Today New York is a blooming state that situates many iconic buildings and sights. However, it was not always like this. In 1626, Peter Minuit founded the colony of New York for trade and profit for the Dutch. He named it New Amsterdam. In 1664, it was surrendered to the English and renamed New York, after the Duke of York. When it was first established, fewer than 300 lived in New Amsterdam. However, the area's population grew quickly, and soon, in 1760 New York City surpassed Boston to become the second largest city in the American colonies. Eventually, fifty years later, the city would eventually become the largest city in the Western Hemisphere. By the twentieth century, New York City became the city we all know today: it has an area of 300 square miles and is home to more than eight million people.
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"Well the thing is that the New York of 1846 to 1862 was very different from downtown New York now. Really nothing from that period still exists in New York." - Martin Scorsese |