New York City is the largest city in the United States and one of the largest in the world. It ranks as one of the world’s most important centers of business, culture, and trade. It is also the home of the United Nations (UN). Much of what happens in New York City affects what happens throughout the United States and in other parts of the world.
New York City has a population of about 9 million. It has more than twice as many people as any other city in the United States. In fact, only 10 states—not including New York state—have more people than New York City. Ever since Dutch colonists settled the area at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in 1625, New York has been the destination of immigrants from throughout the world.
During the 1800’s and the early 1900’s, millions of Europeans seeking a better life in a free land poured into New York City. The Statue of Liberty, which was erected in New York Harbor in 1886, became the symbol of this new life.
Since the mid-1900’s, many Black Americans from the Southern States and Spanish-speaking Americans from Puerto Rico have moved into the city. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, a new wave of immigrants flowed into New York City. These immigrants included many people from China, Central America, and Caribbean lands.
The business, financial, and trading organizations in New York City play a major role in the economy of the nation and of the world. The banks, stock exchanges, and other financial institutions in New York City’s famous Wall Street area help provide the money used by most large United States corporations. The skyscrapers that form the spectacular New York skyline house the home offices of many national and international business firms. The docks, the warehouses, and the shipping companies that line New York’s huge natural harbor handle much of the nation’s imports and exports. Three major airports serve numerous domestic and international airlines.
As a cultural center, New York City has no equal in the United States. Most of the publishing houses that select and produce the nation’s books have their headquarters in New York. The city’s world-famous Broadway area is the center of professional theater in the United States. New York is also the home of some of the nation’s largest museums and art galleries. The city displays beautiful churches in the Gothic tradition, gleaming modern skyscrapers, and other interesting styles of architecture. A great number of outstanding orchestras and opera and dance companies give performances at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Because of its prominence as a cultural and entertainment center, New York City is sometimes called the “Big Apple.”
But along with all its greatness, New York City has many serious problems. Thousands of immigrants have not found the opportunities they had hoped for in New York. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers receive welfare aid, and thousands live in slums. Other problems include air pollution, traffic jams, crime, drug abuse, racial conflicts, and increases in the cost of living in the city. All these problems are driving many families—especially middle-class families—to the suburbs.
New York City remains one of the most interesting and exciting cities in the United States. In fact, many people consider it the most fascinating city in the world.
The city
New York City lies in the southeast corner of New York state at the mouth of the Hudson River. It covers about 300 square miles (777 square kilometers). The city is divided into five areas called boroughs—Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. The Bronx and Queens are also counties of New York state. Manhattan covers all of New York County. Brooklyn makes up Kings County, and Staten Island makes up Richmond County.
Manhattan, the smallest borough in area, covers 23 square miles (60 square kilometers). It occupies a long, narrow island bordered by the Hudson River on the west, the East River on the east, the Harlem River on the north and northeast, and Upper New York Bay (the mouth of the Hudson) on the south.
The Bronx lies across the Harlem River from Manhattan and covers 57 square miles (149 square kilometers). It extends north along the Hudson River and east along the East River. It is the only borough not separated from upstate New York by water.
Queens, the largest borough in area, occupies 109 square miles (282 square kilometers) on the northwest corner of Long Island. The East River separates Queens from the Bronx to the north and from Manhattan to the west.
Brooklyn covers 97 square miles (251 square kilometers) on the southwest tip of Long Island. It lies south and southwest of Queens and southeast of Manhattan across the East River.
Staten Island, formerly called the borough of Richmond, occupies a 58-square-mile (150-square-kilometer) island in Upper and Lower New York bays. It lies west of Brooklyn and southwest of Manhattan.
The state of New Jersey is directly west of New York City. It lies across two waterways, Arthur Kill and Kill Van Kull, from Staten Island; across Upper New York Bay from Brooklyn; and across the Hudson River from Manhattan and the Bronx.
Each of New York City’s boroughs has a large population, important businesses and industries, and many fine educational and cultural institutions. Within the five boroughs are more than 100 neighborhoods, such as Manhattan’s Chinatown, Greenwich Village, and Harlem. These neighborhoods are not official government units. They have similar types of housing or people with similar backgrounds or lifestyles.
The New York City metropolitan area spreads into northeastern New Jersey and southern New York state. Hundreds of thousands of people who work in New York live in suburban residential communities in the city’s metropolitan area. Many industrial cities also lie in the area surrounding New York City.
Manhattan
is the oldest and most important borough of New York City. It is about 131/2 miles (21.7 kilometers) long and 21/3 miles (3.8 kilometers) wide at its widest point. But about 1.7 million people live there. The borough has the city’s tallest buildings, some of the nation’s largest schools and colleges, and the world’s most famous financial and theatrical districts.
Manhattan is an area of many sharp contrasts. Some of the richest people in the United States live in its beautiful town houses and luxurious high-rise apartment buildings. But some of the nation’s poorest people occupy its tenements (shabby apartment buildings) and low-rent public housing projects. Most of Manhattan is covered with concrete and asphalt, and skyscrapers make many of its streets look like deep canyons. But the borough’s Central Park provides 843 acres (341 hectares) of grass, trees, and rolling hills. Manhattan has some of the world’s most exclusive shops and largest department stores. They attract shoppers from all parts of the country. But the borough also has tiny neighborhood shops that sell to nearby residents. 
New York City’s Financial District lies at the southern tip of Manhattan and is centered on Wall and Broad streets. Many large banks, brokerage houses, and stock exchanges have their headquarters along the district’s narrow streets. The World Trade Center is in the Financial District along the Hudson River. Twin 110-story towers that once were part of the center were destroyed in 2001 in the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. Today, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and the 1,776-foot (541-meter) One World Trade Center stand on the site. 
Broadway, one of New York City’s longest and best-known streets, begins in the Financial District and runs north and northwest across the length of Manhattan. On the east side of Broadway, a few blocks north of the Financial District, stands the Civic Center. The center includes City Hall, courthouses, and other government buildings.
Residential and commercial neighborhoods lie to the north and northeast of the Civic Center. These neighborhoods include Chinatown, Little Italy, and the Lower East Side. Both Chinatown and Little Italy have some of the city’s oldest tenements. They also have many restaurants that specialize in Chinese or Italian food. For many years, most immigrants to New York City have first settled on the Lower East Side because of its many low-rent tenements. Jews once made up the largest group in the area. Today, Puerto Ricans are the largest single group on the Lower East Side. Other groups, especially students and artists, have also been attracted to the Lower East Side by the low rents. 
Greenwich Village lies west of Broadway and the Lower East Side. It attracts artists, writers, musicians, actors, and other people in the arts. The Village has a variety of housing, many interesting shops and art galleries, and several small theaters. Many people in the arts also live in the SoHo area, south of the Village.
North of Greenwich Village, Manhattan is laid out in a regular pattern of cross streets. Avenues run north and south, and numbered streets run east and west. Broadway cuts diagonally across this pattern.
