History of New York City
Encyclopedia
The history of New York
, New York
begins with the first European documentation of the area by Giovanni da Verrazzano, in command of the French ship, La Dauphine
, when he visited the region in 1524. It is believed he sailed in Upper New York Bay
where he encountered native Lenape
, returned through The Narrows
where he anchored the night of April 17, and then left to continue his voyage. He named the area of present-day New York City Nouvelle-Angoulême (New Angoulême
) in honor of Francis I
of France, King of France and Count of Angoulême
.
European settlement began on September 3, 1609 when Englishman Henry Hudson
in the employ of the Dutch East India Company
sailed the Half Moon through The Narrows
into Upper New York Bay
. Like Christopher Columbus
, Hudson was looking for a westerly passage to Asia
. He never found one, but he did make note of the abundant beaver
population. Beaver pelts were in fashion in Europe, fueling a lucrative business. Hudson's report on the beaver population of the New York area served as the impetus for the founding of Dutch trading colonies in the New World
, among them New Amsterdam
, which would become New York City. The beaver's importance in New York City history is reflected by its use on the city's official seal.
The area around New York City was the location for multiple battles of the American Revolutionary War
, including the largest battle of the war: the Battle of Brooklyn. The British won and went on to occupy the city from September 1776 to late 1783. George Washington
was inaugurated as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789 in front of Federal Hall
and the city served as the capital of the United States until 1790.
Modern New York City traces its development to the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898 and an economic and building boom following the Great Depression
and World War II
. Throughout its history, New York City has served as a main port of entry for many immigrants, and its cultural and economic influences have made it one of the most important urban areas in the United States, and the world.
The area that would eventually encompass modern day New York City was inhabited by the Lenape
people. These groups of culturally and linguistically identical Native Americans
traditionally spoke an Algonquian
language now referred to as Unami
. Early European settlers would refer to bands of Lenape by the Unami place name for where they lived, such as: "Raritan" in what is now called Staten Island and New Jersey, "Canarsee" in what is now known as Brooklyn, and "Hackensack" in modern New Jersey across the Hudson River from current-day Lower Manhattan. Eastern Long Island neighbors were culturally and linguistically more closely related to the Mohegan
-Pequot
peoples of what is now known as New England who spoke the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language
.
These peoples all made use of the abundant waterways in the New York City region for fishing, hunting trips, trade amongst themselves, and occasionally war. A reminder of their presence in the New York City region is evidenced by various place names such as Raritan Bay
and Canarsie, Brooklyn
. Many former paths created by indigenes are today main thouroughfares such as Broadway
in Manhattan.
The Lenape developed sophisticated techniques of hunting and managing their resources. By the time of the arrival of Europeans, they were cultivating fields of vegetation through the slash and burn
technique, which extended the productive life of planted fields. They also harvested vast quantities of fish and shellfish from the bay. It has been estimated that at the time of European settlement there were approximately 15,000 Lenape total in approximately 80 settlement sites around the region.
European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch
fur trading
settlement in Lower Manhattan
in 1613 later called New Amsterdam
(Nieuw Amsterdam) in the southern tip of Manhattan in 1625. Soon thereafter, most likely in 1626, construction of Fort Amsterdam
began.
Willem Kieft
became director general
in 1638, but five years later was embroiled in Kieft's War
against the Native Americans. The Pavonia Massacre, across the Hudson River in present day Jersey City
resulted in the death of eighty natives in February 1643. Following the massacre, eleven Algonquian
tribes joined forces and nearly defeated the Dutch. Holland sent additional forces to the aid of Kieft, leading to the overwhelming defeat of the Native Americans, and a peace treaty on August 29, 1645.
On May 27, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant
was inaugurated as director general upon his arrival, and ruled as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church
. The colony was granted self-government in 1652 and New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city February 2, 1653.
it "New York" after the Duke of York and Albany
. The Dutch briefly regained it in 1673, renaming the city "New Orange", before permanently ceding the colony of New Netherland
to the English for what is now Suriname
in November 1674. Some area names are still reminiscent of the Dutch period, most notably Flushing (Dutch town of Vlissingen), Harlem (Dutch town of Haarlem
) and Brooklyn (Dutch town of Breukelen
).
By 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200.
The new English rulers of the formerly Dutch New Amsterdam
and New Netherland
renamed the settlement New York. As the colony grew and prospered, sentiment also grew for greater autonomy. In the context of the Glorious Revolution
in England, Jacob Leisler
led Leisler's Rebellion
and effectively controlled the city and surrounding areas from 1689–1691, before being arrested and executed.
The 1735 libel trial of John Peter Zenger
in the city was a seminal influence on freedom of the press
in North America.
After a series of fires in 1741, the city became panicked about an African-American plot to burn the city, conspiring with some whites. This was mostly a fabrication. Nevertheless, 31 blacks and 4 whites were convicted of arson; 13 blacks were burned alive, 4 whites and 18 blacks were hanged.
In 1754, Columbia University
was founded under charter by George II of Great Britain
as King's College in Lower Manhattan.
