Dave Schmidt, age 12, of Watertown, N.Y., for his question:
WHO FIRST SETTLED NEW YORK?
Long before the first Europeans came to the New World, the land that is now New York state was occupied by two main groups of Indians: the Algonquins who lived in the Hudson Valley and Long Island and the Iroquois in the western area. The Iroquois Confederacy was a well organized military and political grouping made up of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca tribes.
An Italian explorer in the service of France named Giovanni da Verrazano was probably the first European to sail into New York Bay. He made his visit in 1524.
But it wasn't until 1609, about 85 years later, that the Europeans made a return visit. At that time the visitor was an Englishman named Henry Hudson who commanded a Dutch ship named "Half Moon." Hudson was looking for a northwest passage to China for the Dutch East India Company.
After sailing up the river for more than 100 miles, to where Albany now stands, Hudson decided that it wasn't a shortcut to China. So he turned back and returned to the Netherlands.
But others in the Netherlands were interested in Hudson's report of rich furs to be had in the area, and the Dutch claimed the region of the Hudson River. Trading posts were soon built on Manhattan Island and at Fort Nassau near Albany. The colony was named New Netherlands.
The Dutch and the Iroquois Indians soon became friendly.
During Dutch rule the population of New Netherlands grew to about 7,000. In 1626 Manhattan Island, which wasn't in the original land claimed by the Dutch, was bought from the Indians for about $24 worth of goods. This purchase, which was made by the Dutch governor Peter Minuit, turned out to be the best bargain in the history of world commerce.
In the 1640s the English started settling on eastern Long Island and in the Hudson Valley in large numbers. And in 1664 they took over the colony from the Dutch without firing a shot. The Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant wanted to fight the English, but the people did not support him.
The Dutch were tired of being ruled by trading companies so they didn't object when King Charles II of England gave the colony to the Duke of York in 1664, who changed the name of the region to New York.
The English ruled New York for more than 100 years.
A series of wars to control North America were fought between the French and English and the colony of New York became a battleground. The English finally drove the French out in 1763.
The English taxed the colonists heavily to pay for the wars and the people grew restless. They decided that they wanted to run their own country.
The American Revolution started in Massachusetts Colony in 1775. During this war, more than 90 battles were fought on New York soil. In 1775 a great victory came for the Americans at Saratoga where they fought invaders from Canada. The victory proved to be the turning point of the war.