About New York

Manhattan is the smallest in area and most urbanized of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York. It consists of Manhattan Island and several small adjacent islands: Roosevelt Island, Randall's Island, Ward's Island, Governors Island, Liberty Island, part of Ellis Island,New Jersey v. New York, 523 U.S. 767 (1998). Retrieved 2008-01-04. and U Thant Island; as well as Marble Hill, a small section on the mainland adjacent to the Bronx. The original city of New York began at the southern end of Manhattan, and expanded in 1898 to include surrounding counties.

The County of New York is the most densely populated county in the United States, and one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles (59.47 km²), or 71,201 residents per square mile (27,485/km²). It is also one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, with a 2005 personal income per capita above $100,000. Manhattan is the third-largest of New York's five boroughs in population.

Manhattan is a major commercial, financial, and cultural center of both the United States and the world.Barry, Dan. "A Nation challenged: in New York; New York Carries On, but Test of Its Grit Has Just Begun", The New York Times, October 11, 2001. Accessed June 30, 2009. "A roaring void has been created in the financial center of the world."Sorrentino, Christopher. "When He Was Seventeen", The New York Times, September 16, 2007. Accessed December 22, 2007. "In 1980 there were still the vestigial remains of the various downtown revolutions that had reinvigorated New York's music and art scenes and kept Manhattan in the position it had occupied since the 1940s as the cultural center of the world."Bumiller, Elisabeth. [http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/08/nyregion/pope-s-visit-cardinal-pope-s-important-ally-cardinal-shines-high-hierarchy.html "The Pope's visit: the cardinal; As Pope's Important Ally, Cardinal Shines High in Hierarchy"], The New York Times, October 8, 1995. Accessed December 18, 2007. "As the Archbishop of the media and cultural center of the United States, Cardinal O'Connor has extraordinary power among Catholic prelates." Many major radio, television, and telecommunications companies in the United States are based here, as well as many news, magazine, book, and other media publishers. Manhattan has many famous landmarks, tourist attractions, museums, and universities. It is also home to the headquarters of the United Nations. Manhattan has the largest central business district in the United States, is the site of both the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, and is the home to the largest number of corporate headquarters in the country.United States Central Business Districts, Demographia. Retrieved 2009-06-29. It is the center of New York City and the New York metropolitan region, hosting the seat of city government and a large portion of the area's employment, business, and entertainment activities.

Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is New York City's most populous borough with 2.5 million residents,Kings County, New York, United States Census Bureau, December 30, 2006 and second largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second most densely populated county in the United States, after New York County (Manhattan).US-25S&-_lang=en "Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2000", United States Census Bureau, accessed May 11, 2007.

Brooklyn was an independent city until its consolidation with New York City in 1898, and continues to maintain a distinct culture, independent art scene, and unique architectural heritage. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves where particular ethnic groups and cultures predominate.

The Bronx is the northernmost of the Five Boroughs of New York City. It is also the newest of the 62 counties of New York State. Located northeast of Manhattan and south of Westchester County, New York, the Bronx is the only borough situated primarily on the North American mainland (while the other four?apart from the very small Marble Hill section of Manhattan?are on islands). In 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the borough's population on July 1, 2008 was 1,391,903,Bronx County, New York, retrieved on May 15, 2009 inhabiting a land area of 42 square miles (109 square kilometers). This makes the Bronx the fourth-most-populated of the five boroughs, the fourth-largest in land area, and the third-highest in density of population. While the Bronx has an area of only 42 square miles (110 km²), those 42 square miles have more residents than the 665,000 square miles (1.7 million km²) of Alaska and Wyoming combined, according to Table 348 of the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2008) Ranked areas of the boroughs from U.S. Census Bureau, County and City Data Book:2007 Table B-1, Area and Population, retrieved on July 12, 2008.U.S. Census Bureau, County and City Data Book:2007 Table B-1, Area and Population, retrieved on July 12, 2008. New York County (Manhattan) was the nation's densest-populated county, followed by Kings County (Brooklyn), Bronx County, Queens County and San Francisco, California.

The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a hillier section in the west, closer to Manhattan, and the flatter East Bronx, closer to Queens and Long Island. The West Bronx was annexed to New York City (then largely confined to Manhattan) in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. The Bronx first assumed a distinct legal identity when it became a borough of Greater New York in 1898. Bronx County (the County of Bronx), with the same boundaries as the borough, was separated from New York County (today coextensive with the Borough of Manhattan) in 1912 and began its own operations in January 1914. Although the Bronx is the third-most-densely-populated county in the U.S., about a quarter of its area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo in the borough's north and center, on land deliberately reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed northwards and eastwards from Manhattan with the building of roads, bridges and railways.

