New York

Dictionary: New York

New York

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(Abbr. NY or N.Y.)

A state of the northeast United States. It was admitted as one of the original Thirteen Colonies in 1788. First explored by Samuel de Champlain and Henry Hudson, the region was claimed by the Dutch in 1624 but fell to the English in 1664-1667. The building of the Erie Canal and railroad lines in the 1820s and 1830s led to development of the western part of the state and great economic prosperity, establishing New York City as the financial center of the nation. Albany is the capital and New York City the largest city. Population: 19,300,000.

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5min Related Video: New York

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: New York

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State (pop., 2000: 18,976,457), eastern U.S. It is bordered by Canada and the U.S. states of Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. New York covers 53,013 sq mi (137,304 sq km); its capital is Albany. The Hudson, St. Lawrence, Delaware, and Niagara rivers all form parts of its boundaries. The Adirondack Mountains are in the northeast; the Catskills are in the east. Before European colonization, Algonquins (see Algonquian languages) and Iroquois inhabited the area. In 1524 Giovanni Verrazzano visited New York Bay. The 1609 explorations of Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain led to settlement. In 1664 the Dutch colony, New Netherland, led by Peter Stuyvesant, surrendered to the British and was renamed New York. The French and Indian War resulted in skirmishes in northern and central New York; its conclusion confirmed English dominance in the region. In the American Revolution, it was the scene of many battles, including those of Ticonderoga and Saratoga, and of Benedict Arnold's treason at West Point. New York adopted the first state constitution (1777). The capital moved from New York City to Albany in 1797. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 spurred development of the western part of the state. In the 19th century the growing influence in New York City of Tammany Hall caused tension between the city and the state. The economy was once based largely on manufacturing in cities, including Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. It is now dominated by service industries, concentrated in New York City.

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US History Encyclopedia: New York State

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New York StateLocation, Geography, and Climate

New York State is located in the northeast region of the United States. New York City and Long Island border on the Atlantic Ocean, and the state stretches westward to the Great Lakes of Ontario and Erie. These lakes, along with the St. Lawrence River, form the northern border of the state with Canada. To the east, New York borders Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut; to the south, New Jersey and Pennsylvania; to the west, a short stretch of the state borders Ohio. The topography of the state is made up primarily of mountains, hills, woodlands, valleys, and fertile meadows. Ancient glacier formations and movements created rivers, gorges, and waterfalls that are among the most spectacular in the world. Niagara Falls, for example, which straddles the border with Canada in the northwest section of the state, is one of the most notable of the state's outstanding geographical features and is considered one of the natural wonders of the world.

Mountain ranges include the Adirondack and the Catskill Mountains, running north to south in the eastern portion of the state, and the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains in the southwestern area of the state. In addition to the Great Lakes, which border Canada to the north, notable lakes include the Finger Lakes in the center of the state, which is also the location of many gorges, and Lake Champlain, which forms part of the border with Vermont to the east. Noteworthy rivers in New York State include the Hudson River, which travels along the southeastern border to New York City, the St. Lawrence River, which separates the state from Canada on the eastern portion of the northern border, and the Mohawk River, which cuts through the center of the state on the eastern side.

New York has four distinct seasons every year. Winter lasts from approximately November through February and can see temperatures ranging from several degrees below zero Fahrenheit to averages in the forties and with several inches of snowfall. Spring can arrive in March or as late as May, with temperatures ranging from forty to sixty-five degrees. June, July, and August are the summer months, with temperatures ranging from an average of sixty to ninety degrees. Autumn is particularly spectacular in New York, with colorful foliage that begins turning in late September through mid-October, and sunny days and moderate temperatures in the sixties and seventies.

Peoples, Pre-1664

The area of North America that would come to be known as New York State was first populated by a Paleolithic culture from as far back as 5000 B.C., followed by Archaic cultures lasting until around 1000 B.C. Woodland native peoples arrived about the time of the fall of the Roman empire and lasted until about the time of the First Crusades, or about A.D. 1100. The Algonquin and Iroquoian cultures that flourished in the region when the first European settlers arrived had been there since about the twelfth century.

The Algonquin peoples, including the Raritans and the Delawares, lived near the coastal plains and shallow river valleys of the eastern regions. Algonquins usually lived near water, either the coastlines or rivers and streams, and ate fish and mollusks, with some plants in their diet. They collected shells, which they made into beads and sewed into ceremonial and historical keepsakes such as belts, known as wampum. Later, Europeans confused wampum with currency because it was valuable to the natives.

The Iroquoians lived along hills, in woodlands, along lakes, and in meadows in the interior of the state. They grew crops such as beans, squash, and corn, and hunted and fished in the forests and lakes. The Iroquois had an organized system of government made up of six member nations: Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Mohawks, Oneidas, and later Tuscaroras. Each nation took its name from some physical aspect of its homeland or its place within the Iroquois League. The Senecas, for example, were "Keepers of the Western Door" because of their homeland at the western end of Iroquois territory, which would become western New York State years later. The Cayugas were called the "People of the Mucky Land" because of the marshy land around Cayuga Lake, one of the Finger Lakes. The Onondagas were the "People of the Hills" and the "Keepers of the Council Fire" because they ran council meetings and were located near the center of Iroquois lands. The Oneidas were the "People of the Standing Stone" and the Mohawks were the "People of the Flint." Within each nation, a system of self-government involved clans of families, which were headed up by the elder women of each clan and appointed leaders, or chiefs, called sachems. Clans, such as the Bear Clan, the Beaver Clan, etc., derived their names from the natural creatures or habitat where the nation of clans lived. When war broke out among nations threatening the way of life of all in the fourteenth century, a peace agreement was drawn up among them, forming what would come to be called the Iroquois League. This league would later become a model for the establishment of the U.S. Constitution.

Native legends described the formation of the league when a mythic figure and prophet, Deganawidah, sent Hiawatha to walk among the Five Nations and spread a message of peace, proposing an alliance. Fifty representatives from the nations were sent to a meeting called the grand council. Matters of interest and concern to all nations were discussed at the council meetings, and votes were taken to make decisions that would be binding on all parties. Sachems could only be removed from their responsibilities if they were provedto be incompetent by the elder clan women.

The Iroquois League is still in existence among the Native peoples who occupy reservations in New York State and Canada. Until the American Revolution, the League was a formidable force of military, political, and social resistance against European incursion.

First Europeans and Africans

In 1524, the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano, under commission of the king of France, sailed his ship the Dauphine near the coastline of what is now New York. He was the first European to see its shores. Although he dropped anchor off what is now Staten Island, he did not stay or claim the land for any colonizing power. A year later, the Portuguese explorer Esteban Gomes also sailed near, but did not make any claims. By 1540, fur traders were making their way up the Hudson to trade with the Native peoples in beaver fur; however, it was not until 1609, when the explorer Henry Hudson came to the area, sailed up the Narrows, and continued up the river to what is now Albany, that it was claimed for the Dutch. Later, the area was named New Netherland.

In 1624, the Nieu Nederlandt anchored in the East River, bringing the first European colonial settlers to New York State. Settlement, trade, and war with the Indians continued for some time. The Dutch brought new animals and diseases to the New York environment and fought many violent battles, particularly against the Algonquins and the Mohawks, for control of land. By 1650, under the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant, New Netherland had established itself as a growing and prosperous colony, which attracted more European settlers to New York's shores. Settlers from Portugal and many other countries left Europe for New Amsterdam, later called New York City, creating an early society of mixed cultures and backgrounds. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the Dutch had also brought African Americans to the area as slaves.

Events, 1664 to 1825

King Charles II of England authorized his brother, James, duke of York, to sponsor an expedition to seize New

Netherland as a prize for England against the Dutch as well as for the promise of the colony's potential prosperity through trade. This was accomplished fairly easily, given the military superiority of the British, but for long into the eighteenth century, New York remained the least British in composition of all of the British American colonies. New Amsterdam became New York City and very quickly grew in prosperity as a port, even as early as the mid-1700s. At the arrival of the British, expansion moved westward, venturing into more of the Iroquoian territory. By 1775, clashes with the Mohawks were tempered by occasional treaties that aligned the British and the Mohawks against the revolutionaries.

New York experienced the Revolutionary War with perhaps the most violent and active engagements on many fronts and for a longer period of time than any other colony. The war in New York began 10 May 1775, when Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold, and the Green Mountain Boys took Fort Ticonderoga; the war was also marked by important battles at Saratoga and General John Sullivan's invasion of Iroquois territory from the south. New York State ratified the United States Constitution on 26 July 1788 at the Dutchess County courthouse. The war brought to the attention of the British, New Englanders, and other Europeans the fertile wilderness of western New York, which changed quickly in character and settlement in the decades following the Revolutionary War. In 1825, Governor George Clinton's idea for a canal that would join the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and the sea and would move westward expansion even beyond the lands of New York State was realized when the Erie Canal was opened for trade.

