Manhattan

See also: Manhattan (homonymy)

Manhattan is one of the districts (Borough) of the town of New York, the four others being Brooklyn, the Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. It is mainly made up of an island of 52  km ², the island of Manhattan, which skirts the river Hudson. Manhattan is the densest part and richest of New York; it represents, with London and Tokyo, one of the three principal financial centers of the world. The district of Manhattan is superimposed with the county of New York (New York County). In 2000, its population was of: 1537195 inhabitants, and his density much higher than that of any other county of thePlain ones. Manhattan is universally famous for its Gratte-ciel and its vibrating activity.

If Manhattan were an independent nation, it would be the 20th economic power of the world to the same row as Switzerland.

History

See also: History of New York

The name of Manhattan comes from the Lenape, a language of the family of the algonquin. First of all written Manna-hastened , it was translated by “island with the many hills”. It appears for the first time in 1609 on the log book of Robert Juet, a member of the forwarding of Henry Hudson who discovered the island on September 11th of this same year. In 1610 the name Manahata appears twice, indicating the two banks Mauritius River (the Hudson river). The Algonquins are the most former known inhabitants of this territory. The island was colonized by 30 families of the Spanish Netherlands (current Belgium) in 1625. The colony of the New Amsterdam was born officially with the purchase by Pierre Minuit from the territory with its occupants (Manhattes) for 60 guilders (24 $) from small glassware and other trinkets. February 2nd, 1653, the city constituted municipality. The county of New York was baptized in the honor of the Duc of York, the future Jacques II of England, as well as the town of New York and the State of New York. It is one of the twelve original counties of the State - which was at the time a Province -, in 1683. At that time, it coincided with the town of New York and occupied the island of Manhattan, like today.

Manhattan was in the middle of the countryside of New York, a series of important battles delivered to the beginning of the Guerre of independence of the United States of America. The continental Armée had to give up the city after its defeat in Fort-Washington on November 16th 1776. Placed under the British authority, Manhattan became the center of the operations of the Royaume of Great Britain in North America until the end of the war. This period was marked by a catastrophe, the Large Fire of 1776, during which a third of the city was destroyed, that is to say 500 houses. It was completed with the return of George Washington in the city, and the departure of the British forces, on November 25th, 1783: it is the Evacuation Day .

During Manhattan grows and became an economic center, profiting, inter alia, of the opening of the Canal Érié in 1825. In 1835 the city exceeded Philadelphia on the level of the population, becoming thus more the big city of the country. In second half of the century, the massive arrival of the immigrants, who entered by Ellis Island to the United States, reinforced the position of Manhattan. New York consequently started to extend beyond the original island. Indeed, in 1874, a portion of what today is the Bronx was attached to the county of New York, then totality in 1895. In 1899 the City off Greater New York is created, which makes of Bronx a borough with share, although always forming part of the county of New York. It is the January 1914 that the Legislature of the State of New York created the county of Bronx, and the county of New York was tiny room to its current borders. However the progressive appearance of the others boroughs does not decrease the growing capacity of Manhattan, which remains the true heart of the city. The construction of many skyscrapers at the beginning of proves the dynamism of the borough and increases its celebrity in the whole world. The same applies at the cultural level. In the Years 1920, the Renaissance of Harlem makes this district borough, the “world capital of the black culture”. In spite of the effects of the Great Depression, the Années 1930 transfer the construction of several of the largest skyscrapers of the world, to which some, like the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building, by their celebrity, are enough to symbolize New York.

In the Years 1970, Manhattan underwent a financial crisis and demographic: the factories and the workshops closed, part of the population leaves the center for the suburbs or the Sun Belt. In the years 1980, with the rebirth of Wall Street, Manhattan carried out its return as a world center of the economy and finances. The strong fall of the criminality, undertaken during the years 1990 and made possible by the policy of tolerance zero of the mayor Rudolph Giuliani, contributed to change the face of many districts of the borough. For a few years, one has thus attended a change of several districts of Manhattan. The old workshops of textile or the harbor installations are transformed into Loft or art galleries in SoHo, in Midtown and around Lincoln Center. Many blocks are renovated and rehabilitated, including in certain sectors of Harlem. The reconquest of the center by the middle-class testifies to the Gentrification several districts of Manhattan.