The Stamp Act
and other British measures fomented dissent, particularly among Sons of Liberty
who maintained a long-running skirmish with locally stationed British troops over Liberty Pole
s from 1766 to 1776. The Stamp Act Congress
met in New York City in 1765 in the first organized resistance to British authority across the colonies. After the major defeat of the Continental Army
in the Battle of Long Island
, General George Washington
withdrew to Manhattan Island, but with the subsequent defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington
the island was effectively left to the British. New York City was greatly damaged twice by fires
of suspicious origin during British
military rule. The city became the political and military center of operations in North America for the remainder of the war, and a haven for Loyalist
refugees. Continental Army
officer Nathan Hale
was hanged in Manhattan
for espionage
. In addition, the British began to hold the majority of captured American prisoners of war aboard prison ships
in Wallabout Bay
, across the East River
in Brooklyn
. More Americans lost their lives from neglect aboard these ships than died in all the battles of the war. British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783. George Washington triumphantly returned to the city that day, as the last British forces left the city
.
met in New York City under the Articles of Confederation
. Later, New York City was made the first national capital of the United States under the United States Constitution
. The United States Constitution
also created the current Congress of the United States and the first sitting at Federal Hall
on Wall Street. The first steps to expanding the United States: the first United States Supreme Court sat there, the United States Bill of Rights
was drafted and ratified there, and the Northwest Ordinance
all took place there.
New York City became the first capital of the newly formed United States
on September 13, 1788 under the U.S. Constitutional Convention
. On April 30, 1789 the first President of the United States
, George Washington, was inaugurated at Federal Hall
on Wall Street
. New York City remained the capital of the U.S. until 1790, when the honor was transferred to Philadelphia.
New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton
's policies and practices as the first Secretary of the Treasury and, later, with the opening of the Erie Canal
in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the North American interior. Immigration
resumed after being slowed by wars in Europe, and a new street grid system expanded to encompass all of Manhattan.
The Great Irish Famine brought a large influx of Irish
immigrants, and by 1850, the Irish comprised one quarter of the city's population. Government institutions, including the New York City Police Department
and the public schools
, were established in the 1840s and 1850s to respond to growing demands of residents.
as the first mayor from Tammany Hall
, an Irish immigrant-supported Democratic Party political machine
that would dominate local politics throughout this period. During the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration, a visionary development proposal called the Commissioners' Plan of 1811
, which expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan, and the opening of the Erie Canal
, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Midwestern United States
and Canada
in 1825. By 1835, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States. Public-minded members of the old merchant aristocracy pressed for a Central Park
, which was opened to a design competition in 1857; it would become the first landscape park in an American city.
During the American Civil War
(1861–1865), the city's strong commercial ties to the South, its growing immigrant population, and anger about conscription
led to divided sympathy for both the Union and Confederacy
, culminating in the Draft Riots of 1863. After the Civil War, the rate of immigration
from Europe
grew steeply, and New York became the first stop for millions seeking a new and better life in the United States, a role acknowledged by the dedication of the Statue of Liberty
in 1886.
In 1898, the modern City of New York
was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn
(until then an independent city), Manhattan and outlying areas. Manhattan and the Bronx, though still one county, were established as two separate borough
s and joined together with three other boroughs created from parts of adjacent counties to form the new municipal government originally called "Greater New York". The Borough of Brooklyn
incorporated the independent City of Brooklyn, recently joined to Manhattan by the Brooklyn Bridge
, and several municipalities in eastern Kings County, New York; the Borough of Queens
was created from western Queens County (with the remnant established as Nassau County
in 1899); and The Borough of Staten Island contained all of Richmond County. All municipal (county, town and city) governments contained within the boroughs were abolished. In 1914, the New York State Legislature created Bronx county, making five counties coterminous with the five boroughs.
On June 15, 1904 over 1,000 people, mostly German Immigrants, were killed when the steamship General Slocum
caught fire and burned on North Brother Island
, in the East River
; and on March 25, 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
in Greenwich Village
took the lives of 146 garment workers, which would eventually lead to great advancements in the city's fire department, building codes, and workplace regulations.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. Interborough Rapid Transit
(the first New York City Subway
company) began operating in 1904, and the railroads operating out of Grand Central Terminal
and Pennsylvania Station
thrived.
New York City's ever accelerating changes and rising crime and poverty rates ended when World War I
disrupted trade routes, the Immigration Restriction Acts limited additional immigration after the war, and the Great Depression
ended the need for new labor. The combination ended the rule of the Gilded Age barons. As the city's demographics stabilized, labor unionization brought new protections and affluence to the working class, the city's government and infrastructure underwent a dramatic overhaul under Fiorello La Guardia, and his controversial parks commissioner, Robert Moses
, ended the blight of many tenement areas, expanded new parks, remade streets, and restricted and reorganized zoning controls
.
In the 1920s, New York City was a major destination for African American
s during the Great Migration
from the American South. The Harlem Renaissance
flourished during the era of Prohibition
, coincident with a larger economic boom that saw the skyline develop with the construction of competing skyscraper
s. For a while, New York City became the most populous city in the world, starting in 1925 and overtaking London
, which had reigned for a century. The difficult years of the Great Depression
saw the election of reformer Fiorello La Guardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall
after eighty years of political dominance.
Despite the effects of the Great Depression
, the 1930s saw the building of some of the world's tallest skyscrapers, including numerous Art-Deco masterpieces that are still part of the city's skyline today. Both before and after World War II, vast areas of the city were also reshaped by the rise of the bridges, parks and parkways coordinated by Moses, the greatest proponent of automobile-centered modernist urbanism in America.
