Four years later, the first Dutch settlers appeared on the island. The permanent presence of the Dutch in this area, which was then called New Netherland, began in 1624 with the establishment of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island.
In 1625, construction began on Fort Amsterdam in what is now Lower Manhattan, later called New Amsterdam. This fact is considered to be the birth of New York.
For the opportunity for settlers from the Netherlands to settle on the island, the Indians received some monetary equivalent from the colony’s governor, Peter Minuit. It is said that they were beads and other trinkets worth $24, but there is no documentation to prove this.
