Yale University

Yale University (pronounced /jeɪl juːˈnɪvərsɪti/) is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine Colonial Colleges chartered before the American Revolution.

Etymology

The name "Yale" was adopted in 1718, in honor of a gift from Elihu Yale, a governor of the British East India Company. Elihu Yale had made a donation to the school, which was then renamed in his honor.

Related Terms

Ivy League: A collegiate athletic conference comprising sports teams from eight private universities in the Northeastern United States. The term Ivy League is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group of elite colleges beyond the sports context.
New Haven: A city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, New Haven is the principal municipality in Greater New Haven, which had a total population of 862,477 in 2010.
Elihu Yale: A Welsh merchant, philanthropist, slave trader, and President of the East India Company settlement in Fort St. George, at Madras. He was the benefactor of the Collegiate School in the Colony of Connecticut, which in 1718 was renamed Yale College in his honor.
East India Company: An early English joint-stock company, formed to trade with the East Indies (in present-day terms, Maritime Southeast Asia), but ended up trading mainly with Qing China and seizing control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent.