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The New York Colony was originally called the Province of New York (from 1664), and later New York.
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The original boundaries of the New York Colony included present-day New York State, New Jersey, Delaware, and Vermont. The boundaries also included parts of present-day Maine, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
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The New York Colony was not dominated by a specific religion and residents were free to worship as they chose. There were Catholics, Jews, Lutherans, and Quakers among others.
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Natural resources in the New York Colony included agricultural land, coal, furs, forestry (timber), and iron ore.
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The New York Colony was also referred to as a breadbasket colony because one of its major crops was wheat. The wheat was ground into flour and exported to England.
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Exports from the New York Colony included iron ore as a raw material and as manufactured goods such as tools, plows, nails and kitchen items such as kettles.
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The landscape of the New York Colony included lowlands, mountains, coastal plain, and farmland.
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The mild climate of the New York Colony with cold winters and hot summers. This made the climate ideal for farming. The cold winters made it more difficult for disease to thrive like it did in the Southern Colonies where it didn't get as cold in the winter.
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A typical farm in the New York Colony included between 50 and 150 acres of land, a house, fields, and a barn.
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The New York Colony eventually gained the nickname of Empire State.
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The New York Colony declared its independence on July 9th, 1776.
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On April 20th, 1777 the New York Colony adopted its constitution.
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In June, 1777, the New York Colony elected its first governor, George Clinton.
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The New York Colony became a U.S. state on July 26th, 1788.
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On April 30th, 1789 George Washington was inaugurated as the President of the United States in New York City. New York City was the new country's first capital city.
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It is estimated that approximately one-third of the battles of the American Revolution were fought on New York Colony soil.
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In January 1797 Albany became New York State's capital city.
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It is estimated that from 1892 and 1954 millions of immigrants came to the United States via Ellis Island in New York.
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It is estimated that as many as 40% of all Americans had at least one ancestor that came through New York's Ellis Island.
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