Nineteenth Century: Abolition, Women's Movement, Civil War, and Immigration

While trade boomed with the opening of the Erie Canal, and New York City continued to increase in population, wealth, and power as a metropolitan and cultural center, New York State was also a focal point for social change including abolitionism, the women's movement, and the effects of the first massive influx of immigrants.

As the final stop for many runaway slaves before reaching Canada, Underground Railroad routes flourished throughout the state, particularly in the central and western regions, such as the Finger Lakes area. After escaping slavery, Frederick Douglass founded his newspaper The North Star in Rochester, and that city and other New York cities and smaller towns became hubs of discourse and activism against slavery. Harriet Tubman also settled in Rochester.

Not too far south of Rochester, in Seneca Falls, in July 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first convention dedicated to women's rights. Adopting the Declaration of Sentiments they had written, modeled after the Declaration of Independence, the men and women who gathered at Seneca Falls advocated equal legal rights, property ownership, educational and employment opportunities, and voting rights for women. Meetings and speeches continued throughout the state, involving and elevating many women to national prominence in relation to the issue. Included among these were Susan B. Anthony and Amelia Bloomer, the editor of The Lily, a monthly temperance paper that also dealt with issues of importance to women. Bloomer also popularized a style of more healthy and convenient women's clothing comprising baggy pantaloons and overblouse, hence the later term "bloomers."

New Yorkers fought for the Union in the Civil War, most notably at the Battle of Gettysburg, some 200 miles south of the state line in Pennsylvania. Although most New Yorkers favored keeping the Union intact and supported President Lincoln, New York City became a hotbed of protests and speeches both supporting and opposing the war. Perhaps one of the most notable contributions New York made to the Civil War was the formation of the only entirely black Union regiment.

The great potato famine of the 1840s in Ireland resulted in a massive increase in Irish emigrants coming to the United States through the port of New York City. The influx grew and continued through the beginning of the next century, when millions of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Germany, and the countries of Eastern Europe poured into the United States through Ellis Island. From the late 1800s through the early twentieth century, Ellis Island processed millions of immigrants into the country. Ellis Island was allowed to decline after limits were placed on immigration, but in the late twentieth century it was restored and opened to the public.

Twentieth Century

The rise of the stock market caused unprecedented wealth and power to emanate from New York City, resulting in what has been called the Gilded Age in the early twentieth century. Millionaires such as the Vanderbilts and the Roosevelts built mansions along the Hudson River the size and likes of which have rarely been seen since. As the upper class was gaining in wealth and political power, the lower classes were falling further into poverty, and the gap between the classes widened.

Industry thrived in New York State in the early twentieth century. New York City had major markets in finance, clothing, publishing, entertainment, and commerce. Institutions such as Madison Avenue's advertising center, Times Square, and Broadway's theater district took firm hold during this time. Ironically, skyscrapers and landmarks in New York City such as the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge were built in large part by descendants of the Mohawk nation that had been adversely affected by European incursion. The Mohawks had become skilled steelworkers, building bridges across the St. Lawrence River and other locations in the 1800s. Upstate, exploiting the railroad system as an active connection to the "Big Apple, " as New York City was called, factories of glass and machinery grew and thrived. The state continued a significant agricultural business upstate as well, primarily in apples, beef, dairy products, and winemaking. The Great Depression hit New York State hard, as weaknesses in New York City's economy spread across the state. After World War II, the railways decreased in use, and this severed tie between upstate and New York City caused many smaller upstate towns to decline financially in the 1950s and 1960s. Politically, the divide widened even more as New York City became more liberal in its thinking and Democratic in its voting, while upstate dug in as a conservative, Republican stronghold.

By the end of the twentieth century, New York State was losing some of its political clout nationally. The 2000 national census resulted in the demotion of the state from second in electoral votes behind California to third, behind Texas as well. High state taxes drove many companies out of New York and kept many new ones from locating there. Family farms suffered from high costs and lack of federal support and many were forced to close. The suburban sprawl of chain stores and shopping malls drove commerce away from locally owned Main Street shops in upstate small towns. Tourism across the state remained strong, from Niagara Falls to Manhattan. The financial district in Manhattan also remained strong at the end of the century, enjoying an economic boom due to record-breaking stock market highs driven by hopes and prospects of the computer age.

In the final senatorial election of the twentieth century, New York State once again made women's history by electing Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady of the United States, to Congress as its junior senator. This was the first time in the nation's history that a former first lady had been elected to public office.

Early Twenty-First Century

Nostalgia for the golden days of New York City and what the city has meant to the history and development of the United States on a national scale increased after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. Two commercial jet airliners full of passengers on their way from Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles, California, were hijacked and piloted by members of the Al Qaeda terrorist network into the sides of both Trade Center towers. (The Pentagon was also attacked, and a plane bound for the White House was downed by passengers in a field in Pennsylvania.) With nearly 3,000 dead in New York City alone, the attacks caused the most casualties of American civilians due to foreign action on American soil in the history of the United States. The terrorists clearly felt that the World Trade Center was a visible symbol of American financial strength and power throughout the world.

Visitors poured into the city to help first with the recovery and the rebuilding of the World Trade Center area in particular, then the economy of the city in general. The state economy continued to suffer as resources had to be diverted to rebuild the affected areas and support the affected families. Thus the cuts for education, libraries, and other social services throughout the state that had started in the 1990s continued into the start of the new century.

Bibliography

Klein, Milton M., ed. The Empire State: A History of New York. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2001.

Snow, Dean R. The Iroquois. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1994.

Spotlight: New York

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From our Archives: Today's Highlights, April 25, 2005

New York became the first state in the US to require automobile license plates on this date in 1901. Automobile owners were charged a fee of $1. The color and decorative design of license plates vary state by state, and some states have even begun to put the address of the official state website on the plate. People may pay an extra fee for a vanity plate, customized for the owner of the car.

Columbia Encyclopedia: New York

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New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Ontario (NW), and the province of Quebec (N).

Facts and Figures

Area, 49,576 sq mi (128,402 sq km). Pop. (2000) 18,976,457, a 5.5% increase since the 1990 census. Capital, Albany. Largest city, New York City. Statehood, July 26, 1788 (11th of the original 13 states to ratify the Constitution). Highest pt., Mt. Marcy, 5,344 ft (1,630 m); lowest pt., sea level. Nickname, Empire State. Motto, Excelsior [Ever Upward]. State bird, bluebird. State flower, rose. State tree, sugar maple. Abbr., N.Y.; NY

Geography

Eastern New York is dominated by the Great Appalachian Valley. Lake Champlain is the chief northern feature of the valley, which also includes the Hudson River. The Hudson is noted for its beauty, as are Champlain and neighboring Lake George. West of the lakes are the rugged Adirondack Mts., another major vacationland, with extensive wildernesses and sports centers like Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. Mt. Marcy (5,344 ft/1,629 m), the highest point in the state, is near Lake Placid. The rest of NE New York is hilly, sloping gradually to the valleys of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, both of which separate it from Ontario. The Mohawk River, which flows from Rome into the Hudson north of Albany, is part of the New York State Canal System's Erie Canal, once a major route to the Great Lakes and the midwestern United States as well as the only complete natural route through the Appalachian Mts.

Most of the southern part of the state is on the Allegheny plateau, which rises in the SE to the Catskill Mts., an area that attracts many vacationers from New York City and its environs. New York City, in turn, attracts tourists from all over the world. On the extreme SE, the state extends into the Atlantic Ocean to form Long Island, which is separated from Connecticut on the N by Long Island Sound.

The western extension of the state to Lakes Ontario and Erie contains many bodies of water, notably Oneida Lake and the celebrated Finger Lakes. In the northwest the Niagara River, with scenic Niagara Falls, forms the border with Ontario between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The western region has resorts as well as large, traditionally industrial cities such as Buffalo on Lake Erie, Rochester on Lake Ontario, Syracuse, and Utica. The western section is drained by the Allegheny River and rivers of the Susquehanna and Delaware systems. The Delaware River Basin Compact, signed in 1961 by New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the federal government, regulates the utilization of water of the Delaware system.

In addition to the great forest preserves of the Adirondacks and Catskills, New York has many state parks, among them Jones Beach State Park and Allegany State Park. Part of Fire Island, which lies off Long Island, is a national seashore. The racetrack at Saratoga Springs, a pleasure and health resort, and the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River are popular with summer vacationers. Among the places of historic interest in the state under federal administration (see National Parks and Monuments, table) are those at Hyde Park, with the burial place of Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Vanderbilt Mansion. Albany is the capital; New York City is the largest city, followed by Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse.