Some of New York City’s largest department stores are in the Herald Square and Greeley Square areas, where Broadway crosses the Avenue of the Americas (formerly Sixth Avenue). East of the department stores, on 34th Street, is the famous, 102-story Empire State Building, for many years the world’s tallest building. The Garment District, center of the city’s large clothing industry, lies north of Herald and Greeley squares. Hudson Yards, which includes office towers, residences, shops, and park spaces, rises west of the Garment District. The site also features the Vessel, a 150-foot (46-meter) outdoor observation deck.
The intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, between 42nd and 47th streets, forms world-famous Times Square, the heart of the New York Theater District. Since the late 1960’s, the Times Square area has been undergoing redevelopment. A number of large office buildings have been constructed there. But the area remains the Theater District because many of the new buildings house theaters. Plans for further redevelopment also seek to maintain the area’s theatrical activities. 
United Nations Headquarters occupy 18 acres (7.3 hectares) along the East River between 42nd and 48th streets. The UN’s beautiful modern buildings have become New York City landmarks.
Rockefeller Center is another of the city’s landmarks. The center is a complex of buildings between Fifth and Seventh avenues and between 48th and 51st streets. It is the world’s largest privately owned business and entertainment facility. The center’s buildings include the GE Building, which is 850 feet (259 meters) high, and the 5,900-seat Radio City Music Hall, the home of the famous Rockettes dance company. Many of New York City’s finest stores line Fifth Avenue both north and south of Rockefeller Center. 
Central Park, which runs from 59th to 110th streets between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West, separates Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Upper West Side. The Upper East Side has long been the most fashionable neighborhood in Manhattan. At one time, the area had many town houses that were owned by the city’s richest residents. Today, cultural organizations and United Nations delegations occupy many of these buildings, and most of the people in the area live in luxurious apartment buildings. The Upper West Side has been chiefly a middle-class neighborhood. It includes many apartment houses, hotels, tenements, and long blocks of brick and brownstone row houses. In the late 1900’s, however, housing prices rose sharply in the area. Many of the Upper West Side’s best buildings now rival the Upper East Side in price. 
Harlem, the best-known Black community in the United States, lies north of Central Park. It has long been a center of African American business and cultural activities. A series of model housing projects extends along the Harlem River at the northern edge of Harlem. But much of the area consists of tenements.
Morningside Heights, the site of Columbia University and several other educational, cultural, and religious institutions, lies west of Harlem along the Hudson River. City College of the City University of New York lies north of Morningside Heights, in an area that was once the country estate of the American statesman Alexander Hamilton.
Washington Heights and Inwood are at the northern tip of Manhattan. Both have aging tenements, as well as modern housing projects. Washington Heights was formerly inhabited by many Jewish immigrants who fled Europe to escape Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s brutal persecution of Jews in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Today the area is largely populated by immigrants from the Dominican Republic. The Columbia University Irving Medical Center; Yeshiva University; and the Cloisters, a museum featuring European art of the Middle Ages, are in Washington Heights.
Brooklyn
has more people than any other borough of New York City. If Brooklyn were an independent city, its population of about 23/4 million would make it the nation’s third largest city. 
Brooklyn is an important port and industrial center. Hundreds of ships carry freight to and from Brooklyn’s docks each year. The borough’s factories, most of which are along the waterfront, make a wide variety of goods.
Housing in Brooklyn ranges from large houses and towering apartment buildings to small cottages and run-down rooming houses. But most Brooklynites live in row houses and small apartment buildings that line the streets throughout the borough.
Downtown Brooklyn, the borough’s main business and shopping district, lies near the approaches to the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. These two bridges are the main links between Brooklyn and Manhattan. A third bridge, Williamsburg Bridge, also connects the two boroughs. Brooklyn’s downtown area has large department stores, tall office buildings, and several schools and colleges. Flatbush Avenue, one of the main downtown streets, begins at the Manhattan Bridge and runs through the heart of the borough.
Two of Brooklyn’s oldest neighborhoods, Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill, lie along the East River west of the downtown area. These neighborhoods have more than 1,000 houses over 100 years old. Many of the houses stand on handsome, treelined streets and are carefully preserved.
The site of the former U.S. Naval Shipyard, which had been one of Brooklyn’s chief industries, lies northeast of downtown. The Navy gave up the yard in 1968, and the area became an industrial park for factories, shipbuilding, and warehouses. The Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods lie northeast of the Navy Yard. They became known for their nightlife and art galleries in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s.
Bedford-Stuyvesant, east of the downtown area, is the largest Black neighborhood in New York City. Blocks of well-kept row houses and many fine churches are found throughout the neighborhood. In contrast, Brownsville, a Black and Puerto Rican neighborhood which lies southeast of Bedford-Stuyvesant, is one of the city’s poorest areas. It has few well-maintained areas, and many of its buildings are abandoned and decaying.
Prospect Park, in the center of Brooklyn, is one of the finest landscaped parks in the nation. The park is designed so that its lakes, meadows, woods, and other features look larger than they are. Flatbush, once a fashionable suburb of Brooklyn, begins on the southeast edge of the park. Large homes built during the 1890’s and early 1900’s line many of its shaded streets.
Coney Island lies at the southern tip of Brooklyn. The area once was an island, but land has been filled in to make it a peninsula. In summer, many New Yorkers ride subways to Coney Island’s beaches. At one time, Coney Island also had great amusement parks, but they have been replaced by housing developments. In the late 1900’s, large numbers of immigrants from Russia settled in Coney Island.
The Bronx
has a population of about 11/2 million and is chiefly a residential borough. The western part of the Bronx consists of a series of hills and valleys crossed by boulevards. A major boulevard in the Bronx, the Grand Concourse, runs north and south through the area. It is lined with apartment houses, commercial buildings, and stores. The eastern section of the borough is a broad plain, with peninsulas extending into the East River and Long Island Sound.
Bronx Park lies in the center of the Bronx. It includes the Bronx Zoo, one of the best-known zoos in the United States, and the New York Botanical Garden, an important scientific institution. 
Fordham University and Lehman College have handsome campuses to the west of Bronx Park. The campus of Bronx Community College of the City University of New York includes the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, which honors the memory of great Americans (see Hall of fame).
One of the most fashionable neighborhoods in the Bronx is Riverdale, in the northwest corner of the borough along the Hudson River. It has tall apartment buildings, estates and other large homes, and exclusive private schools. One of the poorest neighborhoods in the Bronx is Morrisania, which lies south of Bronx Park and east of Grand Concourse Boulevard. The area has many run-down and abandoned buildings.
Two huge housing developments lie in the eastern part of the Bronx. Parkchester, built from 1938 to 1942, is a rental and condominium development southwest of Bronx Park. Co-op City, built from 1968 to 1970, is in the northeast corner of the borough and is owned by its residents. Co-op City has more than 15,000 apartments, a large shopping area, and landscaped areas.
City Island lies east of the Bronx in Long Island Sound. It has several boat clubs and resembles a New England village. Edgewater Park and Silver Beach are at the southeastern tip of the Bronx. They were once summer resort communities. But the cottages in these areas have been winterized for year-round use.
