New York City, or NYC as it is often referred to, distinguishing it from New York State, is significant American product and recognisd as a global city. New York is one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world, housing eight and a half million people within its 350 square miles and a metropolitan population of 19.1 million. The city has significant influence on world business, finance, fashion and art and has also become a focal point of international affairs as it plays host to the United Nations. New York City is situated on the North Atlantic in a natural harbour on the Northeastern side of the United States.
The city of New York is made up of five boroughs, Staten Island, Manhattan, Queens, The Bronx and Brooklyn. The city was founded by the Dutch in 1624 as a commercial trading post and until 1664, when the trading post came under British control, it was known as New Amsterdam. From 1765 until 1790 it was the capital city of the US, and has been its largest and most densely populated since 1790. The modern city of New York was actually founded in 1898 when Brooklyn, which up until then had been a separate city, was finally joined with the Counties of New York, Richmond and Queens. The areas were fully consolidated with the coming of the subway in 1904.
Thousands of immigrants came to New York through Ellis Island, particularly in the nineteenth century and this eventually made the city the most linguistically diverse in the world, with more than 800 spoken languages. New York’s most famous areas and landmarks are now familiar across the world and include the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Broadway and Wall Street, which is recognised as the financial capital of the world and home to the world’s largest stock exchange.
New York has a temperate climate with very cold, snowy winters and average spring and autumn temperatures of around 25 degrees. In the summer it can get very hot, starting at around 75 degrees but rising to 90 at night and for around 18 days a year the temperature can exceed 100 degrees. Most people travel on public transport rather than take their cars into the city and this makes New York one of the most energy efficient cities in America.
New York is a tourist magnet, it is one of the city’s major industries and every year thousands of visitors flock to Manhattan’s Chinatown to browse the establishments along the busy sidewalks or pavements. The skyline of Manhattan is recognised by people across the world and the area is also home to some of the world’s tallest buildings. Besides the Chrysler building, there are still a number of bars and hotels in New York to thrill Art Deco fans. The city has plenty to offer its visitors as New York also has 14 miles of beaches that are open to the public and 28,000 acres of municipal parkland. It is a great place for music fans as the home of nineteen forties jazz, nineteen seventies hip hop, and the music industry’s Tin Pan Alley.