History Of Harlem
 
 
Harlem was founded in 1658 by Dutch settlers who named the part of New York “Nieuw Harlem”, after their Dutch city Harlem. The first two centuries, the area of Harlem was used as farmland that belonged to the prominent New Yorkers. Harlem developed by building a elevated railroad during the 1880’s, which made it open to the downtown New Yorkers. Some decades, Harlem was a popular neighbourhood for New York.
 
 
The reason for Harlem becoming a district of Black people, was the breakdown of the real estate market between 1910 and 1920. Therefore many buildings were left empty and there were no tenants. So Harlem opened its area to African Americans who were searching for a better life. Between 1920 and 1930 the number of Harlem’s population was about 200,000. Many intellectuals and artist went to Harlem to fulfil themselves.

So artists like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake and Blessie Smith came to Harlem and made it famous because of their music. That was the reason for Harlem having an interesting nightlife.

But later, in 1929, many of the African Americans got unemployed, because of the Great Depression. A lot of Harlemites moved away to other cities, when the owners of Harlem’s real estates left their property.

Since about 1980 Harlem’s social situation changed a bit by becoming a tourist attraction. Many tourists want to visit Harlem’s museums, restaurants and nightclubs. For tourist, Harlem is also very interesting and popular because of its vast majority of coloured people.
Sources: www.harlemspirituals.com

To find out more about the history of Harlem :

www.hometoharlem.com