Queens,
with about 2.4 million residents, ranks second in population among New York City’s boroughs. Queens grew rapidly from 1910 to 1930, when subways were built to connect it with Manhattan. A second period of fast growth began in the late 1940’s, when the subways were extended, new highways were built, and two major airports were developed in the borough. Today, huge housing developments and busy expressways are the major features of Queens. 
Much of the borough’s industry is concentrated near the East River in an area called Long Island City. The area lies just south of the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, which connects Queens and Manhattan. It has giant rail yards and many industrial plants and warehouses. Maspeth, southeast of Long Island City, also has large industrial plants, as well as pleasant residential areas.
Forest Hills lies near the center of Queens. Within this neighborhood is Forest Hills Gardens, an attractive housing and shopping area built in 1910. Forest Hills Gardens was intended for families with middle incomes. But it immediately became—and has remained—a community for the wealthy.
Northeast of Forest Hills is Flushing Meadows Corona Park, site of the New York World’s Fairs of 1939-1940 and 1964-1965. The park has several features left from the fairs, including a botanical garden, an indoor ice-skating rink, and a science museum.
La Guardia Airport is northwest of Flushing Meadows Corona Park, across Flushing Bay. The neighborhood of Flushing, northeast of the park, has a busy shopping area and many large apartment houses.
Jamaica, in southeastern Queens, is one of the borough’s chief commercial centers. It has large shopping and business areas and both rich and poor residential sections.
John F. Kennedy International Airport, the city’s largest airport, lies immediately south of Jamaica. It has been expanding since 1942 and has become the borough’s largest single source of employment.
Rockaway is a long peninsula that forms the southern border of Jamaica Bay. It has a sandy beachfront, attractive private homes, and modern apartment buildings. It also has many summer cottages, some of which are occupied the year around.
Staten Island
has about 500,000 residents, making it the smallest borough in population. It is the only borough not connected to Manhattan by a bridge or a tunnel. Until the completion of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in 1964, much of the island consisted of small farms and undeveloped areas. The bridge, which connects Staten Island with Brooklyn, has led to the construction of new housing and to industrial growth. But many communities on Staten Island still look more like suburban towns than like sections of a major city.
St. George, on the northeast tip of Staten Island, serves as the downtown section of the borough and is the site of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The famous ferries carry automobiles and passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan and provide the only direct link between the two boroughs. A former U.S. Coast Guard station, government and private office buildings, and a variety of stores are also in St. George.
The eastern shore of Staten Island contains some decaying industrial areas. But handsome homes and several colleges lie on the wooded hills just inland. Parks and beaches line the southeastern and southern coasts of the island. Many of the historic buildings in Richmond Town, in the center of Staten Island, have been restored. Exhibits show how the community developed during the 1600’s, 1700’s, and 1800’s.
The industrial communities of Mariners Harbor and Port Richmond lie on the north coast of Staten Island. One of the three bridges that connect Staten Island and New Jersey is near Mariners Harbor. The others are on the northwest coast and near the island’s southern tip.
Small islands.
There are several small islands in the waters surrounding New York City. The most famous is Liberty Island, site of the city’s greatest landmark—the Statue of Liberty. Ellis Island lies near Liberty Island. The United States Immigration Service used the island until 1954 as a port of entry and a detention and deportation center. Liberty and Ellis islands now form the Statue of Liberty National Monument. 
Governors Island, at the mouth of the East River, was the site of a military installation from the late 1700’s until 1996. The Governors Island National Monument, in the northern part of the island, includes two forts that date from the early 1800’s. Construction began on new parkland and other public spaces on the island in 2012. The Hills, a section of parkland rising up to 70 feet (21 meters) on the southern end of the island, opened in 2016.
Roosevelt, Wards, Randalls, and Rikers islands are in the East River. Hospitals, prisons, and other institutions have been built on these islands. An aerial cable car system links Roosevelt Island and Manhattan. See Ellis Island; Liberty Island.
Metropolitan area.
The New York-Newark (New Jersey)-Jersey City (New Jersey) metropolitan area spreads over 10 counties in New York and 12 counties in New Jersey. About 20 million people live in this metropolitan area. In terms of population, this metropolitan area is the largest in the United States.
The New York-Jersey City-White Plains metropolitan division consists of the five boroughs; Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester counties in southern New York; and Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic counties in New Jersey. About 12 1/2 million people live in this metropolitan division.
Many communities in the New York area are commuter suburbs. Their residents work in New York City and commute by automobiles, buses, ferries, railroads, and subways. Some of these suburbs, such as White Plains in Westchester County, have become important centers of business and shopping outside the central city. Other communities in the New York area are industrial cities. They provide enough jobs so that most of their residents work in the communities themselves. Some of these industrial communities, such as Newark and Jersey City in New Jersey, are also experiencing the problems of pollution, poverty, and urban decay that affect New York City.
People
The people of New York City represent nearly all nationalities. During the 1650’s, only about 1,000 people lived in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. But even then, 18 languages were spoken in the colony. Since that time, people from throughout the world have brought their skills, traditions, and ways of life to New York City.
People move to New York City for many reasons. Many are attracted by the city’s job opportunities. Other people come to attend the city’s schools and colleges or to enjoy its many cultural activities. Still others come simply because they want to be a part of a large, exciting city.
Ethnic groups.
Five ethnic groups—Black, Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Puerto Rican—make up about half of New York City’s people. Neighborhoods consisting largely of people from these and many smaller groups are scattered throughout the city. Originally, most of the people in ethnic groups shared direct ties to a country, a language, or a common past with other members of their group. Today, such ties are less common. But the people still have some unity through such things as common religious beliefs and common economic interests.
Black people are the largest ethnic group in New York City and make up about 20 percent of the city’s population. New York has about 2 million Black people, more than any other city in the United States. Most of them are migrants—or the children of migrants—from the rural South. But many have also come from the Caribbean. A large number of New York City’s Black people live in poor neighborhoods. Many of them have been prevented from leaving poverty-stricken areas by a lack of education and discrimination in jobs and housing. But more and more Black New Yorkers have become part of the city’s middle class. Thousands of Black people live in racially integrated areas, and thousands more live in middle-class Black neighborhoods.
Jewish people make up about 10 percent of the population of New York City. New York’s approximately 1 million Jews are descendants of immigrants from many countries. Many orthodox Jews live in Jewish neighborhoods and have similar religious and social beliefs. Nonreligious Jews, many of whom still identify as Jewish, live throughout the city. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, many Jewish immigrants worked in garment factories or found success starting small businesses. Today, many Jews work in offices, and in the legal, medical, and teaching professions. 
Puerto Ricans make up nearly 10 percent of New York City’s population. They are the largest of several Spanish-speaking ethnic groups in the city. Large numbers of Puerto Ricans began to come to New York in the 1950’s. Many of them found jobs as unskilled workers, especially in hospitals, hotels, and restaurants. At first, nearly all Puerto Ricans lived in East Harlem in Manhattan. But today, Puerto Rican neighborhoods are found in all the boroughs. Neighborhood associations, large church organizations, and the public school system have all developed programs to help newly arrived Puerto Rican people learn English and adjust to life in the city.