The recent history of Manhattan is marked by the terrorist attack of the September 11th, 2001 on the World Trade Center, whose consequences were important for the borough and its inhabitants.

Geography

The county of New York has an total surface area of 87,5 km ², including 59,5 km ² of emerged grounds and 28 km ² of water are excavated and used to create Battery Park City. The extension of 210 meters on the river covers 37 hectares, provides 1,9 of coast and approximately 12 hectares of parks. The Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the zoos and aquariums of the city, undertakes, through the Mannahatta Project , the creation of a computer simulation which would make it possible to rebuild the geography virtually and the ecology of Manhattan such as the island was when Hudson discovered it in 1609, and to compare it with the current borough, strongly artificialized. May 28th and on July 12th (dates of 2006), to raise it and lay down it sun are in the axis of the streets, and one can always observe the Sun in the street, in spite of the presence of the skyscrapers.

Adjacent counties

  • County of Bergen, New Jersey - western/north-western

  • County of Hudson, New Jersey - west/north-western
  • County of Bronx, New York (Bronx) - north-eastern
  • County of Queens, New York (Queens) - is/south-eastern
  • Comté of Kings, New York (Brooklyn) - south-eastern
  • Comté of Richmond, New York (Staten Island) - south-western

Districts

One often distinguishes three principal zones in Manhattan (of the south towards north):

  • Downtown : the historical heart of New York, in the south of the island. It includes/understands the CBD or Financial District with the purse of Wall Street as well as the districts of Chinatown and SoHo. It is with the southern extrème of Manhattan that the World Trade Center rose before the September 11th, 2001.
  • Midtown , the most important district of businesses of the United States. One generally makes it start in the south with the 14th street and finish with Central Park in north. The densest part and most characteristic of the district is in north, starting from the 31e and especially of the 42e street, where Grand Exchange Station is, the principal station of the island for the suburban trains.
  • Uptown : districts in North, the West and the East of Central Park, principal green area of the city. It is a space mainly residential (Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Harlem…). The prices of the real estate tend to decrease when one goes up towards north.
The Fifth Avenue, axis major of the city, delimits the east coasts and west of the city.

The many districts of Manhattan do not answer any particular convention. Some are geographical, like Upper East Side, others describe an ethnic reality, like Chinatown; some are Acronyme S, like TriBeCa (" Triangle BElow Canal Street ") or SoHo (" SOuth off Houston "), or NoLIta (" NOrth off Little ITaly "). Harlem owes its name at the town of Haarlem to the Netherlands. They reveal all the diversity of Manhattan: the Lower East Side and East Village were associated a long time with a “subculture Bohème”. Chelsea is the district of the artistic and night life of the borough. Washington Heights is inhabited by immigrants of Dominican Republic. Chinatown is, with more: 150000 inhabitants, greatest concentration of Chinese of the western world. Upper West Side is often defined like a intellectual and creative district while Upper East Side, one of the richest districts of the United States, is characterized like conservative.

Demography

| valign=" top" | |}

The county of New York densément is densément populated the United States, with 25  849,8 habitants/km ². It counts: 1611581 inhabitants: 738644 households and: 302105 families according to the census of 2000. It is in 1910 that the historical records of density were reached, with: 46428.9 inhabitants per km ².

According to the Office of the census of the United States, the population is made up of 54,36% of White, of 17,39% of Afro-Américain S, 0,50% of Amerindians, 9,40% the Asian ones, of 14,4% people asserting other origins and of 4,14% of mongrel. Independently of that, 27,18% of the population are Hispanic, and nonHispanic 45,8% white.

