First settled in 1630 by English Puritans, Cambridge developed as an agricultural town and was not really convenient to Boston until bridges were built over the Charles River in 1793 and 1809. The latter of these opened up East Cambridge for industrial development led by furniture and glass factories. A major influx of penniless Irish immigrants fleeing the potato blight in 1845 increased the Irish population to 22 per cent in the next ten years. Toward the end of that century they were followed by immigrants from Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Germany. French Canadians and Russian Jews also came at this time. A small African American population had been growing from colonial times, attracted by the integrated schools.The result today is a highly diverse population augmented and further diversified by brilliant men and women drawn to Cambridge over the years by Harvard, Radcliffe and M.I.T., and, in recent years, by the local high technology companies. "Cantabrigians" (from the city's Latin name, Cantabrigia) are regarded as progressive and tolerant. Decline of the industrial base in the early 1900s led Cambridge to become an intellectual center. Universities are the major employers, but cutting edge companies in information technology and biotechnology such as Akamai Technologies, Genzyme, Biogen Idec, and Novartis are located adjacent to the MIT campus in the Kendall Square area. Cambridge now advertises itself as "a city where counter-culture still lives, classic culture thrives, and multicultural is a way of life." "Boston's Left Bank: A little funkier, a little spunkier and definitely spicier than Boston." * <see name http://wikitravel.org/en/Cambridge (Massachusetts)