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Founded in the 17th century as a Dutch outpost, Harlem developed into a farming village, a revolutionary battlefield, a resort town, a commuter town, a ghetto, and a center of African-American culture. ==1637–1865== Before the arrival of European settlers, the area that would become Harlem (originally Haarlem) was inhabited by the Manhattans, a native tribe, who along with other Native Americans, most likely Lenape〔 occupied the area on a semi-nomadic basis. As many as several hundred farmed the Harlem flatlands. The first European settlement in the area was by Hendrick (Henry) de Forest, Isaac de Forest, his brother, and their sister Rachel de Forest, Franco-Dutch immigrants in 1637. in 1639 Jochem Pietersen Kuyter established the homestead named ''Zedendaal,'' or ''Blessed Valley'', stretched along the Harlem River from about the present 127th Street to 140th Street. Early European settlers were forced to flee to New Amsterdam in lower Manhattan whenever hostilities with the natives heated up, and the native population gradually decreased amidst conflict with the Dutch.〔 The settlement was named ''Nieuw Haarlem'' (New Haarlem), after the Dutch city of Haarlem, and was formally incorporated in 1660 under leadership of Peter Stuyvesant.〔"To Live In Harlem," Frank Hercules, ''National Geographic,'' February 1977, p. 178+〕 The Indian trail to Harlem's lush bottomland meadows was rebuilt by black laborers of the Dutch West India Company,〔Introduction to ''Harlem USA,'' John Henrik Clarke, 1970.〕 and eventually developed into the Boston Post Road. In 1664, the English took control of the New Netherland colony, and English colonial Governor Richard Nicolls established the "Harlem Line" as the southern border patent line of the village of Nieuw Haarlem (later, the village of Harlem) running westward from near modern East 74th Street, at the East River. The British also tried to change the name of the community to "Lancaster," but the name never stuck, and eventually settled down to the Anglicized ''Harlem''. The Dutch took control of the area again for one year in 1673. The village grew very slowly until the middle 18th century, and it became a resort of sorts for the rich of New York City. Only the Morris-Jumel Mansion survives from this period. Harlem played an important role in the American Revolution. The British had established their base of operations in lower Manhattan, and George Washington fortified the area around Harlem to oppose them. From Harlem, he could control the land routes to the north, as well as traffic on the Harlem River. The New York Provincial Congress met in White Plains, as did the convention drafting the constitution for New York State. On September 16, 1776, the Battle of Harlem Heights, sometimes referred to as the ''Battle of Harlem'' or ''Battle of Harlem Plain'', was fought in western Harlem around the Hollow Way (now West 125th Street), with conflicts on Morningside Heights to the south and Harlem Heights to the north. The American troops were outnumbered, 5000 to 2000, and were ill equipped compared to their opponents, but outflanked the British and forced them to retreat to the area around what is now West 106th Street. It was Washington's first American victory. Later that year, the British would avenge this defeat by chasing Washington and his troops north, then turning back and burning Harlem to the ground. Rebuilding took decades, and infrastructure was improved much more slowly than was happening in New York City proper. The village remained largely rural through the early 19th century and, though the "grid system" of streets, designed downtown, was formally extended to Harlem in 1811, it does not seem that anybody expected it would mean much. The 1811 report that accompanied the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 noted that it was "improbable that (for centuries to come) the grounds north of the Harlem Flat will be covered with houses."〔 Though undeveloped, the area was not poor. Harlem was "a synonym for elegant living through a good part of the nineteenth century."〔"Harlem, the Village That Became a Ghetto," Martin Duberman, in ''New York, N.Y.: An American Heritage History of the Nation's Greatest City,'' 1968〕 The village remained largely farmland estates, such as () Van Keulen's Hook, ''orig''. Otterspoor, bordered north of the Mill Creek (now 108th St., ''orig''. Montagne Creek at 109th St.), which flowed into Harlem Lake, to the farm of Morris Randall, northwest on the Harlem River, and westward to the Peter Benson, or Mill Farm.〔Riker, James. ''Revised History of Harlem (City of New York): Its Origin and Early Annals: Prefaced by Home Scenes in the Fatherlands; or, Notices of Its Founders Before Emigration. Also, Sketches of Numerous Families, and the Recovered Histories of Land – Titles.'' New York: J. Riker, 1881, pp. 588–91.〕 This former bowery (land ) was subdivided into twenty-two equal plots, of about 6 to each, of which portions later owned by Abraham Storm, including thirty-one acres (east of Fifth Avenue between 110th & 125th St.) were sold by Storm's widow Catherine in 1795 to James Roosevelt (great grandfather of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1760–1847). This branch of the Roosevelt family subsequently moved to the town of Hyde Park, but several of Roosevelt's children remain interred in Harlem.〔Hoffman, Eugene Augustus. ''Genealogy of the Hoffman Family: Descendants of Martin Hoffman, with Biographical Notes''. New York: Dodd and Mead, 1899, pp. 262–64.〕 As late as 1820, the community had dwindled to 91 families, a church, a school, and a library. Wealthy farmers, known as "patroons",〔 maintained these country estates largely on the heights overlooking the Hudson River. Service connecting the outlays of Harlem with the rest of the City of New York (on the southern tip of the island of Manhattan) was done via steamboat on the East River, an hour-and-a-half passage, sometimes interrupted when the river froze in winter, or else by stagecoach along the Boston Post Road, which descended from McGown's Pass (now in Central Park) and skirted the salt marshes around 110th Street, to pass through Harlem. The New York and Harlem Railroad (now Metro North) was incorporated in 1831 to better link the city with Harlem and Westchester County, starting at a depot at East 23rd Street, and extending north to a railroad junction in Columbia County at Chatham, New York by 1851. Charles Henry Hall, a wealthy lawyer and land speculator, recognized the changes that this railroad would make possible in Harlem and began a successful program of infrastructure development, building out streets, gas lines, sewer lines, and other facilities needed for urban life. Piers were also built, enabling Harlem to become an industrial suburb serving New York City. The rapid development of infrastructure enabled some to become wealthy, and the area became important to politicians, many of whom lived in Harlem. New York mayors Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence and Daniel Tiemann both lived in Harlem in this period. For many in New York City, Harlem was at this time regarded as a sort of country retreat.〔 The village had a population of poorer residents as well, including blacks, who came north to work in factories or to take advantage of relatively low rents. Between 1850 and 1870, many large estates, including Hamilton Grange, the estate of Alexander Hamilton, were auctioned off as the fertile soil was depleted and crop yields fell. Some of the land became occupied by Irish squatters, whose presence further depressed property values.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Harlem」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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