New York City consists of five boroughs, which are five separate counties. Each borough has a unique culture and could be a large city in its own right. Within each borough individual neighborhoods, some several square miles in size, and others only a few blocks in size, have personalities lauded in music and film.The famous island between the Hudson and East Rivers, with many diverse and unique neighborhoods. Manhattan is home to the Empire State Building in Midtown, Central Park, Times Square, Wall Street, Harlem, and the trendy neighborhoods of Greenwich Village and SoHo.
History & Facts
History
The diverse population runs the gamut from some of America’s wealthiest celebrities and socialites to homeless people. There are millions of immigrants living in the city. New York’s population has been diverse since the city’s founding by the Dutch. Successive waves of immigration from virtually every nation in the world make New York a giant social experiment in cross-cultural harmony. The city’s ethnic heritage illuminates different neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs. Manhattan’s Chinatown remains a vibrant center of New York City’s Chinese community, though in recent years the very large Chinese community in Flushing, Queens, has rivaled if not eclipsed it in importance, and three other Chinatowns have formed in New York City: the Brooklyn Chinatown in Sunset Park; the Elmhurst Chinatown in Queens; and the Avenue U Chinatown located in the Homecrest section of Brooklyn.
Economy
New York City is a global hub of business and commerce, as a center for banking and finance, retailing, world trade, transportation, tourism, real estate, new media, traditional media, advertising, legal services, accountancy, insurance, theater, fashion, and the arts in the United States; while Silicon Alley, metonymous for New York’s broad-spectrum high technology sphere, continues to expand. Many Fortune 500 corporations are headquartered in New York City, as are a large number of multinational corporations. One out of ten private sector jobs in the city is with a foreign company. New York City has been ranked first among cities across the globe in attracting capital, business, and tourists. Other important sectors include medical research and technology, non-profit institutions, and universities. Manufacturing accounts for a significant but declining share of employment. The city’s apparel and garment industry, historically centered on the Garment District in Manhattan, peaked in 1950, when more than 323,000 workers were employed in the industry in New York. In 2015, fewer than 23,000 New York City residents were employed in the manufacture of garments, accessories, and finished textiles, although efforts to revive the industry were underway.
City Culture
Attractions
Known for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Prospect Park, The Brooklyn Museum, The New York Aquarium and a key NYC landmark Coney Island. Queens (Queens County) Located to the east of Manhattan, across the East River, and north, east, and south of Brooklyn. With over 170 languages spoken, Queens is the most ethnically diverse region in the United States, and one of the most diverse in the world. The Bronx (Bronx County) Located north of Manhattan Island, the Bronx is home to the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Gardens, and the New York Yankees professional baseball team. Staten Island (Richmond County) A large island in New York Harbor, south of Manhattan and just across the narrow Kill Van Kull from New Jersey. Unlike the rest of New York City, Staten Island has a suburban character. It is known as the borough of parks. It has its own baseball team, several malls, and a zoo.
Food & Cousine
New York City’s food culture includes an array of international cuisines influenced by the city’s immigrant history. Central and Eastern European immigrants, especially Jewish immigrants from those regions, brought bagels, cheesecake, hot dogs, knishes, and delicatessens (or delis) to the city. Italian immigrants brought New York-style pizza and Italian cuisine into the city, while Jewish immigrants and Irish immigrants brought pastrami and corned beef, respectively. Chinese and other Asian restaurants, sandwich joints, trattorias, diners, and coffeehouses are ubiquitous throughout the city.
Geography & Climate
Geography
New York City is situated in the northeastern United States, in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston. The location at the mouth of the Hudson River, which feeds into a naturally sheltered harbor and then into the Atlantic Ocean, has helped the city grow in significance as a trading port. Most of New York City is built on the three islands of Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island. The Hudson River flows through the Hudson Valley into New York Bay. Between New York City and Troy, New York, the river is an estuary. The Bronx River, which flows through the Bronx and Westchester County, is the only entirely freshwater river in the city. The city’s total area is 468.484 square miles (1,213.37 km2); 302.643 sq mi (783.84 km2) of the city is land and 165.841 sq mi (429.53 km2) of this is water. The highest point in the city is Todt Hill on Staten Island, which, at 409.8 feet (124.9 m) above sea level, is the highest point on the eastern seaboard south of Maine. The summit of the ridge is mostly covered in woodlands as part of the Staten Island Greenbelt.
Regional Climate
New York City has a humid subtropical climate, experiencing all four seasons and with about 50 inches (1,200mm) of rainfall evenly distributed throughout the year. Depending on the time of the year you visit it would be optimal to know what kind of weather you should expect. Winter: Winters in NYC are chilly and damp. However due to the moderating effect of the ocean and the urban heat island, the city does have warmer temperatures when compared to other cities on the same latitude like Pittsburgh, Columbus or Indianapolis. Nighttime lows usually hover around freezing and daytime highs are usually between the low 40s and the mid 50s (5C-15C). How cold or how warm it gets though depends greatly upon the location you’re at in the city: the northern and western parts of the metropolitan area (like The Bronx, Yonkers and Newark) are usually colder during the night while the southern – southeastern areas such as Staten Island and Long Island may have milder temperatures. Sometimes the mercury may dip down to the teens (around -10C) but prolonged cold periods are very rare. New York is the second snowiest city out of the big 5 in the northeast, being 17 inches behind Boston but 5 inches in front of Philadelphia. The first snowfall of the year usually happens around early or mid-December and the last one in late February or early March. The city is prone to big snowstorms that can produce up to 1-2 feet of snow. While such events can create a winter wonderland keep in mind that they can also cause big traffic bottlenecks especially on highways.