<Table> <Tr> <Td> Early image of "Nieuw Amsterdam", made in 1664, the year it was surrendered to English forces under Richard Nicolls </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> Early image of "Nieuw Amsterdam", made in 1664, the year it was surrendered to English forces under Richard Nicolls </Td> </Tr> <P> On August 27, 1664, four English frigates led by Richard Nicolls sailed into New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded New Netherland's surrender . They met no resistance because numerous citizens' requests had gone unheeded for protection by a suitable Dutch garrison against "the deplorable and tragic massacres" by the natives . That lack of adequate fortification, ammunition, and manpower made New Amsterdam defenseless, as well as the indifference from the West India Company to previous pleas for reinforcement of men and ships against "the continual troubles, threats, encroachments and invasions of the English neighbors ." Stuyvesant negotiated successfully for good terms from his "too powerful enemies". In the Articles of Transfer, he and his council secured the principle of religious tolerance in Article VIII, which assured that New Netherlanders "shall keep and enjoy the liberty of their consciences in religion" under English rule . The Articles were largely observed in New Amsterdam and the Hudson River Valley, but they were immediately violated by the English along the Delaware River, where pillaging, looting, and arson were undertaken under the orders of English officer Sir Robert Carr, Kt . who had been dispatched to secure the valley . Many Dutch settlers were sold into slavery in Virginia on Carr's orders, and an entire Mennonite settlement was wiped out, led by Pieter Corneliszoon Plockhoy near modern Lewes, Delaware . The 1667 Treaty of Breda ended the Second Anglo - Dutch War; the Dutch did not press their claims on New Netherland, and the status quo was maintained, with the Dutch occupying Suriname and the nutmeg island of Run . </P> <P> Within six years, the nations were again at war . The Dutch recaptured New Netherland in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships led by Vice Admiral Cornelius Evertsen and Commodore Jacob Binckes, then the largest ever seen in North America . They chose Anthony Colve as governor and renamed the city "New Orange," reflecting the installation of William of Orange as Lord - Lieutenant (stadtholder) of Holland in 1672, who became King William III of England in 1689 . Nevertheless, the Dutch Republic was bankrupt after the conclusion of the Third Anglo - Dutch War in 1672--1674, the historic "disaster years" in which the republic was simultaneously attacked by the French under Louis XIV, the English, and the Bishops of Munster and Cologne . The States of Zeeland had tried to convince the States of Holland to take on the responsibility for the New Netherland province, but to no avail . In November 1674, the Treaty of Westminster concluded the war and ceded New Netherland to the English . </P>

Who claimed the dutch settlement of new netherland for the english