Native Americans

New York was one of the thirteen original British colonies. During those early days, New York began to establish itself as a land of valuable resources and innovative, free-thinking individuals. This book chronicles the history of early New York, how it became a British colony, and what life was like in colonial New York. The facts are richly supplemented with detailed maps and primary source documents from the era.

With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, New York State truly came into its own as a center for industry and economy. Businessmen like Jay Gould of the railroad industry and oil tycoon JD Rockefeller helped make New York prosperous, while many local inventors, engineers, and architects helped create new and valuable ideas. From the beauty and strength of the Brooklyn Bridge to the innovations of Corning Glass Works, New York's past and present are ripe with fascinating tales of economic growth and innovation.

Traveling back to the time before European explorers colonized New York, many Native American tribes roamed the forests and rivers of this resource-rich land. Tribes within the Iroquois League and Algonquian-speaking groups each had their own cultures and ways of living off the land—and each had their own inventive ways of using New York's abundant resources to survive and thrive. This book examines the earliest occupants of what is now New York State and how the arrival of European explorers greatly changed their way of life.