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Historians say New Amsterdam still shapes New York City 400 years later

As New York City marks the 400th anniversary of New Amsterdam, local historians say the Dutch colony still shapes the city's streets, trade, and character.

Historians say New Amsterdam still shapes New York City 400 years later
This 17th-century engraving depicts New Amsterdam, the Dutch colonial settlement that became New York City, with Fort Amsterdam, trading vessels, and Indigenous watercraft — a visual echo of the city’s origins in trade and cultural exchange.
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Before New York was New York, it was New Amsterdam, and the closest thing Ridgewood has to a witness is a squat Dutch colonial farmhouse on the Brooklyn-Queens border. The Vander Ende-Onderdonk House, built in 1709 and one of the oldest structures in the city, is where the Greater Ridgewood Historical Society keeps the relics of the colony that gave the five boroughs their capitalist streak, their patchwork of nationalities and a surprising amount of their street map.

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Featured image: Courtesy New Amsterdam History Center

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