterdam becomes New York The Beginning of English Rule. 1664–1674," in New York: A Sketch of the City’s Social, Political, and Commercial Progress from the First Dutch Settlement to Recent Times. (New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1906).
  15. Barrevald, Dirk J. From New Amsterdam to New York: The Founding of New York by the Dutch in July 1625. (Lincoln, Nebraska: Writers Club Press, 2001), 248.
  16. Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D. Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672–1674. (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1988), 73, 139–151; De Waard, Cornelis. De Zeeuwsche expeditie naar de West onder Cornelis Evertsen den Jonge, 1672–1674. (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1928). (in Dutch)
  17. Westdorp, Martina. "Behouden of opgeven? Het lot van de nederlandse kolonie Nieuw-Nederland na de herovering op de Engelsen in 1673" Archived 2008-06-30 at the Wayback Machine in De wereld van Peter Stuyvesant (in Dutch). Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  18. Prak, Maarten. The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century: The Golden Age. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 116.