History of the city
His story…
1524: Giovanni De Verrazano, a Florentine merchant, discovers the island of Manhattan. Sailing on behalf of Francis I, approaches the small island. In homage to the King, he named the islet “Terre d’Angoulême”.
1614 : Dutch emigrants settle in Manhattan and christen it “Nieuw Amsterdam”. 12 years later, Governor Peter Midnight bought it for 60 florins. 200 hab.
1640 : Arrival of the first immigrants.
1653 : Governor Peter Stuyvesant has a wooden wall built in the north of the city to protect them from the Indians (at the current location of Wall Street).
1664: The Dutch colony is taken by the English, who rename it New York (after the Duke of York, brother of the king).
1695: 5000 hab.
1754: Creation of the first university in New York: King’s College.
1776 – George Washington and his troops drive out the English and proclaim the Independence of the country.
1784 : New York becomes the capital of the United States.
1789: George Washington, the first President of the United States, is sworn in.
1792: Creation of the stock exchange.
1807-11: Creation of the checkerboard plan.
1812: City Hall.
1820 : Massive arrival of immigrants, mainly Irish.
1850 : 500,000 inhabitants.
1851 : Birth of the NY Times.
1858-76 : Appearance of Central Park.
1880 : Metropolitan Museum of Art.
1883 : Brooklyn Bridge.
1886 : Inauguration of the Statue of Liberty.
1888 : St Patrick’s Cathedral.
1890 : 1,500,000 inhabitants, Ellis Island becomes the reception centre for new immigrants.
1892: Immigration to Ellis Island begins until 1954, when 17,000,000 immigrants arrive.
1898 : Birth of the great New York with its 5 boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island). It becomes the second largest metropolis in the world. 3,420,000 inhabitants.
1902: Flatiron Building (first building).
1904 : Beginning of the construction of the metro.
1929: Stock market crash on Wall Street that will lead to the world economic crisis.
1930: Chrysler Building.
1931: Empire State Building.
1932-40: Construction of the Rockefeller Center.
1950: 7,900,000 inhabitants.
1952: The United Nations General Assembly sits for the first time in its new premises on the East River.
1966: Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.
1968: Madison Square Garden.
1973: World Trade Center.
1995: 7,287,000 inhab. for New York; 18,000,000 inhab. for the metropolitan area.
2001: September 11th attacks destroying the World Trade Center.