New York City

Introduction

If I say : Fifth Avenue , the Statue of Liberty , the Empire State Building , the Rockefeller Center , Ellis Island , Brooklyn , The Big Apple, ... you’ll answer : “New York City”, of course. New York has been the most populous city in the United States since 1790.

Geography

New York City, the capital of the state of New York, is located on the Atlantic coast of United States. It’s approximately halfway between Washington D.C. and Boston (MA). The Hudson River flows through the city which comprises three islands: Manhattan , Staten Island and Long Island. There are also some other little islands like Roosevelt Island , Liberty Island , Riker’s Island ( it’s a prison ). The land on which the city has been built is the result of intense human transformation. The city – including waters – covers some 1215 square kilometres but the land is only 790 square kilometers.
New York is divided in five boroughs : Manhattan , the Bronx , Brooklyn , Staten Island and Queens.

Manhattan is the richest and the most famous borough. It’s also the financial center of the country – the Stock Exchange in Wall Street – and a major making-decision center of international institutions, for instance the United Nations, and of multinational companies. There are also a lot of museums – the Metropolitan Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), ..., as well as and university campuses. Harlem is a well-know neighbourhood of Manhattan.

The Bronx used to be the poorest borough but the local authorities decided to make this area more attractive. It’s where the famous hip-hop originated. The majority of the inhabitants of the Bronx are from afro-american or Hispanic origin. The Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx .

Brooklyn is a residential neighbourhood which counts the most numerous population. The most beautiful beaches of New York are in Brooklyn. Its population comes from various origins, Caribbean, Chinese, jewish, Italian, …

Queens