Four hundred years after Europeans arrived, New York City's Native community isn't just thriving – it's growing. Here's where travellers can learn about the area's original residents. When most people think of Native American heritage, New York City isn't the first place that comes to mind.
Yet, the Big Apple is actually home to one of the largest Native American populations of any city in the nation. This year marks the 400th anniversary of New York City's founding . It also marks the beginning of the long process of forcibly removing Native peoples who had inhabited the area for millennia, after Dutch traders " purchased " the island of Mannahatta (Manhattan) from the Lenape and built a wall around their new settlement.
As the city honours Native American Heritage Month this month, it's a good reminder to visitors and residents alike that the city is still home to a thriving Native community whose numbers are now growing . "[There are] over 181,000 Indigenous peoples living in New York City," explains Sutton King, a member of the Menominee and Oneida nations and president of the Urban Indigenous Collective , a nonprofit organisation that provides health and wellness services to the city's Indigenous community. "That includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Taínos, Indigenous peoples of the global south.
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But when I'm here in New York City, people are surprised when I say that it's [one of] the largest urban Native populations. People are .
