With a population of , as determined by the U. Prior to , it was the county seat of New Haven County until the county governments were abolished that year. New Haven was one of the first planned cities in the U. New Haven is the home of Yale University , New Haven's biggest taxpayer and employer, [ 10 ] and an integral part of the city's economy. Health care, professional and financial services and retail trade also contribute to the city's economic activity. The city served as co-capital of Connecticut from until , when sole governance was transferred to the more centrally located city of Hartford.
New Haven has since billed itself as the "Cultural Capital of Connecticut" for its supply of established theaters, museums, and music venues. Before Europeans arrived, the New Haven area was the home of the Quinnipiac tribe of Native Americans , who lived in villages around the harbor and sustained an economy of local fisheries and the farming of maize.
The area was briefly visited by Dutch explorer Adriaen Block in Dutch traders set up a small trading system of beaver pelts with the local inhabitants, but trade was sporadic and the Dutch did not settle permanently in the area.
In , a small party of Puritans did a reconnaissance of the New Haven harbor area and wintered over. In April , the main party of five hundred Puritans, who had left the Massachusetts Bay Colony under the leadership of Reverend John Davenport and London merchant Theophilus Eaton , sailed into the harbor.
It was their hope to set up a theological community with the government more closely linked to the church than that in Massachusetts, and to exploit the area's potential as a port. The Quinnipiacs, who were under attack by neighboring Pequots , sold their land to the settlers in return for a pledge of protection. By , "Quinnipiac's" theocratic government and nine-square grid plan were in place, and the town was renamed New Haven, with ' haven ' meaning harbor or port.
