The Park is an open space, dominated by Washington Arch (1892), with a tradition of celebrating nonconformity. The Park’s fountain area has long been one of the city’s popular spots for residents and tourists. The land here was divided by a narrow marshy valley through which Minetta Creek ran. In the early 17th century, a Native American village known as Sapokanikanor “Tobacco Field” was nearby. The Native Americans also owned the land known now as Washington Square Park before the Dutch attacked and drove them out. By the mid-17th century, the land on each side of the Minetta was used as farm land by the Dutch. The Dutch gave the land to their slaves, thus freeing them, with the intention of using them as a human ‘buffer zone’ between (the attacks of) the Native Americans and the white colonial settlements. The formerly enslaved African Americans who received the land were told that, although they were no longer slaves, they had to give a portion of the profits they received from the land to the Dutch East India Company. Also, their children would be born as slave, rather than free. The tract was in the possession of African Americans from 1643 to 1664. Today, the area, then called “The Land of the Blacks,” is Washington Square Park. The ex-slaves who owned “The Land of the Blacks” included Paulo D’angola.
Washington Square Park is one of the best-known of New York City’s 1,900 public parks. At 9.75 acres (39,500 m2), it is a landmark in the Manhattanneighborhood of Greenwich Village, as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity.
