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In 1626, Peter Minuit, the director-general of the province of New Netherland (of the West India Company), bought the island of Manhattan from the chief of the native inhabitants for 60 guilders (about $24).
Within a year, a fort and about 30 bark covered dwellings had been erected at the southern tip of the island.
The Dutch Reformed consistory of the Collegiate Church dates from 1628, when there was a church in the fort. Jonas Michaelius was the first pastor there.
By 1643 there were almost 500 residents speaking 18 different languages in New Amsterdam.
The town was run as a trading post for the company, with the inhabitants possessing a strictly limited franchise to elect a council entitled only to consult with the director-general.
In 1653, (during the first Anglo-Dutch war), the Dutch built a wall all the way across the island along the northern edge of the town, just over half a mile long, and about a half mile from the southern tip of the island. This is where Wall Street lies today.
Director-general Peter Stuyvesant held office from 1647 to 1664. During this time, the population of the province grew from 2,000 to 10,000. His administration gave rise to controversy on account of many factors; his loyalty to the stockholders of the West India Company (as opposed to the proto-democratic aspirations of the people), his prevention of sales of liquor and firearms to the Indians, his conquest of New Sweden (comprising most of modern Delaware and New Jersey, in 1655), and his persecution of Quakers and Lutherans.
The British king at that time, Charles II claimed the colony (on account of Henry Hudson's "discovery" of it), and told his brother, the Duke of York (hence the present name of the city), that he could have it if he could take it.
When a British fleet of four ships and 400 men showed up off shore, the people deserted Stuyvesant in droves and the province (from Albany south through most of New Jersey) was transferred to British sovereignty without a shot being fired.
The Protestant Episcopal Church (that's the C of E), Trinity Church, was built at the head of Wall Street in 1846 on the site of a church built in 1696, and in the adjacent graveyard are interred the earthly remains of such notables as Alexander Hamilton, Robert Fulton and William Bradford.
New York became a see of a Roman Catholic bishop in 1808 and of an archbishop in 1850. St. Peter's (1785) is the oldest Catholic organization in the city. St. Patrick's (built 1850-1879) is the head of the archdiocese of New York and was for many years the largest house of worship in the country.
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