New York

NEW YORK

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New York is situated on the Atlantic coast, at the mouth of the Hudson River. It is in the state of New York.Over 8 million people live in the City.There are several districts and many communities. Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Soho are the artistic areas. Harlem is where the Afro-American community lives. There is China Town and Little Italy.

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Location and people

New York City is the financial and cultural capital of the USA.It is known as "the Big Apple" because it offers huge opportunities to people who settle or work there.Another nickname is "the city that never sleeps" because of its frantic and exciting life night and day.New York is also called "the melting pot" because it is a cosmopolitan multiethnic and multicultural city, where about 200 languages are spoken.

A city... many names!

History

It was founded between 1620 and 1640 as a Dutch colony.It was called New Amsterdam until 1664 when the Dutch settlement was taken by the English fleet.The English changed the name to New York to honour the Duke of York.New York quickly grew to become a large and important port city.

Thanks to the masses of immigrants who came from many European countries, New York grew enormously in the 19th century.From the 1890s to the 1950s more than 12 million immigrants travelled from Europe to North America to begin a new life. The first place they arrived was at Ellis Island, a small island at New York Harbour. The people passed through a huge immigration centre where their documents and their health were checked before entering the country.

The Boroughs

New York is divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and The Bronx.

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The Statue of Liberty

Lady Liberty is the symbol of New York.This huge statue is located on Liberty Island in New York harbour.She is Libertas, the Roman goddes of freedom and she has the broken chains of tyranny at her feet. The statue was a gift of friendship to the USA from France for the 100th anniversary of the Independence of the USA.The seven rays of her crown symbolise the seven seas and the seven continents. The torch in her right hand is a symbol of liberty.

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Caption: : Manhattan map by Robin Boyden

Manhattan

It is the heart of New York. Its name comes from the Native American word Manna-hata, meaning "island of many hills".Despite its small area, there is the highest concentration in the world of restaurants, hotels, museums and theatres.Fifth Avenue, with its elegant buildings and shops is one of the most famous streets in the world.

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Another well-known place is Times Square, the heart of the theatre district, Broadway.In the financial district, Wall Street, there is the most important Stock Exchange in the world.The Empire State Building is one of the highest skyscrapers in the world.In Manhattan there are also the headquarters of the United Nations.

Manhattan

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Central Park

Central Park is a large public, urban park. It is the most visited park in the US. It is very large and has a zoo. On warm weekdays office workers have lunch there and families go to picnic, jog and roller-skate at weekends. 

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The MOMA

MoMA is the Musuem of Modern Art in Manhattan. The museum first opened in 1929. It has the world's largest collection of modern painting and sculpture.The museum collects and develops Modern Art, which is art from the 1860s to the 1970s.There are also architecture and design, drawings, photography, film and electronic media in the museum. At MoMa you can see van Gogh's Starry Night, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans.

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Frank Sinatra's New York