On the level of the national origins, 7,48% of the inhabitants are Irishman descendants, Italian 7,10%, German 6,63% and English 5,43%. The Juifs account for 20,5% of the total population, that is to say: 314500 people.

49.4% of the population has the Bachelor or more. The Income per head is of: 42922 $. The average revenue by household is of: 47030 $. One attends strong disparities within the borough between the inhabitants of the Upper East Side whose income per head rises with more: 90000 $, and 20% of the population which lives in lower part of the line from poverty, including 31,8% of less than 18 years, and 18,9% of the characters old.

One currently attends a baby-boom in Manhattan: since 2000, the number of children of less than 5 years there alive increased of more than 32%. Another evolution, that of the Financial District: the population, which dropped since 1950, passed from: 15000 inhabitants with: 30000 inhabitants in 2005. This increase is due to the terrorist attacks of 11-September, the departure of many companies having involved the reconversion of the offices in apartments.

According to the New York City Department off City Planning : 298000 additional inhabitants should join the borough between 2000 and 2030, which would represent an increase of 18,8%, while the remainder of New York knows an increase of 12,7% over this same period. This study places Manhattan in the second place after Staten Island with regard to their attractivity as a place of life.

Economy

Manhattan is the economic center of the New Yorkean agglomeration: the district gathers 2,4 million employment, that is to say two thirds of employment the city.

The economic sector most important is that of the Finance S, which one frequently indicates by the term Wall Street, of the street name which shelters the buildings of the New York Stock Exchange, largest of the world purses. The district of Midtown gathers seats of banks, shopping malls and cultural and remains a pole of communication (editors, television channels, press) major. Seven of the eight most important agencies of communication of the world have as a Manhattan head office. Madison Avenue is often employed métonymiquement to indicate the sector of publicity in the borough. The “Silicon Alley” is the technopolis of Manhattan and New York on the level of the multi-media one. Times Square is one of the nerve centres of tourism in the city.

Statistics of 2006 show that the average weekly wages of the people working in Manhattan rise with: 1453 $; it is highest of the 325 principal counties of the United States. The growth of 7,8% of the wages is highest among the ten principal counties. The service sector is the principal pillar of the economy of the borough, which counts nevertheless: 39800 credits in manufacture and: 39800 in the construction industry. The sector of health accounts for 11,3% of employment.

Historically, the presence of the large companies did not prevent the development of the independent retailers, nevertheless the recent installation of stores of the national large chains is regarded by certain as the evidence of a homogenization of the borough in progress.

Culture

Manhattan is the most famous borough of New York. The people who do not live in New York go until considering that the city is primarily made up of Manhattan. This tendency also exists at the New Yorkeans, since the residents of the others boroughs say that they “go downtown” when they move towards Manhattan. This fact shows all the cultural importance of the district: the others boroughs do not symbolize New York as much because their identity is not as strong as that of Manhattan.

Religion

The Catholic church account: 564505 faithful to Manhattan, is more than 36% of the population, and has 110 parishes there. The Juifs form the second religious group of the borough with: 314500 people (20,5%) and 102 congregations. The Protesting S are: 139732 (9,1%) and Moslem : 37078 (2,4%).

The Saint-Patrick Cathedral of New York, located at Midtown, is largest Cathédrale of the United States. It is the seat of the Archidiocèse of New York since 1879; it replaced on this date the St Patrick' S Old Cathedral. The Divine Cathedral Saint John the, larger cathedral of the world, is the seat of the diocese of New York of the episcopal Église of the United States of America. The Abyssinian Baptist Church is a famous church of Harlem. The Riverside Church, church Baptist, is known for his neogothic architecture and the speeches which were made there by personalities such as Martin Luther King. The Synagog of Eldridge Street is one of oldest of the United States. The New York Mosque is the greatest place of Islamic worship of New York. Characterized by its modern architectural style and its orientation in diagonal towards Mecque, it is on the Third Avenue with the intersection of the 96e Rue and the 97e Rue.

