Fort Orange

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Fort Orange Archeological Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Fort Orange is located in New York
Location: Albany, New York
Coordinates: 42°38′41.46″N 73°45′1.05″W / 42.64485°N 73.7502917°W / 42.64485; -73.7502917
Built/Founded: 1624
Governing body: State
Added to NRHP: November 4, 1993[1]
Designated NHL: November 4, 1993[2]
NRHP Reference#: 93001620

Fort Orange (Dutch: Fort Oranje) was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland and was on the site of the present-day city of Albany. It was a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearby Castle Island in the Hudson River and which 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.

Fort Orange was a small wooden structure, erected in 1624 by the Dutch West India Company as a fur factorij (trading post) on the west bank of the Hudson River. It became the company's official outpost in the upper Hudson Valley, similar to the company's many other headquarters throughout their worldwide trading empire.

Historical marker commemorating Fort Frederick

In 1664, when the English took control of New Netherland, Fort Orange was renamed Fort Albany. When the stockade was rebuilt on State Street hill in 1676, it was renamed Fort Frederick.

Fort Orange was an entrepôt for beaver pelts and other goods.


Fort Orange Archeological Site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993.[2]

Map of Castle Island and Fort Orange in 1629

Other Dutch forts with the name 'Oranje' or Orange in the New World are those on the Caribbean islands St. Eustatius and Bonaire and on the island Itamaraca in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco.


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  1. ^ National Register of Historic Places, State Listings: NEW YORK - Albany County 
  2. ^ a b National Historic Landmarks Survey, Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: NEW YORK 

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