 The Middle Colonies were explored by Henry Hudson on a journey into the Hudson River and Delaware Bay in 1609 . The Dutch soon claimed the land . Although the Swedes and the Dutch fought over the land in the <unk> through the ultimately the Dutch claimed the land , calling it New Netherland . In the 1660s , the English largely conquered this land from the Dutch , renaming the area New York after the Duke of York , James II . The colony 's land was periodically granted to various proprietors and split into the Province of New York and the Province of Pennsylvania . 
