New York - city (1990 pop. 7,322,564), land area 309 sq mi (801 sq km), SE N.Y., largest city in the United States and one of the largest in the world, on New York Bay at the mouth of the Hudson River. It comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a county:
Manhattan (New York co.), the heart of the city, an island; the
Bronx (Bronx co.), on the mainland, NE of Manhattan and separated from it by the Harlem River;
Queens (Queens co.), on Long Island, E of Manhattan across the East River;
Brooklyn (Kings co.), also on Long Island, on the East River adjoining Queens and on New York Bay; and
Staten Island (Richmond co.), on Staten Island, SW of Manhattan and separated from it by the Upper Bay. The metropolitan area (1990 est. pop. 18,087,000) encompasses parts of SE New York state, NE New Jersey, and SW Connecticut. The port of New York (which is now centered on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River) remains one of the world's leading ports.
Economy New York is a vibrant center for commerce and business and one of the three "world cities" (along with London and Toyko) that control world finance. Manufacturing—primarily of small but highly diverse types—accounts for a large but declining amount of employment. Clothing and other apparel, such as furs; chemicals; metal products; and processed foods are some of the principal manufactures. The city is also a major center of television broadcasting, book publishing, advertising, and other facets of mass communication. It became a major movie-making site in the 1990s, and it is a preeminent art center, with artists revitalizing many of its neighborhoods. The most celebrated newspapers are the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. New York attracts many conventions and was the site of two World's Fairs (1939–40; 1964–65). It is served by three major airports: John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, both in Queens, and Newark International Airport, in New Jersey. Railroads converge upon New York from all points. With its vast cultural and educational resources, famous shops and restaurants, places of entertainment (including the theater district and many off-Broadway theaters), striking and diversified architecture (including the Chrysler Building and
Empire State Building), and parks and botanical gardens, New York draws millions of tourists every year. Some of its streets and neighborhoods have become symbols throughout the nation.
Wall Street means finance;
Broadway, the theater;
Fifth Avenue, fine shopping;
Madison Avenue, advertising; and SoHo, art. Ethnic Diversity New York City is also famous for its ethnic diversity, manifesting itself in scores of communities representing virtually every nation on earth, each preserving its identity. Little Italy and Chinatown date back to the mid-19th cent. African Americans from the South began to migrate to
Harlem after 1910, and in the 1940s large numbers of Puerto Ricans and other Hispanic-Americans began to settle in what is now known as Spanish Harlem. Since the 1980s New York City has undergone substantial population growth, primarily due to new immigration from Latin America (especially the Dominican Republic), Asia, Jamaica, Haiti, the Soviet Union and Russia, and Africa. Points of Interest and Educational and Cultural Facilities The city's many bridges include the
George Washington Bridge,
Brooklyn Bridge, Henry Hudson Bridge, Triborough Bridge, the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge, and the
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The Holland Tunnel (the first vehicular tunnel under the Hudson) and the Lincoln Tunnel link Manhattan with New Jersey. The Queens-Midtown Tunnel and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, both under the East River, connect Manhattan with W Long Island. Islands in the East River include Roosevelt Island, Rikers Island (site of a city penitentiary), and Randalls Island (with Downing Stadium). In New York Bay are Liberty Island (with the Statue of
Liberty);
Governors Island; and
Ellis Island. New York City is the seat of the
United Nations.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings housing the
Metropolitan Opera Company, the
New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, the
New York City Ballet, the New York City Opera, and the
Juilliard School. Also in the city are Carnegie Hall and New York City Center, featuring performances by musical and theatrical companies. Among the best known of the city's many museums and scientific collections are the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), the Frick Collection (housed in the Frick mansion), the
Whitney Museum of American Art, the Neue Galerie, the Museum of the City of New York, the Museum of Jewish Heritage–a Living Memorial to the Holocaust, the
American Museum of Natural History (with the Hayden Planetarium), the museum and library of the
New-York Historical Society, the Brooklyn Museum (see