In 1938 the political designation "ward
" was abolished.
Returning World War II
veterans and immigrants from Europe created a postwar economic boom and led to the development of huge housing tracts in eastern Queens. The city was extensively photographed during the post–war years by photographer Todd Webb
using a heavy camera and tripod.
New York emerged from the war as the leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading America's ascendancy and, in 1951, the United Nations
relocated from its first headquarters in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, to the East Side of Manhattan. During the 1960s, the views of real estate developer and city leader Robert Moses
began to fall out of favor as the anti-Urban Renewal
views of Jane Jacobs
gained popularity. Citizen rebellion killed a plan to construct an expressway
through lower Manhattan.
The transition away from the industrial base toward a service economy picked up speed while the large shipbuilding and garment industries declined sharply. The ports converted to container ships, costing many traditional jobs among longshoremen. Many large corporations moved their headquarters to the suburbs, or to distant cities. However there was enormous growth in services especially finance, education, medicine, tourism, communications and law. New York remained the largest city, and largest metropolitan area, in the United States, and continued as its largest financial, commercial, information, and cultural Center.
Like many major U.S. cities, New York suffered race riots, gang wars and some population decline in the 1960s. Street activists and minority groups like the Black Panthers and Young Lords took matters into their own hands and organized rent strikes and garbage offensives, demanding city services for poor areas. They also set up free health clinics and other programs, as a guide for organizing and gaining "Power to the People." By the 1970s the city had also gained a reputation as a crime-ridden relic of history. In 1975, the city government avoided bankruptcy only through a federal loan and debt restructuring by the Municipal Assistance Corporation, headed by Felix Rohatyn
. The city was also forced to accept increased financial scrutiny by an agency of New York State. In 1977, the city was struck by the twin catastrophes of the New York City blackout of 1977
and the Son of Sam serial murderer's continued slayings.
, and the city reclaimed its role at the center of the worldwide financial industry. Unemployment and crime remained high, the latter reaching peak levels in some categories around the close of the decade and the beginning of the 1990s. The city later resumed its social and economic recovery, bolstered by the influx of Asians, Latin Americans, and U.S. citizens, and by new crimefighting techniques on the part of the NYPD. In the late 1990s, the city benefited from the success of the financial sectors, such as Silicon Alley
, during the dot com boom, one of the factors in a decade of booming real estate values. New York's population reached an all-time high in the 2000 census
; according to census estimates since 2000, the city has continued to grow, including rapid growth in the most urbanized borough, Manhattan. During this period, New York City was also a site of the September 11 attacks; nearly 3,000 people were killed
by a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center
, an event considered highly traumatic for the city but which did not stop the city's rapid regrowth.
Streets & Thoroughfares
Small Islands
Miscellany
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
begins with the first European documentation of the area by Giovanni da Verrazzano, in command of the French ship, La Dauphine
La Dauphine
La Dauphine was a three-masted sailing vessel that served as the flagship of the explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano on his first voyage to the New World while seeking a shipping passage to China from Europe.-Construction:...
, when he visited the region in 1524. It is believed he sailed in Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...
where he encountered native Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
, returned through The Narrows
The Narrows
The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson River empties into the Atlantic Ocean...
where he anchored the night of April 17, and then left to continue his voyage. He named the area of present-day New York City Nouvelle-Angoulême (New Angoulême
New Angoulême
New Angoulême was the name given in 1524 by the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano to the site of what would become New York City. The name commemorated not only the town of Angoulême, in the Charente region in France, but also Verrazzano's patron King Francis I of France, who had been Count...
) in honor of Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
of France, King of France and Count of Angoulême
Angoulême
-Main sights:In place of its ancient fortifications, Angoulême is encircled by boulevards above the old city walls, known as the Remparts, from which fine views may be obtained in all directions. Within the town the streets are often narrow. Apart from the cathedral and the hôtel de ville, the...
.
European settlement began on September 3, 1609 when Englishman Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
in the employ of the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
sailed the Half Moon through The Narrows
The Narrows
The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson River empties into the Atlantic Ocean...
into Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...
. Like Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, Hudson was looking for a westerly passage to Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. He never found one, but he did make note of the abundant beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
population. Beaver pelts were in fashion in Europe, fueling a lucrative business. Hudson's report on the beaver population of the New York area served as the impetus for the founding of Dutch trading colonies in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
, among them New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
, which would become New York City. The beaver's importance in New York City history is reflected by its use on the city's official seal.
The area around New York City was the location for multiple battles of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, including the largest battle of the war: the Battle of Brooklyn. The British won and went on to occupy the city from September 1776 to late 1783. George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
was inaugurated as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789 in front of Federal Hall
Federal Hall
Federal Hall, built in 1700 as New York's City Hall, later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America under the Constitution, and was the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States. It was also where the United States Bill of...
and the city served as the capital of the United States until 1790.
