Gabi Kirellos takes us on a journey of discovery to find out where New York all began, in a city 3643 miles away from the Big Apple.

Two weeks ago, I went out to explore some really fascinating, quietly historic spots in beautiful Amsterdam, and while walking through Haarlemmerstraat, one of the city’s liveliest and most character-filled streets, lined with independent shops, cafés, restaurants, and beautiful old buildings, I found myself passing a place that made me stop instantly.

It was a really attractive, iconic building with a restaurant at the front, but it clearly felt like much more than just a restaurant.

The building had that solid, dignified, old-Amsterdam presence to it, the kind that makes you feel there’s a whole story sitting behind the walls.

Outside, there were tables and seating areas, with umbrellas written on with Nieuw Amsterdam, and the whole place had this inviting, quietly elegant charm that pulled me in straight away.

Entrance of West India House, Amsterdam

Finding the beginnings of New York in Amsterdam

The place attracted me so much that I wanted to find out more about its history, so I walked up to the entrance, where there was a mirror written on in white chalk: “If you smile, the mirror smiles back”, with a beautiful smiley face, much nicer than some of the expressions life throws at you elsewhere.

So I walked into the restaurant, Café Nieuw Amsterdam, where people were seated inside, and at the other end of the entrance there was a way leading toward the building’s inner courtyard.

From Lunch by the Canal to Something Unexpected

I asked the kind hostess if she would allow me to explore the place.

I didn’t really want to eat or drink anything because I had just had lunch…some Dutch croquettes at Café de Jaren.

I would totally recommend them if you’re visiting Amsterdam and want to sit outside on a terrace by the water, watching the boats pass in front of you along the canal, taking in the elegant bridges and the beautiful Amsterdam buildings that make the city feel so effortlessly alive.

The Statue of the Man Who Ruled New York Before It Was New York

Anyway, back to Café Nieuw Amsterdam. The kind hostess allowed me to explore the place, and I stepped out into the courtyard to see something I absolutely wasn’t expecting: a peaceful historic inner space opening up behind the restaurant, with a fountain in the middle and a bronze statue of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New Netherland. It felt hidden, calm, and loaded with history.

As I got closer to the fountain, I noticed a metal plaque set into its base, and I stopped to read it. It said:

“Peter Stuyvesant Gouverneur van Nieuw Amsterdam het huidige New York (1647–1664)

Hans Bayens 1987”

The statue of Peter Stuyvesant, Amsterdam

Which, in simple terms, tells you exactly who you’re standing in front of.

Peter Stuyvesant was the last Dutch governor of Nieuw Amsterdam, what we now know as New York City, ruling it between 1647 and 1664, before the British took control and renamed it.

The line “het huidige New York” literally translates to “what is now New York,” quietly bridging that past to the present in just a few words.

And the name at the bottom, Hans Bayens, refers to the artist who created the statue in 1987, placing this historical figure right back into the city where the decisions that shaped his world, and ours, were made.

The Plaque That Tells the Whole Story

And then there was the plaque on the wall, the one that quietly ties everything together. I stood there and read it in full:

“This plaque is presented in the ongoing spirit of over three and a half centuries of friendly Netherlands-American relations, prompting Dutch and American friends in New York to contribute towards the renovation of Het West-Indisch Huis, in whose quarters the decision was made to found Nieuw Amsterdam in 1625. June 21, nineteen eighty-four.”

Right beneath it, in smaller script, it reads:

“Aldus vertoont hem Nieuw Amsterdam alsmen daer beneden ziet.”

The main inscription is essentially a tribute, not just to history, but to a relationship that has lasted for centuries.

The plaque commemorating the founding of New York, Amsterdam

It acknowledges that this exact place, Het West-Indisch Huis, which literally translates to “The West India House” and refers to the historic headquarters of the Dutch West India Company, is where the decision to establish Nieuw Amsterdam was made, the settlement that would eventually become New York City.

And the final Dutch line, almost poetic in tone, loosely translates to something like “Thus appears New Amsterdam as one sees it below,” a quiet, almost reflective way of anchoring the past to the present right there in front of you.

New York City, 1936

The Moment New York Started, Right Here in Amsterdam

If you’re wondering what this building and all of this represent, then I’ll explain to you.

This courtyard, this statue, this plaque on the wall…they all point back to one very specific moment in history. In the early 17th century, the Dutch were one of the world’s leading trading powers, and Amsterdam was at the center of it all.

From right here, inside Het West-Indisch Huis, the Dutch West India Company operated as both a commercial and colonial force, making decisions that stretched far beyond Europe.

In 1625, within these very walls, the decision was made to establish a settlement on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. That settlement was called Nieuw Amsterdam.

At the time, it was nothing more than a strategic trading post, meant to secure Dutch interests in North America and control access to the Hudson River. But like many things that start small, it didn’t stay that way for long.

Empire State Building, New York City

The colony grew, slowly at first, then with more structure under leaders like Peter Stuyvesant, the same man whose statue stands quietly in the courtyard behind me.

He governed Nieuw Amsterdam during its final Dutch years, trying to impose order, strengthen defenses, and build a functioning colony in what was still a rough and developing outpost.

Then, in 1664, everything changed. The British seized control of the colony without much resistance and renamed it New York, after the Duke of York.

What had been a Dutch trading settlement became part of the British Empire, and over time, it evolved into one of the most powerful and influential cities in the world.

And that’s the part that really stays with you. Because standing there, in that quiet courtyard in Amsterdam, you realize that something as massive and globally significant as New York City didn’t begin in America at all.

It began here, in a decision made in a building that most people today would walk past without a second thought.