Indigenous people frequented the Westport area for thousands of years before Europeans arrived in the 17th century. In 1637, native Paugussets were driven away after the Great Swamp Fight between the larger Pequot tribe and European colonizers. In 1648, Fairfield colonists known as the Bankside Farmers received a land grant to formerly Native land in Green Farms. Using the forced labor of enslaved Africans and Natives, the town's founding families built Westport into a prosperous agricultural community, and the Saugatuck River became an active commercial and militia route. During the Revolutionary War, Westport patriots fought British troops at the Battle of Compo Hill in April 1777, and British troops returned in 1779 to burn parts of the town. By the early 19th century, the area now downtown, then called Saugatuck Village, had become a thriving port for regional goods, helping prompt Daniel Nash and others to create the Town of Westport from parts of Norwalk, Fairfield, and Weston in 1835. In the 1840s, newcomers including Irish and Italian immigrants arrived to build the railroad and work in factories along the Saugatuck River. Before World War I, artists, writers, and actors came to Westport and helped establish a creative and progressive culture. Light industry and farming later yielded to urban pressures, and by the mid-1900s Westport had evolved into a residential suburb of New York City. It also became more diverse, with an influx of international residents and a thriving Jewish community whose residents worked to remove restrictive deed covenants in housing and commercial real estate. With natural scenic beauty, artisan heritage, and proximity to and influence from New York City, Westport developed into a vibrant and affluent community that has attracted residents from around the world working in media, arts, and financial services.