About 6 percent of New York City’s people are of Italian ancestry. New York Italians are known for their well-kept homes and for their close neighborhood ties. They are one of the largest single groups in the city’s construction industry, and they play a key role in the restaurant and the wholesale and retail food-marketing industries. Many Italians have civil service jobs in the city’s park, public works, sanitation, police, and fire departments. Most of New York City’s Italians belong to the Roman Catholic Church.
The Irish have traditionally been active in New York City’s political life. In late 1800’s and early 1900’s, they controlled the city government. But the percentage of Irish people in the city has dropped from 30 percent in 1870 to about 4 percent today. As a result, the Irish have lost much of their political power. But they are still one of the largest single groups employed by the city’s police and fire departments. The Irish are also among the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in the city.
New York City has many other ethnic groups besides the five major ones. Other large ethnic groups in the city include people of Arab, Asian Indian, Chinese, English, German, Jamaican, Korean, Mexican, Polish, and Russian descent.
Housing
in New York City differs in several ways from that in most other cities of the United States. About 75 percent of New York’s families live in buildings with 3 or more units. In other cities, most people live in one- or two-family houses. About 70 percent of the families in New York rent their homes. In other U.S. cities, most families own their homes. About 40 percent of the housing in New York City was built before 1940. Most other cities in the United States have a far larger percentage of newer housing.
New York City has long been a leader in housing reform. In 1867, New York state, at the request of the city, passed the nation’s first tenement house law. The law set minimum standards for room sizes and for ventilation and sanitation facilities. In 1943, the city passed a rent control law to protect tenants in privately owned buildings from unfair rent increases. Rent control laws passed in the 1970’s were intended to help landlords make a reasonable profit. But many landlords complain that the higher rents they may charge do not cover rising costs. New York City has also built many public housing projects. Today, many low-income families live in city-owned public housing.
But housing remains one of New York City’s most serious and difficult problems. Many old buildings are becoming unusable, and the demand for new housing, especially among poor people, is rapidly increasing. Yet steadily rising construction costs and a lack of large areas of open land make the development of new housing difficult.
Education.
New York City has the largest public school system of any city in the United States. The public school system includes more than 1,800 schools. In addition, there are hundreds of privately operated schools in the city.
The mayor controls the city’s public school system. The mayor appoints a chancellor to head the Department of Education, the branch of city government that manages the public schools.
New York City has neighborhood high schools like those found in most other cities. But it also has a wide variety of specialized high schools that prepare students for a specific occupation or for further training at the college level. These institutions include schools of automobile mechanics, aviation, the performing arts, printing, and science. Grade schools in poor neighborhoods have special programs to aid underprivileged children and children who do not speak English.
Many of New York City’s colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher learning are world famous. One of the largest universities in the world, the City University of New York, is operated by the city with state and federal assistance. The university consists of 11 senior colleges, several community colleges, an honors college, a graduate center, and schools of biomedical education, journalism, law, and professional studies.
Columbia University, founded in 1754, is the oldest private university in New York City. The city’s largest private university is New York University. Fordham and St. John’s universities are important Roman Catholic schools.
New York City also has many smaller and more specialized institutions of higher education. The New School deals mainly with adult education. Rockefeller University specializes in advanced research in biology and medicine. Pratt Institute and Cooper Union are largely devoted to architecture, engineering, and the fine arts. Other schools specialize in law, medicine, and social work.
Social problems.
New York City has many of the same problems other cities have. But it is so much larger than other cities that the problems are greatly magnified. New York’s major social problems include poverty, crime and drug addiction, and racial conflict.
Poverty is one of New York City’s most expensive problems. The city budgets billions of dollars per year on welfare programs to provide food, clothing, housing, medical care, and other benefits for hundreds of thousands of people. Yet unskilled immigrants continue to move into the city, while the demand for unskilled labor continues to decline. As a result, the problem of poverty is difficult to solve.
Because of its large population, New York City has more crime than any other U.S. city. But the crime rate is actually lower in New York than in many other cities. New York’s crime and drug addiction problems are closely related. A large number of drug addicts live in New York City. They commit many of the city’s burglaries and attacks on individuals to get money for drugs.
Racial conflicts in New York City have had many causes. A major cause has been long-term discrimination against Black people, Puerto Ricans, and other minority groups in jobs and housing. Many minority group members have had trouble obtaining well-paying jobs. Many also have had difficulty moving out of segregated neighborhoods and into neighborhoods where most of the people are white and of European ancestry. When members of a minority group have begun moving into such a neighborhood, the white residents often have begun moving out. In this way, segregated housing patterns have continued, and the chances for conflicts between the groups have increased.
Economy
New York City is one of the world’s most important centers of industry, trade, and finance. Businesses, industries, and government agencies in the metropolitan area provide millions of jobs.
The economies of both New York City and its suburbs are growing. But since the 1940’s, the economy of the suburban area has grown much faster than that of the city. The construction of new highways, a growing labor force, and the availability of land in the suburbs have led many businesses and industries to move from the crowded central city to the suburbs.
The types of jobs available in New York City have also been changing since the 1940’s. The number of jobs for unskilled workers has decreased greatly because many industries have moved to the suburbs. This decrease has created a serious economic problem because most immigrants to the city are unskilled. At the same time, the number of jobs for skilled workers, especially office workers, has increased. But many of these jobs are being filled by people who live in the suburbs and commute to the city.
Industry.
New York City, along with Chicago and Los Angeles, ranks among the leading manufacturing centers in the United States. New York City has thousands of industrial plants. The most important industries are (1) printing and publishing and (2) clothing production.
New York City is one of the nation’s chief printing and publishing centers. It has more printing plants than any other U.S. city. New York publishes a large percentage of the books published in the United States.
New York City’s clothing industry is centered in Manhattan’s famous Garment District, southwest of Times Square. But the garment industry has been declining in New York City. Many factories have closed. Other factories have left the Garment District because of the rising costs of doing business in the heart of Manhattan.
Other leading manufacturing industries include those that produce chemicals, food products, furniture, machinery, metal products, paper products, and textiles. The construction industry is also important.
Trade.
New York City’s port, officially called the Port of New York and New Jersey, is one of the world’s largest and busiest seaports. The port ranks second to the Port of Los Angeles in total value of cargo handled annually. The port’s cargo includes foreign imports and exports, and goods going to and coming from other U.S. ports.
New York City’s port activity declined in the last half of the 1900’s. One reason for the decline in port activity was the growth of other international seaports in the United States, especially along the Great Lakes. The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 allowed ships that previously docked in New York to reach Great Lakes ports.
Large amounts of cargo are also handled at airports in the New York City area. Foreign air freight goes through Kennedy Airport and nearby Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Domestic cargo is handled at Kennedy, La Guardia, and Newark airports.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a self-supporting agency of the states of New York and New Jersey, operates New York City’s major airports and docking facilities, as well as several other transportation facilities. See Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Wholesale trade plays an important part in New York City’s economy. The city has thousands of wholesale firms. Its wholesale grocery and dry-goods businesses are the largest in the United States.
The nation’s largest retail center is in midtown Manhattan. The department stores and specialty shops in midtown Manhattan are known worldwide.
Finance.
