page_title: New York metropolitan area
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: New York metropolitan area / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die Mulberry Street im italienischen Stadtviertel von New York City um 1900 English: Mulberry Street NYC ca.1900. edit of en:Image:Mulberry Street NYC c1900 LOC 3g04637u.jpg by me user debivort. 1px median filtered, and then downsampled. Español: Vista de la Calle Mulberry, en la Pequeña Italia en Nueva York, hacia 1900. Français&#160;: Une vue de Mulberry Street, dans Little Italy à New York, vers 1900. Italiano: Una vista di Mulberry Street, nel quartiere italiano di New York (Little Italy), circa 1900. 日本語: ニューヨーク・マンハッタンのロウアー・イースト・サイドにある、マルベリー・ストリートの1900年ごろ。元画像en:Image:Mulberry Street NYC c1900 LOC 3g04637u.jpgを利用者「debivort」が1pxの中央値をフィルターにかけ、その後ダウンサンプルすることにより編集。 Tiếng Việt: Phố Mulberry, Thành phố New York khoảng năm 1900. Polski: Mulberry Street we włoskiej enklawie na Manhattanie w Nowym Jorku, około 1900 r. Русский: Малберри-стрит, 1900-е. 中文（简体）‎: 纽约墨贝里街，拍摄于约1900年
context_page_description: The New York metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at 3,450.2 sq mi. The metropolitan area includes New York City, Long Island, and the Mid and Lower Hudson Valley in the state of New York; the five largest cities in New Jersey: Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, and Edison, and their vicinities; and six of the seven largest cities in Connecticut: Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, and Danbury, and their vicinities. The New York metropolitan area is part of the larger Northeast Megalopolis.
  The New York metropolitan area remains, by a significant margin, the most populous in the United States, as defined by both the Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Combined Statistical Area. The metropolitan area is home to approximately 6% of the United States' population. It is the largest urban agglomeration in the Americas and the tenth largest in the world. The New York metropolitan area continues to be the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States, with the largest foreign-born population of any metropolitan region in the world.
context_section_description: During the Wisconsinan glaciation, the region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the geologic foundation for much of the New York City metropolitan region today. Later on, the ice sheet would help split apart what are now Long Island and Staten Island.
  At the time of European contact the region was inhabited by Native Americans, predominantly the Lenape, and others. The Native Americans used the abundant waterways in the area for many purposes, such as fishing and trade routes. Sailing for France in 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to enter the local waters and encounter the residents, but he did not make landfall. Henry Hudson, sailing for the Dutch in 1609, visited the area and built a settlement on Lower Manhattan Island that was eventually renamed New Amsterdam by Dutch colonists in 1626. In 1664, the area went under English control, and was later renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York.
  As the fur trade expanded further north, New York became a trading hub, which brought in a diverse set of ethnic groups including Africans, Jews, and Portuguese. The island of Manhattan had an extraordinary natural harbor formed by New York Bay (actually the drowned lower river valley of the Hudson River, enclosed by glacial moraines), the East River (actually a tidal strait), and the Hudson River, all of which merge at the southern tip, from which all later development spread. During the American Revolution, the strategic waterways made New York vitally important as a wartime base for the British navy. Many battles such as the Battle of Long Island and the Battle of New York were fought in the region to secure it. New York City was captured by the British early in the war, becoming a haven for Loyalist refugees from other parts of the country, and remained in the hands of the British until the war ended in 1783. New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790, after which the capital moved to Philadelphia. New York City has been the country's largest city since 1790. In 1792, the Buttonwood Agreement, made by a group of merchants, created what is now the New York Stock Exchange in Lower Manhattan. Today, many people in the metropolitan area work in this important stock exchange.
  The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a globally recognized symbol of the United States and its democracy. Large-scale immigration into New York was a result of a large demand for manpower. A cosmopolitan attitude in the city created tolerance for various cultures and ethnic groups. German, Irish, and Italian immigrants were among the largest ethnic groups. Today, many of their descendants continue to live in the region. Cultural buildings such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Opera, and the American Museum of Natural History were built. New York newspapers were read around the country as media moguls James Gordon Bennett, Sr., Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst battled for readership. In 1884, over 70% of exports passed through ports in New York or in one of the surrounding towns. The five boroughs of New York City — The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island — were consolidated into a single city in 1898.
  The newly unified New York City encouraged both more physical connections between the boroughs and the growth of bedroom communities. The New York City Subway began operating in 1904 as the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, one of three systems (the other two being the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation and the Independent Subway System) that were later taken over by the city. Railroad stations such as Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station helped fuel suburban growth. During the era of the Prohibition, when alcohol was banned nationwide, organized crime grew to s
caption: Little Italy, Lower East Side, Manhattan, circa 1900.
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