Manhattan Overview
Manhattan. Name of an island belonging to the United States located at the mouth of the Hudson River in the north of New York Harbor. It is one of the five metropolitan districts (boroughs) that make up New York City. The metropolitan district has the same boundaries as New York County and includes the island of Manhattan as well as several smaller islands (Roosevelt, Randall, among others), as well as a small portion of mainland land (Marble Hill, which is geographically in the Bronx, but politically belongs to the county of New York).
History
The name Manhattan comes from the languages of the primitive residents of the area. The story presents a popular interpretation that emphasizes how this island was bought by Dutch settlers from the natives for $ 24 on May 24, 1626 and the establishment of some 30 Dutch families two years later, when they founded the city of Niew Amsterdam where now downtown is. This city became the capital of the territory of New Holland, a short-lived Dutch colony. In 1664 it happened to the English administration after a relatively weak resistance of the Dutch, partly due to the discontent of the population with the governor Peter Stuyvesant.
The English changed the name of the city to New York, named in honor of the Duke of York, who would later become the Catholic King James II of England. New York County is one of the original twelve counties of the State of New York, created in 1683. At the time of its creation, it was the same size as New York City and occupied the entire island of Manhattan, the same area that occupies today. In 1873, the western part of present-day Bronx County was transferred to New York County from Westchester County and in 1895, the remaining part of the Bronx was also transferred to the county. In 1914, those parts constituted the new county of the Bronx. See topschoolsintheusa for LSAT test centers in New York.
In 1898, Manhattan was united with the four remaining districts forming the second largest city in the world, and from there it became the Mecca of culture, entertainment and finance for all of North America. The city benefited from the arrival of thousands of immigrants who were looking for improvements in their living conditions. This caused a cultural miscegenation that has enriched the city, transforming it into an incomparable point for the visitor. Currently 80 different languages are spoken.
New York City now encompasses four separate, though not from a distinct geological view, areas, namely the City of Manhattan (Manhattan), the Borough of the Bronx, the City of Richmond (Staten Island), and the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens (Brooklyn, Jamaica, Flat Bush-and Long Island City). Of these, the District of Manhattan and the Borough of the Bronx have a common geological expression, the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens are identical in geological character, and carry their most typical boundary to the drift zone so greatly reduced in the island of Manhattan by municipal changes, while the Richmond district has an individual geological structure imply peculiar characteristics not observed in the others.
In geological affinities, if the term can be used, Manhattan and the Bronx have allied themselves in the north or primordial, even arching structures; Richmond, kings and queens of the south and the last, however, in fact, in Richmond there is a problematic core similar to those on the island of Manhattan. In view of this diversity of features, the discussion of the topographical conditions and geological nature of New York City naturally fall into three sections: first, that of Manhattan Island, with an appendix briefly covering similar construction of the borough of the Bronx, in second place, that of Brooklyn and Queens, and in third place, that of Richmond.
Geography
The borough of Manhattan and New York County have the same boundaries (they are coextensive). As part of New York City, the county has no other political subdivisions. It occupies the entire island of Manhattan, surrounded by the East River, the Harlem River, and the Hudson River. It also includes some smaller islands such as Roosevelt Island(formerly Welfare Island, and previously still “Blackwell Island”), U Thant Island (officially known as Belmont Island), and a small portion of the North American mainland (Marble Hill ) adjoining the Bronx. Marble Hill was originally part of Manhattan Island; but the Harlem River canal, excavated in the 19th century To improve navigation on the Harlem River, he separated it from Manhattan.
Manhattan Island is approximately 22 km long and 3.6 km wide at its widest point and less than 1.6 km at its narrowest point. With the exception of the large green rectangle that is Central Park, it is almost entirely covered by buildings and streets.
Manhattan is connected by bridges and tunnels to New Jersey in the west and to three New York boroughs: The Bronx in the northeast and Queens and Brooklyn on Long Island to the east and south. Its only direct connection to the city’s fifth district is the “Staten Island Ferry,” whose terminal is in Battery Park at its southern end.
Every May 28 and July 12, both at sunrise and sunset, the sun is visible on the horizon from street level as it is aligned with its path.
Demography
The most densely populated county in the United States is New York, with a total of 1,537,195 people, 738,644 heads of household, and 302,105 families residing in 2000. The population density is 25,835.21 residents / km². With a figure of 798,144 houses with a density of 13,414.18 dwellings / km². The county’s ethnic makeup is 54.36% White, 17.39% Black, 9.40% Asian, 0.07% Oceanic, 0.50% Native American, 14.14% other ethnicities, and 4.14 % mestizos. 27.18% of the total population are Hispanics, who can be of any ethnicity.
There are 738,644 heads of households, of which 17.1% have minors in their care, 25.2% are married couples who live together, 12.6% are single women, and 59.1% are not families In the county, 16.8% of the population is under 18, 10.2% is between 18 and 24, 38.3% is between 25 and 44, 22.6% is between 45 and 64, and 12.2% are over 65 years old. The average age is 36 years. For every 100 women there are 90.3 men and for every 100 underage women, there are 87.9 men.
The average annual income of a head of household is $ 47,030, and the average income per family is $ 50,229. Men have an income of around $ 51,856 compared to $ 45,712 for women. The median per capita income for the county is 42,922. 20.0% of the population and 17.6% of families are below the poverty line. Of the total number of people living in this situation, 31.8% are minors and 18.9% are over 65 years of age.
Spoken languages
In Manhattan there are registered speakers of dissimilar origin, being an approximate of 96 different languages. The majority of the population is English-speaking, this being the predominant spoken language with 59.1% of the speakers; while Spanish is the second language, with 24.9% of speakers. Chinese has 5% and the rest of the languages do not reach 1% of speakers.
Government and legislation
As in other counties in New York City, there is no county government, but there are county courts and other authorities, such as the county attorney. Each metropolitan district in New York elects a President but this office does not have much power, de facto. The office of the District President (Borough President) was created with the consolidation of the five counties, to balance the balance of these, with respect to the central municipal government. Each district president had an important role, having a vote in the New York City Board of Estimate, presenting and approving municipal budgets and making proposals for spatial planning. In 1989, the United States Supreme Court declared this Board unconstitutional, because Brooklyn, the most populous county in the borough, it had no more votes than Staten Island, the county with the smallest population. This constituted a violation of the Equality Protection Clause, according to the Fourteenth Amendment (or addition) to the United States Constitution, passed in 1964 according to the rule that each person has the right to one vote.
The powers of the Board of Estimate were transferred to the Board of Councilors (City Council, with 51 members, in charge of the legislative power in the city), thus increasing the centralized power in the New York municipality. Manhattan has ten councilors on the New York City Council. Since 1990, the District President has served as an advocate for the county’s interests with the mayoral agencies, city councils, New York state government, and corporations. The President of the District of Manhattan is Scott M. Stringer. The District Attorney for the New York District (known as District Attorney or simply DA, in the original English) is Robert M. Morgenthau. It also has 12 administrative districts, each served by a local Community Board. These Boards are the representative bodies that collect citizen complaints and serve as defenders of the residents of their area, before the City Council. New York is officially designated as the county seat of New York, which is totally irrelevant for all practical purposes since there are no other cities or towns in the county.