Economy

Schenectady, Albany, and New York City, once the major industrial cities of the lower Mohawk and the Hudson, continue their long-time manufacturing decline. Except in the mountain regions, the areas between cities are rich agriculturally. The Finger Lakes region has orchards producing apples, one of New York's leading crops; vineyards here and on Long Island make the state famous for its wines. The state produces other, diverse crops, especially grapes, strawberries, cherries, pears, onions, and potatoes (grown especially on E Long Island); maple syrup is extracted, and New York is the third leading U.S. producer of dairy goods. New York's mineral resources include crushed stone, cement, salt, and zinc.

The state has a complex system of railroads, air routes, and modern highways, notably the New York State Thruway. The New York State Canal System, an improvement of the old Erie Canal, is now mainly used for recreational travel; the Hudson and some other rivers still carry freight. Ocean shipping is handled by the port of New York City and, to a much lesser extent, by Buffalo. Hydroelectricity for N New York is produced by the St. Lawrence power project and by the Niagara power project, which began producing in 1961.

In spite of significant decline, New York has retained some important manufacturing industries, and, by virtue of New York City, it has strengthened is position as a commercial and financial leader. Although the largest percentage of the state's jobs lie in the service sector, its manufactures are extremely diverse and include printed materials, apparel, food products, machinery, chemicals, paper, electrical equipment (notably at Schenectady), computer equipment (Poughkeepsie), optical instruments and cameras (Rochester), sporting goods, and transportation equipment.

Printing and publishing, mass communications, advertising, and entertainment are among New York City's notable industries. Long Island has aircraft plants (although these have declined sharply since the 1970s) and Brookhaven National Laboratory, a research center. Many corporate headquarters and research facilities have relocated in Westchester co., N of New York City. Some commercial fishing is pursued in Lakes Erie and Ontario and in the waters around Long Island. The state has c.18,775,000 acres (7,294,000 hectares) of forest, but forestry is no longer a major industry.

Government, Politics, and Higher Education

Under its present constitution (adopted 1894), New York is run by a governor, who is elected to a four-year term and may be reelected, and by a bicameral legislature made up of a 61-member senate and a 150-member assembly. Republican George Pataki was elected governor in 1994, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Mario Cuomo, and was reelected in 1998 and 2002. He did not run in 2006, when Democrat Eliot Spitzer won the office. Spitzer resigned in 2008 after being linked to a prostitute; Lieutenant Governor David Paterson succeeded him, becoming the state's first African-American governor. Members of both branches of the legislature are elected to two-year terms. The state has 2 U.S. senators and 29 representatives and has 31 electoral votes in national presidential elections (a significant drop from its 41 votes in 1970).

Apart from New York City (see separate articles for educational and cultural institutions in New York City and its boroughs), institutions of higher education in the state include Alfred Univ., Bard College, Colgate Univ., Cornell Univ., Hobart College, Iona Univ., Long Island Univ., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Sarah Lawrence College, Skidmore College, Syracuse Univ., the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, Univ. of Rochester, Vassar College, and Wells College. The State Univ. of New York has major campuses at Stony Brook, Albany, Binghamton, and Buffalo.

History

The Algonquians and the Iroquois

Before Europeans began to arrive in the 16th cent., New York was inhabited mainly by Algonquian- and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans. The Algonquians, including the Mohegan, Lenni Lenape, and Wappinger tribes, lived chiefly in the Hudson valley and on Long Island. The Iroquois, living in the central and western parts of the state, included the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca tribes, who joined c.1570 to form the Iroquois Confederacy.

French and Dutch Claims

Europeans first approached New York from both the sea and from Canada. Giovanni da Verrazano, a Florentine in the service of France, visited (1524) the excellent harbor of New York Bay but did little exploring. In 1609, Samuel de Champlain, a Frenchman, traveled S on Lake Champlain from Canada, and Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the service of the Dutch, sailed the Hudson nearly to Albany. The French, who had allied themselves with the Hurons of Ontario, continued to push into N and W New York from Canada, but met with resistance from the Iroquois Confederacy, which dominated W New York.

The Dutch early claimed the Hudson region, and the Dutch West India Company (chartered in 1621, organized in 1623) planted (1624) their colony of New Netherland, with its chief settlements at New Amsterdam on the lower tip of present-day Manhattan island (purchased in 1626 from the Canarsie tribe for goods worth about 60 Dutch guilders) and at Fort Nassau, later called Fort Orange (present-day Albany). To increase the slow pace of colonization the Dutch set up the patroon system in 1629, thus establishing the landholding aristocracy that became the hallmark of colonial New York. The last and most able of the Dutch administrators, Peter Stuyvesant (in office 1647-64), captured New Sweden for the Dutch in 1655.

An English Colony

The English, claiming the whole region on the basis of the explorations of John Cabot, made good their claim in the Second Dutch War (1664-67). In 1664 an English fleet sailed into the harbor of New Amsterdam, and Stuyvesant surrendered without a struggle. New Netherland then became the colonies of New York and New Jersey, granted by King Charles II to his brother, the duke of York (later James II). Except for brief recapture (1673-74) by the Dutch, New York remained English until the American Revolution.

After the early days of the colony, the popular governor Thomas Dongan (1683-88) put New York on a firm basis and began to establish the alliance of the English with the Iroquois, which later played an important part in New York history. The attempt in 1688 to combine New York and New Jersey with New England under the rule of Sir Edmund Andros was a failure, turning almost all the colonists against him. The threat of the French was continuous, and New York was involved in a number of the French and Indian Wars (1689-1763). The friendship of Sir William Johnson with some of the Iroquois aided the British in the warfare and also opened part of central New York to settlers, mainly from the British Isles. Frequent warfare hindered growth, however, and much of W New York remained unsettled by colonists throughout the 18th cent.

Slowly, however, the colony, with its busy shipping and fishing fleets, its expanding farms, and its first college (King's College, founded in 1754, now Columbia Univ.), was beginning to establish its own identity, separate from that of England. Colonial self-assertiveness grew after the warfare with the French ended; there was considerable objection to the restrictive commercial laws, and the Navigation Acts were flouted by smuggling. When the Stamp Act was passed, New York was a leader of the opposition, and the Stamp Act Congress met (1765) in New York City. The policies of Lt. Gov. Cadwallader Colden, who did not oppose the Stamp Act, occasioned considerable complaint, and unrest grew.

Revolution and a New Constitution

As troubles flared and escalated into the American Revolution, New Yorkers were divided in their loyalties. About one third of all the military engagements of the American Revolution took place in New York state. The first major military action in the state was the capture (May, 1775) of Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys and Benedict Arnold. Crown Point was also taken. In Aug., 1776, however, George Washington was unable to hold lower New York against the British under Gen. William Howe and lost the battle of Long Island, as he did the succeeding actions at Harlem Heights (Sept. 16) and White Plains (Oct. 28).

The British invested New York City and held it to the war's end. The state had, however, declared independence and functioned with Kingston as its capital, George Clinton as its first governor, and John Jay as its first chief justice. In 1777 New York was the key to the overall British campaign plan, which was directed toward taking the entire state and thus separating New England from the South. This failed finally (Oct., 1777) in the battles near the present-day resort of Saratoga Springs (see Saratoga campaign), generally considered as the decisive action of the war, partly because France was now persuaded to join the war on the side of the Colonies.

The British alliance with the Iroquois resulted in widespread violence in the frontier portion of the state. After the devastation of two Iroquois villages, the Iroquois and British responded with the massacre at Cherry Hill (1778). For the rest of the war there was more or less a stalemate, with the British occupying New York City, the patriots holding most of the rest of the state, and Westchester co. disputed ground. In 1780 Benedict Arnold failed in his attempt to betray West Point.

The influence of Alexander Hamilton was paramount in bringing New York to accept (1788) the Constitution of the United States at a convention in Poughkeepsie. Other leaders, however, mostly from the landed aristocracy (such as John Jay and Gouverneur Morris), were also powerful. Hamilton, Jay, and James Madison wrote The Federalist, a series of essays, to promote ratification. New York City was briefly (1789-90) the capital of the new nation and was also the state capital until 1797, when Albany succeeded it. Political dissension between the Federalists and the Jeffersonians was particularly keen in New York state, and Aaron Burr had much to do with swinging the state to Jefferson.

Land Speculation and Commercial Development

By the end of the war many Loyalists had left New York; the emigrants included former large landowners whose holdings had been seized by the legislature. After the war speculation in W New York land (some newly acquired by quieting Massachusetts claims) rose to dizzying heights. The eastern boundary of the state was established after long wrangles and violence when Vermont was admitted as a state in 1791.

From the 1780s increased commerce (somewhat slowed by the Embargo Act of 1807) and industry, especially textile milling, marked the turn away from the old, primarily agricultural, order. It was on the Hudson that Robert Fulton demonstrated (1807) his steamboat. In the War of 1812 New York saw action in 1813-14, with the British capture of Fort Niagara and particularly with the brilliant naval victory of Thomas Macdonough over the British on Lake Champlain at Plattsburgh.

