Harlem is a large neighborhood in the northern section of the
New York City borough of
Manhattan. Since the 1920s, Harlem has been known as a major
African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a
Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of
Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem's history has been defined by a series of economic
boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle.