Land of the Blacks (Manhattan)
The Land of the Blacks or Negro Frontier or Free Negro Lots was a village settled by people of African descent north of New Amsterdam from about 1643 to 1716. The inhabitants initially mostly belonged to the half-free social class of the colony. There were about 30 African-owned farms over about 130 acres centered on the modern Washington Square Park. It was created as a buffer area by the Dutch governor Willem Kieft when white people evacuated the region due to Kieft's War against the native Lenape people, and was effectively ended by anti-black laws after the New York Slave Revolt of 1712.
A later neighborhood was called Little Africa in Greenwich Village. Its legacy is preserved at the African Burial Ground National Monument.