The state continued its development, which was quickened and broadened by the building of the Erie Canal. The canal, completed in 1825, and railroad lines constructed (from 1831) parallel to it made New York the major East-West commercial route in the 19th cent. and helped to account for the growth and prosperity of the port of New York. Cities along the canal (Buffalo, Syracuse, Rome, Utica, and Schenectady) prospered. Albany grew, and New York City, whose first bank had been established by Hamilton in 1784, became the financial capital of the nation.

Political, Reform, and Cultural Movements

New constitutions broadened the suffrage in 1821 and again in 1846; slavery was abolished in 1827. Politics was largely controlled from the 1820s to the 40s by the Albany Regency, which favored farmers, artisans, and small businessmen. Martin Van Buren was the regency's chief figure. The regency's control was challenged by the business-oriented Whigs, led by Thurlow Weed and William H. Seward, and by the Anti-Masonic party. The rise of tension between the reform-minded Locofocos and the Tammany organization in New York City weakened the Democratic party in the 1830s. After the panic of 1837, Seward was governor (1839-52), and his Whig program included internal improvements, educational reform, and opposition to slavery.

New York was a leader in numerous 19th-century reform groups. Antislavery groups made their headquarters in New York. In 1848 the first women's rights convention in the United States met in Seneca Falls.

Early in its history New York state emerged as one of the cultural leaders of the nation. In the early 19th cent. Washington Irving and William Cullen Bryant, leaders of the famed Knickerbocker School of writers, and James Fenimore Cooper were among the country's foremost literary figures. The natural beauty of New York inspired the noted Hudson River school of American landscape painters. With New England's decline as a literary center, many writers came to New York City from other parts of the nation, helping to make it a literary and publishing center and the cultural heart of the country.

Immigration and Civil War

Migrants from New England had been settling on the western frontier, and in the 1840s famine and revolution in Europe resulted in a great wave of Irish and German immigrants, whose first stop in America was usually New York City. In 1850, Millard Fillmore became the second New Yorker to be President of the United States; the first was Martin Van Buren (1837-41). The split of the Democrats over the slavery issue into antislavery Barnburners and the Hunkers, who were not opposed to the extension of slavery, helped pave the way for New York's swing to the Republicans and Abraham Lincoln in the fateful election of 1860.

Despite the draft riots (1863) in New York City and the activities of the Peace Democrats, New York state strongly favored the Union and contributed much to its cause in the Civil War. Industrial development was stimulated by the needs of the military, and railroads increased their capacity. New York City's newspapers, notably the Tribune under the guidance of Horace Greeley, had considerable national influence, and after the war the publication of periodicals and books centered more and more in the city, whose libraries expanded. From 1867 to 1869, Cornelius Vanderbilt consolidated the New York Central RR system.

Political Corruption and the Labor Movement

As economic growth accelerated, political corruption became rampant. Samuel J. Tilden won a national reputation in 1871 for prosecuting the Tweed Ring of New York City, headed by William Marcy "Boss" Tweed, but Tammany soon recovered much of its prestige and influence as the Democratic city organization. The Republican party also had bosses, notably Roscoe Conkling and Thomas Collier Platt, and the split between Democratic New York City and Republican upstate widened. New Yorkers Chester A. Arthur (1881-85) and Grover Cleveland (1885-89, 1893-97) served as Presidents of the United States in the late 19th cent.

After 1880 the inpouring of immigrants from Ireland, Italy, and Eastern Europe brought workers for the old industries, which were expanding, and for the new ones, including the electrical and chemical industries, which were being established. Labor conditions worsened but were challenged by the growing labor movement, whose targets included sweatshops (particularly notorious in New York City). Muckrakers were particularly vociferous in New York in the late 19th and early 20th cent. Service as New York City's police commissioner and then as a reform-oriented governor of the state helped Theodore Roosevelt establish the national reputation that sent him to the vice presidency and then to the White House (1901-9). A fire in 1911 at the Triangle Waist Company in Manhattan that killed 146 workers resulted in the passage of early health, fire safety, and labor laws including the Widowed Mothers Pension Act.

New York since 1912

The Democrats returned to power in the state in 1912, and subsequently New York seesawed from one party to the other. The reform programs continued to gain ground, however, and Democratic state administrations between World War I and II-those of Alfred E. Smith (1918-20, 1922-28), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1928-32), and Herbert H. Lehman (1932-42)-presided over a wide variety of reform measures. The reform programs emphasized public works, conservation, reorganization of state finances, social welfare, and extensive labor laws. Four years after Smith's defeat in the 1928 presidential election, Roosevelt went to the White House. Lehman followed Roosevelt's national New Deal program by instituting the Little New Deal in New York state. At the same time Fiorello LaGuardia, Republican mayor of New York City (1934-45), enthusiastically supported Roosevelt's social and economic reforms.

The Republican party returned to power in the state in 1942 with the election of Thomas E. Dewey as governor (reelected 1946, 1950). Dewey had the immense task of coordinating state activities with national efforts in World War II, straining New York's resources to the utmost. He also built upon the reforms of his predecessors, extending social and antidiscrimination legislation, and won a reputation for effectiveness that made him twice (1944 and 1948) the Republican presidential nominee.

During the governorship (1959-73) of Nelson Rockefeller, a Republican, state social-welfare programs and the State Univ. of New York were expanded, and a large state office and cultural complex was built in Albany. New York's growth slowed from the 1970s, though, as the state lost its dominant position in U.S. manufacturing, and the older cities lost businesses and residents to suburbs or to other states.

Bibliography

See A. C. Flick, A History of The State of New York (10 vol., 1933-37; repr. 10 vol. in 5, 1962); D. M. Ellis, A History of New York State (1967); E. Wilson, Upstate: Records and Recollections of Northern New York (1971); W. Smith, The History of The Province of New York, ed. by M. Karnmen (1972); J. H. Thompson, ed., The Geography of New York State (rev. ed. 1977); T. Gergel, The Encyclopedia of New York (1983); N. White, New York: A Physical History (1987); Delorme Mapping Company Staff, New York State Atlas and Gazetteer (1988).

Geography: New York

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State in the northeastern United States bordered by Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and Ontario, Canada to the north and west; Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east; and New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south. Its capital is Albany, and its largest city is New York City.

One of the thirteen colonies.

Local Time: New York

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It is 5:04 PM, November 20, in New York.

Wine Lover's Companion: New York

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This state is the United States' third-largest premium wine-producing state after California and Washington. A majority of the state's vineyards are planted with native vitis labrusca or hybrid vines. Because of this, New York wasn't considered a producer of high-quality wines until recently. Acreage devoted to vitis vinifera grapes (like cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, pinot noir and riesling) is slowly increasing, but these varieties account for only about 10 percent of New York's total vineyard land. On the other hand, native american grapes (like catawba, concord, delaware and niagara) comprise over 70 percent of the vineyard acreage. hybrids like aurora, baco noir, chelois, de chaunac and seyval blanc account for the remaining vineyard acreage. New York's most important premium wine-producing region (in which 45 percent of the state's 160 wineries reside) is the finger lakes ava and its subzone cayuga lake ava. Other regions include the hudson river valley region ava, lake erie ava (which extends into pennsylvania andohio) and long island ava, with its viticultural areas of North fork of Long Island and The Hamptons. Much of New York's production goes into generic wines (labeled burgundy, chablis, rhine wine or sauterne) or into sparkling wines. Wines labeled with an AVA designation must contain a minimum of 85 percent of that area's wine. "New York State" on the label tells you that a minimum of 75 percent of the wine came from within the state. Wines labeled with the name of a Vitis labrusca grape must comprise 51 percent of that grape. Other varietal wines must contain 75 percent of a particular grape.

