Vortrag - New York

New York

New York is the biggest city of the United States, the city of the cities and the "World Capital of Excitement", to name only a few epithets and superlatives, which everybody associates with this metropolis. 

It's further the centre of global finance, communications, business and the home of the United Nations. It's a cultural Mecca. A city, which never sleeps! Ja, New York is a city, where every time happens something. Already at the arrival this famous skyline overpowers you. For a short while New York was famous for it's high crime rate, for robberies, dirt and begging (Bettelei), but after a rigorous politic this metropolis is one of the safest cities of the world.

It's also a city with the biggest social contrasts. A place where often extravagant luxury and bitter poorness are lying close together.

Located in the southeastern part of the state of New York just east of northern New Jersey, the city developed at the point where the Hudson and East River mingle with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

The harbour consists of the Upper Bay (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean) as well as the East River. Its harbour is one of the largest and finest in the world.

Nearly 8 Mio People from all over the world, from all colours & races live there on 828 square meters. To the Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area belongs New York and several cities around it. In that area are living 21,2 Mio People.

Greater N. Y. is subdivided in 5 boroughs: Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan and Richmond on Staten Island. 

Although it is the most famous city of the US and goes for the culture capital, it has not much in common with this great country.

For European people N. Y. is the door to the infinite dimensions of America, but for maybe Californian people it is the wrongheaded city of the world: the extraordinary diverse population, hundreds of tall office and apartment buildings, its central business district, the extensive public transportation system, small streets to go, symbols like skyline, Statue of Liberty & many things more do not correspondent with the typical American ideals.

The city's concert houses, museums, galleries, and theatres constitute an ensemble of cultural richness rivalled by a few cities.

It is more an European than an American city. The reason for that is the permanent stream of immigrants from Europe.

Now history:

When Europeans came to the place now known as New York City, this area was populated for 11500 years by different Indian tribes, predominant by Algonquin Indians.

They inhabit the South of the so-called Manahatta Island. Therefor stands today the name of one borough.

Each tribe had its own territory, they lived in villages with sheds out of bark and they conducted farming, hunt & fishing.

Today the tribes live in the Shinnecook Reservation on Long Island.

With the arrival of the Europeans the end of traditional Indian way of live came.

In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian in the orders of France, reached the American coast (32 years after Columbus).

He became the first known white man, who sailed up the narrows (Engen) into the lower bay. Actually he searched for the North-West-Passage to the Pacific, but he found Manhattan.

In 1609 the English navigator Henry Hudson came onto island on behalf of the Dutch East India Company (Bild). He has been impressed by the harmony of the landscape and the abundance of deer and fish

In 1624 thirty families followed from the Nederland's and in 1625 the Dutch West India Company built up the trading place New Amsterdam in the South of Manhattan.

Around this trading place further settlements were built up. And out of this settlements the boroughs Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond developed.

And in 1626, according to the legend, the Dutch colonial governor Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan for 60 guilders (approximately $24) in trinkets & goods.

New Amsterdam became attractive for settlers and merchants from a variety of nations.

At least 18 different languages were being spoken in the city as early as 1650.  

Germans, Swiss, French, English and Portuguese joined the Dutch.

New Amsterdam became quickly the cosmopolitan centre.

New Amsterdam developed fast to a North American colony with the most European cultures. In 1643 the 500 inhabitants spoke 18 different languages. There were of course ethnical and class conflicts because of the diversity of the inhabitants. Until 1643 the Indians were driven away.

In 1664 the English conquered New Amsterdam and they called it New York (in honour of Duke York brother from King Charles II of Britain).

The market flourished and the city grew up fast.

In 1800 60000 people inhabit New York. Since 1811 the area above the Houston Street had been subdivided in right ahead streets and avenues, which got numbers instead of different names.

New York grew up so fast that already in 1900 3½ Mio citizens inhabit the city.

That was also the record year of immigration: approximately 1,3 Mio people immigrated to NY and the diversity of ethnical and cultural groups grew up.

Between 1815 and 1915 33 Mio people from all over the world immigrated to the United States, more than 800000 of them to New York. They escaped because of hunger, epidemics or political or religious persecution.

Ellis Island in the Upper New York Bay near Manhattan is best known for the immigrant station located there between 1892 and 1954 (Bild). Approximately 12 million immigrants passed through the station. In 1965, the island was appointed as a part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. In 1990, after six years of renovation, the former immigration station was made into a museum.

In the 20s the wage and working conditions sank enormously and the situation for the

Citizens became very disgusting. Children had to work; men and woman worked for minimum salary16h/day.

During the 30s and 50s the unions succeeded in the raising of wages and so the situation for workers got improved.

Till today the situation of NY is one of ups and downs.

There was a new big stream of immigration, unemployment and departure of the middle-income people and that's why the situation again became very worse.

The permanent stream of immigration did not end till today - tendency increasing! For over 3 centuries New York takes constantly new waves of immigrants in. Through no other US metropolis were so many immigrants flocked into the "country of hope". The term of the melting pot for the USA was originally taken only for New York. The history of this city is a history of a melting together of different nationalities. Who doesn't manage it on the official way, tries to enter the country illegal. For many people New York is still seen as a Mecca of freedom.

Because of the immigration it is existing a big variety of ethnic groups.

In NY are living more Jews than in Israel, more Swedes than in Stockholm and more people from Texas than in Dallas.

People from almost every country are present here.

For the most part the ethnic groups, who live in New York, are isolating themselves in small ethnic districts → e.g. Harlem, Little Italy, Chinatown (there you can find the best Chinese Food out of China) (Bild).