Modern New York City traces its development to the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898 and an economic and building boom following the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Throughout its history, New York City has served as a main port of entry for many immigrants, and its cultural and economic influences have made it one of the most important urban areas in the United States, and the world.
| City of New York Population by year |
|
|---|---|
| 1656 | 1,000 |
| 1690 | 6,000 |
| 1790 | 33,131 |
| 1800 | 60,515 |
| 1810 | 96,373 |
| 1820 | 123,706 |
| 1830 | 202,589 |
| 1840 | 312,710 |
| 1850 | 515,547 |
| 1860 | 813,669 |
| 1870 | 942,292 |
| 1880 | 1,206,299 |
| 1890 | 1,515,301 |
| 1900 | 3,437,202 |
| 1910 | 4,766,883 |
| 1920 | 5,620,048 |
| 1930 | 6,930,446 |
| 1940 | 7,454,995 |
| 1950 | 7,891,957 |
| 1960 | 7,781,984 |
| 1970 | 7,894,862 |
| 1980 | 7,071,639 |
| 1990 | 7,322,564 |
| 2000 | 8,008,278 |
| Including the "outer boroughs" before the 1898 consolidation |
|
| 1790 | 49,000 |
| 1800 | 79,200 |
| 1830 | 242,300 |
| 1850 | 696,100 |
| 1880 | 1,912,000 |
Lenape and New Netherland: prehistory – 1664
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
people. These groups of culturally and linguistically identical Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
traditionally spoke an Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
language now referred to as Unami
Unami language
Unami is an extinct Algonquian language formerly spoken by Lenape people in what is now the lower Hudson Valley area and New York Harbor area, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, but later in Ontario and Oklahoma. It is one of the two Delaware languages, the other being Munsee...
. Early European settlers would refer to bands of Lenape by the Unami place name for where they lived, such as: "Raritan" in what is now called Staten Island and New Jersey, "Canarsee" in what is now known as Brooklyn, and "Hackensack" in modern New Jersey across the Hudson River from current-day Lower Manhattan. Eastern Long Island neighbors were culturally and linguistically more closely related to the Mohegan
Mohegan
The Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. Mohegan translates to "People of the Wolf". At the time of European contact, the Mohegan and Pequot were one people, historically living in the lower Connecticut region...
-Pequot
Pequot
Pequot people are a tribe of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut. They were of the Algonquian language family. The Pequot War and Mystic massacre reduced the Pequot's sociopolitical influence in southern New England...
peoples of what is now known as New England who spoke the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language
Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language
Mohegan-Pequot is an extinct Algonquian language formerly spoken in parts of present-day New England and Long Island.As of 2010, the Shinnecock and Unkechaug nations of Long Island, New York, had begun work...
.
These peoples all made use of the abundant waterways in the New York City region for fishing, hunting trips, trade amongst themselves, and occasionally war. A reminder of their presence in the New York City region is evidenced by various place names such as Raritan Bay
Raritan Bay
Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the south by the Raritan...
and Canarsie, Brooklyn
Canarsie, Brooklyn
Canarsie is a neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City, United States. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18....
. Many former paths created by indigenes are today main thouroughfares such as Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
in Manhattan.
The Lenape developed sophisticated techniques of hunting and managing their resources. By the time of the arrival of Europeans, they were cultivating fields of vegetation through the slash and burn
Slash and burn
Slash-and-burn is an agricultural technique which involves cutting and burning of forests or woodlands to create fields. It is subsistence agriculture that typically uses little technology or other tools. It is typically part of shifting cultivation agriculture, and of transhumance livestock...
technique, which extended the productive life of planted fields. They also harvested vast quantities of fish and shellfish from the bay. It has been estimated that at the time of European settlement there were approximately 15,000 Lenape total in approximately 80 settlement sites around the region.
European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
fur trading
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
settlement in Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
in 1613 later called New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
(Nieuw Amsterdam) in the southern tip of Manhattan in 1625. Soon thereafter, most likely in 1626, construction of Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam
For the historic fort on the island of Saint Martin, see Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan that was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then British rule of New York from...
began.
Willem Kieft
Willem Kieft
Willem Kieft was a Dutch merchant and director-general of New Netherland , from 1638 until 1647. He formed the council of twelve men, the first representative body in New Netherland, but ignored its advice...
became director general
Director-General of New Netherland
This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland in North America...
in 1638, but five years later was embroiled in Kieft's War
Kieft's War
Kieft's War, also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between settlers of the nascent colony of New Netherland and the native Lenape population in what would later become the New York metropolitan area of the United States...
against the Native Americans. The Pavonia Massacre, across the Hudson River in present day Jersey City
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
resulted in the death of eighty natives in February 1643. Following the massacre, eleven Algonquian
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
tribes joined forces and nearly defeated the Dutch. Holland sent additional forces to the aid of Kieft, leading to the overwhelming defeat of the Native Americans, and a peace treaty on August 29, 1645.
On May 27, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant , served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York...
was inaugurated as director general upon his arrival, and ruled as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...
. The colony was granted self-government in 1652 and New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city February 2, 1653.
British and revolution: 1664–1783
In 1664, the English conquered the area and renamedGeographical renaming
Geographical renaming is the changing of the name of a geographical feature or area. This can range from the uncontroversial change of a street name to a highly disputed change to the name of a country. Some names are changed locally but the new names are not recognised by other countries,...
it "New York" after the Duke of York and Albany
James II of England
James II & VII was King of England and King of Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
. The Dutch briefly regained it in 1673, renaming the city "New Orange", before permanently ceding the colony of New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
to the English for what is now Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
in November 1674. Some area names are still reminiscent of the Dutch period, most notably Flushing (Dutch town of Vlissingen), Harlem (Dutch town of Haarlem
Haarlem
Haarlem is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland, the northern half of Holland, which at one time was the most powerful of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic...
