New Haven

City and port in New Haven County, Connecticut, USA, at the mouth of the Quinnipiac River on Long Island Sound; population (2000 est) 123,600. Metal goods, rubber goods, ammunition, and clothing are manufactured. Yale University, third oldest in the USA, was founded here in 1701 and named after Elihu Yale (1648–1721), an early benefactor. New Haven was settled in 1638 by English Protestants from Massachusetts.

Situated on a natural harbour, New Haven was one of the first planned settlements in the USA. Initially a shipping centre, it developed diverse industries including the production of coaches, corsets, musical instruments, and Winchester rifles (part of this factory is among the city's 54 entries on the national register of historic places. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the city shared the role of state capital with Hartford, losing this role in 1873. Later educational foundations included the universities of Southern Connecticut (1893), Albertus Magnus (1925, formerly a women's college), and New Haven (1920).

The inventor Eli Whitney was educated at Yale, and worked in the city. He patented his revolutionary cotton gin in 1794, a mechanical device for separating cotton from the seeds.