In hopes of expanding trade Dutch and English Companies often commissioned explorers such as Henry Hudson and Giovanni daVerrazano to find more efficient routes for trade. Although their original goals were not meet, inadvertently the “discovery” of this new region opened a door for expanding fur trade. New Amsterdam’s salt water ports allowed for year round access to the island, the Long Island sound protected the port from hurricanes and other forms of extreme weather and even the Hudson provided contact to land west of New York. Settlers soon realized that New Amsterdam had even more potential than previously thought.
Government officials began developing and enforcing legislation promoting trade; furthermore improvements to street and building layouts as well as the founding of schools and other public resources were to be made. The idea was to organize and consolidate people and recourses, therefore utilizing the landscape as efficiently as possible. Change within the Island was occurring on a regular basis and this was all thanks to the dynamic geography and placement of its ports.