Arts

The Metropolitan Museum off Art, the Museum off Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum off American Art and the Musée Solomon R. Guggenheim shelter artistic collections which count among vastest and rich in the world. The borough account majority of the principal museums of New York. The district of Chelsea is known for its art galleries (one counts some more than 200) dedicated to the modern art, which make known the new artists; as for the cultural events which proceed there.

The section of Broadway located close to Times Square accommodates many famous theaters where are played musical comedies and famous plays. The Lincoln Center accommodates the Metropolitan Opera, important a room of opera.

Media

The NewYork Times, the New York Daily News and the New York Post have their head offices in the borough, just as the largest financial newspaper, the Wall Street Journal. AM New York, The Greenwich Village Gazette and The Villager is the other principal daily newspapers. The Village Voice is the principal weekly newspaper of Manhattan.

The sector of television is an important employer in the district, which accommodates the head offices of the four major groups, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. Many chains are also based there, like MTV, Fox News, HBO and Comedy Central.

Famous monuments and places

See also: fifty higher buildings of New York

In addition to the national monuments whose Statue of Freedom and National Historic Landmark like the Empire State Building, Manhattan counts a hundred protected places, distributed between various categories (Manhattan Historic Districts, Manhattan Interior Landmarks and Manhattan Individual Landmarks) by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission . They compose the majority of the buildings protected from the city.

The Gratte-ciel is indissociable identity of Manhattan since the end of. The principal skyscrapers of New York are all in Manhattan. From 1890 to 1973 the nine higher buildings of the world were consecutively in Manhattan. During the Mad years, the same year sees three skyscrapers contributing under higher building . Currently, the Empire State Building is highest real of the city, and was highest of the world between 1931 and 1972. The Freedom Tower will exceed it in 2009, but, in spite of its 541 meters in height, it will not be able to claim under more high world skyscraper. The city has several skyscrapers of offices designed with an aim of respecting the environment, like the Hearst Tower or new the 7 World Trade Center: they are green buildings .

Manhattan includes/understands many hotels, of which famous the Plaza Hotel and Waldorf-Astoria.

Education and libraries

The New York City Department off Education, more the public great system of school of the United States, directs the public corporations in the borough. Manhattan counts many famous secondary schools, like the Stuyvesant High School, the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School off Music & Art and Performing Arts, High School off Fashion Industries, Murry Bergtraum High School, Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, Hunter College High School and the Hand-barrow High School Early College. Some of these prestigious establishments are specialized in various fields or propose special courses.

Manhattan accommodates several Université S considered, like the Columbia University, the New York University (NYU), the Rockefeller University, a campus of the Fordham University, as well as the City University off New York (CUNY). The borough is a research world center in medicine and in the life sciences.

In 2003,52,3% of the inhabitants of more than 25 years had a bachelor. It is the fifth higher rate of all the counties of the country. The borough is one of the concentrations of people highly educated densest of the country, with approximately 60% graduate people, including 25% with advanced diplomas.

Manhattan is been useful by the New York Public Library, the most important system of libraries of the country, which has 35 libraries there. The five branches of the Central Library , namely Mid-Manhattan Library, Donnell Library Center, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library and Science, Industry and Business Library, all are located at Manhattan.

Parks and sports equipment

The green areas account for 17,8% of the territory of the borough, that is to say 10,9 km ². The most famous park of New York, Central Park, is located at Manhattan. It accounts for 30% of the surface of these green areas, which include/understand 204 adventure playgrounds, 251 “green streets”, 371 grounds of Basket-ball and many other equipment. The place of Green Bowling constitutes the oldest park of Manhattan. The other famous parks of the borough are Washington Square Park, Union Public garden, the Tompkins Square Park, Battery Park.

The franknesses Knicks from New York (NBA) and Rangers of New York (National league of hockey) are based in Manhattan. Madison Square Garden is the only professional versatile room of the borough. Manhattan is the borough of New York not to only have a professional frankness from Baseball.

