| Giovanni da Verrazano may have been the first European to step foot on the island of Manhattan. It is known that he made land on the shores of what is now called Staten Island in 1524. Henry Hudson was the next to try his luck at the mouth of the Hudson River. Settlers did not arrive to dispossess the Algonquin and other Native Americans until 1624, when Peter Minuit bought Manhattan for a paltry $24’s worth of glass beads and trinkets. The Dutch who followed Minuit named their purchase “New Amsterdam,” after the water-enclosed metropolis they had prized in the old world. Sadly for the New Amsterdammers, well-equipped English troops seized the city and renamed it “New York,” 40 years later in 1664, just as the island was getting to be a prosperous urban port. Other boroughs were slower to enter into true metropolitanism. Brooklyn was a massive marshland, settled gradually by Dutch farmers in the 17th century. These Netherlanders remained dominant over the British in the area until the middle of the 19th century, and Brooklyn only joined the city proper in 1898. Rural Queens was named after the wife of King Charles II, Catherine of Braganza, in 1683 (this choice of name is famously editorialized in Eddie Murphy’s great film, Coming to America). Once Queens joined up as a borough in 1898, it experienced rapid expansion and became the destination of choice for many immigrant groups. The Bronx was named for Dutch settler Jonas Bronck in 1636. Irish immigrants settled it until the 20th century, when Russian and Hispanic families began to take over. Staten Island was offered as a prize in a sailing competition by the Duke of York; Manhattan won, and island has been part of the city ever since. In 1713, the first public ferry between the two islands was established. New York City was a Loyalist stronghold in the Revolutionary War from 1776 to 1781. After the war, it became the capitol of the United States for a single year, from 1789-90. The 1790 U.S. Census reported New York as the largest city in America. The 1825 opening of the Erie Canal led to further expansion, and in 1898 it was granted a new charter to include all five boroughs. After World War II, African Americans from the South, Puerto Ricans, Latin Americans, and other job-seekers contributed to a population boom that made the city what it is today.
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| New York experiences all four seasons. Summer is the most extreme, when temperatures in the cement valleys of Manhattan and on the broad boulevards of Brooklyn frequently top 100º F. Spring and Fall are mild, usually gorgeous times of year, when flowers appear or leaves change color under clear skies. Winter is not overwhelmingly cold, although wind can make walking a challenge; expect occasional heavy snowfall. |
New York City is located on the East Atlantic Coast of the United States, at the mouth of the Hudson River. Its five boroughs are separated by various waterways: Manhattan Island is a rocky granite detached peninsula; Staten Island has rolling soil hills; Queens and Brooklyn are located on the western portion of Long Island. Only the Bronx is attached to the mainland.
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| There’s a lot of money in New York; maybe too much, if real estate prices tell us anything. The city is traditionally politically liberal (like most large American metropolitan areas) but likes its finances managed well. Some observers claim that this is why so many executive positions are inevitably filled by Republican candidates with experience in the corporate sector. A very large portion of New York’s jobs are in the service sector; its economy is built on financial services, tourism, import/export services, and some manufacturing. |
| The Mayor heads the city executive government, with a term of four years for each election cycle; Michael Bloomberg (Republican) currently holds the office. A 51-member City Council forms the legislative branch of the city government. The Council is composed of representatives elected from 51 districts throughout the five boroughs, and composes bills which must be ratified by the Mayor to become law. Other bodies of city government include the New York City Board of Elections, which is in charge of election law, and the New York City Campaign Finance Board, a non-partisan commission to oversee campaign spending. Executive government at the state level is headed by a Governor (currently George Pataki, Republican) who is in charge of the state military, budget, law enforcement and the overseeing of executions. The New York State Legislature is composed of a 61-member State Senate and a State Assembly. |
| New York is the art capitol of the United States. From literary movements like the Round Table at the Algonquin, to the Beats, to Basquiat and Warhol, to Broadway, to Off-Broadway, to the New York City Ballet, to the Sugar Hill Gang and Debbie Harry, a lot of great artists got their start here and many more persist. |
| New York is an open-minded place where people are often friendlier than one would expect in such a fast-paced environment. That said, it’s important to be respectful of others at all times, especially since personal space is at such a premium in the city. It’s been said that living in New York presents a daily split-second challenge: Does one stare at the most beautiful woman in the world, or the craziest man in the world? Seasoned New Yorkers solve this dilemma by staring straight ahead and assiduously minding their own damn business. |
| Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Baha’i, Wiccan, and Agnostic organizations are all present in New York, along with groups representing many more religions. |
| You can find just about every language in the world represented (often “colorfully”) in New York. English, however, is the tongue of commerce and is spoken in some capacity everywhere in the city. Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese are also major languages. |
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