The day the history of New York began – level 3

02-02-1653

Before the first European set foot in the area of today’s New York, about 5,000 Indians had been living peacefully on the banks of the Hudson River. In 1524, the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to visit this area. He served the French king and thus declared the territory a French colony.

In 1626, the Dutch colonizer Peter Minuit bought the island of Manhattan from the Indians, naming the area New Amsterdam. The Dutch declared it a town on February 2, 1653. New Amsterdam was a good port and had an ideal location for trading.

Nine years later, the British wanted the place for themselves and started a war with the Dutch. The British won and renamed the colony New York.

A century later, the American War of Independence started. The Americans defeated the British and in 1785, New York was declared the capital of the US.

In the coming years, New York became the city with the greatest diversity of languages, and it was known as ‘Babylon on the Hudson River’. Other most common nicknames were ’The Big Apple’ or ’The City That Never Sleeps’.

Difficult words: thus (for this reason), trading (the activity of buying and selling), defeat (to win a victory over somebody in a war), diversity (many different types of something).

What other nicknames were given to New York in the years that followed its declaration as the capital of the US?

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