New York

New York, one of the biggest cities of the world and the largest city in USA, is situated at the mouth of the Hudson River. The New York Bay at the mouth of the Hudson River was explored by Captain Henry Hudson, who discovered the Hudson River and Manhattan Island. In 1629 the Dutch Trade Company bought Manhattan from local Indians for 24 dollars. They set up their first settlement, named New Amsterdam. In 1664 the colony was captured by the British fleet under the Duke of York, and renamed New York.

The total area of the city is 365.4 square miles and it has a population of over 8 million people. One of the symbols of New York is the bronze statue of Liberty on Liberty Island. It was presented to the USA by France in 1886 to commemorate the 100-th anniversary of American Independence. The torch towers about 60 metres above the harbour and can be seen at night for many miles.

New York City includes 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Richmond, Queens, and the Bronx. Brooklyn is the largest borough in population. It's nicknamed "bedroom of New York". But most of New York's ocean shipping docks are in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Navy Yard is the largest naval shipbuilding centre in the world. Richmond is a borough of piers and warehouses.

The Bronx is more residential part of the city. The well-known Zoo and Botanical Gardens are in the Bronx.

Queens is both residential and industrial area. New York's two biggest airports – La Guardia and Idlewild are both in Queens.

Manhattan, a rocky island, 13 miles long and 2 miles wide is the smallest of the 5 city boroughs in size. But it's the heart of New York. Here is the heart of American business and culture. It's a city of sky-scrapers. Manhattan is full of parallel rows of building those running from north to south being called avenues while those running from east to west are called streets. The avenues and streets have only numbers instead of names. There are 11 avenues and about 300 streets. Some avenues such as Park, Madison, Columbus, Fifth and Seventh have names.

Wall Street – American financial centre occupying a quarter of a mile has become world famous. It's the money capital of the country. It was called so because of a wall built about 1650 to protect colony from Indians. Wall Street is the major financial centre of the USA, and symbolizes the money market and financiers of the USA.

Broadway is the largest street in the city. It is not at all straight. It bends and curves all along the length of Manhattan. It is 29 km long. Many businessmen make money here. They own this main trading street of New York with all its bars, restaurants, music halls, theatres, cinemas, stores and shops. Everything one needs is on sale here. Broadway near Times Square is a place where most theatres are located. Most of the leading stage and screen theatres are along Broadway. The word "Broadway" has come to mean American theatre. The brilliant illuminations here at night make this section known as "the Great White Way". Among the places of interest in Manhattan there are Empire State Building (102 stories). It lost its "America tallest" title when the twin 110-stor towers of the New York's World Trade Centre were completed in 1973. The 39-stor UN Headquarters Secretarial Building houses offices of about 5,000 persons. New York Public Library is the biggest in the town.

Columbia University was founded by royal decree of George II, king of England. Now it is a private institution, were tuition is not less than 6,000 dollars a year.

Rockefeller Centre of "Radio City", the new Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln for the Performing Arts, American Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art and many other interesting sights are worth seeing there.