) and Brooklyn (Dutch town of Breukelen
Breukelen
Breukelen is a town and former municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. It is situated to the north west of Utrecht, along the river Vecht and close to the lakes of the Loosdrechtse Plassen, an area of natural and touristic interest...
).
By 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200.
The new English rulers of the formerly Dutch New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
and New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
renamed the settlement New York. As the colony grew and prospered, sentiment also grew for greater autonomy. In the context of the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
in England, Jacob Leisler
Jacob Leisler
Jacob Leisler was a German-born American colonist. He helped create the Huguenot settlement of New Rochelle in 1688 and later served as the acting Lieutenant Governor of New York...
led Leisler's Rebellion
Leisler's Rebellion
Leisler's Rebellion was an uprising in late 17th century colonial New York, in which German American merchant and militia captain Jacob Leisler seized control of the colony's south and ruled it from 1689 to 1691. The uprising took place in the aftermath of Britain's Glorious Revolution and the...
and effectively controlled the city and surrounding areas from 1689–1691, before being arrested and executed.
The 1735 libel trial of John Peter Zenger
John Peter Zenger
John Peter Zenger was a German-American printer, publisher, editor, and journalist in New York City. He was a defendant in a landmark legal case in American jurisprudence that determined that truth was a defense against charges of libel and "laid the foundation for American press freedom."-...
in the city was a seminal influence on freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
in North America.
In 1754, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
was founded under charter by George II of Great Britain
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
as King's College in Lower Manhattan.
The Stamp Act
Stamp Act
A stamp act is any legislation that requires a tax to be paid on the transfer of certain documents. Those that pay the tax receive an official stamp on their documents, making them legal documents. The taxes raised under a stamp act are called stamp duty. This system of taxation was first devised...
and other British measures fomented dissent, particularly among Sons of Liberty
Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty were a political group made up of American patriots that originated in the pre-independence North American British colonies. The group was formed to protect the rights of the colonists from the usurpations by the British government after 1766...
who maintained a long-running skirmish with locally stationed British troops over Liberty Pole
Liberty pole
A liberty pole is a tall wooden pole, often used as a type of flagstaff, planted in the ground, which may be surmounted by an ensign or a liberty cap. They are associated with the Atlantic Revolutions of the late 18th century.-American Revolution:...
s from 1766 to 1776. The Stamp Act Congress
Stamp Act Congress
The Stamp Act Congress was a meeting on October 19, 1765 in New York City of representatives from some of the British colonies of North America. They discussed and acted upon the Stamp Act recently passed by the governing Parliament of Great Britain overseas, which did not include any...
met in New York City in 1765 in the first organized resistance to British authority across the colonies. After the major defeat of the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
in the Battle of Long Island
Battle of Long Island
The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn or the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, fought on August 27, 1776, was the first major battle in the American Revolutionary War following the United States Declaration of Independence, the largest battle of the entire conflict, and the...
, General George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
withdrew to Manhattan Island, but with the subsequent defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington
Battle of Fort Washington
The Battle of Fort Washington was fought in the American Revolutionary War between the United States and Great Britain on November 16, 1776. It was a decisive British victory, forcing the entire garrison of Fort Washington to surrender....
the island was effectively left to the British. New York City was greatly damaged twice by fires
Great Fire of New York (1776)
The Great Fire of New York was a devastating fire that burned through the night of September 21, 1776 on the west side of what then constituted New York City at the southern end of the island of Manhattan...
of suspicious origin during British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
military rule. The city became the political and military center of operations in North America for the remainder of the war, and a haven for Loyalist
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
refugees. Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
officer Nathan Hale
Nathan Hale
Nathan Hale was a soldier for the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He volunteered for an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City but was captured by the British...
was hanged in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
for espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
. In addition, the British began to hold the majority of captured American prisoners of war aboard prison ships
Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument
The Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument in Fort Greene Park, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, is a memorial to the more than 11,500 prisoners of war who died in captivity, known as the prison ship martyrs. The remains of a small fraction of all those who died on the ships are in a crypt below...
in Wallabout Bay
Wallabout Bay
Wallabout Bay is small body of water in Upper New York Bay along the northwest shore of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, between the present Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges, opposite Corlear's Hook on Manhattan to the west, across the East River...
, across the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. More Americans lost their lives from neglect aboard these ships than died in all the battles of the war. British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783. George Washington triumphantly returned to the city that day, as the last British forces left the city
Evacuation Day (New York)
Following the American Revolution, Evacuation Day on November 25 marks the day in 1783 when the last vestige of British authority in the United States — its troops in New York — departed from Manhattan...
.
Federal and early America: 1784–1854
In 1785 the CongressCongress of the Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation or the United States in Congress Assembled was the governing body of the United States of America that existed from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789. It comprised delegates appointed by the legislatures of the states. It was the immediate successor to the Second...
met in New York City under the Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution...
