The English conquest of the Dutch settlements of New Netherland had been accomplished rather effortlessly. And now England was at liberty to decide how to best utilize the acquisition. King Charles II granted to his brother, James, Duke of York, all of the lands that made up the colony of Maine, which extended between the Ste. Croix and the Kennebec Rivers and between the Atlantic Ocean and the St. Lawrence River. The claim also included the islands between Cape Cod and the Narrows along with all the land extending from the western boundary of Connecticut to the Delaware Bay.
The Duke of York appointed Colonel Richard Nicolls to govern the colony, and Nicolls sailed into New York Harbor on 29 August 1664. Nicolls was rather liberal with the Dutch inhabitants, allowing them to retain ownership of their lands and other property and granting to them freedom of conscience and religion. Despite the renaming of New Amsterdam to New York, in honor of the Duke, Nicolls allowed the existing Dutch municipal officers to remain in their positions.
But the peace established in the colony by Nicolls was shattered by the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War in December of 1664. Because of it, Nicolls ordered the confiscation of all property held by the Dutch West India Company on 23 February 1665. He also ordered the confiscation of property held by any Dutch residents who had not already taken the oath of allegiance to England.
On 21 July 1667, a peace treaty between England and the Netherlands was signed at Breda, Holland. The Treaty of Breda confirmed England's claim to the settlement of New York in America in exchange for Surinam and Poleron in the southern Pacific.
