Manhattan (New York)

III

Economy

Manhattan is a great financial center, with some of the world’s largest banks and brokerage houses and such institutions as the New York and American stock exchanges. In the borough also are the headquarters of many large corporations and numerous manufacturing industries; the relative importance of the latter, however, has declined in recent decades. The chief products include clothing, printed materials, and processed food. Manhattan in addition is a leading center for international and domestic trade. The advertising and insurance industries and radio and television broadcasting are other important segments of the borough’s economy.

IV

Transportation

Manhattan is the main hub of the rapid-transit system of the New York metropolitan area, and it also is connected to national rail and road systems. The borough’s mass transit facilities include extensive subway and bus lines and a ferry link to Staten Island. Among the borough’s major vehicular bridges are the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro, which span the East River; the Triborough Bridge, which links Manhattan with the Bronx and Queens; and the George Washington Bridge, constructed over the Hudson River to New Jersey. Major tunnels serving Manhattan are the Holland and Lincoln, built under the Hudson River to New Jersey, and the Queens-Midtown and Brooklyn-Battery, constructed under the East River. Limited-access highways skirt the eastern shore and part of the western shore of the island. Many of Manhattan’s roads and bridges suffer from inadequate maintenance.

V

Educational and Cultural Institutions

Manhattan is one of the world’s great educational and cultural centers. Facilities of higher education in Manhattan include City College (1847) and Hunter College (1870), both part of the City University of New York; Columbia University; Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art; Fordham University at Lincoln Center; the New School for Social Research (1919); New York University; Pace University (1906); Rockefeller University; Yeshiva University; and such predominantly religious schools as Union Theological Seminary, the General Theological Seminary (1817), and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Specialized instruction in music, drama, and painting is offered by the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music (1917), the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (1884), and the School of Visual Arts (1947).

Among its many major museums are the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (renovated and expanded 1990-92); the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Frick Collection; the Pierpont Morgan Library; the Cooper-Hewitt Museum; the International Center of Photography; the Studio Museum in Harlem; El Museo del Barrio; the Jewish Museum; the Museum of the City of New York; the National Museum of the American Indian (1922; reorganized 1993 as the George Gustav Heye Center of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian); and the American Museum of Natural History, which includes the Hayden Planetarium.

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Around Broadway in Midtown are numerous big legitimate theaters. Many motion picture theaters are also located in this area, which includes Times Square. In addition, Manhattan is the home of several prominent music and dance organizations. The New York City Opera Company, the Metropolitan Opera Association, the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Ballet are included among these. The New York Public Library is one of the world’s leading research libraries.

Manhattan has several parks, the largest being Central Park, designed (1850s) by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux (1824-1895). It contains a zoo (opened in 1864; now officially called the Central Park Wildlife Conservation Center), an open-air theater, several lakes, a large reservoir, and recreational facilities. Other parks include Battery, Washington Square, Riverside, and Fort Tryon, which contains the Cloisters, a museum of medieval European art.

VI

History

The name Manhattan is derived from an Algonquian term for “island of hills.” In 1524 the island, then inhabited by Native Americans, was probably seen by the Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano. In 1609 the English navigator Henry Hudson made an extensive exploration of the area, and the Dutch laid claim to the island on that basis. In 1624 the Dutch established a trading post on southern Manhattan Island. To secure the claim, Peter Minuit, the director general of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, purchased the island from the Native Americans in 1626 for goods valued at about 60 guilders, or approximately $24. Permanent settlement began the same year at the outpost, which Minuit named New Amsterdam, and it became the administrative center of New Netherland.

In 1664 Charles II of England granted his brother, the duke of York (later James II of England and Ireland) a large area including Manhattan Island. A fleet of English warships seized New Amsterdam in the same year, and the settlement was renamed New York in honor of the duke. The town was retaken by the Dutch in 1673, but a year later they ceded it back to England.

During the 18th century, New York City became one of the great commercial centers of the British colonies in North America. The Battery, situated at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, was heavily fortified, and the settlement expanded northward. It subsequently became a center of revolutionary activity by American patriots. In 1776, American troops were forced to evacuate the city, which remained under British occupation until the end of the American Revolution.

From 1785 to 1790 New York was the seat of the U.S. government. The first stock exchange was established in 1792, and New York soon became the nation’s leading financial and commercial center.

In the 19th century, the population of New York increased spectacularly as a result of an influx of European immigrants. In 1863, during the American Civil War, New York was the scene of serious disturbances, known as the Draft Riots. In the post-Civil War period, the city expanded at an unprecedented tempo. The postwar period was also marked by the beginning of an era of corruption in government, exemplified by the politician William Marcy Tweed, a leader of the Tammany Society.

In 1874 New York, previously confined to Manhattan Island, annexed West Farms, Morrisania, and Kingsbridge, mainland communities belonging to Westchester County and now comprising the western section of the Bronx. The remainder of what now constitutes the Bronx was absorbed by New York in 1895. At the same time, public sentiment for merging the city with Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island mounted, and on January 1, 1898, Manhattan and the Bronx became separate boroughs of the expanded and consolidated city of New York. For subsequent history, see New York City.

VII

Population

1790, 33,131; 1810, 96,373; 1850, 515,547; 1880, 1,164,673; 1920, 2,284,103; 1940, 1,889,924; 1980, 1,428,285; 1990, 1,487,536; 2000, 1,537,195.

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