More of the nation’s largest and most important financial institutions have their headquarters in New York City than in any other city. Banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies, real estate firms, stock exchanges, and other financial organizations in New York employ many people. Unlike most industries in the city, the financial organizations offer a steadily increasing number of jobs. 
The most famous financial institution in New York City is the New York Stock Exchange, at the corner of Broad and Wall streets in the heart of the Financial District. It is the largest stock exchange in the United States. Many large brokerage houses have their headquarters near the exchanges.
New York City’s banks are among the biggest in the world. They help finance business ventures throughout the United States and in many parts of the world. The largest banks in New York City are in the Financial District.
Transportation.
New York City has a huge, complicated transportation system. Much of the system is centered in the area of Manhattan that is south of Central Park. Millions of people travel to and from that area each working day. Nearly all forms of air, land, and water transportation serve the city.
An extensive highway system has been developed to carry automobiles, buses, and trucks into, out of, and through New York City. The city’s major expressways include the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx, the Shore Parkway and Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn, and Grand Central Parkway and the Long Island Expressway in Queens. Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive carries traffic along the eastern edge of Manhattan.
New York City includes 65 square miles (168 square kilometers) of inland water, so many bridges and tunnels are needed to link the city’s boroughs. The famous Brooklyn Bridge crosses the East River and connects Brooklyn and the southern tip of Manhattan. It was completed in 1883 and declared a national historic landmark in 1964. Six other bridges cross the East River. They are, from south to north, the Manhattan, Williamsburg, Ed Koch Queensboro, Robert F. Kennedy, Bronx-Whitestone, and Throgs Neck bridges. The Y-shaped Robert F. Kennedy Bridge links Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens. 
The Harlem River is spanned by High Bridge, Henry Hudson Bridge, Alexander Hamilton Bridge, and several other bridges. High Bridge, which was opened in 1848, is one of the oldest bridges in the city.
One bridge, the George Washington Bridge, crosses the Hudson River and connects Manhattan and New Jersey. The Bayonne Bridge stretches 1,675 feet (511 meters) over Kill Van Kull channel between Staten Island and New Jersey. It has one of the longest arch spans in the world. Goethals Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing, which cross Arthur Kill channel, also connect Staten Island and New Jersey. 
The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, which links Staten Island and Brooklyn, opened in 1964. Its 4,260-foot (1,298-meter) suspension span is one of the longest in the world.
The Queens Midtown Tunnel runs under the East River and connects Manhattan and Queens. The 9,117-foot (2,779-meter) Hugh L. Carey Tunnel links the southern tip of Manhattan with Brooklyn. The Lincoln and Holland tunnels run under the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey. In addition to these tunnels for motor vehicles, several tunnels carry subway trains under the East River. Four rapid transit tunnels called the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) tunnels run under the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey. See Hudson River tunnels.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), a public corporation owned by the state of New York, operates New York City’s subway and bus systems. New York City’s subway system, one of the largest in the world, provides passenger service on about 660 miles (1,060 kilometers) of track. The MTA also operates commuter rail and bus systems on Long Island and in the city’s northern suburbs. New Jersey Transit operates commuter rail and bus systems in the city’s western suburbs. Crowded Manhattan is famous for its huge fleet of taxicabs.
Two major railroad stations serve New York City—Grand Central Terminal (sometimes called Grand Central Station) at 42nd Street and Park Avenue and Pennsylvania Station on 31st Street at Seventh Avenue. In the mid-1960’s, the upper level of Penn Station was torn down and replaced by Madison Square Garden, but trains continue to operate beneath street level. Before the rapid growth of air travel in the 1950’s, hundreds of thousands of railroad passengers from all parts of the country passed through Grand Central and Penn stations each day. Today, hundreds of thousands of people still use the stations. Most of them, however, are commuters.
La Guardia, Kennedy, and Newark airports handle most of New York City’s commercial air traffic. La Guardia serves domestic and Canadian airlines, and Kennedy and Newark serve domestic and international airlines. The New York City area also has numerous smaller airports.
Communications.
New York City is the nation’s most important center for mass communications. More publishing and broadcasting companies have their headquarters in New York than in any other city in the United States.
The Daily News, the New York Post, and The New York Times are general newspapers published daily in New York City. The Times is one of the world’s best-known papers and is often used as a reference source. The city has many community, foreign-language, and trade and union papers. Daily papers printed in Chinese, Polish, and Spanish have large circulations. The Wall Street Journal is the major business paper. An international newspaper, its circulation is one of the largest of any paper in the United States. 
Most major national magazines and many specialized magazines have their editorial offices in New York City. New York also has more book publishers and advertising agencies than any other city.
New York City has dozens of radio and television stations. It serves as the headquarters of three of the nation’s four major broadcasting networks. The three networks are ABC, Inc.; CBS Broadcasting Inc.; and the NBC Television Network. They provide both television and radio programming to stations throughout the United States. The fourth network—Fox Broadcasting Company—originates many of its television programs from a studio in New York City.
Cultural life and recreation
New York City ranks as one of the world’s greatest cultural centers. It has many art galleries, drama and dance groups, musical and literary societies, and other cultural organizations. It also has some of the world’s finest concert halls, museums, and theaters. Many of the nation’s greatest actors, artists, musicians, poets, and writers live in New York.
There are several reasons for New York City’s leading position as a cultural center. Many of the city’s wealthy residents have long given financial support to cultural activities. Traditionally, the city has also offered people in the arts an atmosphere that encourages freedom of expression. In addition, New York’s many advertising agencies, broadcasting and film studios, recording companies, and publishing houses have provided jobs that attract creative people.
The arts.
Nearly all the arts thrive in New York City. Many new styles in American drama, literature, music, and painting have developed in New York and then spread to the rest of the country.
One of New York City’s most famous and popular forms of art is the theater. Most important American plays and musical comedies have their premieres in the city’s famous Theater District. The theaters in this district are called Broadway theaters, though few are actually on that street. Most are on side streets near Times Square. Many plays and musicals are also presented in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theaters in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Musical organizations in New York City include the New York Philharmonic, one of the world’s great symphony orchestras, and the Metropolitan Opera Association, an outstanding opera company. Both perform at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Lincoln Center also houses the New York City Ballet, and the Juilliard School. The New York City Center on West 55th Street offers a variety of fine arts programs. Many concerts are held at Carnegie Hall, near Central Park.
Thousands of artists live and work in New York City. They display and sell their paintings, sculptures, and other works of art in the city’s dozens of galleries. Many artists have made roomy studios in abandoned warehouses and factories in Manhattan. Most of the buildings were abandoned by industries that moved to suburban areas.
Architecture.
New York’s best-known style of architecture is the towering skyscraper. The giant buildings that form Manhattan’s dramatic skyline are famous throughout the world.
One of the oldest and most famous skyscrapers in New York is the Flatiron Building, on 23rd Street where Broadway crosses Fifth Avenue. The 21-story building was completed in 1903. It has a triangular shape like that of an old-fashioned flatiron.