. Later, New York City was made the first national capital of the United States under the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
. The United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
also created the current Congress of the United States and the first sitting at Federal Hall
Federal Hall
Federal Hall, built in 1700 as New York's City Hall, later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America under the Constitution, and was the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States. It was also where the United States Bill of...
on Wall Street. The first steps to expanding the United States: the first United States Supreme Court sat there, the United States Bill of Rights
United States Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power in judicial and other proceedings, and...
was drafted and ratified there, and the Northwest Ordinance
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States, passed July 13, 1787...
all took place there.
New York City became the first capital of the newly formed United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on September 13, 1788 under the U.S. Constitutional Convention
Constitutional convention (political meeting)
A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...
. On April 30, 1789 the first President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, George Washington, was inaugurated at Federal Hall
Federal Hall
Federal Hall, built in 1700 as New York's City Hall, later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America under the Constitution, and was the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States. It was also where the United States Bill of...
on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
. New York City remained the capital of the U.S. until 1790, when the honor was transferred to Philadelphia.
New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
's policies and practices as the first Secretary of the Treasury and, later, with the opening of the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the North American interior. Immigration
History of immigration to the United States
The history of immigration to the United States is a continuing story of peoples from more populated continents, particularly Europe and also Africa and Asia, crossing oceans to the new land. Historians do not treat the first indigenous settlers as immigrants. Starting around 1600 British and...
resumed after being slowed by wars in Europe, and a new street grid system expanded to encompass all of Manhattan.
The Great Irish Famine brought a large influx of Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
immigrants, and by 1850, the Irish comprised one quarter of the city's population. Government institutions, including the New York City Police Department
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
and the public schools
New York City Department of Education
The New York City Department of Education is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. It is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,700 separate schools...
, were established in the 1840s and 1850s to respond to growing demands of residents.
Tammany and consolidation: 1855–1897
This period started with the 1855 inauguration of Fernando WoodFernando Wood
Fernando Wood was an American politician of the Democratic Party and mayor of New York City; he also served as a United States Representative and as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in both the 45th and 46th Congress .A successful shipping merchant who became Grand Sachem of the...
as the first mayor from Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
, an Irish immigrant-supported Democratic Party political machine
Political machine
A political machine is a political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses , who receive rewards for their efforts...
that would dominate local politics throughout this period. During the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration, a visionary development proposal called the Commissioners' Plan of 1811
Commissioners' Plan of 1811
The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 was the original design plan for the streets of Manhattan, which put in place the grid plan that has defined Manhattan to this day....
, which expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan, and the opening of the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Midwestern United States
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1825. By 1835, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States. Public-minded members of the old merchant aristocracy pressed for a Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
, which was opened to a design competition in 1857; it would become the first landscape park in an American city.
During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
(1861–1865), the city's strong commercial ties to the South, its growing immigrant population, and anger about conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
led to divided sympathy for both the Union and Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
, culminating in the Draft Riots of 1863. After the Civil War, the rate of immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
grew steeply, and New York became the first stop for millions seeking a new and better life in the United States, a role acknowledged by the dedication of the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
in 1886.
Early 20th century: 1898–1945
In 1898, the modern City of New York
City of Greater New York
The City of Greater New York was a term commonly used originally to refer to the expanded city created on January 1, 1898 by the incorporation into the city of Richmond County, Kings County, Queens County, and the eastern part of what is now called The Bronx...
was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn
History of Brooklyn
The history of Brooklyn, a present-day borough of New York City, spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898...
(until then an independent city), Manhattan and outlying areas. Manhattan and the Bronx, though still one county, were established as two separate borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
s and joined together with three other boroughs created from parts of adjacent counties to form the new municipal government originally called "Greater New York". The Borough of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
incorporated the independent City of Brooklyn, recently joined to Manhattan by the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
, and several municipalities in eastern Kings County, New York; the Borough of Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
was created from western Queens County (with the remnant established as Nassau County
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
in 1899); and The Borough of Staten Island contained all of Richmond County. All municipal (county, town and city) governments contained within the boroughs were abolished. In 1914, the New York State Legislature created Bronx county, making five counties coterminous with the five boroughs.
On June 15, 1904 over 1,000 people, mostly German Immigrants, were killed when the steamship General Slocum
General Slocum
The PS General Slocum was a passenger steamboat built at Brooklyn, New York, in 1891. The General Slocum was named for Civil War officer and New York Congressman Henry Warner Slocum. She operated in the New York City area as an excursion steamer for the next thirteen years under the same ownership...
caught fire and burned on North Brother Island
North Brother Island
North Brother Island is an island in the East River situated between the Bronx and Riker's Island. Its companion, South Brother Island, is a short distance away. Together, the two Brother Islands, North and South, have a land area of .-History:...
, in the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
; and on March 25, 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history...
in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
took the lives of 146 garment workers, which would eventually lead to great advancements in the city's fire department, building codes, and workplace regulations.
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. Interborough Rapid Transit
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company was the private operator of the original underground New York City Subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT was purchased by the City in June 1940...
(the first New York City Subway
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...
company) began operating in 1904, and the railroads operating out of Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal —often incorrectly called Grand Central Station, or shortened to simply Grand Central—is a terminal station at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...
and Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station is a label first applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals.-New York City:...
thrived.
New York City's ever accelerating changes and rising crime and poverty rates ended when World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
disrupted trade routes, the Immigration Restriction Acts limited additional immigration after the war, and the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
ended the need for new labor. The combination ended the rule of the Gilded Age barons. As the city's demographics stabilized, labor unionization brought new protections and affluence to the working class, the city's government and infrastructure underwent a dramatic overhaul under Fiorello La Guardia, and his controversial parks commissioner, Robert Moses
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
, ended the blight of many tenement areas, expanded new parks, remade streets, and restricted and reorganized zoning controls
Zoning in the United States
Zoning in the United States comprise land use state laws falling under the police power rights that State governments and local governments have the authority to exercise over privately owned real property.-Origins and history:...
.
In the 1920s, New York City was a major destination for African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s during the Great Migration
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
from the American South. The Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
flourished during the era of Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
, coincident with a larger economic boom that saw the skyline develop with the construction of competing skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
s. For a while, New York City became the most populous city in the world, starting in 1925 and overtaking London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, which had reigned for a century. The difficult years of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
saw the election of reformer Fiorello La Guardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society...
after eighty years of political dominance.
Despite the effects of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, the 1930s saw the building of some of the world's tallest skyscrapers, including numerous Art-Deco masterpieces that are still part of the city's skyline today. Both before and after World War II, vast areas of the city were also reshaped by the rise of the bridges, parks and parkways coordinated by Moses, the greatest proponent of automobile-centered modernist urbanism in America.
In 1938 the political designation "ward
Wards of the United States
In the United States, a ward is an optional division of a city or town, especially an electoral district, for administrative and representative purposes...
" was abolished.
Post-World War II: 1946–1977
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veterans and immigrants from Europe created a postwar economic boom and led to the development of huge housing tracts in eastern Queens. The city was extensively photographed during the post–war years by photographer Todd Webb
Todd Webb
Todd Webb was an American photographer notable for documenting everyday life and architecture in cities such as New York, Paris as well as from the American west. His photography has been compared with Harry Callahan, Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, and the French photographer Eugène Atget...
using a heavy camera and tripod.
New York emerged from the war as the leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading America's ascendancy and, in 1951, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
relocated from its first headquarters in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, to the East Side of Manhattan. During the 1960s, the views of real estate developer and city leader Robert Moses
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the "master builder" of mid-20th century New York City, Long Island, Rockland County, and Westchester County, New York. As the shaper of a modern city, he is sometimes compared to Baron Haussmann of Second Empire Paris, and is one of the most polarizing figures in the history of...
began to fall out of favor as the anti-Urban Renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
views of Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs, was an American-Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities , a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States...
gained popularity. Citizen rebellion killed a plan to construct an expressway
Limited-access road
A limited-access road known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a controlled-access highway , including limited or no access to adjacent...
through lower Manhattan.
The transition away from the industrial base toward a service economy picked up speed while the large shipbuilding and garment industries declined sharply. The ports converted to container ships, costing many traditional jobs among longshoremen. Many large corporations moved their headquarters to the suburbs, or to distant cities. However there was enormous growth in services especially finance, education, medicine, tourism, communications and law. New York remained the largest city, and largest metropolitan area, in the United States, and continued as its largest financial, commercial, information, and cultural Center.
Like many major U.S. cities, New York suffered race riots, gang wars and some population decline in the 1960s. Street activists and minority groups like the Black Panthers and Young Lords took matters into their own hands and organized rent strikes and garbage offensives, demanding city services for poor areas. They also set up free health clinics and other programs, as a guide for organizing and gaining "Power to the People." By the 1970s the city had also gained a reputation as a crime-ridden relic of history. In 1975, the city government avoided bankruptcy only through a federal loan and debt restructuring by the Municipal Assistance Corporation, headed by Felix Rohatyn
Felix Rohatyn
Felix George Rohatyn is an American investment banker known for his role in preventing the bankruptcy of New York City in the 1970s, who also served as United States Ambassador to France. He was a long term advisor to the U.S...
. The city was also forced to accept increased financial scrutiny by an agency of New York State. In 1977, the city was struck by the twin catastrophes of the New York City blackout of 1977
New York City blackout of 1977
The New York City blackout of 1977 was an electricity blackout affected most of New York City from July 13, 1977 to July 14, 1977. The only neighborhoods in New York City that were not affected were in southern Queens, and neighborhoods of the Rockaways, which are part of the Long Island Lighting...
and the Son of Sam serial murderer's continued slayings.
Modern period: 1978–present
The 1980s saw a rebirth of Wall StreetWall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, and the city reclaimed its role at the center of the worldwide financial industry. Unemployment and crime remained high, the latter reaching peak levels in some categories around the close of the decade and the beginning of the 1990s. The city later resumed its social and economic recovery, bolstered by the influx of Asians, Latin Americans, and U.S. citizens, and by new crimefighting techniques on the part of the NYPD. In the late 1990s, the city benefited from the success of the financial sectors, such as Silicon Alley
Silicon Alley
Silicon Alley is a nickname for an area with a concentration of Internet and new media companies in Manhattan, New York City. Originally, the term referred to the cluster of such companies extending from the Flatiron District down to SoHo and TriBeCa along the Broadway corridor, but as the location...
