who settled harlem section of new york city
from The American HeritageÂ® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition. A section of New York City in northern Manhattan bordering on the Harlem and East rivers. Peter Stuyvesant established the Dutch settlement of Nieuw Haarlem here in 1658. A rapid influx of African Americans beginning c. 1910 made it one of the largest Black communities in the United States.