New York City

Alas! My journey across the East Coast of the United States has come to an end. New York, Philadelphia, Washington… and memorable moments are left behind. Naturally, it is impossible to see everything in such a short time, but what I did see will stay in my memory forever. I was especially impressed with New York: with its sky-scrapers, gourmet’s places and theatrical life. Here is to Your attention my short narrative about this legendary metropolis.

New York City is a city in the State of New York, USA, the largest city in US and one of the largest in the world (17^th). Its population is 8,459,026 people (as of 2010), or 18.8 million including the suburbs. It is situated on the Atlantic coast in the South-West of the New York State. New York City was founded in the beginning of XVII century by Dutch colonists. Until 1664, the city bore the name “New Amsterdam.”

The city is administratively divided into 5 districts: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten-Island. The main landmarks are located in Manhattan. Among them are the historic skyscrapers (Empire State Building, Chrysler Building), Rockefeller Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Opera, Solomon Guggenheim’s Museum of Modern Art (paintings), American Natural History Museum (dinosaur skeletons and a planetarium), legendary Chelsea Hotel, United Nations Headquarters and Harlem.

On the territory, which is currently occupied by New York City, long before the arrival of Europeans such Indian tribes as Manahattow and Canarsie dwelt. It is proved by arrow heads and other artifacts discovered in the areas of the city that have not been built up, such as Inwood Hill Park and Riverside Park. The history of European settlements starts from 1626, when the Dutch settlement New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam) was built on the South edge of Manhattan. In 1664, English ships captured the city without any resistance from the Governor Peter Stuyvesant, and the city was renamed into New York in honour of the initiator of this sortie – the Duke of York. According to the results of the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1667, the Dutch officially ceded New York to the British and received the Colony of Surinam instead.

In the beginning of the War for Independence, the modern territory of the city became the arena of important battles. After the Brooklyn Battle a devastating fire started in Brooklyn, in which most of the city burned down and up to the end of the war it got into the British hands until the Americans repossessed it in 1783. This day under the name of “Evacuation Day” (for the English) was celebrated in New York for a long time.

During the XIX century, the city’s population grew rapidly because of a great influx of immigrants. In 1811, a far-sighted general development plan for the city was conceived, according to which the network of streets was extended to cover the entire Manhattan. By 1835, New York surpassed Philadelphia by population to become the largest city of the United States.

During the Civil War, close trading ties of the city with the South as well as its growing immigrant population caused a split between the Union supporters and supporters of the Confederation, which culminated in the “Draft Riots” – the worst civil clashes in American history.

After the war, the rate of immigration from Europe significantly increased and New York became the first stop for millions, who arrived in the United States in search for a new, better life.

In 1859, in his article “Population, Crime and Pauperism,” published in an American newspaper “New York Daily Tribune,” Karl Marx wrote:

“There must have been something rotten in the very core of such a social system, which increases its wealth without decreasing the poverty at the same time and in which crime grows even faster than the population itself.”

Especially bitter were the remarks in the “Herald Tribune” newspaper concerning the crime level in New York:

“In its war against crime the nation suffers its worst defeat. According to statistics, the number of citizens killed or injured by criminals already exceeds the loss of the Untied States in the World War I, and their number is growing every day.”

In 1898, New York City was established in its today’s borders: formerly it consisted of Manhattan and the Bronx, which was added to the city from the south, from Westchester County (West Bronx was joined in 1874, while the rest of the Bronx – in 1895). In 1898, according to a new law project, a new municipality was created, which was called at first the Big New York. The new city was divided into five districts. Manhattan and the Bronx extended their borders and covered then the territory of the original city plus the remaining part of New York County. Brooklyn District consisted of Brooklyn City and a few municipalities in the east section of the Kings County. Queens District was founded in the west section of Queens County and covered a number of small cities and settlements, including Long Island City, Astoria and Flushing. Staten Island District fully encompassed Richmond County. All former city administration bodies were abolished. A year later, the territory of Queens County, which had not been included in the premises of Queens District, became a separate Nassau County. In 1914, the legislative authorities of the State created Bronx County, so the New York County was cut down to the size of Manhattan only. Now the borders of the five districts of New York mostly match the borders of the same counties.

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