Policy

It is in Manhattan that the New York City Hall is located, the seat of the government of New York which includes/understands the offices of the Maire of the city and the New York City Council. The Municipal Manhattan Building, completed in 1916, constitutes one of the largest administrative buildings of the world. Manhattan accommodates a great number of foreign delegations, with 105 consulates, consulate-generals and honorary, because of presence of the Siège of the United Nations in the city.

The Borough current President of Manhattan east Scott Stringer, a Democrat elected in 2005. Robert Mr. Morgenthau, a Democrat, is the District Attorney of the county of New York since 1974. Manhattan is managed by a municipal council of ten members, the more important third of the five boroughs. It is divided into 12 administrative sectors represented each one by a Community Board composed of 50 voluntary members. The latter represent the inhabitants and can present requests to the administration, but have only one advisory capacity.

The Democratic party holds the totality of the stations of the borough. 85% of the voters recorded in a party are Démocrates, the Républicains thus represent a minority: they are more than 20% only in Upper East Side and Financial District. No Republican was chosen by the inhabitants of the borough within the framework of a presidential election since 1924. At the time of the election of 2004, the Democrat John Kerry received 82,1% of the voices and its adversary George W. Bush obtained 16,7% from them. The borough is the most important source of funds for the American presidential campaigns. It counted in 2004 six of the seven codes ZIP contributing more to the political financing.

Criminality

See also: Contenu=Voir [[New York #Criminality and safety]], [[the section on safety]] of the article on New York

With, the majority of the immigrants ended up knowing the misery of the badly famed districts of the borough, of which that of Five Points, located between Broadway and Bowery, in the North-East of the New York City Hall. In 1842, Charles Dickens visited this part of Manhattan and was dismayed by the appalling living conditions of its inhabitants, marked by insalubrity, the diseases, the doubtful establishments and the crime. Criminal organizations as Five Points Gang transfer there the day at the end of the century. The Cosa Nostra (Maffia) settled there. Among the gangsters of the beginning of whom acted in Manhattan, one can quote Lucky Luciano, Al Capone - which began its criminal activity there - and Meyer Lansky.

After an important rise in the years 1960 and 1970, criminality dropped in the borough and New York whole as from the years 1990. Of 503 murders in Manhattan in 1990, one counted some in 2006 111, which represents a fall from approximately 78%. The flight also dropped of more than 80%, and the flight of car of more than 90%. In general the statistisques ones of the CompStat show a reduction exceeding 75% in the seven principal categories of crimes, and the annual statistics until May 2007 show that the tendency is always with the fall.

Transport

See also: Transport in New York

The public transport prevail in the borough: according to the census of 2000, more than 75% of the inhabitants of the island do not have cars. Only 18% of the inhabitants lead to go to work. The Métro of New York is the means of transport more used.

In 2007, the Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, proposed the creation of a system of urban Péage aiming at improving quality of the air and the traffic. The collected funds would be used for the improvement of the joint transport infrastructures in all the city.

Manhattan is connected by bridges and tunnels to the state of the New Jersey to the west, with the Bronx in the North-East, the Queens and Brooklyn in the east and the south. The principal works are the Pont of Manhattan, the Pont of Brooklyn, the Pont of Queensboro, the Holland Tunnel and the Lincoln Tunnel. The Roosevelt Island Tram, single the urban Cable car of North America, connects Manhattan to Roosevelt Island since 1978. The way lasts less than five minutes.

Great Final Exchange and Pennsylvania Station are principal the stations of Manhattan, but also most attended country. The island is also been useful by several highways. Manhattan does not have an airport, nevertheless the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, a public Héliport, offers connections with the John-F International airport. - Kennedy, located in the Queens, and the International airport Newark Liberty of the New Jersey.

Appendices

Random links:Mustelus | Landry' S Restoring Inc | Canton of Villers-Sower | Montemale di Cuneo | Billy Kearns | Théorie_de_justification