Editing Staten Island (section)

===European settlement===
The first recorded European contact on the island was in 1524 by Italian explorer [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]] who sailed through [[The Narrows]] on the ship ''[[La Dauphine]]'' and anchored for one night.

The Dutch did not establish a permanent settlement on {{lang|nl|Staaten Eylandt}} for many decades. Its name derived from the [[States General of the Netherlands|Staten Generaal]], the parliament of the [[Dutch Republic|Republic of the Seven United Netherlands]]. From 1639 to 1655, [[Cornelis Melyn]] and [[David Pietersz. de Vries|David de Vries]] made three separate attempts to establish a settlement there, but each time the settlement was destroyed in conflicts between the Dutch and the local tribe.<ref name=island>[[Russell Shorto]], ''The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America.'' First Edition. New York City: Vintage Books (a Division of Random House, 2004), {{ISBN|1-4000-7867-9 }}</ref> In 1661, the first permanent Dutch settlement was established at {{lang|nl|Oude Dorp}} (Dutch for "Old Village") by a small group of Dutch, [[Walloons|Walloon]], and French [[Huguenots|Huguenot]] families,<ref name="ellis-p55">{{cite book |title=The Epic of New York City |author=Ellis, Edward Robb |publisher=Old Town Books |year=1966 |page=55 }}</ref> just south of the Narrows near South Beach. Many French Huguenots had gone to the Netherlands as refugees from the religious wars in France, suffering persecution for their Protestant faith, and some joined the emigration to New Netherland.

At one point nearly a third of the residents of the Island spoke French.<ref>[http://blog.silive.com/memories_column/2014/07/staten_island_might_well_have_been_called_huguenot_island.html Memories: Staten Island might well have been called Huguenot Island] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212085020/http://blog.silive.com/memories_column/2014/07/staten_island_might_well_have_been_called_huguenot_island.html |date=February 12, 2018 }}. Retrieved February 11, 2018.</ref> The last vestige of Oude Dorp is the name of the present-day neighborhood of [[Old Town, Staten Island|Old Town]] adjacent to Old Town Road.<ref>Scheltema, Gajus and Westerhuijs, Heleen (eds.), ''Exploring Historic Dutch New York''. Museum of the City of New York/Dover Publications, New York (2011) {{ISBN|978-0-486-48637-6 }}</ref> Staten Island was not spared the bloodshed which culminated in [[Kieft's War]]. In the summer of 1641 and in 1642, Native American tribes destroyed Old Town.<ref>Morris pgs.188-189</ref>

On July 10, 1657, the Native Americans signed a deed to Lubbertus van Dincklage, attorney of Henrick van der Capelle tho Ryssel, for the purchase of all indigenous lands on Staten Island.<ref name="deed">{{cite web |url=https://www.nysarchivestrust.org/education/consider-source/browse-primary-source-documents/indigenous-history/indian-deed-staten-island-july-10-1657 |date=February 24, 2021 |title=Deed for the purchase of indigenous lands on Staten Island, July 10 1657 |website=New York State Archives Partnership Trust |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224210126/https://www.nysarchivestrust.org/education/consider-source/browse-primary-source-documents/indigenous-history/indian-deed-staten-island-july-10-1657 |archive-date=February 24, 2021 }}</ref> However, this deed was annulled when the Dutch purchasers failed to deliver the promised goods for the land a few months later.<ref>{{cite web |title=Buying and Selling Staten Island |author=Andrew Lipman |date=August 7, 2020 |website=Common Place |url=https://commonplace.online/article/buying-and-selling-staten-island/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605070025/https://commonplace.online/article/buying-and-selling-staten-island/ |archive-date=June 5, 2023 }}</ref>

[[File:Vorleezer-house.jpg|thumb|right|[[Voorlezer's House]]]]
[[File:Perine-house.JPG|thumb|right|[[Billiou–Stillwell–Perine House]]]]