Population: 7.3 million; metro 18 million
Elevation: 54 ft
In the earliest times, the area that is today New York City was populated by Native Americans. Each tribe had its own territory and lived a settled existence in villages of bark huts, making a livelihood from crop planting, hunting, trapping, and fishing. In the New York area the Algonquin tribe was the most populous.
In 1524 Giocanni da Verrazano, an Italian in the service of the French King Francis I, arrived following in the footsteps of Christopher Columbus, who had come to the "New World" 32 years earlier. On his ship, the Dauphane, Verrazano had set out to find the legendary Northwest Passage to the Pacific; instead he found Manhattan.
In 1609 Hendrick Hudson, employed by the Dutch East India Company, landed at Manhattan harbor and sailed his ship, the Half-Moone as far as Albany. Hudson found that the river did not lead to the Northwest Passage he had been commissioned to discover - but in charting its course for the first time gave his name to the mighty river. In the next few years the Dutch established a trading post at the most northerly point Hudson had reached, Fort Nassau. In 1924, thirty families left Holland to become New York's first european settlers, most sailing up to Fort Nassau but a handful - eight families in all - staying behind on a small island they called Nut Island because of the many walnut trees there (today's Governor's Island). Slowly the community grew as more settlers arrived, and the little island became crowded; the decision was made to move to the limitless space across the water, and the settlement of Manhattan, an Indian word whose meaning is uncertain, began.
The Dutch gave their new outpost the name New Amsterdam, and in 1626 Peter Minuit was sent out to govern the small community of just over 300. Among his first, and certainly more politically adroit, moves was to buy the whole of Manhattan Island from the Indians for trinkets worth 60 guilder (about $40 today), though the other side of the anecdote is even better - it seems the Indians Minuit dealt with didn't even come from Manhattan, much less own it. As the colony slowly grew, a string of governors succeeded Minuit, the most famous of them was Peter Stuyvesant - "Peg Leg Pete," a seasoned colonialist from the Dutch West Indies who'd lost his leg in a scrap with the Portuguese.
Meanwhile the British were steadily building up their presence to the north, and maintained their claim that all of America's East Coast, from New England to Virginia, was theirs, and in 1664 sent a Colonel Richard Nicholls to claim the lands around the Hudson that King Charles II had granted to his brother, the Duke of York. To reinforce his sovereignty, Charles sent along four warships and landed troops on Nut Island and Long Island. The Dutch settlers had by then had enough of Stuyvesant's increasingly dictatorial rule, especially the high taxation demanded by the nominal owners of the colony, the Dutch West Indies Company, and so refused to defend Dutch rule against the British. Stuyvesant surrendered and the British took over the colony without firing a single shot.
After the Revolutionary War, New York City served sporadically as the capitol of the United States. George Washington was inaugurated here in 1789.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, millions of immigrants (mostly German and Irish) arrived in the city. They were followed by Italians, Chinese and Eastern Europeans - many of them Jewish. By 1890 one in four of the city's population was Irish.
Today New York City has a metro population of 18 million, making it the second largest metro area in the world (Tokyo is number 1), and is the most "international" of America's cities.
Chrysler Building, opened in 1929, was the world's tallest building for 2 years; until the Empire State building opened in 1931. The lobby was once a car showroom for the Chrysler Corporation which moved out several years ago.
United Nations Building (1st Ave between 42nd & 48th) John D. Rockefeller, Jr. donated this 17 acre site to persuade the United Nations members to make their headquarters in New York City. The Secretariat is housed in the tower, and the General Assembly is located in the lower block with the concave roof.
Rockefeller Center is a group of skyscrapers originally built in the 1930s. It was originally leased by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. from Columbia University in 1928. It is best known for the giant Christmas Tree on display from November through January.
Times Square and the Theater District Every New Year's Eve thousand of New Yorkers gather here to welcome in the New Year. New York's legitimate theater district encompasses the area between W 42nd and W 50th streets to the east and west of Broadway.
Columbus Circle The Columbus Monument here was unveiled October 12, 1892, on the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America. A 13 foot tall statue of Christopher Columbus stands atop a 26 foot granite column.
On the south side of the base a nude winged figure of a youth bending to study a terrestrial globe represents the Genius of Discovery. On the base beneath his a rectangle bronze bas-relief panel show Columbus putting ashore and giving thanks to od while natives peer from behind foliage. On the north side of the base on a bronze bas-relief panel, his three ships, the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria set sail from Spain. The column itself is decorated with three pairs of bronze rostra, beak-like prowes of ancient ships designed to ram enemy vessels.
55 Central Park West served as Sigourney Weaver's home in Ghostbusters (special effects people added the temple on top for the movie).
Hotel des Artiste (Central Park West & 67th) is an early studio building designed specifically for artists - duplexes with double-height mani spaces. Isadora Duncan, Alexander Wollcoot, Norman Rockwell, Noel Coward, and Howard Chandler Christy have all lived here.
The Dakota (Central Park Way & 72nd) was one of the first luxury apartment buildings in the city. The building was christened when someone remarked that it was so far out that "it may as well be in the Dakota Territory. The top 3 floors were once servant's quarters, a playroom and a gymnasium for children. They are now some of the most expensive apartments in New York City. The building designer, Henry J. Hardenbergh also designed the Plaza Hotel.
