Fort Orange (New Netherland)
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Fort Orange Archeological Site
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| Location | Albany, New York |
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| Coordinates | 42°38′41.46″N 73°45′1.05″W / 42.6448500°N 73.7502917°WCoordinates: 42°38′41.46″N 73°45′1.05″W / 42.6448500°N 73.7502917°W |
| Built | 1624 |
| NRHP Reference # | 93001620 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | November 4, 1993 |
| Designated NHL | November 4, 1993 |
Fort Orange (Dutch: Fort Oranje) was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland; the present-day city of Albany, New York developed at this site. It was built in 1624 as a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearby Castle Island and served as a trading post until 1617 or 1618, when it was abandoned due to frequent flooding. Both forts were named in honor of the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. Due to a dispute between the Director-General of New Netherland and the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck regarding jurisdiction over the fort and the surrounding community, the fort and community became an independent municipality, paving the way for the future city of Albany. After conquest of the region by the English, they soon abandoned Fort Orange (renamed Fort Albany) in favor of a new fort: Fort Frederick, constructed in 1676.
In 1624, a ship with 30 Protestant Walloons (French-speaking people from what is today southern Belgium) landed in New Netherland; 18 of the men were sent to the location near present-day Albany. Under direction of the Dutch, they built Fort Orange roughly 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Fort Nassau, which was prone to flooding, and about five miles south of the confluence of the Mohawk River and the North River.
The Walloons were later recalled south to settle New Amsterdam. A 1628 publication on the population of New Netherland stated that "there are no families at Fort Orange ... they keep five or six and twenty (25 or 26) persons, traders, there". In 1626, the commander of Fort Orange and a company of men set out from the fort to assist the Mahican people in their war against the Mohawk, the powerful Iroquois tribe based in the Mohawk Valley to the west of the fort. The Dutch party was ambushed and three men were killed approximately a mile from the fort, roughly where Lincoln Park and Delaware Avenue are sited today.
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