New York

New York is a state in the northeastern United States. It is sometimes called New York State when there is need to distinguish it from New York City, the most populous city in both the state and the nation. more...

Due to the preponderance of the population concentrated in the southern portion around New York City, the state is often regionalized into Upstate and Downstate. New York's postal abbreviation is NY.

History

Early settlement

The first settlers in the area now known as the State of New York were Dutch settlers in the colony known as New Amsterdam, beginning in 1613. These settlers were claiming this land theirs, marginalizing the aboriginal inhabitants who had been living there since the Pleistocene epoch. The English traded the modern-day country of Suriname for New Amsterdam in 1664; they renamed it New York, after the Duke of York, the future King James II. On November 1, 1683, the government was reorganized. The colony, then called the Province of New York was divided into twelve counties, each of which was subdivided into towns. The territory of New York extended much farther than present-day New York State, having no official western boundary other than the Pacific Ocean. Two of New York's eastern coastal counties, Cornwall and Dukes, later became parts of Massachusetts and Maine. Counties were also ceded to Vermont before Vermont entered the Union in 1791.

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