Harlem

Harlem, neighborhood in the northern part of the borough of Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1658 as the Dutch settlement of Nieuw Haarlem, 10 mi (16 km) north of New Amsterdam, Harlem remained a rural village until the mid-19th century, when it became a middle class residential section of the city. An influx of African Americans beginning just before World War I turned it into the most vibrant black community in the United States. In the 1920s it was the center of the explosion of African-American culture known as the Harlem Renaissance. Economic conditions deteriorated after World War II, but the neighborhood has retained its cultural and political importance.