Fort Orange (Fort Orange / Fort Oranje)

Timeline

1. 1624Fort Orange (west bank of the upper Hudson River) · AlbanyAfter about thirty Walloon families arrived aboard the Nieuw Nederlandt, eighteen men were sent up the Hudson to build a wooden star fort north of flood-prone Fort Nassau on Castle Island. The new fort, as the company's official trading post, marked the establishment of New Netherland's first permanent inland outpost.
2. 1625–1652Fort Orange · AlbanyCompany employees and licensed merchants garrisoned the fort, exchanging glass beads, metal goods, and firearms with the Mahican and Mohawk for beaver pelts, which were shipped down the Hudson to New Amsterdam. The Rensselaerswyck patroonship surrounded it, and the company and patroon repeatedly disputed jurisdiction over the fort site, yet the fort remained the legal delivery point for upstream trade.
3. 1652–1664Fort Orange and Beverwijck · AlbanyStuyvesant, to break the patroon's monopoly on settlement outside the fort, declared the town of Beverwijck established beyond cannon range, giving the trading settlement independent municipal status. Thereafter the fort focused on military and company warehousing while the town handled daily trade; together they formed the embryo of Albany.
4. 1664–1676Fort Orange (English: Fort Albany) · AlbanyAfter New Netherland surrendered to the English fleet, Beverwijck was renamed Albany and the old fort was at times called Fort Albany. The riverside fort site repeatedly suffered spring floods, so the English built Fort Frederick on higher ground around 1676, ending Fort Orange's physical existence as a Dutch trading fortress while the city continued under the name Albany.