New Bedford

City and fishing port in Bristol County, southeast Massachusetts, USA, on the Acushnet River near Buzzards Bay, 50 mi/80 km south of Boston; population (2000 est) 93,800. Industries include electronics, the manufacture of cotton textiles, clothing, rubber, and metal products, and deep-sea fishing. It was incorporated as a town in 1787, and as a city in 1847.

Settled in 1652, it had developed into North America's leading whaling port by 1820. The last whaling ship sailed in 1925. A history and memorabilia of the era can be found in The New Bedford Whaling Museum.

US writer Herman Melville spent a few weeks in New Bedford in 1841 before joining the Acushnet on a whaling voyage, and described it as ‘the dearest place to live in all New England’ in Moby Dick. New Bedford has a high proportion of Portuguese-Americans attracted by the fishing and maritime industries.

There are 27 entries on the national register of historic places, including a lightship and a schooner. The city is also the seat of Southeast Massachusetts University. US abolitionist Frederick Douglass came to New Bedford in 1838 after escaping from slavery.