NEW YORK 



4214 



NEW YORK 



merit?, and an annual budget in excess of that 

 of any other city in the world. The mayor re- 

 ceives a yearly salary of $15,000. 

 History. The region about New York City 

 in 1524 by the Italian navigator 





Verrazano, and in the following year a Spanish 



EARLIEST KNOWN VIEW OF NEW YORK 

 Joost Hartger's view of ' Nieuw Amsterdam ; 

 from a book printed in Amsterdam in 1651. 



vessel commanded by Gomez sailed into the 

 bay. The real history of the city, however, 

 begins with the expeditions of Henry Hudson 

 (which see), who explored the harbor and river 

 in 1009, while in the service of the Dutch East 

 India Company. It was not long before the 

 Dutch began to make permanent settlements, 

 and in 1614 Fort Manhattan was built by a 

 trading company on the site now occupied by 

 the Custom House. New York City thus be- 

 gan at the foot of Broadway. A second com- 

 pany, the West India, was chartered in 1621. 

 Five years later, Peter Minuit, who had been 

 appointed governor by the company, bought all 

 of Manhattan Island from the Indians for goods 

 valued then atS24. Fort Manhattan was tdrn 

 down to make room for Fort Amsterdam, and 

 within the latter was erected the first church 

 building on the island. The settlement, which 

 hud a population of less than 200, was called 

 New Amsterdam. By 1653 its population had 

 increased to 800, and in that year it was incor- 

 porated as a city. 



New Amsterdam passed under the control of 

 the English in 1664, and received the name New 

 York. Though the Dutch regained it in 1673 

 and named it New Orange, it was recovered by 

 the English the following year, Sir Edmund 

 Andros (which see) becoming governor. From 

 this time on the town was known as New York, 

 and it grew steadily in population and impor- 

 tance. The first city charter under the English 

 was issued in 1686. Seven years later the first 

 printing press was set up, in 1696 the original 

 Trinity Church was built, in 1700 the first li- 



brary was opened, and in 1703 the first free 

 school began its sessions. The Gazette, the 

 iir>t newspaper of a city that now publishes 

 ral hundred, began to circulate in 1725. A 

 fire department was organized in 1731, and a 

 year later Mage service was established between 

 New York and Boston. 



Throughout the stormy period before and 

 during the Revolutionary War, New York stood 

 loyally for the colonial cause. Here, in 1765, 

 was held the Stamp Act Congress (see ST\MP 

 ACT). During the war, from 1776 to 1783. the 

 city was occupied by British troops, and a lam" 

 part of it was destroyed by fire in 1776. After 

 the national government was organized Con- 

 gress held its sessions in New York from 1785 

 to 1790 (see CAPITALS OF THE UNITED STATES), 

 meeting in the old Federal Hall whose site is 

 now occupied by the Subtreasury. When the 

 first Federal census was taken (1790) the city 

 had a population of 33,131, and its limits ex- 

 tended northward to the present southern bound- 

 ary of City Hall Park. Some of the great mile- 

 stones in its history since that time have been 

 the opening of steamboat service between the 

 city and Albany (1807); the completion of the 

 Erie Canal (1825); a great fire of 1835; the 



IN 1674 



Blockhouse and city gate, now the foot of Wall 

 Street. 



completion of the old Croton Aqueduct (1842) ; 

 the rule of the Tweed Ring (broken in 1871) ; 

 the opening of Brooklyn Bridge (1883) ; the un- 

 veiling of the Statue of Liberty (1886) ; and the 

 organization of Greater New York (1898) . T.E.F. 



BOOKS RELATING TO THE CITY. An accurate 

 and interesting picture of the life of the poorer 

 classes in New York has been presented by Jacob 

 A. Riis in his How the Other Half Lives and 

 Battle with the Slum; other descriptive books in- 

 clude Hemstreet's Nooks and Corners of Old New 



