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Why is New York called the “Empire State”?
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Why is the STATE called New York? For that matter why is it even arranged the way it is? The city was originally called that as a rebranding of New Amsterdam, obviously. But it’s not precisely clear why the State of New York occupied the land that it does. If you’ll refer to a map of the state, New York City is on a jut of land that intuitively doesn’t appear to be geographically a part of the State of New York - logically, the city should really be part of New Jersey. How did New York City come to grant its name to a state that’s primarily located along the Great Lakes?
I’d guess that it was named in honour of the Duke of York.
You’re creating a false dichotomy between New York and New Jersey. To the Dutch, who originally colonized both states, it was all part of one colony that they called New Holland. You’ll note that many, perhaps most major cities and towns in both states have unmistakeably Dutch names.
The Dutch settled the land that’s now makes up the states of New York, New Jersey and Vermont. The entire area was called New Holland. The largest Dutch colony was on the island of Manhattan, which was named New Amsterdam.
After the British conquered the territory from the Dutch, during the reign of Charles II, they divided the region into separate colonies: New Jersey and New York, which was named after Charles’ brother James, the Duke of York (he later became King James II). And the former New Amsterdam was renamed New York City (remember, at the time, New Amsterdam and New York City meant ONLY the island of Manhattan- the other boroughs didn’t merge and form what’s now New York City until a little over 100 years ago).
The Dutch didn’t distinguish between “New York” and “New Jersey,” which were just parts of the greater “New Holland.” The British redrew boundaries for reasons that made sense to them, and it just so happened that under their new scheme, the island of Manhattan (aka New Amsterdam, aka New York City) was now part of New York and not New Jersey.
As for “Empire State,” Well, I imagine it was a boastful nickname that referrred to New York’s status as the business and financial capital of the United States… but I can’t document that, or tell you when the nickname was first used.
It was New Netherland, actually.
“New York is called “The Empire State” because of its wealth and variety of resources. The nickname appeared on New York license plates from 1951 through the mid-1960s. In 2001, “The Empire State” legend returned to New York license plates.” - Shearer, Benjamin F. and Barbara S. State Names, Seals, Flags and Symbols Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut - 1994, via this website, via Google.
The same source is used (and the same quotation, though often only the first sentence) by a lot of websites. Encarta says that the nickname is derived from a saying, attributed to George Washington, claiming that New York would become the seat of a new empire (and also mentioning the wealth and resources).
No help for the OP, but I just wanted to point out that if you think that is weird, try and figure out why the Michigan UP doesn’t belong to Wisconsin?
Oh, I asked trhat question of some folks in Michigan just last week.
Their response: “We have no idea. Wisconsin can have them.”
Incidentally, New Jersey folks OFTEN claim that Liberty Island is really on “their” territory. And occasionally, I’ve heard Jersey folk say that Staten ISland really looks like a misplaced piece of New Jersey. But I’ve never heard a Jersey resident claim Manhattan.
And while the West Side of Manhattan IS right across the Hudson from what’s now New Jersey, Northern Manhattan is actually a good deal closer to the Bronx, which is part of mainland New York state. So, it’s not utterly illogical that Manhattan should be considered part of New York. *
But my original point remains- to the Dutch, New Jersey and New York were part of one big colony. To them, the question of “is Manhattan part of New York or New Jersey” would have been moot.
After taking the colony from the Dutch, the British subdivided it into the territories that are now New York and New Jersey. On what basis they decided that Manhattan and (especially) Staten Island should fall into what’s now New York, I couldn’t tell you. It may have been purely arbitrary.
The British don’t seem ever to have made a formal decision about Bedloe’s (now Liberty) Island or a few other nearby islands, which is why you still get occasional sniping from New Jersey as to who “really” owns them.
- Speaking of illogical, what’s with that little chunk of Minnesota in the middle of Canada???
How bizarre!
Here it is.
A little bit of Minnesota that has no physical connection to the States, but is quite firmly attached to Canada. You learn something new every day.
There are actually a few places like that across the country. There’s a spit of land south of Vancouver (Point Hudson?) that belongs to the states, but residents can only get to the rest of their country by crossing the border twice.
Carter Lake, Iowa is on the “wrong” side of the Missouri river. From this page:
Point Roberts.
The orginally proposed northern border for Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois was an East-West line just touching the southernmost point of Lake Michigan. The original proposed area for Michigan was just the lower peninsula (with a bit more eterritory in what is now Ohio and Indiana. However, the surveying and/or mapmaking wasn’t accurate and it was believed that Toledo (or more importantly the port on the Maumee River) was withing Ohio.
http://www.michigan.gov/dmva/0,1607,7-126-2360_3003_3009-16934--,00.html
A later more accurate survey showed the right boundary, but Ohio had already laid claim to the “Toledo strip” survey and been admitted to the unioin with the more generous borders. Though Michigan Territory governed the strip for a while, Ohio fought off thei admission to the union unless they conceded it Something called the Toldeo War was fought over this (tough it wasn’t much of a war). Congress required Michigan to give up it’s claim as a condition of granting statehood and complesated them with the upper pennisula.
Indiana made a slightly bigger grab and Illinois even bigger to get Chicago and its port on Lake Michigan. By the original border Illinois would not have been bordered by Lake Michigan at all and Inidiana woudl have had only a tiny point.
Of course in the long run both Wisconsin and Michigan have won by not hagving to have Chicago and Toledo . 
Back to the OP.
The Dutch colony ran all the way up the Hudson to Fort Orange, which is now Albany.
After the transfer to the British, these lands also became part of the British colony, and an important source of wealth.
The big push west of the Hudson came after the French ceded all their territory east of the Mississippi in the Treaty of Paris (1763) at the end of the French and Indian War.
These possessions became part of the British colony of New York, and eventually turned into the State of New York after the revolution. (The 1783 treaty in which the British turned over these lands to the Americans is sometimes also called the Treaty of Paris, or the Peace of Paris, and causes no end of confusion.)
I’m currently reading The Island at the Center of the World, by Russell Shorto, the history of New Netherlands, based on a cache of 12,000 Dutch documents found 30 years ago and being translated fully for the first time. So far it’s one of the great works of popular history I’ve read, and I’m a history buff.
As for Empire: