1.
East River
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The East River is a salt water tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name. It separates the borough of Queens on Long Island from the Bronx on the North American mainland, and also divides Manhattan from Queens and Brooklyn, because of its connection to Long Island Sound, it was once also known as the Sound River. The tidal strait changes its direction of flow frequently, and is subject to fluctuations in its current. The waterway is navigable for its length of 16 miles. Technically a drowned valley, like the other waterways around New York City, the distinct change in the shape of the strait between the lower and upper portions is evidence of this glacial activity. The upper portion, running perpendicular to the glacial motion, is wide, meandering. The lower portion runs north-south, parallel to the glacial motion and it is much narrower, with straight banks. The bays that exist, as well as those used to exist before being filled in by human activity, are largely wide. The stretch has since been cleared of rocks and widened, washington Irving wrote of Hell Gate that the current sounded like a bull bellowing for more drink at half tide, whilte at full tide it slept as soundly as an alderman after dinner. He said it was like a peaceable fellow enough when he has no liquor at all, or when he has a skinful, but who, the river is navigable for its entire length of 16 miles. Why the river turns to the east as it approaches the three lower Manhattan bridges is currently geologically unknown, in the stretch of the river between Manhattan Island and the borough of Queens, lies Roosevelt Island, a narrow 2-mile long island consisting of 147 acres. Politically part of Manhattan, it begins at around the level of East 46th Street of that borough and it is connected to Queens by the Roosevelt Island Bridge, to Manhattan by the Roosevelt Island Tramway, and to both by a subway station. The Queensboro Bridge runs across Roosevelt Island, but no longer has an elevator connection to it. The abrupt termination of the island on its end is due to an extension of the 125th Street Fault. The Bronx River drains into the East River in the section of the strait. North of Randalls Island, it is joined by the Bronx Kill. Along the east of Wards Island, at approximately the midpoint, it narrows into a channel called Hell Gate
2.
Wall Street
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Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the markets of the United States as a whole. Several other major exchanges have or had headquarters in the Wall Street area, including the New York Mercantile Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, there are varying accounts about how the Dutch-named de Walstraat got its name. A conflicting explanation is that Wall Street was named after Walloons— the Dutch name for a Walloon is Waal, among the first settlers that embarked on the ship Nieu Nederlandt in 1624 were 30 Walloon families. The Dutch word wal can be translated as rampart, however, even some English maps show the name as Waal Straat, and not as Wal Straat. But soon after that, the Dutch governor, Kieft, sent his men out there one night, few of them escaped, but they spread the story of what had been done, and this did much to antagonize all the remaining tribes against all the white settlers. Shortly after, Nieuw Amsterdam erected a palisade for defense against its now enraged red neighbors. The space between the walls is now called Wall Street, and its spirit is still that of a bulwark against the people. In the 1640s basic picket and plank fences denoted plots and residences in the colony, in 1685, surveyors laid out Wall Street along the lines of the original stockade. In these early days, local merchants and traders would gather at disparate spots to buy and sell shares and bonds, Wall Street was also the marketplace where owners could hire out their slaves by the day or week. The rampart was removed in 1699, the slave market operated from 1711 to 1762 at the corner of Wall and Pearl Streets. It was a structure with a roof and open sides, although walls may have been added over the years. The city directly benefited from the sale of slaves by implementing taxes on every person who was bought, in the late 18th century there was a buttonwood tree at the foot of Wall Street under which traders and speculators would gather to trade securities. The benefit was being in proximity to each other, in 1792, traders formalized their association with the Buttonwood Agreement which was the origin of the New York Stock Exchange. The idea of the agreement was to make the more structured and without the manipulative auctions. Persons signing the agreement agreed to each other a standard commission rate, persons not signing could still participate. In 1789 Wall Street was the scene of the United States first presidential inauguration when George Washington took the oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall on April 30,1789 and this was also the location of the passing of the Bill Of Rights. Alexander Hamilton, who was the first Treasury secretary and architect of the early United States financial system, is buried in the cemetery of Trinity Church, in the first few decades, both residences and businesses occupied the area, but increasingly business predominated
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Financial District, Manhattan
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The neighborhood roughly overlaps with the boundaries of the New Amsterdam settlement in the late 17th century. The Financial District has witnessed growth in its population to approximately 43,000 as of 2014, the Financial District encompasses roughly the area south of City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan but excludes Battery Park and Battery Park City. The former World Trade Center complex was located in the neighborhood until the September 11 attacks, the heart of the Financial District is often considered to be the corner of Wall Street and Broad Street, both of which are contained entirely within the district. Until the late 20th and early 21st century, the neighborhood was considered to be primarily a destination for daytime traders and office workers from around New York City, the Financial District is part of Manhattan Community Board 1, which also includes five other neighborhoods. The Financial District has a number of tourist attractions such as the adjacent South Street Seaport Historic District, the New York City Police Museum, bowling Green is the starting point of traditional ticker-tape parades on Broadway, where here it is also known as the Canyon of Heroes. The Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Skyscraper Museum are both in adjacent Battery Park City which is home to the World Financial Center
5.
Lower Manhattan
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Lower Manhattan is defined most commonly as the area delineated on the north by 14th Street, on the west by the Hudson River, on the east by the East River, and on the south by New York Harbor. The Lower Manhattan business district forms the core of the area below Chambers Street and it includes the Financial District and the World Trade Center site. At the islands southern tip is Battery Park, City Hall is just to the north of the Financial District, also south of Chambers Street are the planned community of Battery Park City and the South Street Seaport historic area. The neighborhood of TriBeCa straddles Chambers on the west side, at the streets east end is the giant Manhattan Municipal Building, North of Chambers Street and the Brooklyn Bridge and south of Canal Street lies most of New Yorks oldest Chinatown neighborhood. Many court buildings and other government offices are located in this area. The Lower East Side neighborhood straddles Canal, North of Canal Street and south of 14th Street are the neighborhoods of SoHo, the Meatpacking District, the West Village, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Nolita, and the East Village. Between 14th and 23rd streets are lower Chelsea, Union Square, the Flatiron District, Gramercy, 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, European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch fur trading post in Lower Manhattan, later called New Amsterdam in 1626. The first fort was built at the Battery to protect New Netherland, soon thereafter, most likely in 1626, construction of Fort Amsterdam began. Later, the Dutch West Indies Company imported African slaves to serve as laborers, they helped to build the wall that defended the town against English, early directors included Willem Verhulst and Peter Minuit. Willem Kieft became director in 1638 but five years later was embroiled in Kiefts War against the Native Americans, the Pavonia Massacre, across the Hudson River in present-day Jersey City resulted in the death of 80 natives in February 1643. Following the massacre, Algonquian tribes joined forces and nearly defeated the Dutch, the Dutch Republic 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, the colony was granted self-government in 1652, and New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1653. The first mayors of New Amsterdam, Arent van Hattem and Martin Cregier, were appointed in that year, in 1664, the English conquered the area and renamed it New York after the Duke of York. At that time, people of African descent made up 20% of the population of the city, with European settlers numbering approximately 1,500, during the mid 1600s, farms of free blacks covered 130 acres where Washington Square Park later developed. The Dutch briefly regained the city in 1673, renaming the city New Orange, 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, by 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200. By 1703, 42% of households in New York had slaves, the 1735 libel trial of John Peter Zenger in the city was a seminal influence on freedom of the press in North America
6.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
