New York

Manhattan and Brooklyn both begin in Dutch hands. New Amsterdam was founded at Manhattan's southern tip in 1624, made capital of New Netherland in 1625, and renamed New York when the English took control in 1664; across the East River the Dutch settled, patented or chartered separate towns — Breuckelen, Bushwick as Boswijck, Flatbush as Midwout, Flatlands as Nieuw Amersfoort, Gravesend and New Utrecht — which governed themselves; the City of Brooklyn annexed the towns around it between 1854 and 1896, and the consolidation of 1898 made one city of it all. Dutch words survive on both sides of the river, in Wallabout, Bloemendaal and Groenwijck, alongside Lenape names like Ihpetonga, Rinnegokonk and Equendito, and Gowanus, from the Canarsee leader Gauwane. Transit set the pace of building on both sides: Robert Fulton's steam ferry from 1814, elevated lines from the 1870s and 1880s, the first subway in 1904. The newest layer of names was written by developers and residents, from Bensonhurst-by-the-Sea in 1888 to SoHo in 1962 and Dumbo in 1978.