Stats: New York

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flag of New York

Abbreviation: NY
Capital City: Albany
Date of Statehood: Jul. 26, 1788
State #: 11
Population: 18,976,457
Area: 54475 sq.mi. Land 47224 sq. mi. Water 7251 sq.mi.
Economy:
Agriculture: dairy products, cattle and other livestock, vegetables, nursery stock, apples;
Industry: printing and publishing, scientific instruments, electric equipment, machinery, chemical products, tourism
Where the name comes from: Named after England's Duke of York
State Bird: Bluebird
State Flower: Rose
About the Flag: Emblazoned on a dark blue field is the state coat of arms. The goddess, Liberty, holds a pole with a Liberty Cap on top. At her feet is a discarded crown, representing freedom from England at the end of the Revolutionary War. On the right is the goddess, Justice, wearing a blindfold and carrying the scales of justice, indicating that everyone receives equal treatment under the law. The state motto, "Excelsior," on a white ribbon expresses the idea of reaching upward to higher goals. On the shield a sun rises over the Hudson highlands and ships sail the Hudson river. Above the shield is an eagle resting on a globe representing the Western Hemisphere.
State Motto: Excelsior
State Nickname: Empire State
State Song: I love New York

Parks: New York

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Almond Lake

Amagansett National Wildlife Refuge

Appalachian National Scenic Trail

Castle Clinton National Monument

Conscience Point National Wildlife Refuge

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

East Sidney Lake

Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Elizabeth A. Morton NWR

Elizabeth A. Morton National Wildlife Refuge

Ellis Island National Monument

Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor

Federal Hall National Memorial

Finger Lakes National Forest

Fire Island National Seashore

Fire Island Wilderness

Fort Stanwix National Monument

Gateway National Recreation Area

General Grant National Memorial

Governors Island National Monument

Hamilton Grange National Memorial

Home Of Franklin D Roosevelt National Historic Site

Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve

Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge

Kinzua Dam And Allegheny Reservoir

Lower East Side Tenement Museum National Historic Site

Manhattan Sites

Martin Van Buren National Historic Site

Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge

Mount Morris Dam

Museum of American Financial History

National Museum of the American Indian

National Parks of New York Harbor

New York State Museum

North Country National Scenic Trail

Oyster Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site

Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site

Saratoga National Historical Park

Seatuck National Wildlife Refuge

Seaway Trail Scenic Byway

Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge

Statue Of Liberty National Monument

Strong Museum

Target Rock National Wildlife Refuge

The Jazz Museum in Harlem

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River

Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site

Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge

Whitney Point

Women's Rights National Historical Park

Wikipedia: New York

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"NY" redirects here. For other uses, see NY (disambiguation).

This article is about the U.S. State of New York. For the city, see New York City. For other uses, see New York (disambiguation).

State of New York


Flag	Seal
Nickname(s): The Empire State
Motto(s): Excelsior (Latin)^[1] Ever upward

Official language(s)

None

Demonym

New Yorker

Capital

Albany

Largest city

New York City

Largest metro area

New York metropolitan area

Area

Ranked 27^th in the US

- Total

54,555 sq mi
(141,299 km²)

- Width

285 miles (455 km)

- Length

330 miles (530 km)

- % water

13.3

- Latitude

40° 30′ N to 45° 1′ N

- Longitude

71° 51′ W to 79° 46′ W

Population

Ranked 3^rd in the US

- Total

19,490,297 (2008 est.)^[2]
18,976,457 (2000)

- Density

408.7/sq mi (157.81/km²)
Ranked 7^th in the US

Elevation

- Highest point

Mount Marcy^[3]
5,344 ft (1,629 m)

- Mean

1,000 ft (305 m)

- Lowest point

0 ft (0 m)

Admission to Union

July 26, 1788 (11^th)

Governor

David Paterson (D)

Lieutenant Governor

Richard Ravitch (D) ^[4]

U.S. Senators

Charles Schumer (D)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

U.S. House delegation

27 Democrats,
2 Republicans (list)

Time zone

Eastern: UTC-5/-4

Abbreviations

NY US-NY

Website

http://www.ny.gov

New York (pronounced /nuː ˈjɔrk/ ( listen)) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the west, and Quebec to the north. New York is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City.

New York City, which is geographically the largest city in the state and most populous in the United States, is known for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States and its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, it is also a destination of choice for many foreign visitors. Both state and city were named for the 17th century Duke of York, James Stuart, future James II and VII of England and Scotland.

New York was inhabited by the Algonquin, Iroquois, and Lenape Native American groups at the time Dutch and French nationals moved into the region in the early 17th century. First claimed by Henry Hudson in 1609, the region came to have Dutch forts at Fort Orange, near the site of the present-day capital of Albany in 1614, and was colonized by the Dutch in 1624 at both Albany and Manhattan; it later fell to British annexation in 1664.

The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were roughly similar to those of the present-day state. About one third of all of the battles of the Revolutionary War took place in New York. New York became an independent state on July 9, 1776 and enacted its constitution in 1777. The state ratified the United States Constitution on July 26, 1788 to become the 11th state.

Geography

Main article: Geography of New York

New York covers 54,556 square miles (141,300 km²) and ranks as the 27th largest state by size.^[5] The Great Appalachian Valley dominates eastern New York, while Lake Champlain is the chief northern feature of the valley, which also includes the Hudson River flowing southward to the Atlantic Ocean. The rugged Adirondack Mountains, with vast tracts of wilderness, lie west of the valley. Most of the southern part of the state is on the Allegheny Plateau, which rises from the southeast to the Catskill Mountains. The western section of the state is drained by the Allegheny River and rivers of the Susquehanna and Delaware systems. The Delaware River Basin Compact, signed in 1961 by New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the federal government, regulates the utilization of water of the Delaware system. The highest elevation in New York is Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks.^[3]

New York's borders touch (clockwise from the west) two Great Lakes (Erie and Ontario, which are connected by the Niagara River); the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada; Lake Champlain; three New England states (Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut); the Atlantic Ocean, and two Mid-Atlantic States, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In addition, Rhode Island shares a water border with New York.

New York terrain

Map of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers

Contrasting with New York City's urban atmosphere, the vast majority of the state is dominated by farms, forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. New York's Adirondack Park is the largest state park in the United States. It is larger than the Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier and Olympic National Parks combined.^[6] New York established the first state park in the United States at Niagara Falls in 1885. Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is a popular attraction. The Hudson River begins with Lake Tear of the Clouds and flows south through the eastern part of the state without draining Lakes George or Champlain. Lake George empties at its north end into Lake Champlain, whose northern end extends into Canada, where it drains into the Richelieu and then the St. Lawrence Rivers. Four of New York City's five boroughs are on the three islands at the mouth of the Hudson River: Manhattan Island, Staten Island, and Brooklyn and Queens on Long Island.

Upstate and downstate are often used informally to distinguish New York City or its greater metropolitan area from the rest of New York state. The placement of a boundary between the two is a matter of great contention.^[7] Unofficial and loosely defined regions of Upstate New York include the Southern Tier, which often includes the counties along the border with Pennsylvania.^[8] and the North Country, which can mean anything from the strip along the Canadian border to everything north of the Mohawk River.^[9]

Climate

Main article: Climate of New York

State parks

Adirondack Park map

New York has many state parks and two major forest preserves. Adirondack Park, roughly the size of the state of Vermont and the largest state park in the United States, was established in 1892 and given state constitutional protection in 1894. The thinking that led to the creation of the Park first appeared in George Perkins Marsh's Man and Nature, published in 1864. Marsh argued that deforestation could lead to desertification; referring to the clearing of once-lush lands surrounding the Mediterranean, he asserted "the operation of causes set in action by man has brought the face of the earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of the moon."

The Catskill Park was protected in legislation passed in 1885,^[12] which declared that its land was to be conserved and never put up for sale or lease. Consisting of 700,000 acres (2,800 km²) of land,^[12] the park is a habitat for bobcats, minks and fishers. There are some 400 black bears living in the region. The state operates numerous campgrounds and there are over 300 miles (480 km) of multi-use trails in the Park.

The Montauk Point State Park boasts the famous Montauk Lighthouse, commissioned by President George Washington, which is a major tourist attraction and is located in the township of East Hampton, Suffolk County. Hither Hills park offers camping and is a popular destination with surfcasting sport fishermen.

History

Main article: History of New York

New York and the rest of the Thirteen Colonies (red); the lands ceded to Great Britain by France in 1763 (pink), much of which would go to the United States in 1783.

17th century

During the 17th century, Dutch trading posts established for the trade of pelts from the Lenape, Iroquois and other indigenous peoples expanded into the colony of New Netherlands. The first of these trading posts were Fort Nassau (1614, near present-day Albany); Fort Orange (1624, on the Hudson River just south of the current city of Albany and created to replace Fort Nassau), developing into settlement Beverwijck (1647), and into what became Albany; Fort Amsterdam (1625, to develop into the town New Amsterdam which is present-day New York City); and Esopus, (1653, now Kingston). The success of the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck (1630), which surrounded Albany and lasted until the mid 19th century, was also a key factor in the early success of the colony.

American Revolution

The British captured the colony during the Second Anglo-Dutch War and governed it as the Province of New York. Agitation for independence, during the 1770s, brought the American Revolution.

New York endorsed the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776.^[13] The New York state constitution was framed by a convention which assembled at White Plains, New York on July 10, 1776, and after repeated adjournments and changes of location, terminated its labors at Kingston, New York on Sunday evening, April 20, 1777, when the new constitution drafted by John Jay was adopted with but one dissenting vote. It was not submitted to the people for ratification. On July 30, 1777, George Clinton was inaugurated as the first Governor of New York at Kingston.

The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga provided the cannon and gunpowder necessary to force a British withdrawal from the Siege of Boston in 1775.

The first major battle of the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared – and the largest battle of the entire war – was fought in New York at the Battle of Long Island (a.k.a Battle of Brooklyn) in 1776). British victory made New York City their military and political base of operations in North America for the duration of the conflict, and consequently the center of attention for General George Washington's intelligence network. The first of two major British armies were captured by the Continental Army at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, influencing France to ally with the revolutionaries.