During the 1930’s, several famous skyscrapers were built in New York City. The most famous, the 102-story Empire State Building, was completed in 1931. It ranked as the world’s tallest building for many years. The 77-story Chrysler Building at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street and the 70-story RCA (now GE) Building in Rockefeller Center were also completed in the 1930’s.
Many glass-walled skyscrapers have been built in New York since the 1950’s. These buildings include the United Nations Secretariat Building along the East River at 44th Street, Lever House on Park Avenue between 53rd and 54th streets, and the Seagram Building on Park Avenue between 52nd and 53rd streets.
Several New York City churches are famous for their Gothic Revival style of architecture. They include the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine between 110th and 113th streets near Broadway, the Roman Catholic St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st streets, and the interdenominational Riverside Church on Riverside Drive and 122nd Street. 
Other buildings of architectural interest in New York City include the many narrow brownstone houses that line side streets in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Most of these houses were built in the late 1800’s as single-family homes. Today, many of them have been divided into apartments.
Libraries.
New York City has three public library systems. The New York Public Library system serves Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. The Brooklyn Public Library serves Brooklyn, and the Queens Borough Public Library serves Queens. Altogether, the three systems have more than 200 branch libraries.
The New York Public Library system has about 90 of the branches—more than any other city public library in the United States. The system’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (formerly the Humanities and Social Sciences Library) on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street is a Manhattan landmark.
In addition to the public library systems, New York City has hundreds of libraries operated by schools, colleges, and private organizations. Many of these libraries are highly specialized. For example, the Morgan Library & Museum has rare books and manuscripts, and the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at the United Nations specializes in books dealing with international affairs and world peace.
Nearly all museums in New York have associated libraries. The most important of these libraries include the Thomas J. Watson Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Art Reference Library, and the American Museum of Natural History Research Library.
Museums.
New York City has many kinds of museums. The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street is the largest art museum in the United States. It has more than 2 million works of art. These works represent nearly every culture of the last 5,000 years. The museum occupies four city blocks, yet it has space to display only part of its huge collection at one time. The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum, is devoted to European art and architecture of the Middle Ages. The building is designed like a medieval monastery. The Cloisters stands in Fort Tryon Park at the northern tip of Manhattan.
Several New York City museums specialize in modern or contemporary art, such as the Museum of Modern Art on West 53rd Street, the Whitney Museum of American Art in the Meatpacking District on Gansevoort Street, the New Museum on the Bowery in Lower Manhattan, and the Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue at 89th Street. The Guggenheim is in an unusual circular building designed by the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The Frick Collection on 70th Street at Fifth Avenue has a notable collection of art that dates from the 1300’s through the 1800’s. The museum occupies one of Manhattan’s few remaining mansions.
The American Museum of Natural History stands at 79th Street and Central Park West. It has the largest amount of exhibition space of any natural history museum in the world. The American Museum’s exhibits include lifelike models of animals shown in reproductions of their natural surroundings.
New York City also has several historical museums. These museums include the Museum of the City of New York on Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street.
Parks.
New York has more parks, playgrounds, beaches, and other recreational areas than any other city in the United States. Many parts of New York are so crowded, however, that children must still play in the city streets. 
Central Park, in the middle of Manhattan, is the best known of the city’s parks. This vast recreational site is 21/2 miles (4 kilometers) long and 1/2 mile (0.8 kilometer) wide and has athletic fields, gardens, a lake, playgrounds, and wooded areas. Central Park includes the Mall, where outdoor concerts and other events are held, and the Ramble, a bird sanctuary.
The Gateway National Recreation Area forms a 26,607-acre (10,767-hectare) park. It covers shorelines and islands of Queens and Brooklyn, as well as part of the Staten Island shore and most of the Sandy Hook peninsula of New Jersey.
Other large parks in New York City include Bronx and Van Cortlandt parks in the Bronx, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens. In many parts of the city, small parks and playgrounds have been developed on any open land that was available, including single empty lots.
New York City has several zoos and botanical gardens. Central Park in Manhattan contains a zoo. The Bronx Zoo in Bronx Park has one of the largest collections of animals of any zoo in the United States. Bronx Park also includes the New York Botanical Garden, which features plants from most parts of the world. In addition, Brooklyn and Queens have outstanding botanical gardens.
Sports.
The city has two major league baseball teams—the New York Yankees of the American League and the New York Mets of the National League. The Yankees play in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. The Mets play in Citi Field in Queens.
In addition, the city has two National Football League teams. The New York Jets of the American Conference and the New York Giants of the National Conference both play in MetLife Stadium in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey.
New York City also has two professional hockey teams—the New York Islanders and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League—and two professional basketball teams—the New York Knickerbockers and Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association. The Knickerbockers and Rangers play in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The Nets play in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The Islanders play home games at UBS Arena in Nassau County on Long Island.
A visitor’s guide
Each year, many millions of tourists and delegates to conventions and trade shows visit New York City. To accommodate all these visitors, New York has hundreds of hotels, motels, and rooming houses, and thousands of restaurants. Some of the city’s hotels rank among the world’s most luxurious. Many restaurants specialize in a certain type of cooking, such as Chinese, French, German, or Italian. In fact, no other city in the world has so many kinds of restaurants as New York.
Following are descriptions of some of New York City’s many interesting places to visit. Other places of interest in the city are discussed and pictured earlier in this article.
Empire State Building
on Fifth Avenue between 33rd Street and 34th Street is a 102-story New York City landmark. Public observation decks on the 86th and 102nd floors of the Empire State Building offer visitors spectacular views of the city.
Financial District
is centered on Wall and Broad streets near the southern tip of Manhattan. Many banks, brokerage houses, and stock exchanges are in the district. Tours are given of the New York Stock Exchange, at the corner of Wall and Broad streets.
Greenwich Village
lies south of 14th Street and west of Broadway. Many actors, artists, musicians, and other people in the arts live in the area and in the SoHo area to the south. The Village and SoHo have several small theaters and many interesting shops and art galleries.
Museum of Modern Art
on West 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas displays modern paintings, sculptures, films, photographs, and other works of art.
Rockefeller Center
lies between Fifth and Seventh avenues and between 48th and 51st streets. It includes the sunken Plaza, used for outdoor dining in summer and ice skating in winter; the 70-story GE Building, which has a public observation roof; Radio City Music Hall, a 5,900-seat theater featuring films and stage shows; and the studios of the NBC Television Network. Tours are given of Radio City Music Hall, of the NBC studios, and of the entire center. 
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
is located at Fifth Avenue and 50th Street, across from Rockefeller Center. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. St. Patrick’s Cathedral is one of the finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture in the United States. See Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.
Statue of Liberty
on Liberty Island in New York Harbor is the world-famous symbol of American freedom. Boats carry visitors to the island from the Battery, a park at the southern tip of Manhattan. See Statue of Liberty.
United Nations Headquarters
lie along the East River between 42nd and 48th streets. Visitors may take tours of the Secretariat, General Assembly, and Conference buildings. A limited number of free tickets are available for meetings of the General Assembly and other United Nations organizations. See United Nations. 
