<P> The history of New York City (1665--1783) began with the establishment of English rule over Dutch New Amsterdam and New Netherland . As the newly renamed City of New York and surrounding areas developed, there was a growing independent feeling among some, but the area was decidedly split in its loyalties . The site of modern New York City was the theater of the New York Campaign, a series of major battles in the early American Revolutionary War . After that, the city was under British occupation until the end of the war and was the last port British ships evacuated in 1783 </P> <P> The English had renamed the colony the Province of New York, after the king's brother James, Duke of York and on June 12, 1665, appointed Thomas Willett the first of the Mayors of New York . The city grew northward and remained the largest and most important city in the Province of New York, becoming the third largest in the British Empire after London and Philadelphia . </P> <P> The Dutch regained the colony briefly in 1673, then finally lost it permanently to the English in 1674 after the Third Anglo - Dutch War . </P> <P> Leisler's Rebellion, an uprising in which militia captain Jacob Leisler seized control of lower New York from 1689 to 1691, occurred in the midst of England's "Glorious Revolution". It reflected colonial resentment against King James II, who in the 1680s decreed the formation of the provinces of New York, New Jersey and the Dominion of New England as royal colonies, with New York City designated as the capital . Royal authority was restored in 1691 by English troops sent by James' successor, William III . </P>

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