Manhattan Island Chronology—Some basic dates to make it all make sense 1600’s and earlier- Manhattan Island inhabited by Lenape Indians. Used as a hunting ground-14 square miles, 62 bodies of water including streams, creeks, ponds, lakes, swamps. By modern times, the island is 22 square miles with landfill all around. 1626-Dutch West India Company establishes New Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan. Shortly afterward, Harlem and other country towns established on the island. 1664-British take over New Amsterdam, renaming in New-York. Within a few years, most of Manhattan is parceled out in land grants and the real estate booms: farms, villages and country estates cover Manhattan, north of the baby Metropolis “New-York” (still hyphenated). 1703-Bloomindale Road is built, along the lines of an old Indian trail now called Broadway. 1753-New York’s FIRST Broadway theatre is built: The Park Theatre. 1776-Revolutionary War rages all around New York…the city is burned on Sept. 4, many ...