City (pop., 2000: 123,626), south-central Connecticut, U.S. A port of entry on Long Island Sound, it was originally settled in 1638 and became part of the colony of Connecticut in 1664.
It was the co-capital with Hartford until 1875. New Haven was sacked by loyalist forces during the American Revolution (1779), and during the American Civil War it was a centre of abolitionist activity (see abolitionism ). A number of famous inventors made the city a centre of industrial technology, including Eli Whitney , and Samuel F.B. Morse . It is the home of {{link=Yale University">Yale University and several other educational and cultural institutions.