Table of Black and White Populations in Colonial New York

With a diverse population of Dutch, English, Welsh, Irish, Scots, Germans, French Huguenots, Portuguese Jews, and Africans, New York ranked as one of the three largest cities in colonial America, along with Boston and Philadelphia. During the British period (1664-1776), the white population grew steadily from both natural increase and immigration. Black population growth, however, depended almost entirely on slave imports from Africa and the Caribbean. In 1740 New York had the highest population density of slaves—second only to Charleston, South Carolina. Free blacks comprised a tiny fraction of the city's mostly enslaved black population.