Before it was the Big Apple it was New Orange

The original European settlement on Manhattan Island, from 1614, was the Dutch settlement, New Amsterdam. In 1664, the British invaded and captured New Amsterdam, renaming it New York. But in 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch war (those guys quarreled a lot), the Dutch reoccupied New York and renamed it New Orange. New Orange lasted just over a year. The British returned, again named the settlement New York, and there it sits today.

All this and a whole lot more from a fascinating new book called The Island at the Center of the World, by Russell Shorto, which tells the little-known story of the 50 years or so when the eastern seaboard of the United States from Massachusetts down to Virginia was claimed by the Dutch and called New Netherland. Island will never be made into a big-budget Hollywood movie, or even a shoestring indie flick, but it's a good read nonetheless, and it's going on our reading list for a while.