‘Tis Nieuw to Thee
Lingua Franca 2014-08-27
Summary:
On August 26, 1664, the urban ancestor of the town in which I live changed its name. The English arrived, only four years after the restoration of their own monarchy, and threw out the Dutch. New York was born, sort of.
That was 350 years ago. On August 25th, the day before the anniversary, The New York Times reported this:
“Finally, on Sept. 8, the largely defenseless settlement tolerated a swift and bloodless regime change: New Amsterdam was immediately renamed New York. It would evolve into...