Province of New York - Demographics

Demographics

Upstate New York (as well as parts of present Ontario, Quebec, Pennsylvania, and Ohio) were occupied by the Five Nations (after 1720 becoming Six Nations, when joined by Tuscarora) of the Iroquois Confederacy for at least a half millennium before the Europeans came.

• In 1664, one quarter of the population of New York City was African American.
• In 1690, the population of the province was 20,000, of which 6,000 were in New York City.
• In 1698, the population of the province was 18,607. 14% of the population of New York City was black.
• The slave population grew after Queen Anne's war. The percentage of blacks in New York City in 1731 and 1746 was 18% and 21% respectively.
• In 1756, the population of the province was about 100,000 of which about 14,000 were blacks. Most of the blacks in New York at this time were slaves.