, during the dot com boom, one of the factors in a decade of booming real estate values. New York's population reached an all-time high in the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
; according to census estimates since 2000, the city has continued to grow, including rapid growth in the most urbanized borough, Manhattan. During this period, New York City was also a site of the September 11 attacks; nearly 3,000 people were killed
Casualties of the September 11 attacks
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by Al-Qaeda resulted in 2,996 immediate deaths, including the 19 hijackers and 2,977 victims. 372 foreign nationals perished in the attacks, representing just over 12% of the total...
by a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
, an event considered highly traumatic for the city but which did not stop the city's rapid regrowth.
See also
Boroughs- History of the BronxHistory of the BronxThe history of the Bronx, a borough of New York City, started with Dutch settlers in 1639. The Bronx was originally part of Westchester County, but it was ceded to New York County in fragments before it became Bronx County.-Origins and name of The Bronx:...
- History of BrooklynHistory of BrooklynThe history of Brooklyn, a present-day borough of New York City, spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898...
- History of Queens
- History of Staten Island
- History of Manhattan
Streets & Thoroughfares
- History of Fifth Avenue
- History of BroadwayBroadway (New York City)Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
- History of Wall Street
Small Islands
- Hart Island
- Rikers Island
- Randall's Island
- Liberty IslandLiberty IslandLiberty Island is a small uninhabited island in New York Harbor in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. Though so called since the turn of the century, the name did not become official until 1956. In 1937, by proclamation 2250, President Franklin D...
- Governors Island
- City Island
- Roosevelt Island
- Ellis Island – New Jersey/NYC
Miscellany
- New-York Historical SocietyNew-York Historical SocietyThe New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library located in New York City at the corner of 77th Street and Central Park West in Manhattan. Founded in 1804 as New York's first museum, the New-York Historical Society presents exhibitions, public programs and research that...
- Museum of the City of New YorkMuseum of the City of New YorkThe Museum of the City of New York is an art gallery and history museum founded in 1923 to present the history of New York City, USA and its people...
- New York: A Documentary FilmNew York: A Documentary FilmNew York: A Documentary Film is an eight-part, 17½ hour, American documentary film on the history of New York City. It was directed by Ric Burns and originally aired in the U.S. on PBS. The film was a co-production of Thirteen New York and WGBH Boston....
- New York City water supply system
- Timeline of New York City crimes and disastersTimeline of New York City crimes and disasters-17th century:* 1643 - Kieft's War between Lenape or Wappinger and Dutch colonists. Events partially took place within what would become the five boroughs.* 1668 - First yellow fever epidemic in the city.-18th century:...
- Kenneth T. JacksonKenneth T. JacksonKenneth Terry Jackson is a professor of history and social sciences at Columbia University. A frequent television guest, he is best known as an urban historian and a preeminent authority on New York City, where he lives on the Upper West Side....
— historian - List of newspapers in New York in the 18th-century
Further reading
- Archdeacon, Thomas J. New York City, 1664–1710: Conquest and Change (1976)
- Caro, RobertRobert CaroRobert Allan Caro is an American journalist and author known for his celebrated biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson...
. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New YorkThe Power BrokerThe Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1974 biography of Robert Moses, "New York City's Master Builder", by Robert Caro...
. (1973) excerpt and text search - Jackson, Kenneth T.Kenneth T. JacksonKenneth Terry Jackson is a professor of history and social sciences at Columbia University. A frequent television guest, he is best known as an urban historian and a preeminent authority on New York City, where he lives on the Upper West Side....
and Roberts, Sam (eds.) The Almanac of New York City (2008) - Greene, Evarts Boutelle et all, American Population before the Federal Census of 1790, 1993, ISBN 0-8063-1377-3
- Kessner, Thomas. Fiorello H. LaGuardia and the Making of Modern New York (1989) the most detailed standard scholarly biography
- Kouwenhoven, John Atlee. The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York: An Essay In Graphic History. New York: Harper & Row, 1953. (Reprinted 1972).
- Siegel, Fred and Siegel, Harry. The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life (2005), analytical academic study excerpt and text search
- Slayton, Robert A. Empire Statesman: The Rise and Redemption of Al Smith, (2001), 480pp, the standard scholarly biography; excerpt and text search
Further Viewing
- New York: A Documentary FilmNew York: A Documentary FilmNew York: A Documentary Film is an eight-part, 17½ hour, American documentary film on the history of New York City. It was directed by Ric Burns and originally aired in the U.S. on PBS. The film was a co-production of Thirteen New York and WGBH Boston....
an eight part, 17½ hour hour documentary film directed by Ric BurnsRic BurnsRic Burns is an American documentary filmmaker and writer. He has written, directed and produced historical documentaries for nearly 20 years, beginning with his collaboration on the celebrated PBS series The Civil War , which he produced with his older brother Ken Burns and wrote with Geoffrey C...
for PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
. It originally aired in 1999 with additional episodes airing in 2001 and 2003.
External links
- 'Historic Book Collection of New York on CD' http://www.ceressnow.com
- Travel Guide to New York City Hotels and Tourism
- Gotham Center for New York City History
- Museum of the City of New York
- New-York Historical Society
- Interactive Timeline
- Origins of New York
- NYC Snapshot: Historic NYC
- A history of NYC by cosmopolis.ch
- The Mannahatta Project, seeking to map the Manhattan of 1609
- Historical photos of New York
- New York and its origins
- Young Lords origins
- A Map and Timeline of many of the historical events mentioned in this article