Editing Hudson River (section)

===Exploration and colonization===
[[John Cabot]] is credited for the [[Old World]]'s discovery of continental North America, with his journey in 1497 along the continent's coast. In 1524, [[Florence|Florentine]] explorer [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]] sailed north along the Atlantic seaboard and into New York Harbor,<ref name="Hudson, Charles H 1874, p. 1-2"/> however he left the harbor shortly thereafter, without navigating into the Hudson River.<ref name="NY Times Verrazano"/> In 1598, Dutch men employed by the Greenland Company wintered in [[New York Bay]].<ref name="Hudson, Charles H 1874, p. 1-2"/>

In 1609 the [[Dutch East India Company]] financed English navigator [[Henry Hudson]] in his search for the [[Northeast Passage]], but thwarted by sea ice in that direction, he sailed westward across the Atlantic in pursuit of a [[Northwest Passage]].<ref name='De Laet "New World"'>{{cite book |last1=De Laet |first1=Johan |title="New World, Chapter 7," Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 |date=1909 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cL8LAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA37 |access-date=17 April 2023}}</ref> During the search, Hudson sailed up the river that would later be named after him. He then sailed upriver to a point near Stuyvesant (Old Kinderhook), and the ship’s boat with five members ventured to the vicinity of present-day Albany, reaching an end to navigation.<ref name="History of Old Kinderhook">{{cite book |last1=Collier |first1=Edward |title=A History of Old Kinderhook from Aboriginal Days to the Present Time |date=1914 |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |location=New York |pages=2–7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GIY-AAAAYAAJ |access-date=1 May 2023}}</ref><ref name="Henry Hudson"/>

The [[Dutch empire|Dutch]] subsequently began to colonize the region, establishing the colony of [[New Netherland]], including three major fur-trading outposts: [[New Amsterdam]], [[Wiltwyck]], and [[Fort Orange]].<ref name="Overview of Dutch colonization NPS"/><ref name="New Netherland Cornell"/> New Amsterdam was founded at the mouth of the Hudson River, and would later become known as [[New York City]]. Wiltwyck was founded roughly halfway up the Hudson River, and would later become Kingston. Fort Orange was founded on the river north of Wiltwyck, and later became known as Albany.<ref name="Overview of Dutch colonization NPS"/>

The [[Dutch West India Company]] operated a monopoly on the region for roughly twenty years before other businessmen were allowed to set up their own ventures in the colony.<ref name="Overview of Dutch colonization NPS"/> In 1647, Director-General [[Peter Stuyvesant]] took over management of the colony, and surrendered it in 1664 to the British, who had invaded the largely-defenseless New Amsterdam.<ref name="Overview of Dutch colonization NPS"/><ref name="Capture of New Amsterdam"/> New Amsterdam and the colony of New Netherland were renamed New York, after the [[Duke of York]].<ref name="Capture of New Amsterdam"/>

Under British colonial rule, the Hudson Valley became an agricultural hub. Manors were developed on the east side of the river, and the west side contained many smaller and independent farms.<ref name="Colonial British NY"/> In 1754, the [[Albany Plan of Union]] was created at [[Stadt Huys|Albany City Hall]] on the Hudson.<ref name="Albany Congress NYS"/><ref name="Albany City Hall Location NYS"/> The plan allowed the colonies to treaty with the Iroquois and provided a framework for the [[Continental Congress]].<ref name="Albany Plan of Union"/><ref name="Iroquois Treaty Albany"/>