Land of the Blacks

The village settled by African-descended people in New Amsterdam (modern Manhattan) from about 1643 to 1716 is sometimes considered the first free African settlement in North America. Located north of the wall of New Amsterdam, it consisted of about 30 African-owned farms, covering 130 acres in what is now Greenwich Village and SoHo, including areas around Washington Square Park. These landowners held "half-free" status, a compromise reached with the Dutch West India Company after Kieft's War, forming a buffer zone with the Lenape.