The following important events in New York history affected political boundaries, record-keeping, and family movements.

1609	Henry Hudson, sailing for the Dutch, established Holland's claim to the New York region.
1624–1626	The Dutch West India Company established established the colony of New Netherland. Its chief settlements were at New Amsterdam, on the lower tip of Manhattan Island, and at Fort Orange, the present site of Albany.
1629	The Dutch introduced the patroonship (manorial) system, which established a landholding aristocracy in the Hudson Valley.
1664	New Netherland surrendered to the English, who separated it into the colonies of New York and New Jersey.
1673–1674	The Dutch briefly reconquered New York. 1674
1683	The twelve original counties were formed (Albany, Cornwall [Maine], Dukes [Massachusetts], Dutchess, Kings, New York, Queens, Orange, Richmond, Suffolk, Ulster, and Westchester).
1731	The boundary between New York and Connecticut was settled.
1769	After long conflicts, the present border with New Jersey was agreed upon. The line was surveyed and marked in 1774.
1773	The New York-Massachusetts boundary dispute was finally resolved.
1776	New York declared independence from Britain and Vermont declared its independence from New York. At the end of the Revolutionary War, in 1783, the British evacuated Loyalists to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the British West Indies.
1786	The Hartford Treaty gave Massachusetts the title to the land in western New York west of the “Pre-emption Line” (a line running north and south between Seneca and Keuka Lakes) but reserved political governance to New York.
1788	New York ratified the U.S. Constitution and became the eleventh state of the Union.
1791	New York's eastern boundary was finally determined when Vermont was admitted as a state.
1796	The state capital moved from New York City to Albany.
1825	The Erie Canal (between Albany and the Great Lakes) was completed, stimulating settlement of the midwestern U.S. By 1842, rail lines connected Albany and Buffalo.
1839–1845	The Anti-Rent War led to the end of the manorial system.
1898	Brooklyn (Kings) established 1683, New York (Manhattan) established 1683, Queens established 1683, and Staten Island (Richmond) established 1683 were incorporated as boroughs of New York City.
1914	Bronx was incorporated as the fifth borough of New York City.