Manhattan

The financial district at the south end of Manhattan island, New York, USA. The island was bought from local American Indians by Peter Minuit of the Dutch West India Company in 1626 for goods worth $24. Today it is linked to Long Island and Staten Island by bridges and to Brooklyn by a tunnel.

Apartments with Italian flags in the ‘Little Italy’ district of Manhattan in New York. This area of the city, centred on Mulberry Street, is traditionally the home of families of Italian immigrant origin.

The United Nations headquarters in New York, USA, was designed by a team of architects from several countries and opened in 1963. The provision of this permanent headquarters for the UN was financed by a donation from the millionaire John D Rockefeller.

The United Nations permanent headquarters building, lit up for the UN's 50th anniversary in 1995, forms part of the Manhattan skyline, New York, USA.

The Woolworth Building, Lower Manhattan, New York, USA, which rises in 60 storeys to an overall height of 241 m/792 ft. It was designed by US architect Cass Gilbert in 1908, when he was 49 years old. He died aged 74 years while visiting Brockenhurst in Hampshire, England, in 1934.

Empire State Building, New York City. Built in 1930, the Empire State Building was the highest building in the world until 1972. The building is situated in midtown Manhattan. In this picture, its 68 m/223 ft television antenna mast, added in 1950, is hidden from view.

The skyscrapers of Manhattan, with the distinctive tapering Chrysler Building top right, and behind it Brooklyn Bridge. The Chrysler Building, built in 1930, is one of New York's tallest buildings, 319 m/1,046 ft in height, with 77 storeys.

Island of the city of New York, USA, forming most of a borough; population (2000 est) 1,537,200. It is 20 km/12.5 mi long and 4 km/2.5 mi wide, and lies between the Hudson and East rivers. The rocks from which it is formed rise to a height of more than 73 m/240 ft in the north of the island. Manhattan Island is bounded on the north and northeast by the Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek (which separate it from the Bronx); on the south by Upper New York Bay; on the west by the Hudson River (which separates it from New Jersey); and on the east by the East River (which separates it from Queens and Brooklyn). The borough of Manhattan also includes a small port at the Bronx mainland and several islands in the East River. Manhattan is the economic hub of New York City, although there are large residential and industrial areas here also. It includes the Wall Street business centre, Broadway and its theatres, Carnegie Hall (1891), the Empire State Building (1931), the United Nations headquarters (1952), Madison Square Garden, and Central Park. The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on 11 September 2001, minutes after each was struck by hijacked aircraft piloted by terrorists. The death toll was estimated at around 3,000.

The English explorer Henry Hudson first came here in 1609. A Dutch trading post, called New Amsterdam, was established in 1624; Peter Minuit, the first Dutch governor-general, bought it from the Algonquins in 1626 for the equivalent of $24. The British navy took control of New Amsterdam in 1664; it was retaken by the Dutch in 1673, but they ceded it back to England in 1674. From 1785 to 1790 New York was the seat of the US government; George Washington was sworn in as first president of the USA at Manhattan's Federal Hall. In the 19th century New York experienced a huge influx of European immigrants, and its population rose dramatically. Manhattan became a separate borough of New York City in 1898.

Manhattan is a major cultural and educational centre. It is the seat of many colleges including the City University of New York (1847), Columbia University (1754), Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (1859), Fordham University (1841), New School for Social Research (founded as the New School for Social Research in 1919), New York University (1831), Yeshiva University (1886), Rockefeller University (1901), Pace University (1906), and many others.