Greenwich (pronounced Gren-itch) Village is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
Prior to the 1600s, Native Americans referred to the area of land that Greenwich Village encompasses as Sapokanikan, meaning tobacco field. Later named Groenwijck ("Green District"), Dutch settlers and freed Africans in the 1630s cleared the land into pasture, and the area was used to farm tobacco until the English conquered the Dutch New Netherland settlement in 1664.
In the early 1900s, Greenwich Village became known as an artist's neighborhood, as depicted in O. Henry's "The Last Leaf." The American Bohemia movement of the early and mid-20th century was centered in the eclectic neighborhood, which was full of art galleries, theaters, and publication houses. In 1969, The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village became the site of rioting between the gay community and local police, which contributed to the modern American LGBTQ rights movement.
Greenwich Village is notable for its short streets, whose odd angles create a sense of intimacy, reducing through-traffic and sometimes leading to confusion for pedestrians. The organic neighborhood layout stands in contrast to the long streets and avenues of the rest of Manhattan, which follows a grid system first made official by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811. Stretching west roughly from Broadway, "the Village" extends to the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan island, encompassing landmarks such as Washington Square Park and New York University. Rent prices and property values in the neighborhood are now among the highest in the city.