The notorious British prison ships of Wallabout Bay saw more American combatants die of intentional neglect than were killed in combat in every battle of the war, combined. Four of the Iroquois nations fought on the side of the British; only the Onondagas were allies of the colonists. Many Iroquois were defeated in the Sullivan Expedition of 1779.^[14] As Loyalist allies of the losing British, the Iroquois were pushed to Canada after the war. In the treaty settlement, the British ceded most Indian lands to the new United States. Because New York made treaty with the Iroquois without getting Congressional approval, some of the land purchases are the subject of modern-day claims by the individual tribes. More than 5 million acres of former Iroquois territory was put up for sale in the years after the Revolutionary War, leading to rapid development in upstate New York.^[15] As per the Treaty of Paris, the last vestige of British authority in the former Thirteen Colonies – their troops in New York City – departed in 1783, which was long afterwards celebrated as Evacuation Day.^[16]

New York state was one of the original thirteen colonies that became the United States. It was the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788.^[17]

19th century

The creation of the Erie Canal led to rapid industrialization in New York.

Transportation in western New York was difficult before canals were built in the early part of the nineteenth century. The Hudson and Mohawk Rivers could be navigated only as far as Central New York. While the St. Lawrence River could be navigated to Lake Ontario, the way westward to the other Great Lakes was blocked by Niagara Falls, and so the only route to western New York was over land.

Governor DeWitt Clinton strongly advocated building a canal to connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie, and thus all the Great Lakes. Work commenced in 1817, and the Erie Canal was finished in 1825. It was considered an engineering marvel. Packet boats traveled up and down the canal with sightseers and visitors on board.^[18] The canal opened up vast areas of New York to commerce and settlement. It enabled Great Lakes port cities such as Buffalo and Rochester to grow and prosper. It also connected the burgeoning agricultural production of the Midwest and shipping on the Great Lakes, with the port of New York City. Improving transportation, it enabled additional population migration to territories west of New York.

Ellis Island

Main article: Ellis Island

Scenes at the Immigration Depot and a nearby dock on Ellis Island

Ellis Island in 1905

Ellis Island was the main facility for immigrants, entering the United States in the late 19th Century to the mid 20th Century. The facility operated from January 1, 1892, until November 12, 1954. It is owned by the Federal government and is now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. It is situated in New York Harbor, between two states and cities, Jersey City, New Jersey and New York City, New York.

More than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island, between 1892 and 1954. After 1924, when the National Origins Act was passed, the only immigrants to pass through there were displaced persons or war refugees.^[19] Today, over 100 million Americans can trace their ancestry to the immigrants, who first arrived in America through the island, before dispersing to points all over the country. Ellis Island was the subject of a border dispute between New York State and New Jersey.

Statue of Liberty

Main article: Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States to mark the Centennial of the American Declaration of Independence. The idea of giving a colossal representation of republican virtues to a "sister" republic, across the sea, served as a focus for the republican cause against other politicians. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor on October 28, 1886.

Liberty Island closed on September 11, 2001; the island reopened in December, the monument reopened on August 3, 2004, but the statue remained closed until the summer of 2009. The National Park Service claims that the statue is not shut because of a terrorist threat, but principally because of a long list of fire regulation contraventions, including inadequate evacuation procedures. The museum and ten-story pedestal are open for visitors, but are only accessible if visitors have a "Monument Access Pass", which is a reservation that visitors must make in advance of their visit and pick up before boarding the ferry. There are a maximum of 3000 passes available each day, with a total of 15,000 visitors to the island daily. The interior of the statue remains closed, although a glass ceiling in the pedestal allows for views of Gustave Eiffel's iron framework of Lady Liberty.

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1790	340,120		—
1800	589,051		73.2%
1810	959,049		62.8%
1820	1,372,851		43.1%
1830	1,918,608		39.8%
1840	2,428,921		26.6%
1850	3,097,394		27.5%
1860	3,880,735		25.3%
1870	4,382,759		12.9%
1880	5,082,871		16.0%
1890	5,997,853		18.0%
1900	7,268,894		21.2%
1910	9,113,614		25.4%
1920	10,385,227		14.0%
1930	12,588,066		21.2%
1940	13,479,142		7.1%
1950	14,830,192		10.0%
1960	16,782,304		13.2%
1970	18,236,967		8.7%
1980	17,558,072		−3.7%
1990	17,990,455		2.5%
2000	18,976,457		5.5%
Est. 2008	19,490,297	^[2]	2.7%

Main article: Demographics of New York

Population

New York population density map

As of 2006, New York was the third largest state in population after California and Texas,^[20] with an estimated population of 19,490,297 as of July 1, 2008.^[2] This represents an increase of 513,481, or 2.7%, since the last census in 2000.^[21] It includes a natural increase since the last census of 803,680 people (that is 2,072,765 births minus 1,269,085 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 698,895 people out of the state.^[21] Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 876,969 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 1,575,864 people.^[21]

In spite of the open land in the state, New York's population is very urban, with 92% of residents living in an urban area.^[22]

New York is a slow growing state with a large rate of domestic migration to other states. In 2000 and 2005, more people moved from New York to Florida than from any one state to another.^[23] However, New York state is one of the leading destinations for international immigration and thus has the second largest immigrant population in the country (after California) at 4.2 million as of 2008. Although Upstate New York receives considerable immigration, most of the state's immigrants settle in and around New York City, due to its more vibrant economy and cosmopolitan culture.

The center of population of New York is located in Orange County, in the town of Deerpark.^[24] New York City and its eight suburban counties (excluding those in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania) have a combined population of 13,209,006 people, or 68.42% of the state's population.^[25]

Racial and ancestral makeup

New York population ethnicity map

The major ancestry groups in New York state are African American (15.8%), Italian (14.4%), Irish (12.9%), and German (11.1%).^[26] According to a 2004 estimate, 20.4% of the population is foreign-born.

New York is home to the largest African American population and the second largest Asian American population in the United States. In addition it is home to the largest Puerto Rican, Dominican and Jamaican American populations in the United States. The New York City neighborhood of Harlem has historically been a major cultural capital for African-Americans of sub-Saharan descent, and Bedford Stuyvesant is the largest such population in the United States.

Queens, also in New York City, is home to the state's largest Asian-American population, and is also the most diverse county in the United States. The second concentration of Asian-Americans is in Manhattan's Chinatown.

In the 2000 Census, Italian Americans made up the largest ancestral group in Staten Island and Long Island, followed by Irish Americans. Albany and southeast-central New York also have populations with many of Irish-American and Italian-American descent. In Buffalo and western New York, German Americans are the largest group; in the northern tip of the state, French Canadians are. New York State has a higher number of Italian Americans than any other U.S. state.

6.5% of New York's population were under 5 years of age, 24.7% under 18, and 12.9% were 65 or older. Females made up 51.8% of the population.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 13.61% of the population aged 5 and over speak Spanish at home, while 2.04% speak Chinese (including Cantonese and Mandarin), 1.65% Italian, and 1.23% Russian.^[27]

Religion

Catholics comprise more than 40% of the population in New York.^[28] Protestants are 30% of the population, Jews 8.4%, Muslims 3.5%, Buddhists 1%, and 13% claim no religious affiliation. The largest Protestant denominations are the United Methodist Church with 403,362; the American Baptist Churches USA with 203,297; and the Episcopal Church with 201,797 adherents.^[29]

Cities and towns

New York terrain with selected communities

New York counties and county seats

For lists of cities, towns, and counties in New York, see List of cities in New York, List of towns in New York, List of villages in New York, List of counties in New York, List of census-designated places in New York and Administrative divisions of New York.

The largest city in the state and the most populous city in the United States is New York City, which comprises five counties, the Bronx, New York (Manhattan), Queens, Kings (Brooklyn), and Richmond (Staten Island). New York City is home to more than two-fifths of the state's population.

The ten largest cities are:^[30]

New York City (8,274,527)
Buffalo (279,745)
Rochester (211,091)
Yonkers (196,425)
Syracuse (141,683)
Albany (93,523)
New Rochelle (72,967)
Mount Vernon (67,924)
Schenectady (61,280)
Utica (59,336)

The location of these cities within the state stays remarkably true to the major transportation and trade routes in the early nineteenth century, primarily the Erie Canal and railroads paralleling it. Today, Interstate 90 acts as a modern counterpart to commercial water routes.

Grouped by metropolitan statistical area,^[31] the twelve largest population centers in the state are:

New York City (18,815,988 in NY/NJ/PA, 12,381,586 in NY)
Buffalo-Niagara Falls (1,128,183)
Rochester (1,030,495)
Albany and the Capital District (853,358)
Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley (669,915)
Syracuse (645,293)
Utica-Rome (294,862)
Binghamton (246,426)
Kingston (181,860)
Glens Falls (128,886)
Ithaca (101,055)
Elmira (88,015)

The smallest city is Sherrill, New York, located just west of the Town of Vernon in Oneida County. Albany is the state capital, and the Town of Hempstead is the civil township with the largest population. If it were a city, it would be the second largest in the state with over 700,000 residents.