Immigration and ethnical diversity is an important point, when you speak about NY, but the economy plays also a big role.

NY is the business and financial capital of the world.

Many leading national and international corporations have their headquarters there.

The city's financial centre, the Wall Street, is the world's leading centre of finance and  the home of the nation's most important stock market, the New York Stock Exchange.

Because of the favourable (vorteilhaft) location, the excellent port facilities and large population, New York City is the leading wholesale- (Großhandel) and retail- (Einzelhandel) trade centre of the US.

NY is also the leader in communications, hotel and restaurant business.

Since 1980 New York has experienced an economic boom.

By the end of the 1990s, every important financial institution in the world had a presence in New York, and the Wall Street had become synonymous for high finance.

In Manhattan there are the headquarters of the nation's television and radio networks, making it the heart of the mass media in the United States. The headquarters of most of the nation's major publishing houses and advertising agencies are also present in Manhattan's Midtown.

The city is different to other American communities because of its extraordinary public transportation system. More than 5.2 million New Yorkers use these forms of public transportation every day. But a central problem of the public transportation system is the users safety from robbery and other infringements, especially in big cities.

That's why the Guardian Angels had been founded in 1979 (Bild). That are volunteers from a citizen defence, who replace as fellow travellers the hopelessly overburden police in the New Yorker subway.

Sightseeing:

New York has numerous architectural and cultural sights. Skyscrapers are dominating the skyline. The Flatiron Building, which had been completed in 1902, was one of the first skyscrapers in the city.

The Chrysler Building, the Woolworth Building, the Empire State Building and the building complex of the Rockefeller Centre are further ones.

The Empire State Building, which had been cpmpleted in 1932, is after the Eiffeltower in Paris the most visited monument of the world. In 1998 approximately 3,6 Mio visitors viewed from the observation platform down to New York. This 449 high building is seen as the embodiment of skyscrapers. It is a city of its own. There are living and working over 30000 people. The 73 elevators can transport people or cargos in 45 seconds up to 80 floors. The mast on the roof was originally planned as an anchorage for airships, but today it is used for radio- and televisionbroadcast.

In Manhattan's heart lies the Central park, which is approximately 340 hectares large.

The Central park is the so-called "green lung" of New York. The architects Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux had formed the park in 1850. At the weekend is the Central Park banned for the traffic, that´s why the tracks are only for bikers, skater and the traditional horse-drawn carriage. Otherwise the Park is populeted by people taking a walk, picknick making families and so called Dogwalkers, who are going out proffessionell with many dogs at the same time.

The Broadway is the longest street of New York and maybe the most well known. The streets and avenues are arranged in a so-called street grid, they've got the form of a chessboard. All accept the Broadway. Originally the Broadway was an Indian path, which had been used as a trade path. This street is well known for hundreds of theatre-, music and opera houses. Here you can find beside the London Westend the closest concentration of stages worldwide. The Times Square represents the centre of the Broadway. Here beats the neon-heart of New York. Approximately one and a half million people cross this so-called "crossroad of the world" per day and every year 20 Mio tourists visit it. In former times there where red light establishments, but today there are risiding Disney, Virgin Records, Mc Donalds, Pepsi or Microsoft, cinemas with 25 screens, high styled restaurants and Madame Tussauds waxworks.

Statue of Liberty. In the Upper Bay on the 5-hectare large Liberty Island stands on the foundation walls of an old settlement the Statue of Liberty. It is together with the foundation 93 meters high and it is a worldwide known symbol for New York and the USA. Its formal name is Liberty Enlightening the World This Monument had been given from France to the USA in 1889 for its existing for 100 years. Originally it had been designed for the north Suez channel entrance. This freedom goddess stands on the broken chains of slavery and holds in the left hand the Declaration of Independence with the historical date 4^th July 1776. Her right hand holds aloft a burning torch that represents liberty. Carved in the pedestal stands: "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost, to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" ("Bring mir Deine Müden, Deine Armen, Deine geduckten Massen, die sich nach Freiheit sehnenSchick diese Heimatlosen, Sturmgebeugten zu mir Ich erhebe meine Fackel nach dem Goldenen Tor!") For Millions of immigrants the Statue of Liberty was the first thing they saw from the New World.

The 5^th avenue. The 5^th avenue is since time immemorial New York's splendid avenue and it is seen as the centre of the city because of the missing of big and important places. Big processions are mostly starting from the 5^th avenue. Here you can find luxury shops like Tiffany, Rolex, Cartier or Astor, which gave this avenue the epithet "Boulevard of Golden Credit cards". There are many famous sights along the 5^th avenue, like the Empire State building, the New York Public Library, the Rockefeller Centre, the Museum of Modern Art, Trump Tower or the Central Park. That's why this boulevard has such a big appeal to tourists but also to the New Yorkers. 

World Trade Centre. After that what has happened on September 11^th 2001 the city of New York thought about Ground Zero and how to rebuild it as a memorial. Many architects made up their mind about that and requested different plans. And the New York inhabitants were allowed to vote for their favourite. At the end the German architect Daniel Libeskind won with his plan of a pillar scenery. He won't build on the foundation of the World Trade Centre. Several futuristic buildings will be grouped around the glassy main tower. Obvious are the sloping roofs and the squared buildings. And the highlight creates a garden in a height of 533 meters! And this composition of buildings is so constructed that there's no sun at the time, when the airplanes crashed together with the two towers.

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