New York City, 1664–1710

Integrating sophisticated demographic techniques with clearly written narrative, this pioneering book explores the complex social and economic life of a major colonial city.

Thomas J. Archdeacon is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is the author of Becoming American: An Ethnic History and Correlation and Regression Analysis: A Historian’s Guide.

New York City, 1664–1710 is important for a variety of reasons. This is ethnic history with a difference. Archdeacon traces the discomfiture of the Dutch confronted with the English conquest of 1664. He reveals how the English immigrants and later their allies, the Huguenots, came to dominate the trade of a city grown to about six thousand people by 1710, its offices of local government, and its best residential areas. This process is examined against what was for the original inhabitants a bewildering background of political change.