In addition to the early British settlers, there was a steady immigration from European countries. Dutch settlers founded New Netherlands along the Hudson River, with New Amsterdam as the chief port in 1614. This colony was then lost to the English settlers, with the port renamed New York in 1664 (Tottie,op.cit 31) A few years later, French settlers built a community in South Carolina. Presently, the interior lands were occupied by Scots-lrish and Germans (Baugh and Cable,op.cit :355) From this huge mix of differing communities cultures and dialects, the population comprised peoples from varying social classes too. Soldiers, deported prisoners, refugees and Royalists were just some of the types of people involved. The largest single immigrant group, however, was the forced immigration of thousands of Africans, brought into America through the slave Trade, which began in the seventeenth century until its abolition in the nineteenth century. Surprisingly, the influence on the language from the Africans was relatively small. This was due to the diversity of the tribes involved, and the fact they were slaves afforded them no respect or value for language or tradition. Slaves were forced to learn English a Lingua Franca a way to communicate with their masters. This form of as Pidgin English has developed into one of the most character forms of AmE. that of African American Vernacular English or Black English, with over 25 million speakers in the United States (Tottie,op cit :352). More recent immigration occurred during the mid-twentieth century from Mexico, and other Hispanic countries.