The colonial history of New Jersey began in 1609 when Henry Hudson first claimed the region on behalf of Holland and renamed it New Netherlands. The Dutch West India Trade Company subsequently gave out land grants to encourage settlement, attracting many migrants from Sweden as well as Holland. These newcomers arrived in an area already populated by an estimated eight to ten thousand Delaware Indians. Holland retained political control until 1664, when English Royal Navy warships sailed into what is today New York Harbor and Holland ceded the colony to Britain without bloodshed.
