| Fort Orange (Dutch: Fort Oranje or Fort Oranije) was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland. It was a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built in 1614 on nearby Castle Island in the Hudson River and which served as a trading post until 1617, 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 trading post on the west bank of the Hudson River, just south of the where the city of Albany now stands. 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. Fort Orange - Albany |  |