First Anglo-Dutch War. The English unsuccessfully attempted to gain a foothold in the East Indies (now Indonesia), but they tried to harass the Dutch wherever possible. In one such attack, in 1664, they occupied the colony of New Netherland, whose capital, New Amsterdam, was located in the great estuary of the Hudson River, on the island the natives called Manhattan (Island with Hills). It had been founded in 1624. The English renamed it New York, in honor of King Charles II’s brother, James, Duke of York, the direct promoter of the initiative and the supreme admiral of England.
