The
Shire of York, was the first large governmental unit organized in the English
Province of New YorkThe Province of New York was an English and later British crown territory that originally included all of the present U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Vermont, along with inland portions of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, as well as eastern Pennsylvania...
soon after English control of the area was established in 1664.
History
On August 29, 1664, The Duke of York’s forces captured
New AmsterdamNew Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
from the Dutch as part of their conquest of
New NetherlandNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
. They renamed New Amsterdam as the Province of New York, which included modern New York, New Jersey, Vermont, southeast Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
Yorkshire (which was not a county), was created soon afterward in 1664. Its jurisdiction included Long Island, Staten Island, Manhattan Island, and the east side of the Hudson River coterminous with Westchester
Like the original
YorkshireYorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
in England for which it was named, Yorkshire, New York was divided into three ridings:
East,
West and
North. New York's East Riding consisted of modern
Suffolk CountySuffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
, its West Riding
Staten IslandStaten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, modern
BrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and modern Elmhurst, Queens (also known as Newtown) and its North Riding the rest of modern
QueensQueens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
,
Nassau CountyNassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
,
Westchester CountyWestchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
and
the BronxThe Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
.
On July 21, 1667, the Peace of Breda between
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
,
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
confirmed the English conquest of New York from the Dutch in 1664.
As a result of renewed fighting between England and the Netherlands, the Dutch re-captured New York in August of 1673. On September 12, 1673, New Netherlands reverted the government structure in New Amsterdam.
On February 9, 1674, the Anglo-Dutch War was concluded with the
Treaty of WestminsterThe Treaty of Westminster of 1674 was the peace treaty that ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Signed by the Netherlands and England, it provided for the return of the colony of New Netherland to England and renewed the Treaty of Breda of 1667...
, the terms of which again transferred the territory to British control. The English reverted the organization to the one they previously established plus the take over of the governments the Dutch established in the interim.
On June 29, 1674, King
Charles II of EnglandCharles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
regranted the same territory previously granted to the Duke of York on March 12, 1663, including all territory previously in the Province of New York.
On November 1, 1683, Yorkshire, New York was eliminated, and the three ridings were converted into the Counties of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk, and Westchester. The East Riding was made into Suffolk County, the West Riding into Richmond (Staten Island) and Kings (Brooklyn) counties, and the North Riding Queens (including the modern Nassau County), New York (modern
Manhattan Borough and New York CountyManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, Westchester (including the modern Bronx) counties.