The history of the development of the island was characteristic of that time. He was bought from the Indians by the first governor of New Amsterdam, Wouter Van Twiller, and he was settled by Dutch settlers, having built a small farm here and began to grow pigs. In 1666, after the bloodless victory of the British over the Dutch, Captain John Manning took up self-seizure and appropriated the island to himself. Well, at the same time and renamed it in his honor, so that there are no questions about its owner. Such things were excusable to the captain. He was a prominent figure in the English colonial government and even served as sheriff of New York from 1667 to 1673.    The truth after his career did not work out. On August 9, 1673, during the absence of Governor Francis Lovelace, when Manning assumed the command of Fort James, where the garrison guarding the city was stationed, a Dutch squadron approached him, a landing of 600 soldiers landed ashore and demanded the surrender of the city in an ultimatum.