New York Travel: Vacations and Travel info

Description

"The Capital of the World" as is also known, New York City is located in the southeastern part of New York State, on the east coast. On the west side, there is New Jersey. In the northwest is Connecticut and to the southeast is Long Island.

New York City is a busy city featuring amazing contrasts, diversity and culture and is made up of five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. Each borough has its own identity and great number of fascinating attractions that have made of this big city a famous one.

A major center in finance, New York also features some of the most profitable properties in the world and the New York Stock Exchange, which is the largest and most important stock exchange in the world and is located on the famous Wall Street. The NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation) is the largest electronic trading market in the United States, located in Times Square, in Manhattan.

Talking about New York is synonymous with skyscrapers, parks, theaters, cultural centers, sports, the movie industry, museums, galleries, exclusive shops, fashion, advertising, media, restaurants, bars, hotels, business and much more. New York is itself a city that always is on the cutting edge.

Any season of the year, enjoy all New York attractions since each one has something interesting to offer.

History

The first Dutch settlement in New York was in 1609 with the arrival of the first Dutch explorers commanded by Henry Hudson.

In 1625, six "boweries" or farms emerged in the Manhattan area. Peter Minuet, who was in charge of the colony, purchased the boweries from the Lenape tribe (of the Algonquin Native Americans) that inhabited the area. The place received the name of New Amsterdam and the main economic activity was the fur trade. In 1664, the English conquered the city and made a deal with the Dutch, gaining control of New Amsterdam. The name was changed to New York, in honor of the Duke of York.

In the following years, New York was one of the most important sites for artistic, musical and cultural movements in the US. A fine example of this is the Harlem Renaissanceis, which introduced African-American literature, a happening that coincided with the economic explosion that gave way to the construction of skyscrapers.

In 1972, the stock exchange was founded, turning New York into an important financial center. Due to the bad economic conditions in Europe, many people immigrated to New York and the city became populated with foreign people, specially Irish, German, Italian, and people from Eastern Europe.

Buroughs

New York City is composed by 5 boroughs and each one has numerous neighborhoods as well as its own history and identity. Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens and Staten Island have a lot of things and attractions to offer for those who visit New York City.

Manhattan

Manhattan was the place where the first Dutch settlement was created. Today, it is the financial center of the city. Manhattan is the area where the main skyscrapers of New York are located, such as the Empire State and Chrysler Building, as well as important headquarters of important corporations like the United Nations (ONU). Manhattan is also where you can find Central Park. The area is divided into three regions: Lowertown, Midtown and Uptown, each one with a number of smaller neighborhoods.

In Midtown, you can find corporate offices, fine hotels and restaurants. Times Square and the Fifth Avenue are famous areas due to its commercial activity and also because of the Broadway theaters. In the Chelsea area, there are various art galleries and nightclubs. Greenwich Village features historical mansions, shops and restaurants and the East Village has the university area, experimental music clubs, theaters and interesting tourist attractions.

Lowertown has various shops and cultural institutions. In this area, there is a large Jewish community. Soho is the elegant and chic area with a lot of fashionable boutiques whereas the Tribeca neighborhood (which used to be an industrial neighborhood with big warehouses) now features many restaurants and markets. In the Financial District, you can find Wall Street, banks, famous buildings, monuments and places like Trinity Church and Battery Park. Take the Ferry to Staten Island and enjoy amazing views of the Liberty Statue and the different islands in the surrounding areas.

Uptown is the northern area of Manhattan where large communities of Latin-American people live, mainly in the Washington Heights and Spanish Harlem neighborhoods. In Harlem, there is a large Afro-American community, which is known to be a very important part in the history of the music, arts and culture. In the Upper West Side, there is the Lincoln Center (scenic arts center) while the Upper East Side is where the high society live and where there are also museums, art galleries, and antiques shops, as well as Madison Avenue, which features a lot of luxury boutiques. Between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side you can find Central Park, an extensive area of 342 hectares of beautiful green areas and one of the main attractions in New York City.

The Bronx

The Bronx receives its name from the Swede Jonas Bronck, who was the first European inhabitant who settled in this area of New York. The Bronx is located in the northern area of New York and is the only part of the city in New York that is not located on an island forming a part of the U.S. mainland. The Bronx is also the New York borough that has most parkland than any of the other boroughs. It is home to the biggest metropolitan zoo of United States and the renowned botanical garden, as well as majestic mansions, the Yankee Stadium, museums and historical buildings.

Brooklyn

This borough stands out because of its architecture, cultural and social diversity. Brooklyn is the city's most populous area and it is divided in numerous neighborhoods such as Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Red Hook, Fort Greene, Williamsburg and many more. The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the most amazing bridges in the world, is located here and joins Brooklyn to Manhattan. Brooklyn features a lot of attractions, beaches in the tip of Coney Island where the first amusement parks of the United States were established.

Queens

Queens is the most ethnically diverse county and geographically the largest one. In this borough you can find La Guardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport. Originally the borough was a group of small towns founded by the Dutch people. Queens is a completely cultural destination. It features various attractions like the Socrates Sculpture Park that exhibits wonderful sculptures. It also has many historic places like the Queen County Farm Musuem, as well as many other interesting attractions. Queens has obtained its unique and authentic atmosphere from the various cultures that can be found here: Italian, Japanese, Colombian, Puerto Rican and Israeli, to name a few.

Staten Island

It is an island in the Atlantic Ocean which is accessible from Brooklyn through the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and from New Jersey via the Goethel Bridge. The Staten Island Ferry connects the island with Lower Manhattan, providing incredible views of the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan, Ellis Island and Governor Island. Staten Island offers great options of interesting attractions such as the Historic Richmond Town where the oldest elementary school in the United States is located. There is also the largest collection of Tibetan art, outside of Tibet, in the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art. Staten Island is a cultural city that has many Victorian mansions, natural protected areas, museums, parks and zoos.