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New Bedford, Massachusetts

New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts. New Bedford is nicknamed "The Whaling City" because it was one of the world's most important whaling ports in the nineteenth century, along with Nantucket, Massachusetts and New London, Connecticut.[3] New Bedford, Fall River and Taunton are the three largest cities in the South Coast region of Massachusetts. The city is known for its fishing fleet and accompanying seafood industry, as well as for its high concentration of Portuguese Americans.

Before the 17th century, the Wampanoag, who had settlements throughout southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, were the only inhabitants of the lands along the Acushnet River. Their population is believed to have been about 12,000. While exploring New England, Bartholomew Gosnold landed on Cuttyhunk Island on May 15, 1602. From there, he explored Cape Cod and the neighboring areas, including the site of present-day New Bedford. However, rather than settle the area, he returned to England at the request of his crew.

A group of English Quakers from the Plymouth Colony—who as pacifists held ideological differences with the Puritans on the question of taxes to fund a military—separated and established the first European settlement on the South Coast in 1652.[4] They purchased Old Dartmouth—a region that is now Dartmouth, Acushnet, New Bedford, Fairhaven, and Westport—from Chief Massasoit of the native Wampanoag to start a new society. Whether the transfer of the land was legitimately done has been the subject of intense controversy. Like other native tribes, the Wampanoags did not share the settlers' concepts of private property. The tribe may have understood they were granting usage rights to the land, not giving it up permanently.

At first, Old Dartmouth's 115,000 acres of territory was devoid of major town centers, and had isolated farms and small villages instead.[5] At this time, the economy primarily on agriculture and fishing. Land availability attracted many Quakers and Baptists from Newport and Portsmouth in Rhode Island, as well as more Puritans migrating from Britain.