The southern tip of New York State—New York City, its suburbs including Long Island, the southern portion of the Hudson Valley, and most of northern New Jersey—can be considered to form the central core of the Northeast megalopolis", a super-city stretching from the northern suburbs of Boston south to the Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C..

Economy

Main article: Economy of New York

The New York Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange in the world

Midtown Manhattan in New York City, the largest central business district in the United States

A dairy farm in Brunswick

New York's gross state product in 2007 was $1.1 trillion, ranking third in size behind the larger states of California and Texas.^[32] If New York were an independent nation, it would rank as the 16th largest economy in the world behind Turkey. Its 2007 per capita personal income was $46,364, placing it sixth in the nation behind Maryland, and eighth in the world behind Ireland. New York's agricultural outputs are dairy products, cattle and other livestock, vegetables, nursery stock, and apples. Its industrial outputs are printing and publishing, scientific instruments, electric equipment, machinery, chemical products, and tourism.

A recent review by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found 13 states, including several of the nation's largest, face budget shortfalls for FY2009. New York faces a deficit that could be as large as $4.3 billion.^[33]

New York exports a wide variety of goods such as foodstuffs, commodities, minerals, computers and electronics, cut diamonds, and automobile parts. In 2007, the state exported a total of $71.1 billion worth of goods, with the five largest foreign export markets being Canada ($15 billion), United Kingdom ($6 billion), Switzerland ($5.9 billion), Israel ($4.9 billion), and Hong Kong ($3.4 billion). New York's largest imports are oil, gold, aluminum, natural gas, electricity, rough diamonds, and lumber.

Canada is a very important economic partner for the state. 21% of the state's total worldwide exports went to Canada in 2007. Tourism from the north is also a large part of the economy. Canadians spent US$487 million in 2004 while visiting the state.

New York City is the leading center of banking, finance and communication in the United States and is the location of the New York Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume. Many of the world's largest corporations are based in the city.

The state also has a large manufacturing sector that includes printing and the production of garments, furs, railroad equipment and bus line vehicles. Many of these industries are concentrated in upstate regions. Albany and the Hudson Valley are major centers of nanotechnology and microchip manufacturing, while the Rochester area is important in photographic equipment and imaging.

New York is a major agricultural producer, ranking among the top five states for agricultural products such as dairy, apples, cherries, cabbage, potatoes, onions, maple syrup and many others. The state is the largest producer of cabbage in the U.S. The state has about a quarter of its land in farms and produced US$3.4 billion in agricultural products in 2001. The south shore of Lake Ontario provides the right mix of soils and microclimate for many apple, cherry, plum, pear and peach orchards. Apples are also grown in the Hudson Valley and near Lake Champlain.

New York is the nation's third-largest grape-producing state, behind California, and second-largest wine producer by volume. The south shore of Lake Erie and the southern Finger Lakes hillsides have many vineyards. In addition, the North Fork of Long Island developed vineyards, production and visitors' facilities in the last three decades of the 20th century. In 2004, New York's wine and grape industry brought US$6 billion into the state economy.

The state has 30,000 acres (120 km²) of vineyards, 212 wineries, and produced 200 million bottles of wine in 2004. A moderately sized saltwater commercial fishery is located along the Atlantic side of Long Island. The principal catches by value are clams, lobsters, squid, and flounder. These areas of the economy have been increasing as environmental protection has led to an increase in ocean wildlife.

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in New York

The Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge carries I-87 over the Mohawk River

The New York City Subway serves more than 5 million rides on a given week day

New York has one of the most extensive and one of the oldest transportation infrastructures in the country. Engineering difficulties because of the terrain of the state and the unique issues of the city brought on by urban crowding have had to be overcome since the state was young. Population expansion of the state generally followed the path of the early waterways, first the Hudson River and then the Erie Canal. Today, railroad lines and the New York State Thruway follow the same general route. The New York State Department of Transportation is often criticized for how they maintain the roads of the state in certain areas and for the fact that the tolls collected along the roadway have long passed their original purpose. Until 2006, tolls were collected on the Thruway within The City of Buffalo. They were dropped late in 2006 during the campaign for Governor (both candidates called for their removal).

In addition to New York City's famous mass transit subway, four suburban commuter railroad systems enter and leave the city: the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, Port Authority Trans-Hudson, and five of New Jersey Transit's rail lines. Many other cities have urban and regional public transportation. In Buffalo, the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority runs the Buffalo Metro Rail light-rail system; in Rochester, the Rochester Subway operated from 1927 until 1956 but has fallen into disuse.

Portions of the transportation system are intermodal, allowing travelers to easily switch from one mode of transportation to another. One of the most notable examples is AirTrain JFK which allows rail passengers to travel directly to terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

In May 2009 the New York City Department of Transportation under the control of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan banned cars from Times Square. The move designed to reduce pollution and pedestrian accidents looks likely to be implemented permantly, and will last at least until the end of the year.^[34]

Politics and government

Main article: Government of New York

New York State Capitol

Under its present constitution (adopted in 1938), New York is governed by three branches: the executive branch, consisting of the Governor of New York and the other independently elected constitutional officers; the legislative branch, consisting of the bicameral New York State Legislature; and the judicial branch, consisting of the state's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals, and lower courts.

New York's capital is Albany. The state's subordinate political units are its 62 counties. Other officially incorporated governmental units are towns, cities, and villages. New York has more than 4,200 local governments that take one of these forms. About 52% of all revenue raised by local governments in the state is raised solely by the government of New York City, which is the largest municipal government in the United States, whereas New York City houses only 42% of the state population.^[35]

The state has a strong imbalance of payments with the federal government. New York State receives 82 cents in services for every $1 it sends in taxes to the federal government in Washington.^[36] The state ranks near the bottom, in 42nd place, in federal spending per tax dollar.^[37]

Many of New York's public services are carried out by public benefit corporations, frequently called authorities or development corporations. Well known public benefit corporations in New York include the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees New York City's public transportation system, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a bi-state transportation infrastructure agency.

New York's legal system is explicitly based on English common Law.

Federal representation

As of the 2000 census and the redistricting for the 2002 elections, the state has 29 members in the United States House of Representatives, and two U.S. senators. New York has 31 electoral votes in national presidential elections (a drop from its 47 votes during the 1940s).

Capital punishment

Capital punishment was reintroduced in 1995 under the Pataki administration but the statute was declared unconstitutional in 2004, when the New York Court of Appeals ruled in People v. LaValle that it violated the state constitution. The remaining death sentence was commuted by the court to life imprisonment in 2007, in People v. John Taylor, and the death row was disestablished in 2008, under executive order from Governor Paterson. No execution has taken place in New York since 1963. Legislative efforts to reinstate the death penalty have failed.^[38]^[39]^[40]

Politics

David Paterson (D) is the current Governor of New York

Main articles: Politics of New York, Elections in New York, Political party strength in New York, and New York's congressional districts

In the last few decades, New York State has generally supported candidates belonging to the Democratic Party in national elections. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama won New York State by 25 percentage points in 2008, a bigger margin than John Kerry in 2004. New York City is a major Democratic stronghold with liberal politics. Many of the state's other urban areas, such as Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse are also Democratic. Rural upstate New York, however, is generally more conservative than the cities and tends to favor Republicans. Heavily populated Suburban areas such as Westchester County and Long Island have swung between the major parties over the past 25 years, but more often than not support Democrats.

New York City is the most important source of political fund-raising in the United States for both major parties. Four of the top five zip codes in the nation for political contributions are in Manhattan. The top zip code, 10021 on the Upper East Side, generated the most money for the 2000 presidential campaigns of both George W. Bush and Al Gore.^[41]

New York is represented by Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand in the United States Senate and has 29 representatives to the United States House of Representatives, behind California's 53 congressional districts and Texas' 32 congressional districts.

Education

Main article: Education in New York

System Administration Building of the State University of New York in Albany

The University of the State of New York oversees all public primary, middle-level, and secondary education in the state, while the New York City Department of Education manages the public school system in New York City.

At the college level, the statewide public university system is the State University of New York (SUNY). The City University of New York (CUNY) is the public university system of New York City. The SUNY system consists of 64 community colleges, technical colleges, undergraduate colleges and universities. The four university centers are University at Albany, Binghamton University, University at Buffalo and SUNY Stony Brook.

In addition there are many notable private universities, including the oldest Catholic institution in the northeast, Fordham University. New York is home to both Columbia University and Cornell University, making it the only state to contain more than one Ivy League school. West Point, the service academy of the U.S. Army is located just south of Newburgh, NY on the banks of the Hudson River.

