User:52 Pickup/Sandbox2
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| City of New York New York, United States |
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| Nickname: "Big Apple; City that never Sleeps; Gotham" | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Country | United States | ||
| State | New York | ||
| Boroughs | The Bronx Manhattan Queens Brooklyn Staten Island |
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| Settled | 1613 | ||
| Mayor | Michael Bloomberg (R) | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 1,214.4 km² (468.9 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 785.5 km² (303.3 sq mi) | ||
| - Water | 428.9 km² (165.6 sq mi) | ||
| - Urban | 8,683.2 km² (3,352.6 sq mi) | ||
| - Metro | 17,405 km² (6,720 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 10 m (33 ft) | ||
| Population | |||
| - City (2006) | 8,213,839 | ||
| - Density | 10,316/km² (26,720/sq mi) | ||
| - Urban | 18,498,000 | ||
| - Metro | 18,709,802 | ||
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) | ||
| Website: www.nyc.gov | |||
New York City (officially the City of New York) is the largest city in the United States by population and one of the world's major global cities. Located in the state of New York, the city has a population of 8.2 million within an area of 321 square miles (approximately 830 km²),[1] making it the most densely populated city in North America. With a population of 18.7 million, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the largest urban areas in the world.[2]
New York City is an international center for business, finance, fashion, medicine, entertainment, media and culture, with an extraordinary array of museums, art galleries, performance venues, media outlets, international corporations, and financial markets. The city is also home to the United Nations, and to many of the world's most famous skyscrapers.
Popularly known as the "Big Apple" and the "City That Never Sleeps", the city attracts people from all over the globe who come for its economic opportunity, culture, and fast-paced cosmopolitan lifestyle. As of June 2006, the city was distinguished for having the lowest crime rate among major American cities.[3]
[edit] History
The region was inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans at the time of its European discovery by Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano. It was not until the 1609 voyage Englishman Henry Hudson that the area was mapped, however. European settlement began with the founding of the Dutch fur trading settlement, later called New Amsterdam, on the southern tip of Manhattan in 1613. Later in 1626, Peter Minuit established a long tradition of shrewd real estate investing when he purchased Manhattan Island and Staten Island from native people in exchange for trade goods. (Legend, now long disproved, has it that Manhattan was purchased for $24 worth of glass beads.) In 1664, the British conquered the city and renamed it "New York" after the English Duke of York and Albany. The Dutch briefly regained it in 1673, renaming the city "New Orange", before permanently ceding the colony of New Netherland to the British a year later.
Under British rule New York grew in importance as a trading port. The city emerged as the theater for a series of major battles known as the New York Campaign during the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress met in New York City and on April 30, 1789 the first President of the United States, George Washington, was inaugurated at Federal Hall on Wall Street. New York was the capital city of the young nation until 1790.
During the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration, a visionary development proposal called the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan, and the opening of the Erie Canal, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Mid-western United States and Canada in 1819. By 1835, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States. Local politics fell under the domination of Tammany Hall, a political machine supported by Irish immigrants. Public-minded members of the old merchant aristocracy pressed for Central Park, which became the first landscaped park in an American city in 1857.
Anger at military conscription during the American Civil War (1861–1865) led to the Draft Riots of 1863, one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American history. After the Civil War, immigration from Europe grew steeply, and New York became the first stop for millions seeking a new and better life in the United States. The city's population boomed and in 1898 the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), Manhattan and municipalities in the other boroughs. The opening of the New York City Subway in 1904 helped bind the new city together. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. In 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the city's worst industrial disaster, took the lives of 146 garment workers and led to important advancements in safety standards, building codes, and improvements at the city's fire department.
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