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New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut, and is located in New Haven County, Connecticut, on New Haven Harbor, on the northern coast of Long Island Sound. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 123,626. New Haven is generally considered to be within the greater New York metropolitan area, and can be said to be culturally split between New York's influence and its own New England roots.
New Haven's nickname is the Elm City, as it historically contained many elm trees, which in recent years have mostly succumbed to Dutch Elm disease; it nevertheless remains a very 'green' city. It is home to Yale University, the institution for which the city is most known.
Before European arrival, New Haven was the home of the Quinnipiack tribe of Native Americans, who lived in villages around the harborA harbour (or harbor or haven is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. Harbours can be man-made or natural. A man-made harbour will have sea walls or breakwaters. A natural harbour will be surrounded on most sides by land. Harbou and subsisted off of local fisheries and the farming of maizeMaize Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Poales Family: Poaceae Genus Zea Species Zea diploperennis ''Zea luxurians ''Zea mays ssp. huehuetenangensis ''Zea mays ssp. mays ''Zea mays ssp. mexicana ''. The area was briefly visited by Dutch explorer Adriaen BlockAdriaen Block (fl. 1610- 1624) was a Dutch navigator who explored the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during the 1610s following the 1609 expedition by Henry Hudson. He is noted for establishing early trade in 1614. Dutch traders set up a small trading system of beaver pelts with the local inhabitants, but trade was sporadic and the Dutch did not settle permanently in what would become New Haven.
In April 1638, five-hundred PuritanThe Puritans were members of a group of radical Protestants which developed in England after the Reformation. Terminology The word puritan is now applied unevenly to a number of Protestant churches from the late sixteenth century to the early eighteenth cs who left the Massachusetts Bay ColonyThe Massachusetts Bay Colony (sometimes called by the name Massachusetts Bay Company for the institution that founded it) was the direct predecessor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and then the state of Massachusetts. The colony was established under under the leadership of Reverend John DavenportJohn Davenport 1597 1670) was a puritan clergyman and founder of the American city of New Haven. Born in Coventry, England to a wealthy family (his father was mayor of Oxford), Davenport was educated at Oxford University. After serving as the chaplain of and the London merchant Theophilus Eaton sailed into the harbor. These settlers were hoping to establish a more perfect theological community than the one they left in Massachusetts and sought to take advantage of the excellent port capabilities of the harbor (which is actually a fjord). The Quinnipiacks, who were under attack by neighboring Pequots, agreed to sell their land to the settlers in return for protection from hostile tribes.
By 1640, the town's theocratic government and city grid plan were in place, and the town was renamed Newhaven from Quinnipiac. The new settlement soon became the headquarters of the New Haven Colony, which at that time was separate from the Connecticut Colony which had been established to the north focusing on Hartford. Economic disaster struck the colony in 1646, however, when the town sent its first fully-loaded ship of local goods back to England. This ship never reached the Old World, and its disappearance stymied New Haven's development in the face of the rising trade power of Boston and New Amsterdam.
In 1661, the judges who had signed the death warrant of Charles I of England were pursued by Charles II. Two judges, Colonel Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe, fled to New Haven to seek refuge from the king's forces. John Davenport arranged for these "Regicides" to hide in the West Rock hills northwest of the town. A third judge, John Dixwell, joined the other regicides at a later time.
New Haven became part of the Connecticut Colony in 1664, when the two colonies were merged under political pressure from England. It was made co-capital of Connecticut in 1701, a status it retained until 1873. At this time, New Haven was a largely agricultural town, but in 1718, Yale University relocated from Old Saybrook to New Haven and established the early city as a center of learning.
During the American Revolution, New Haven was a town of approximately 3,500 citizens and was a major hotbed of revolutionary activity -- so much so that the British invaded town during the course of the war; however, the British forces did not torch New Haven as they had done with many other coastal New England towns they seized, leaving many of its colonial features preserved.