New York City

New York City is located on the east coast of the USA, in the state of New York and on the mouth of the Hudson River. The city covers an area of 305m2 and has a population of 8.2 million people living in it. Most of these are immigrants from countries like: Ireland, Germany and Italy.

New York City is divided into five major parts called boroughs. Each one is also a county. They are:
  • Manhattan (New York County, on Manhattan Island)
  • Brooklyn (Kings County, on Long Island)
  • Queens (Queens County, on Long Island)
  • The Bronx (Bronx County, on the mainland)
  • Staten Island (Richmond County, on Staten Island)

Manhattan island is the biggest borough of New York City. The Dutch bought it from the Native Americans in 1626 and called it New Amsterdam, then the English took it over and changed the name to New York in 1664.

Manhattan is a major commercial and financial centre, with the world's largest stock exchange being run from Wall Street. It is also home to the headquarters of the United Nations.

New York Stock Exchange

People can travel around: on the New York Subway system, in more than 12,000 yellow cabs and on several ferry boats, such as the Staten Island Ferry which connects Lower Manhattan with Staten Island.

New York City Subway ACF R6 car 1000

John F. Kennedy International Airport and Grand Central Station are major transport hubs too.

Grand Central Station Main Concourse Jan 2006

Manhattan has many famous landmarks and tourist attractions such as:
  • the Statue of Liberty which welcomes people at the entrance to the New York City harbour and was given to the USA in 1886 by the people of France to represent the friendship between the two countries established during the American Revolution;
Statue of Liberty, NY
  • the Empire State Building which is a 381 metre tall skyscraper that was built in 1931 and for 41 years was the tallest building in the world;
Empire State Building from the Top of the Rock
  • Central Park which is 2.5 miles long and contains: lakes, a castle and a zoo;
CentralParkFromAboveCropped
  • Times Square, nicknamed "the crossroads of the world", is the brightly illuminated centre of the Broadway theatre district;
New york times square-terabass
  • Brooklyn Bridge which is a 1,825 metre long suspension bridge that crosses the East River;
Brooklyn Bridge Postdlf
  • Ellis Island which was the USA's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 to 1954 but is today open as a museum.
Ellis Island-27527