Where People Settled in New York: 11,000 Years of Habitation

Human presence in the New York region spans millennia before "New York" existed.

Paleo-Indian Period (c. 11,000–8,000 BCE)

• Nomadic hunter-gatherers tracking megafauna (mastodon, caribou)
• Temporary camps near water; stone tools (Clovis, Folsom points found statewide)
• No permanent structures

Archaic Period (8,000–1,000 BCE)

• Seasonal rounds: fishing (shad, sturgeon), hunting, gathering nuts/berries
• Early semi-permanent base camps near rivers/lakes (Hudson, Mohawk, Finger Lakes)
• Shell middens on Long Island coast show intensive marine use

Woodland Period (1,000 BCE–1600 CE)

• Agriculture arrives: Maize, beans, squash ("Three Sisters") from Southwest/Mexico
• Villages: Palisaded longhouse communities (Iroquoian: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca; Algonquian: Lenape/Munsee, Mahican)
• Trade networks: Copper (Lake Superior), shells (coast), chert (Onondaga) — vast exchange

Contact & Colonial Era (1600s–1776)

• 1609: Henry Hudson (Dutch) explores river → Dutch claim New Netherland
• 1624: First permanent European settlement: Fort Orange (Albany)
• 1625: New Amsterdam founded (Manhattan) — West India Company
• 1664: English seize colony → New York (Duke of York)
• Displacement: Disease, war (Esopus Wars, Beaver Wars), fraudulent treaties push Native nations west/north

19th Century Transformation

• Erie Canal (1825) → NYC becomes nation's premier port
• Immigration waves: Irish (1840s), German, Italian, Eastern European, Chinese
• Grid plan (1811) imposes order on Manhattan

Today's NYC sits atop 13,000+ archaeological sites—every borough holds layers of Lenape, Dutch, English, African, and immigrant lives.