Sports

Main article: Sports in New York

New York hosted the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, the Games known for the USA-USSR hockey game dubbed the "Miracle on Ice" in which a group of American college students and amateurs defeated the heavily-favored Soviet national ice hockey team 4–3 and went on to win the gold medal.Lake Placid also hosted the 1932 Winter Olympics. Along with St. Moritz, Switzerland and Innsbruck, Austria, it is one of the three places to have twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games.

New York is the home of one National Football League team, the Buffalo Bills, (based in the suburb of Orchard Park). Although the New York Giants and New York Jets represent the New York metropolitan area, they play in Giants Stadium, which is located in East Rutherford, New Jersey.There has been much controversy over the building of several building proposals for a new New York Jets football stadium, the owners of the New York Jets were willing to split the $1.5 billion cost of building a new football stadium over Manhattan's West Side rail yards however the proposal never came to fruition.

New York also has two Major League Baseball teams, the New York Yankees (based in The Bronx), and the New York Mets (based in New York City borough Queens). Brooklyn and Queens are City Counties on the westernmost part of Long Island. New York is home to three National Hockey League franchises (the New York Rangers in Manhattan, the New York Islanders on Long Island and the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, New York). New York has a National Basketball Association team, the New York Knicks in Manhattan.The former New York Nets from 1968 to 1977 is now titled as a New Jersey team however plans to relocate to New York City are in the works. There a variety of minor league teams that can be found all through the State of New York such as the Long Island Ducks.

List of all New York State professional sports teams

Club	Sport	League
Buffalo Bills	Football	National Football League
New York Red Bulls	Soccer	Major League Soccer
New York Knicks	Basketball	National Basketball Association
New York Liberty	Basketball	Women's National Basketball Association
Rochester Raging Rhinos	Soccer	USL First Division
Buffalo Sabres	Ice hockey	National Hockey League
New York Islanders	Ice Hockey	National Hockey League
New York Rangers	Ice Hockey	National Hockey League
Adirondack Phantoms	Ice Hockey	American Hockey League
Albany River Rats	Ice Hockey	American Hockey League
Binghamton Senators	Ice Hockey	American Hockey League
Elmira Jackals	Ice Hockey	ECHL
Rochester Americans	Ice Hockey	American Hockey League
Syracuse Crunch	Ice Hockey	American Hockey League
New York Mets	Baseball	Major League Baseball
New York Yankees	Baseball	Major League Baseball
Brooklyn Cyclones	Baseball	New York - Penn League
Staten Island Yankees	Baseball	New York – Penn League
Jamestown Jammers	Baseball	New York – Penn League
Batavia Muckdogs	Baseball	New York – Penn League
Auburn Doubledays	Baseball	New York – Penn League
Oneonta Tigers	Baseball	New York – Penn League
Tri-City Valley Cats	Baseball	New York – Penn League
Hudson Valley Renegades	Baseball	New York – Penn League
Binghamton Mets	Baseball	Eastern League
Buffalo Bisons	Baseball	International League
Rochester Red Wings	Baseball	International League
Syracuse Chiefs	Baseball	International League
Long Island Ducks	Baseball	Atlantic League of Professional Baseball
New York Dragons	Arena football	Arena Football League
Albany Conquest	Arena football	af2
Long Island Lizards	Lacrosse	Major League Lacrosse
Rochester Rattlers	Lacrosse	Major League Lacrosse
Buffalo Bandits	Lacrosse	National Lacrosse League
Rochester Knighthawks	Lacrosse	National Lacrosse League
New York Titans	Lacrosse	National Lacrosse League
Brooklyn Wonders	Basketball	American Basketball Association
Buffalo Silverbacks	Basketball	American Basketball Association
Rochester Razorsharks	Basketball	American Basketball Association
Strong Island Sound	Basketball	American Basketball Association
Albany Patroons	Basketball	Continental Basketball Association
New York	Gaelic football	Gaelic Athletic Association
New York	hurling	Gaelic Athletic Association

Navy vessel namesakes

USS New York (LPD-21) Launch date September 11, 2009

There have been at least six United States Navy ships named USS New York in honor of the state. The keel was laid for the USS New York (LPD 21) on September 10, 2004 and she will be the seventh US Navy ship to be named for the state. The New York's motto will be "Never Forget."

According to Naval records, several other ships have carried the name the USS New York. This new ship was given the name the USS New York when former New York governor George Pataki wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England and requested that the Navy use the name to honor the victims of September 11 and to give it to a surface ship that would be used to fight the War on Terror. This is an exception to the current use of state names for submarines only.

Steel from the World Trade Center is poured for construction of the USS New York (LPD-21)

The first ship to carry the name USS New York was an armed gondola built by Revolutionary War General Benedict Arnold in 1776. She was burned to avoid capture later in the Revolutionary War.

The second ship named USS New York was a 36-gun frigate built in New York and commissioned in 1800. She saw service in the Mediterranean in the war against the Barbary Pirates. She was burned by the British in 1814 while she was in the Washington Navy Yard.

The third USS New York was one of nine built to discourage a future war with Britain after the war of 1812. The threat abated, so she was never launched. Union forces later burned the 74-gun ship of the line to avoid her capture at the start of the American Civil War.

Beginning in 1863, a screw sloop was being built that would have carried the name USS New York, but it also never got launched, being sold in 1888.

The fifth USS New York (ACR 2) was an armored cruiser commissioned in 1893. She was used in the Spanish-American War and was the flagship of Rear Admiral William T. Sampson in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba (July 3, 1898), which destroyed the Spanish fleet. She was later renamed the USS Saratoga in 1911 and then renamed again as the USS Rochester in 1917.

The sixth was the battleship USS New York (BB 34), commissioned in 1914. She saw service in both World War I and World War II. She participated in atomic testing off the Bikini Islands surviving both an atmospheric explosion and an underwater detonation. She was used as a target ship in 1948 and was sunk off Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Finally, the Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine USS New York City (SSN 696) was in service from 1979 until 1997.^[42]^[43]

References

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^ "The Erie Canal: A Brief History". New York State Canals. http://www.nyscanals.gov/cculture/history/. Retrieved April 10, 2008.
^ The Brown Quarterly, Volume 4, No. 1 (Fall 2000) – Ellis Island/Immigration Issue
^ "Estimates of Population Change for the United States and States, and for Puerto Rico and State Rankings: July 1, 2005 to July 1, 2006" (Excel Spreadsheet). http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2006/statepopest_table1.xls. Retrieved 2007-01-05. ^{[dead link]}
^ ^a ^b ^c U. S. Census Bureau (2008-12-15). "Cumulative Estimates of the Components of Population Change for the United States, Regions and States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2008 (NST-EST2008-04)" (CSV). http://www.census.gov/popest/states/tables/NST-EST2008-04.csv. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
^ New York Fact Sheet: NY agriculture income population food education employment farms top commodities exports counties financial indicators poverty organic farming farm income America USDA
^ "Domestic Migration Flows for States from the 2005 ACS" (Microsoft Word). http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/State_Migration_Flows_Paper.doc. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
^ "Population and Population Centers by State: 2000" (Text). http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
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^ Egon Mayer, Ph.D.; Barry A. Kosmin, Ph.D, Ariela Keysar, Ph.D. (2001). "American Religious Identification Survey(Key Findings)". The City University of New York. http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/key_findings.htm. Retrieved January 5, 2007.
^ The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports
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^ "Annual Estimates of the Population of Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2007 (CBSA-EST2007-01)" (CSV). 2007 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division. 2007-03-27. http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metro_general/2007/CBSA-EST2007-07.csv. Retrieved 2007-03-27. ^{[dead link]}
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^ 13 States Face Total Budget Shortfall of at Least $23 Billion in 2009; 11 Others Expect Budget Problems, 12/18/07, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
^ "New York celebrates new era as cars are banished from Times Square". MailOnline. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1187300/New-York-celebrates-new-era-cars-banished-Times-Square.html. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
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^ Scott, Brendan (2008-07-24). "Government Pulls Swith on Death Cell". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/seven/07242008/news/regionalnews/gov_pulls_switch_on_death_cell_121295.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
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Preceded by Virginia	List of U.S. states by date of statehood Ratified Constitution on July 26, 1788 (11th)	Succeeded by North Carolina

Coordinates: 43°N 75°W / 43°N 75°W / 43; -75 (New York)

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New York

Contents

Geography

Climate

State parks

History

17th century

American Revolution

19th century

Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty

Demographics

Population

Racial and ancestral makeup

Religion

Cities and towns

Economy

Transportation

Politics and government

Federal representation

Capital punishment

Politics

Education

Sports

Navy vessel namesakes

See also

References

External links

	Who sings the New song called new york new york? Read answer...
	Is york town in new york? Read answer...
	What is the mileage between Manhattan New York and New York New York? Read answer...

	What public transportation goes from Rochester New York to New York City New York?
	What can you do at new york?
	Who was the of New York?