History of Albany, New York (1664–1784) state capital in the United States. In the period leading up to the Second Anglo-Dutch War, King Charles II of England granted the land from Maine to Delaware, which included all of New Netherland, to his brother James, Duke of York. In April 1664 four ships with a combined 450-men fighting force set sail for New Amsterdam. Fort Orange was surrendered to the English 16 days after New Amsterdam (the city of New York). Surrender terms at New Amsterdam were quite generous. Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany, and the village of Beverswyck was renamed Albany, in honor of the
Seal of New York City after the American Revolution. Prior to this change, a crown had been located in this space, representing the authority of the monarchy during the British colonial period. The eagle rests upon a hemisphere. At the bottom is the date, 1625, when Fort Amsterdam was designated the capital of the province of New Amsterdam, the colonial Dutch settlement which would later become the City of New York. The first Dutch settlers actually arrived in the region in 1624, and the town of New Amsterdam was incorporated in 1653. The English came in 1664, and the Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrendered, signing