Government
New York City’s government is presently organized under a charter that was adopted in 1961 and that became effective in 1963. The government of New York is more centralized than that of most other cities in the United States. In New York, the central government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services. In most of the other cities in the United States, however, at least some of these services are provided by separate government units.
Until mid-1990, the New York City legislature consisted of a City Council and the Board of Estimate. In 1989, however, the Supreme Court of the United States declared that the composition of the Board of Estimate was unconstitutional because smaller boroughs had as many votes as larger boroughs. In November 1989, residents of New York City approved a plan to revise their city charter, which included abolishing the Board of Estimate. This revision was approved by the United States Department of Justice in December 1989. A number of changes went into effect immediately. The Board of Estimate was eliminated in September 1990.
New York City’s government is headed by a mayor and a City Council. The mayor is the chief executive of New York City. The mayor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for the administration of city government. The heads of about 50 city departments are appointed by the mayor. The mayor also may appoint one or more deputy mayors as assistants.
The City Council consists of representatives from each of the city’s 51 districts, along with an official called the public advocate. Council members and the public advocate are elected in citywide elections and serve four-year terms. The public advocate presides over council meetings but does not have a vote. The council also elects one of its members to the position of council speaker. The council may pass laws and must approve the city’s budget. It also has jurisdiction over most land use issues. The public advocate’s main role is to investigate and answer complaints that New Yorkers make about ineffective city programs and services.
New York City has five boroughs. Each borough elects a borough president to a four-year term. The borough presidents advise the mayor on issues of interest to their boroughs. They also may serve on special city committees.
The city gets part of its income from about 20 different taxes, including an income tax, real estate tax, and sales tax. The real estate tax provides the most tax income. But the total tax income is far from enough to meet the city’s expenses. The city gets additional money from the state and federal governments.
The Democratic Party has long been the most powerful political party in New York City. It has more than three times as many members as the Republican Party and usually controls between 75 and 85 percent of the city’s elective offices. Neither the Democratic nor the Republican party in New York City has a strong citywide organization. Both political parties have separate organizations in each of the five boroughs.
Two minor political parties, the Liberal and the Conservative parties, also influence New York City politics. Both of these parties have affected city elections chiefly by supporting candidates from one of the two major parties.
History
The earliest people known to have lived in the New York City area were Indigenous (native) people who spoke an Algonquian language. Several related tribes lived peacefully on the shores of New York Harbor and along the banks of the Hudson and East rivers. These people lived in small villages of bark houses. They fished, hunted, raised crops, and trapped animals. They traveled the area’s waterways in sturdy canoes.
Exploration.
The first European to enter New York Harbor was probably Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer employed by the king of France. Verrazzano and his crew landed on Staten Island in 1524, while exploring the North American coast.
Other explorers visited the New York City region after Verrazzano. But none of these explorers reported seeing the island the Indigenous people called Man-a-hat-ta (Island of the Hills). Finally, in 1609, Henry Hudson reached Manhattan and then sailed up the river that now bears his name. Hudson was a citizen of England who was exploring for the Dutch, and so the Netherlands claimed the territory he had found. The region was later named New Netherland.
Settlement.
In 1613, the Dutch trader and explorer Adriaen Block and his crew became the first Europeans to live on Manhattan Island. They built several huts and spent the winter near the southern tip of the island after their ship was destroyed by fire. Adriaen and his crew built a new ship and left Manhattan Island in the spring of 1614.
In 1624, the Dutch West India Company, a trading and colonizing firm, sent settlers to Manhattan. In 1625, the settlers laid out a town and built a fort called Fort Amsterdam at the island’s southern tip. The next year, the governor (or director-general) of New Netherland, Peter Minuit, bought the island from Indigenous leaders for goods worth 60 Dutch guilders, the equivalent of about $24.
Soon after Fort Amsterdam was built, the entire settlement was named New Amsterdam. The colony grew slowly at first because the governors sent by the Dutch were poor administrators. But in 1647, Peter Stuyvesant became governor, and under his administration the town began to prosper rapidly.
About 1,000 people lived in New Amsterdam during the 1650’s. Their houses stood along narrow dirt lanes. In 1653, the colonists built a wall along the northern edge of town because they feared attacks by Native Americans or by European enemies. But the wall fell down within a few years. Later, the colonists laid out a road in its place. The road became known as Wall Street.
While New Amsterdam was being established on Manhattan Island, colonists were also arriving in what is now the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. Jonas Bronck, a Dutch citizen from Scandinavia, after whom the Bronx is named, became the first European settler in that area. Bronck set up a 500-acre (200-hectare) farm in 1641 and was soon followed by other settlers. Dutch and English colonists established small villages in Brooklyn and Queens. Staten Island developed more slowly than the other areas partly because settlers there often had conflicts with the Indigenous people.
English rule.
The Netherlands and England fought three naval wars between 1652 and 1674. In 1664, English warships sailed into New York Harbor and forced Peter Stuyvesant to surrender New Amsterdam. The Dutch regained the colony a few years later but then gave it to England under the terms of a peace treaty. The English renamed the colony New York.
New York grew quickly under English rule. By 1700, its population reached about 7,000, and buildings filled lower Manhattan. The town’s first newspaper, the New-York Gazette, appeared in 1725. King’s College, now Columbia University, was founded in 1754.
New York City played an important role in the American Colonies’ fight for freedom from the United Kingdom. In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress met in New York to protest unfair taxes. In 1770, New Yorkers clashed with British soldiers, and one man was killed in the fighting. Soon after the Revolutionary War in America began in 1775, American forces took possession of the city. But the British regained New York City after the Battle of Long Island in 1776. They held the city until the Revolutionary War ended in 1783.
In January 1785, New York City became the temporary capital of the United States. The Congress of the United States met in the city until August 1790. George Washington was inaugurated in New York City as the nation’s first president in April 1789.
The growing city.
During the early years of the United States, Philadelphia and Boston were larger and more prosperous than New York. But New York’s economy and population expanded rapidly. The city took advantage of its excellent natural harbor to increase its trade with other East Coast ports and with foreign countries. European immigrants began to pour into the city. By 1800, New York had about 60,000 people, more than any other city in the country.
New York’s growth continued during the early 1800’s. In 1811, city officials, planning for further expansion, decided that all newly built Manhattan streets should run in straight lines. That decision resulted in the regular pattern of cross streets north of what is now Greenwich Village.
The Erie Canal opened in upstate New York in 1825. The canal provided an important link in an all-water route between New York City and the rapidly developing Midwestern States (see Erie Canal). An increasing number of banks, insurance companies, and investment firms added to the city’s economic growth.
New York’s neighboring communities also grew quickly during the early 1800’s. Brooklyn, the most important of these communities, was incorporated as a village in 1816 with 3,300 residents. By the time it became a city in 1834, it had about 24,000 people.
During the 1800’s, thousands of European immigrants arrived in New York City every year. Until about 1890, most of them came from Germany, Ireland, and other countries of northern and western Europe. After about 1890, most immigrants came from southern and eastern European countries. Many immigrants had difficulty adjusting to the city. They lived in crowded slums and had trouble finding jobs. 
