[am-ster-dam] 
| 1. | a former Dutch town on Manhattan Island: the capital of New Netherland; renamed New York by the British in 1664. |
| 2. | a city in NE Guyana, on the Berbice River. 18,199. |
| a Dutch colony in North America (1613–64), comprising the area along the Hudson River and the lower Delaware River. By 1669 all of the land comprising this colony was taken over by England. Capital: New Amsterdam. |
| New Amsterdam A settlement established in 1624 by the Dutch at the mouth of the Hudson River on the southern end of Manhattan Island. It was the capital of New Netherland from 1626 to 1664, when it was captured by the British and renamed New York. |
A city founded by Dutch settlers in the seventeenth century on the present site of New York City.
Note: An early governor of the Dutch colony surrounding New Amsterdam bought Manhattan Island, the present center of New York City, from the Native Americans for twenty-four dollars' worth of jewelry.
stərˌdæm