On this day in 1674, the Treaty of Westminster was signed, bringing an end to the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Despite the name, England was only a bit player. Charles II had attacked the United Provinces because Louis XIV had paid him to do so and French troops undertook most of the actual fighting.

Nevertheless, the war did have one important consequence – New Amsterdam was permanently ceded to the English. It wasn’t a difficult decision – why would the Dutch choose beaver pelts (the main export of the colony) over the recently-captured sugar plantations of Suriname and the spices of the Island of Run?

New Amsterdam would soon after revert to the name bestowed on it by the English in 1664, chosen to honour Charles II’s younger brother – New York. This was a rather unfortunate decision, as James had just resigned from his position as Lord High Admiral rather than comply with the Test Act, revealing to the entire Kingdom that he was a filthy Catholic. Thankfully, that was the last time the words “controversy” and “Duke of York” would appear together in the same sentence…