Politicians, especially members of the Democratic Party organization in Manhattan called Tammany Hall, offered jobs, gifts, and advice to immigrants. In return, the immigrants voted to keep Tammany Hall in power. But the politicians actually did little to solve the immigrants’ most important problems, such as the need for better housing, education, and medical care. In 1871, Tammany boss William M. Tweed and some of his followers were arrested and charged with cheating the city out of several million dollars. The Tweed Ring, as his group was called, was driven from public life. But the Tammany organization soon regained power. See Tammany, Society of.
Formation of Greater New York.
In 1883, engineers completed the Brooklyn Bridge, which provided the first direct link between Manhattan and Brooklyn. In 1898, Brooklyn and several communities in what became the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island were united with Manhattan to form what was called Greater New York. The sprawling new city had more than 3 million residents. Nearly 2 million of the people lived in Manhattan. However, during the early 1900’s, subways and bridges were constructed to provide convenient transportation between Manhattan and the other boroughs. The city’s people then began to spread out. As the populations of the other boroughs grew, the population of Manhattan decreased.
But Manhattan remained the largest and most powerful borough of Greater New York, and so its Tammany Hall organization continued to control city politics. Occasionally, voters became angered enough by the illegal activities of Tammany leaders to elect mayors who promised reform. But none of these reform mayors lasted more than one term—until Fiorello La Guardia became mayor in 1934. La Guardia, an honest and outspoken reformer, served from 1934 to 1945. Since his administration, no political organization has been able to control New York politics. 
Problems.
Since the 1940’s, New York City, like other communities, has been troubled by many problems. The severity of the problems began increasing during the early 1960’s. Air and water pollution harmed New York City’s environment. Highways and mass transportation systems became overcrowded and outdated. Housing shortages increased. Racial conflict worsened.
New York City has also faced a series of damaging strikes by public employees. In 1966, transit workers struck for 12 days, halting all subway and bus service. In 1968, striking sanitation workers let garbage pile up on city streets for 9 days. In 1971, police officers refused to go on patrols for 6 days. These and other strikes involved disputes over such matters as wages, benefits, and working conditions.
In the late 1960’s, a number of local communities—especially Black and Puerto Rican communities—demanded more control over schools in their areas. At the time, the mayor was in control of the public school system. A dispute over how local control should be organized led to a strike by teachers in 1968. The strike closed the city’s schools for about 10 weeks. In 1969, the state legislature divided the city into 32 school districts. Each district established its own school board, and the mayor no longer controlled the school system.
New York City experienced a financial crisis in 1975, when the city’s government lacked enough money to pay all its bills for the year. The New York state legislature helped ease the situation by establishing the Municipal Assistance Corporation, which lent the city some money. The federal government also provided funds for the city. To help pay its expenses during the late 1970’s, New York City increased city taxes, eliminated thousands of city government jobs, and reduced city services. During the 1980’s, New York City’s economic situation improved.
In 1989, the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Board of Estimate of New York City unconstitutional. See the Government section of this article for details.
In February 1993, a powerful bomb exploded in a parking garage of the World Trade Center. The blast killed 6 people and injured more than 1,000. It caused more than $300 million in damage to the Trade Center. Four men, including Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, an Egyptian Muslim cleric, were convicted of the bombing and sent to prison. 
A time of change.
Democrat Edward I. Koch was elected mayor of New York City in 1977. In 1981, he became the first person ever nominated mayor by both the Democratic and Republican parties. David N. Dinkins, a Democrat, served as mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1994. He was the city’s first African American mayor. Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani was elected mayor in 1993. He was the first Republican to be chosen mayor since 1965. He served until the end of 2001.
A rise in the city’s spirit took place about the same time Giuliani became mayor. About a million new immigrants and a booming New York-based stock market helped to invigorate the city’s economy. New York City’s crime rate dropped, and real estate prices soared. Neighborhood environmental efforts helped clean the city’s air and the Hudson River.
On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists in hijacked commercial airplanes deliberately crashed into the twin 110-story towers of the World Trade Center. In related incidents that day, a hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon Building just outside Washington, D.C., and another hijacked plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania. The Trade Center towers collapsed to the ground, and part of the Pentagon was destroyed. About 3,000 people were killed. The terrorist attack was the worst in U.S. history. 
Businessman Michael Bloomberg became mayor in 2002. Later that year, the New York state legislature reorganized New York City’s troubled public school system. The city’s students lagged far behind the rest of the state in reading and math scores, and the schools had a high dropout rate. The system, at one time under the control of the mayor, had been decentralized in 1969. The lawmakers returned power to the mayor and abolished the system’s 32 local school boards.
In April 2006, developers began constructing a skyscraper called One World Trade Center at the site where the World Trade Center once stood. The 1,776-foot (541-meter) structure opened to the public in November 2014. The National September 11 Memorial opened on Sept. 11, 2011, at ground zero, the site of the World Trade Center attacks. The memorial includes twin reflecting pools that occupy the site of the fallen towers. A museum opened at the site in May 2014.
In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck the Atlantic Coast. The storm killed dozens of people in New York City. Staten Island was particularly hard-hit. High winds and severe flooding caused great damage, and a fire in Queens destroyed more than 100 homes.
In November 2013, voters elected Democrat Bill de Blasio to succeed Bloomberg as mayor. De Blasio took office in January 2014. He was reelected in 2017.
On Oct. 31, 2017, a man driving a rented pickup truck killed eight people and injured several others on a bike path in lower Manhattan. Officials called the incident an act of terrorism inspired by an Islamic extremist group. In 2023, the man was convicted of several counts of murder and attempted murder along with terrorism and racketeering charges. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Public health crisis.
In March and April 2020, New York City became the center of one of the worst outbreaks of the sometimes-fatal respiratory disease COVID-19. The disease, caused by a type of coronavirus, first broke out in Wuhan, China, late in 2019. It soon spread throughout the world. New York City, with its dense population, faced particular difficulties in its efforts to limit the spread of the disease. Authorities first urged residents to practice social distancing. Later, state and local authorities issued strict lockdown measures, limiting travel and social and business activity. Yet infections rose dramatically, and hospitals became overwhelmed. Residents were urged to leave their homes only in limited circumstances, and governments set up emergency hospital facilities. Hundreds of thousands of area residents became infected, and many thousands died.
Cases declined through May 2020 and into the summer, and officials gradually relaxed business and social restrictions. Cases and hospitalizations rose steadily again late in the year and remained high in early 2021. In neighborhoods with higher infection rates, authorities limited the capacities of restaurants, gyms, and houses of worship. COVID-19 vaccines became available to most New York residents in the first half of 2021. By late spring, higher vaccination rates contributed to a sharp decline in infection and death rates. In August, the city required residents to show proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters, and other indoor spaces. However, high infection rates again caused concern in late 2021 and early 2022. Officials reduced some vaccine requirements in March 2022, following a decrease in infection rates. By early 2023, more than 3 million COVID-19 cases had been recorded in New York City, and about 45,000 residents had died of the disease.
Recent developments.
Eric Adams, a former police officer and Brooklyn borough president, won election in November 2021 to succeed de Blasio as mayor. Adams took office in January 2022.
