New York City’s origins are usually dated to the early Dutch settlement known as New Amsterdam, established as a trading post in 1624–1625 on the southern tip of Manhattan and nearby Governors Island. The English later took the colony in 1664 and renamed it “New York,” but the city’s foundational moment as a European-founded settlement traces back to those Dutch years in the 1620s.

Key founding dates

  • 1624: Dutch West India Company establishes a fur-trading settlement in New Netherland, including a post near today’s New York Harbor, often cited as the city’s founding year.
  • 1625: Construction of Fort Amsterdam and a more permanent town at the southern tip of Manhattan, forming the core of New Amsterdam.
  • 1664: English seize New Amsterdam and rename it New York, formalizing the name but not changing the original founding era in the 1620s.

Why the date seems fuzzy

Historians and local sources sometimes emphasize different milestones when answering “when was New York City founded,” which is why multiple years appear in articles and discussions. Some count the first permanent trading post (1624), others highlight the fort and town on Manhattan (1625), and a few focus on later legal or governmental charters in the mid‑1600s.

Quick historical snapshot

  • The area was originally home to the Lenape people long before any European settlement.
  • The first European presence was Dutch, under the colony of New Netherland, with New Amsterdam as its main town.
  • Over nearly 400 years, that small fortified trading post grew into the modern metropolis now known worldwide as New York City.

TL;DR: Most historians treat New York City as founded in the Dutch New Amsterdam period around 1624–1625, with 1624 as the commonly cited founding year and 1625 as the year the main Manhattan settlement took shape.