The ‘New York’ Colony was originally controlled by the Dutch and was called ‘New Netherlands’ after their homeland!
The English were in a power struggle with the Netherlands at the time and during the Second War of the ‘Anglo Dutch Wars’ the English secured several important victories against the Dutch (The were Naval battles) During these conflicts the English Navy captured ‘New Netherlands’ (present day New York) led by King of England’s brother Charles who was also the ‘Duke of York’.
England seized control of the ‘New Netherlands’ colony from the Dutch in 1664
After this war the Amsterdam colony ‘New Netherlands’ became a a British proprietary colony and was re-named ‘New York’ after King Charles gave the area to his younger brother the ‘Duke of York’ – Duke of York became ‘New York’!
Most of ‘New Netherlands’ came under the province of New York however there were some areas were the ‘King of England’ and the ‘Duke of York’ granted land ownership to others – The Province of New Jersey and the Province of Pennsylvania were created.
Pennsylvania was created by William Penn ‘Penn-Sylvania’. Later Delaware would separate from Pennsylvania and become it’s own colony. There was also the Chesapeake colony that completed the Middle Colonies.
In the Year 1775 the revolutionary New York Provincial Congress of local representatives took control and the government declared ‘New York Province’ as the “State of New York” in the year 1776. The first New York Constitution was ratified in 1777.
Britain Regains Control on the American Revolutionary War
The British re-gained control of ‘New York’ for a short period in the American Revolutionary War in which New York was used a headquarters for their military operations, however large parts of the colony was still under the control of the patriots armies.
New York established it’s independence from Britain in the Treaty of Paris in 1783. British troops were over-powered by American troops would finally evacuate ‘New York’ which was celebrated in large scale party and parade by George Washington’s Continental army of the 25 November 1783.