The indigenous Lenape (Delaware) American Indians were progressively displaced after 1643 by settlers from the Netherlands and Great Britain. The Bronx received many Irish, German, Jewish and Italian immigrants as its once-rural population exploded between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries. They were succeeded after 1945 by African Americans and Hispanic Americans, together with immigrants from the Caribbean ? especially Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica ? and Africa, especially Ghana. In recent years, this cultural mix has made the Bronx a wellspring of both Latin music and hip hop.

The Bronx contains the poorest Congressional District in the U.S., (the 16th), but its wide variety of neighborhoods also includes the affluent Riverdale and Country Club. The Bronx, particularly the South Bronx, saw a sharp decline in population, livable housing, and the quality of life in the late 1960s and the 1970s, culminating in a wave of arson, but has shown some signs of revival in recent years.See the "Historical Populations" table in History above and its sources.

Staten Island () is a borough of New York City in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay. With a population of 487,407, Staten Island is the least populated of the five boroughs but is the third largest in area at .

The Borough of Staten Island is coextensive with Richmond County, the southernmost county in the state of New York. Until 1975, the borough was officially named the Borough of Richmond. Staten Island has been sometimes called "the forgotten borough" by inhabitants who feel neglected by the city government.

Staten Island is overall the most suburban of the five boroughs of New York City. The North Shore, especially the neighborhoods of St. George, Tompkinsville, Park Hill, and Stapleton, are the most urban part of the island; it contains the officially designated St. George Historic District and The St. Paul's Avenue-Stapleton Heights Historic District, which feature large Victorian homes. The South Shore has more suburban-style residential neighborhoods and is home to the two and one-half mile long F.D.R. Boardwalk, the fourth longest in the world. Historically, the central and southern sections of the island were once dominated by dairy and poultry farms, almost all of which disappeared in the 20th century.

The borough is accessible to Brooklyn via the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and to New Jersey via the Goethals Bridge, Outerbridge Crossing, and Bayonne Bridge. Staten Island has Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) bus service and an MTA rapid transit line, the Staten Island Railway, which runs from the ferry terminal at St. George to Tottenville. The free Staten Island Ferry connects the borough to Manhattan and is a popular tourist attraction, providing views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and lower Manhattan.

Queens is the largest in area, the second largest in population, and the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States.

Located on the western portion of Long Island, Queens is home to two of the three major New York City area airports, John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia; it is also the location of the New York Mets baseball team; the US Open tennis tournament; Flushing Meadows Park; Kaufman Astoria Studios; Silvercup Studios; and Frank Sinatra School of the Arts founded by Tony Bennett.

American Community Survey, immigrants comprise 47.6% of Queens residents.2005 American Community Survey Fact Sheet for Queens County, New York, United States Census Bureau, accessed February 24, 2007.

With a population of 2.3 million it is the second most populous borough in New York City (behind Brooklyn) and the tenth most populous county in the United States. It is also the nation's fourth-most-densely populated county (after the counties covering Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx). The 2.3 million figure is the highest historical population for the borough.Campbell Gibson, "Population of the 100 largest cities and other urban places in the United States: 1790 to 1990", Population Division Working Paper no. 27, United States Census Bureau, Washington, D.C., 1998

Were each borough an independent city, Brooklyn and Queens would be the fourth- and fifth-largest cities in the United States, respectively. If Queens were its own city it would be the fourth largest by population in the U.S.

Queens was established in 1683 as one of the original 12 counties of New York and was supposedly named for the Queen consort, Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705), the Portuguese princess who married King Charles II of England in 1662.Queens Almanac

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The borough is often considered one of the more suburban boroughs (in comparison to Manhattan standards) of New York City. Neighborhoods in central Queens (except those situated along Queens Boulevard and the neighborhoods of Flushing and Jamaica), southern Queens, and eastern Queens have a look and feel similar to the bordering suburbs of western Nassau County. In its northwestern section, however, Queens is home to many urban neighborhoods and several central business districts. Long Island City, on the Queens' waterfront across from Manhattan, is the site of the Citicorp Building, the tallest skyscraper in New York City outside of Manhattan, and the tallest building on geographic Long Island.