New York City Map

Description: This map shows neighborhoods, boroughs, counties, airports, main sights, and parks in New York City.

New York City (NYC), often called simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. According to the 2020 Estimate, it had 8,804,190 residents in an area of about 300 square miles (780 km²). It sits at the southern tip of New York State, on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city has five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. Each borough has the same boundaries as a county of New York State. New York City is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the most populous metropolitan area in the country. It is a major global center for finance, commerce, culture, media and diplomacy.

History

Before Europeans arrived, the Lenape, an Algonquian-speaking Native American people, lived in the area. In 1524 the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, sailing for France, became the first recorded European to enter the harbor. In 1609 Henry Hudson explored the region for the Dutch East India Company, and the river later named after him gave the Dutch access to the interior fur trade.

The Dutch founded the settlement of New Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan in the mid-1620s. In 1626 Peter Minuit, director of the colony of New Netherland, is reported to have bought the island from the Lenape.

In 1664 the English took control of the colony and renamed it New York in honor of the Duke of York, who later became King James II. The city grew into an important port under British rule. During the American Revolutionary War it was the site of major fighting, and British forces occupied it from 1776 to 1783. After independence, New York served as the national capital from 1785 to 1790. George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States at Federal Hall in 1789.

The Erie Canal opened in 1825 and connected the port to the Great Lakes, which made New York the leading commercial city in the country. In 1898 Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island were joined into one city, known as the consolidation of Greater New York. From 1892 to 1954, the immigration station on Ellis Island processed millions of arriving immigrants.

On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan and killed nearly 3,000 people. Its main replacement, One World Trade Center, opened in 2014.

Geography

New York City lies where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the city is built on three islands: Manhattan, Staten Island and the western part of Long Island, which contains Brooklyn and Queens. The Bronx is the only borough mostly on the mainland. The East River, which is actually a tidal strait, separates Manhattan and the Bronx from Long Island.

Queens is the largest borough by land area, and Brooklyn has the most people. Staten Island has the fewest. The city has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with hot, humid summers and cold winters.

Demographics

New York is one of the most linguistically and ethnically diverse cities in the world. Hundreds of languages are spoken there, and more than a third of residents were born outside the United States. The city has some of the largest Jewish, Chinese, Dominican and Puerto Rican communities outside their home countries.

Economy

The city is one of the world's leading financial centers. Lower Manhattan is home to Wall Street and to the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of listed companies. The Nasdaq is also based in the city. Other major industries include real estate, media, technology, healthcare, tourism, fashion and higher education. The headquarters of the United Nations has been in Manhattan since the early 1950s.

Culture and landmarks

The city has many well-known landmarks, including the Statue of Liberty (dedicated in 1886), the Empire State Building (completed in 1931), the Brooklyn Bridge (opened in 1883), Times Square and Rockefeller Center. Central Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and covers 843 acres (341 ha) in Manhattan.

Broadway, in the Theater District of Manhattan, is one of the leading centers of commercial theater in the English-speaking world. Major cultural institutions include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Higher education institutions include Columbia University, founded in 1754 as King's College, New York University, and the public City University of New York (CUNY).

Transportation

The New York City Subway opened in 1904. It is one of the largest rapid transit systems in the world by number of stations, and it runs 24 hours a day. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority runs the subway together with the city's bus network and commuter rail lines. The Staten Island Ferry links Staten Island and Manhattan. Two major airports are inside the city limits: John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, both in Queens. Newark Liberty International Airport, in nearby New Jersey, also serves the region.

New York's nicknames include "the Big Apple," "Gotham" and "the City That Never Sleeps."

Main sights in New York City

References