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Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was chosen by the Dutch East India Company to lead their effort to discover a water passage to the east. Hudson sailed from Amsterdam with a mainly Dutch crew aboard the Half Moon. -
New Netherlands becomes New York
English sent a fleet to seize New Netherlands, which surrendered without a fight. The English renamed the colony New York, after James, the Duke of York, who had received a charter to the territory from his brother King Charles II. -
First Continental Congress
The Congress had two primary accomplishments. The first was a compact among the Colonies to boycott British goods beginning on December 1, 1774. The West Indies were threatened with a boycott unless the islands agreed to non-importation of British goods. -
Freedom from Great Britain
The American colonist wanted independence from Britain because of Taxation without representation and religious persecution. After serving as a colony of Great Britain for more than a century New York declared its independence and became one of the original 13 colonies. -
Fell to The British
despite the best efforts of George Washington’s Continental Army in Brooklyn and Harlem Heights, New York City fell to the British. It served as a British military base until 1783. -
First Governor
New York elects Brigadier General George Clinton as the first governor of the independent state of New York. Clinton would go on to become New York's longest-serving governor, as well as the longest-serving governor in the United States, holding the post until 1795, and again from 1801 to 1804. -
Last British Troops leave New York
The last British troops evacuated New York. British had occupied New York since 1776. These were the last British troops out of the colonies. George Washington came to celebrate. -
Admitted to the union
New York city was the 11th state admitted to the union. -
State Capital
Albany is one of the oldest surviving settlements from the original thirteen colonies and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States. Modern Albany was founded as the Dutch trading posts of Fort Nassau in 1614 and Fort Orange in 1624 -
Gradual Emancipation
New York passed a Gradual Emancipation act that freed slave children born after July 4, 1799. But indentured them until they were young adults. -
New York Post
The modern version of the paper is published in tabloid format. Established in 1801 by federalist and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, it became a respected broadsheet in the 19th century, under the name New York Evening Post. -
Robert Fulton
was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing a commercially successful steamboat; the first was called The North River Steamboat of Clermont. In 1807 that steamboat traveled on the Hudson River with passengers from New York City to Albany and back again, a round trip of 300 miles, in 62 hours. The success of his steamboat changed river traffic and trade on major American rivers. -
Erie Canal
no easy way to carry goods back and forth from the growing agricultural hinterlands to the north and west until 1817, when work began on a 363-mile canal from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The Erie Canal was completed in 1825. At last, New York City was the trading capital of the nation. -
New York University
A group of prominent New York City residents from the city's landed class of merchants, bankers, and traders established NYU on April 18, 1831. -
Great Fire of New York
the fire destroyed half a billion dollars’ worth of property, leveled 17 city blocks, and nearly took down a booming city. Amazingly, only two people died in the blaze. But it irrevocably changed New York. -
New York Population
New York City had the largest population of any city in America at 515,394. Of these, more than half were foreign-born. New York was the chief port of entry for immigrants into the country, with 370,000 arriving in 1850 alone. -
Draft Riots
known at the time as Draft Week, were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan, widely regarded as the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War. -
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States and is recognized as a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. -
Greater New York
residents of Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn–all independent cities at that time–voted to “consolidate” with Manhattan to form a five-borough “Greater New York.” As a result, on December 31, 1897, New York City had an area of 60 square miles and a population of a little more than 2 million people. -
First Skyscraper
New York City’s first skyscraper was built: the 21-story Flatiron building at 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue, called the Flatiron Building. -
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building were completed and the George Washington Bridge opened, all adding to the New York City's burgeoning skyline. -
Permanent headquarters
Located at 405 E 42nd Street right along the East River on Manhattan Island is a piece of international territory belonging to 193 nations which holds the United Nations Headquarters. -
Empire State Plaza
The New York State Vietnam Memorial at the Empire State Plaza in Albany commemorates the military service of New York State residents who served their country in Southeast Asia between 1961 and 1975, including more than 4,000 who lost their lives or were declared missing in action. -
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a large complex of seven buildings in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. It featured the landmark Twin Towers, which opened on April 4, 1973. -
I love New York
The I LOVE NEW YORK tourism campaign was created. Amid a nationwide recession, Governor Hugh Carey and the NY Department of Commerce made a strategic decision—to market tourism as a means to improve the state’s economy. It started with four little words. I LOVE NEW YORK—slogan, logo, and jingle—created an overall theme that was an instant hit. The clear simple message has endured for more than 40 years, reflecting its universal appeal and New York’s cultural and natural wonders. -
New York State Vietnam Memorial
The New York State Vietnam Memorial was dedicated at the Empire State Plaza in Albany. Commemorating the military service of New York State residents who served their country in Southeast Asia between 1961 and 1975, including more than 4,000 who lost their lives or were declared missing in action, the memorial was the first such state effort in the nation. -
Bombing on World Trade Center
World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, carried out on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. -
Destruction of World Trade Center
On September 11, terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center. Nearly 3,000 people were killed. Today, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum honors the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center site and at the Pentagon; as well as the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993. -
National Purple Heart Hall of Honor
The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor opened in November at the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site in the Hudson Valley. The facility commemorates the extraordinary sacrifices of America's servicemen and servicewomen who were killed or wounded in combat and shares the stories of America's combat-wounded veterans and those who never returned. -
David Patterson
In March, Lieutenant Governor David Paterson became Governor of NY, upon the resignation of Eliot Spitzer. He was New York’s first African-American governor and first legally blind governor, as well as the fourth African-American governor in the US. Governor Paterson is nationally recognized as a leading advocate for the visually and physically impaired.
