Famous Days for Students of English

02-02-1653

In 1524, 5,000 Indians live in the area of today’s New York. Then, the first Europeans start to come. The first person is from Italy. He works for the French king. He says that the area is a part of France.

Then people from the Netherlands come in 1626. They like the area very much. They start to build houses there. They give the place a new name. The name is New Amsterdam.

New Amsterdam is a good port. It is a good place for business. On February 2, 1653, people say that New Amsterdam is officially a town.

Nine years later, people from England come. They want to control New Amsterdam. A war between the Netherlands and England starts. The people from England win. They give the town a new name. They change New Amsterdam to New York.

One hundred years later, Americans want to be independent. People from England say no. A war between America and England starts. The Americans win.

In 1785, New York starts to be a capital of the United States.

In the next years, more and more people come to New York. They are from different countries. They speak many different languages. People say that New York is ’Babylon on the Hudson River’. They have other names for New York too. They call it ’The Big Apple’ or ’The City That Never Sleeps’.

Difficult words: area (a piece of land), port (a place in a town where ships can stop and do business), independent (free), capital (an important city where the leaders of a county live), that (which).