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences), and the
Museum of Television and Radio. The
New York Public Library is the largest in the United States. Major educational institutions include the City Univ. of New York (see
New York, City Univ. of),
Columbia Univ.,
Cooper Union,
Fordham Univ., General Theological Seminary, Jewish Theological Seminary,
New School for Social Research,
New York Univ., and
Union Theological Seminary. A center for medical treatment and research, New York has more than 130 hospitals and several medical schools. Noted hospitals include
Bellevue Hospital, Mt. Sinai Hospital (part of Mt. Sinai NYU Health), and New York–Presbyterian Hospital (encompassing Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and New York Weill Cornell Medical Center). Among New York's noted houses of worship are Trinity Church, St. Paul's Chapel (dedicated 1776),
Saint Patrick's Cathedral, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (see
Saint John the Divine, Cathedral of), Riverside Church, and Temple Emanu-El. New York's parks and recreation centers include parts of Gateway National Recreation Area (see
National Parks and Monuments, table);
Central Park, the Battery, Washington Square Park, Riverside Park, and Fort Tryon Park (with the
Cloisters) in Manhattan; the New York Zoological Park (Bronx Zoo) and the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx;
Coney Island (with a boardwalk, beaches, and an aquarium) and Prospect Park in Brooklyn; and Flushing Meadows–Corona Park (the site of two World's Fairs, two museums, a botanic garden, and a zoo). Sports events are held at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, home to the Knickerbockers (basketball) and Rangers (hockey); at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, home to the Yankees (baseball); and at Shea Stadium (home to baseball's Mets) and Arthur Ashe Stadium (home to the U.S. Open in tennis) in Queens. In the suburbs are the homes of the Islanders (hockey; in Uniondale, Long Island) and the Giants and the Jets (football; at the Meadowlands, in East Rutherford, N.J.). Other places of interest are
Rockefeller Center; Battery Park City;
Greenwich Village, with its cafés and restaurants; and
Times Square, with its lights and theaters. Of historic interest are Fraunces Tavern (built 1719), where Washington said farewell to his officers after the American Revolution; Gracie Mansion (built late 18th cent.), now the official mayoral residence; the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage; and Grant's Tomb. History The Colonial Period Although Giovanni da
Verrazano was probably the first European to explore the region and Henry
Hudson certainly visited the area, it was with Dutch settlements on Manhattan and Long Island that the city truly began to emerge. In 1624 the colony of
New Netherland was established, with the town of
New Amsterdam on the lower tip of Manhattan as its capital. Peter
Minuit of the
Dutch West India Company supposedly bought the island from its Native inhabitants for 60 Dutch guilders worth of merchandise (the sale was completed in 1626). Under the Dutch, schools were opened and the Dutch Reformed Church was established. The indigenous population was forced out the area of European settlement in a series of bloody battles. In 1664 the English, at war with the Netherlands (see
Dutch Wars), seized the colony for the duke of York, for whom it was renamed. Peter
Stuyvesant was replaced by Richard
Nicolls as governor, and New York City became the capital of the new British province of New York. The Dutch returned to power briefly (1673–74) before the reestablishment of English rule. A liberal charter, which established the Common Council as the main governing body of the city, was granted under Thomas
Dongan in 1686 and remained in effect for many years. English rule was not, however, without dissension, and the autocratic rule of British governors was one of the causes of an insurrection that broke out in 1689 under the leadership of Jacob
Leisler. The insurrection ended in the execution of Leisler by his enemies in 1691. In 1741 there was further violence when an alleged plot by African-American slaves to burn New York was ruthlessly suppressed. Throughout the 18th cent. New York was an expanding commercial and cultural center. The city's first newspaper, the New York Gazette, appeared in 1725. The trial in 1735 of John Peter
Zenger, editor of a rival paper, was an important precedent for the principle of a free press. The city's first institution of higher learning, Kings College (now Columbia Univ.), was founded in 1754. The Revolution through the Nineteenth Century New York was active in the colonial opposition to British measures after trouble in 1765 over the
Stamp Act. As revolutionary sentiments increased, the New York
Sons of Liberty forced (1775) Gov. William Tryon and the British colonial government from the city. Although many New Yorkers were Loyalists, Continental forces commanded by |
