Late Contact Period:  
Distinct native groups of the region live, tend crops, and trade in the waters around Manhattan, linking local cultures with tribes across the Sound, to the tip of Long Island, and as far west as the Great Lakes.

1524
Verrazano sails into the upper bay, exchanges shots with natives, explores up the Hudson, and, not finding gold or a western waterway, departs.

17th Century

1609  
Henry Hudson sails up the Hudson River looking again for a water passage to the Pacific. His reports create interest in settling in what becomes Albany, to harvest and export fur.

1624
European colonists, sponsored by Dutch West India Company, resettle in Manhattan to escape native wars over the fur trade to the north.

1626
The first slaves appear in New York to work on the Dutch West India Company's farms.

1638
The Dutch West India Company lifts its monopoly on the fur trade, encouraging smaller merchants to enter the market.

1651
The English Navigation Acts cuts off trade between New Amsterdam merchants and those in Virginia and Massachusetts.

1654
The Dutch are forced out of Brazil by the Portuguese. A large group of Sephardic Jewish merchants petition to resettle in New Amsterdam.

1664-1674
The British and Dutch trade possession of New Amsterdam/New York in a series of European wars. The British ultimately keep the city and rename it and the province after James, Duke of York.

1675-1676
The Great Dock built between Whitehall Slip and Coenties Slip.  It was the only significant place of dockage for large vessels until 1750.

1680's
Wheat and flour shipped to Newfoundland fisheries and West Indies plantations become a staple of New York trade.

18th Century

1713
Treaty of Utrecht, temporarily suspending European imperial wars, marks the start of major commercial growth for New York.

1719
Gerardus Beekman receives first water lot grant east of Pearl St., between the present Fulton and Beekman streets, on which he builds a public slip. Later Ann, William, and John streets will be named for Beekman’s children.

1747-1762
The number of vessels owned by city residents increases from 99 to 447; number of employed seamen grows from 755 to 3,552.

1775-1783
The American Revolution. New York harbor is occupied by the British for most of the war, making the city a haven for Loyalists. After the war, New York adopts a gradual emancipation law; slavery would finally end in New York in 1827.

1784
The Empress of China sails to Canton opening trade between America and China.

1788
New York becomes the eleventh state to ratify the new federal Constitution.

1789
Water St. is paved between Coenties and Peck slips.

1790
Washington is inaugurated as the first United States President at Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan.

1793
Peter Schermerhorn consolidates Beekman Slip water lots (later Fulton St. & Schermerhorn Row). First steam-powered boat, invented by John Fitch of Philadelphia, makes 6 knots upstream on the Delaware River. Fitch also demonstrates the boat on Collect Pond in Lower Manhattan.

1797
New York becomes leading American port, surpassing Philadelphia's import and export volume for first time. Front St. is laid out between Beekman Wharf (Fulton St.) and Crane Wharf (Beekman St.).

1800
First (and short-lived) federal bankruptcy law reduces commercial risk for merchants in the 19th Century.

1802
President Thomas Jefferson buys the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon, enabling enormous expansion of European populations and creating new markets for eastern merchants.

1807
After a trial on the East River, Robert Fulton's steamboat North River makes its first trip up Hudson to Albany. Fulton creates a prosperous monopoly ferry service and begins to experiment with torpedos, underwater mines, and ironclad boats.

1810-1812
South St. becomes city's waterfront from the Battery to former Beekman Slip; Peter Schermerhorn constructs Schermerhorn Row.

1812-1815
War of 1812. Port participates through privateering and shipbuilding. American seamen pressed into British navy, precipitating American involvement in the war. End of the Napoleonic Wars ushers in new era of profitable and relatively safe trans-Atlantic shipping.

1816
Fulton St., incorporating the old Partition, Fair streets, and Beekman Slip, is named for Robert Fulton (d. 1815).

1817-1825
Erie Canal opens in stages starting in 1820, significantly enhancing the port's economy, and reestablishing the link made by native tribes between the harbor and the Great Lakes. Coal begins to arrive in New York on the Erie, the Morris, and the Lehigh canals.

1818
Black Ball Line, first regularly scheduled transatlantic packet, begins New York-to-Liverpool service. Immigration from Europe becomes cheaper thanks to regular shipping schedules.

1822
Fulton Market opens at Pearl St. and Maiden Lane, with its east wing a fish market. Pearl Street becomes the headquarters of merchants shipping goods out to the expanding frontier.

1827
Slavery ends in New York State

1835
Great Fire (December 15–16) destroys 674 lower Manhattan buildings from Fulton to Broadway, including a store belonging to merchant Anthony Winans.

1838
First transatlantic steam vessels arrive in New York from Britain. 

1840
Founding of the Cunard line, the British steamship company that in the 20th century would build the great ocean liners Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth II.

1844-1845
Clipper Ship era opens. Houqua, the first streamlined ship, is designed for A.A. Low & Bros. The first true extreme clipper, Rainbow, is launched at Smith & Dimon, New York shipyard (1845). Famine in Ireland induces massive migration to the United States, with many of the ships docking in New York. Castle Garden is the main intake point for new arrivals. Irish immigrants, mostly poor and Roman Catholic, face considerable discrimination and prejudice.

