NEW YORK City

NEW YORK City

New York City is situated on the eastern coast of the U.S.A at the mouth of the Hudson River and the East River. It is an important sea port. The city has got five parts – boroughs(samosprávné město, městský obvod): Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. They are all linked by bridges, tunnels or ferries. There are also smaller islands in the surrounding waters, e. g. Ellis Island and Liberty Island (Liberty Island is a small uninhabited island, where the well-known the Statue of Liberty is located). .

When tourists speak about NY, most of them usually only think of Manhattan. But Manhattan is only one of five New York boroughs – the most popular and the smallest one.

The first inhabitants were the Dutch in the 17th century - they settled in New York and bought Manhattan Island from the native inhabitants (Indians) for 24 dollars. The Dutch – colonists – called their new home New Amsterdam and it was surrounded by a wall to protect the town against the Indians. In 1664, it became an English colony and was renamed New York. After the American Revolution, NY became the new country’s first capital.

New York is a city on water. Of the five boroughs, Manhattan and Staten Island are islands, Brooklyn and Queens are on Long island, and the Bronx is a peninsula. The Atlantic Ocean, the Hudson River and the East River are an important part of the city. Twenty-four million immigrants from many countries crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in the USA by ship between 1892 and 1954. Ellis Island was their first stop. It is a small island lying just opposite the well-known island of Manhattan. Ellis Island was the main immigration port for immigrants entering the United States between 1892 and 1954. All immigrants had to pass medical examinations and then they were questioned by government officials. It was known as the Isle of Tears or Heartbreak Island. Nowadays Ellis Island is a museum.

The Brooklyn Bridge across the East River is one of the most famous in the city.It´s an old suspension bridge which connects Brooklyn with Manhattan. You can drive a car or walk across it and many New Yorkers do it every day on their way to work and back home. The view from it is facinating.

Nicknames of NYC: The Melting Pot –because there are plenty of ethnical groups living together in one place. Other nicknames include Gotham and the Naked City. It is also called The City That Never Sleeps because of the fast and active life that its inhabitants lead. The Big Apple is one of the nicknames for New York – the largest US city. Do you want to know why New York is called the Big Apple? It happened in the 1920s. Jazz musicians who were getting ready to go to New York from the South of The USA used to say: “There are a lot of apples on the tree, but when you take NYC, you take the Big Apple!” And so, at first, NY became the Big Apple just for the jazz musicians. But New Yorkers like the nickname – it expresses how big, beautiful and busy their city is.