This is where John Lennon was fatally shot on December 9, 1980 by David Mark Chapman. The building itself, was built in 1884. Across the street from the Dakota, in Central Park, is Strawberry Fields Forever, a living memorial to John Lennon. In 1985 Yoko Ono, who donated $1 million to the project, joined in the opening ceremonies with an array of international diplomats, many of whose countries had sent gifts to this "International Garden of Peace." There are river birch trees from the Soviet Union, maples from Canada, cedar from Israel, daffodils from Holland, dogwoods from the late Princess Grace of Monaco. The black and white mosaic starburst with the word "Imagine" inscribed in its center was a gift from Italy. For those who remember Lennon, it is a very special place. Some of his ashes were scattered here (the rest were scattered in England).
Central Park Larger than the principality of Monaco, the park is over 50 blocks long, but only 3 blocks wide. It is used by New Yorkers for jogging, listening to concerts and opera, flying kites, boating, and playing all kinds of ball games.
The Plaza Hotel (5th Ave at 59th St) opened in 1907. You may recognize it from the movies Crocodile Dundee and Home Alone II.
Trump Towers (5th Ave at 56th St) is the showcase, and sometimes home, of Donald Trump. This multi-use building has apartments, business offices, and stores. There is a 80 foot high waterfall located inside the pink atrium.
St. Patrick's Cathedral (on 5th Ave between 50th & 51st) is one of the most famous churches in the city. It was completed in 1879 and is dedicated to Ireland's patron saint.
The Empire State Building (5th Ave & 34th St) is one of the world's taller office buildings, at 1452 feet. It has 2 million square feet of office space, 1,860 stairs, 3,500 miles of telephone wires and cables, 60 miles of pipes, and contains over 60,000 tons of steel. Built in 1931, most of its office space was empty during the Depression years, and it paid its taxes with income from sightseers. On July 28, 1945 a pilot crashed his airplane into the 78th floor of the building. Fortunately it was a Saturday and there were few people in the building or on the sidewalk below. 11 people in the building and on the ground died along with the three people in the airplane.
Washington Park This area was once a marsh, a potter's field, a venue for public hangings and a military parade grounds before it was claimed as a public park in 1828. The Memorial Arch was originally a wooden monument built in 1889 for the centennial celebration of George Washington's inauguration. It became so well-liked that private funds were raised to rebuild it permanently in stone. It is rumored that during World War II a man secretly lived within the arch for 7 months and was discovered when he hung his wash out to dry.
Trinity Church (Broadway at Wall) was originally built in 1696-97. In 1754 is was the first site of King's College (now Columbia University). One of the local citizens who helped in the construction of the church was Captain Kidd, the notorious pirate who was hanged in London in 1701. The present building was completed in 1846. William Bradford, Jr, Robert Fulton and Alexander Hamilton are all buried here.
Wall Street, takes its name from the wooden blockade erected by Dutch settlers more than 300 years ago as protection against the Indians.
New York Stock Exchange (20 Broad Street, Rector & Wall) Outside stands a tree that symbolizes the buttonwood tree were traders once gathered to exchange stock. A visitors' gallery and self-guiding tour are available 9:15-4 on business days. Tickets are required for tours and are limited, so arrive early. Free
Federal Hall (Wall & Nassau) is on the site of the first U.S. Capitol. It contains material pertaining to George Washington's inauguration, the Bill of Rights, and Peter Zenger's landmark trial in the battle for freedom of the press. Open: M-F 9-5 Free
Fraunces Tavern and Museum (54 Pearl St at Broad) was built in 1719 and later restored. In 1783 General George Washington bade farewell to the officers of the Continental Army at the site. It housed the first American War Department. Open: M-F 10-4 Admission: $2.50
Battery Park (tip of Manhattan Island) was the site of a fort established by the first Dutch settlers in 1624.
Castle Clinton National Monument was a fort built in 1811 to defend New York Harbor. The fort, known as the West Battery, was U.S. Army headquarters during the War of 1812.
Statue of Liberty (upper New York Bay on Liberty Island) The statue was presented to the U.S. by France in 1884 in commemoration of the two countries' alliance during the American Revolution.
Measuring 151 ft high on a 156 foot pedestal, it is the tallest statue of modern times. The $25,000 cost was jointly funded, with the French paying for the statue, and the Americans paying for the pedestal. Sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi took ten years to complete it, with Gustave Eiffel taking time off from his tower to provide the inner steel casing for the copper-plated figure. Once completed in Paris, it had to be shipped over to New York in 214 cases for its 1886 inauguration by President Grover Cleveland. The inscription on the pedestal was written by Emma Lazarus, a New York poet.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breath free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me!
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Ellis Island, in New York Harbor, was the nation's main port of entry for millions of immigrants from 1892-1924. Some 12 million immigrants passed through here. The medically suspected where marked with chalk on their lapels - H for heart, K for hernia, Sc for scalp, and X for mental defects. These people were then quarantined for a period of days or months. Many families were separated in this way.
World Trade Center is a 16-acre complex of offices and a landscaped plaza. The twin towers, each, measuring 1,350 feet and 110 stories tall, are among the tallest in the world. Together, they contain 43,600 windows and 198 elevators.
8 Hook and Ladder 8 Firehouse in TriBeCa was the headquarters for the Ghostbusters.