1848
Great wave of immigration from Germany.

1849
The A.A. Low building is erected on John St. Low spent his early career in China, choosing and shipping merchandise to New York. He later made his own fortune in trade with China. Discovery of gold in California creates a new lucrative business for clippers, which race around the Horn to San Francisco with settlers and supplies.

1851
Clipper Flying Cloud sails between New York and San Francisco in a record 89 days. Clipper ships were so fast that they could profitably carry ice to China. Owners’ willingness to pay high prices for colorful advertisements spurred great creativity among seaport printers.

1862
Ironclad U.S.S. Monitor, built in New York, sails south to engage the Merrimack in Virginia. Sailors on board said they had never heard anything like the din of the guns reverberating within the metal hull. Both ironclads were disabled.  The turret of the Monitor, which sank after the battle, was recovered from the water in 2001.

1863
Riots erupt in Manhattan over federal draft policy, viewed by white laborers as wholly unwelcome and grossly unfair. White working people attack and kill black New Yorkers, federal troops, and policemen.

1869
The Transcontinental Railroad, built mostly by immigrant labor, establishes a link to a new range of products and markets for New York, including massive quantities of buffalo hide. The railroad carries settlers west to California, where they lay the foundations for the great Pacific ports of the 20th century.

1880
Waves of immigration from southern and eastern Europe bring new settlers to New York, creating new neighborhoods and activating old social tensions.

1882
Federal Chinese Exclusion Act permanently separates many Asian immigrants from their families back home. Thomas Edison opens world's first central power plant on Pearl Street. South Street becomes first commercial area with electric light, which significantly reduces the risk of fire in the crowded city.

1883
Brooklyn Bridge, under construction since 1870, opens on May 24. Sailors hung the cables of the bridge since they could be counted on to work accurately high above the water.

1886
Statue of Liberty raised and unveiled in New York harbor.

1892
Ellis Island replaces Castle Garden as the immigrant depot for New York harbor.

1898
The battleship Maine, built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, sinks in Havana harbor, precipitating the Spanish-American war. Contemporary scholars have proposed that, rather than being sabotaged, the Maine was lost because her coal chutes exploded.

20th Century

1902-1907
Chelsea Piers (800-ft. long), docks for large ocean liners, are constructed on Hudson River.

1907
Immigration from Japan limited by Gentlemans’ Agreement.

1917
U.S. enters World War I.  In New York, the center for embarkation and supply, nearly 1.5 million troops leave for Europe.

1921
Creation of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

1921-1937
Beginning with Goethals Bridge, Port Authority constructs 4 bridges and the Lincoln Tunnel, creating crucial roadway links between New York and the mainland.

1924
United States institutes immigration restrictions and national quotas, abandoning the historic Open Door policy.

1927
Holland Tunnel opens after 14 year planning and construction process. The first two supervisors of the project died of stress-related ailments. The first day, 51,000 drivers went through just to see what it was like. Charles Lindbergh flies solo from New York to Paris, touching off the age of aviation.

1937
First section of East River Drive completed. Lincoln Tunnel opens. New Jersey communities advertise open land, affordable housing, and easy, pleasant commutes.

1939
Fulton Ferry Hotel closes its doors. Buildings in Schermerhorn Row abandoned. Nearly fifty million people visit the New York World’s Fair.  The Trylon and Perisphere, symbols of the Fair’s vision of progress, were soon melted down to make weapons for World War II.

1941-44
U.S. enters World War II and New York becomes nerve center for transatlantic crossings.

1946
G. I. Bill and VHA mortgage support massive infusions of federal money into home building.

1952-53
Third Fulton Market building erected. Approximately 430,000 people work in port-related jobs in New York Port.

1954
Ellis Island officially closes.

1955
Transatlantic air travelers exceed ship passengers. Ships expand in size to accommodate larger freight loads. Petroleum and later automobiles become major imports into New York harbor. Federal Highway Act funnels federal funds into construction of highways and other trucking, bus, and automobile infrastructure

1960
Water Street buildings demolished for street widening. Contributes to dispersal of old coffee district.

1964-65
Penn Station (1910) is demolished, leading to establishment of NYC Landmarks Commission.

1965
Elimination of national immigration quotas sets off waves of immigration from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

1967
South Street Seaport Museum founded.

1970
Port Authority opens the World Trade Center complex; excavation for the construction had revealed numerous priceless early maritime artifacts.

1975
An estimated 75% of all cargo is containerized; less than 3% of region's jobs are port-related. Longshoremen and harbor pilots disperse from port area and Sandy Hook into new suburban settlements.

1976-1978
Rouse Corp. begins South Street redevelopment.

1983-1985
Redeveloped Seaport opens with dozens of shops and expanded museum programs.

2001
Terrorist attack destroys World Trade Center towers. Necessary reconstruction of the site initiates another redevelopment of Lower Manhattan.

2003
Schermerhorn Row reopens to the public after $20 million renovation project as exhibit galleries for Seaport Museum New York.

2005
Fulton Fish Market closes its Lower Manhattan operations and reopens in climate controlled facilities in the Bronx.
 

2010

South Street Seaport Museum changes its name to Seaport Museum New York.