New York, NY

New York, New York in southeastern New York State, has a harbor that has shaped the face of America. The New York harbor is known worldwide for Ellis Island, a small strip of land located in Upper New York Bay that hosted 12 million immigrants who landed in the U.S., full of hope and anticipation, as they got their first look at America and the famed Statue of Liberty.

New York City was founded by the Dutch in 1624 as a commercial fur trading post. The first recorded ship to sail into the area was in 1609, when Henry Hudson and his crew, aboard the Dutch vessel Halve Maen, explored what became New Amsterdam. The settlement bore the name New Amsterdam until 1664 when the colony came under English control. New York City grew as a harbor-trading port while under British rule. After the Revolutionary War, the 1819 opening of the Erie Canal connected the Atlantic port to the vast markets of the interior states.

New York City, NY is located at the mouth of the Hudson River, which feeds into a naturally sheltered harbor and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean. New York's geography has helped the city grow in significance as a port city. Nautically, the New York Harbor consists of 240 miles of shipping channels as well as anchorages and port facilities, centered on Upper New York Bay. The Harbor has the main entrance from the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, between the Rockaway Point and Sandy Hook; another entrance is via the Long Island Sound from the northeast at the outlet of the East River. The Harbor extends to the southwest to the mouth of the Raritan River, to the northwest at Port Newark and to the north to the George Washington Bridge. Hudson and East rivers bustle with maritime activity.

On April 30, 1921, the Port of New York Authority was established to administer the common harbor interests of New York and New Jersey. Centered on New York Harbor, the Port District covers 1,500 square miles. In 1948, the Port Authority assumed the responsibility of operating Port Newark. By 1951, Port Newark had become a modern terminal with 21 berths and a 35-foot channel able to accommodate the largest ships at that time. The Port Authority agency’s improvements led to higher rates of employment and new business development. On August 15, 1962, the world’s first container port, Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal, opened. Elizabeth became known as "America’s Container Capital." Today, the Port of New York & New Jersey is the third largest port in the nation.

Port Authority does more than manage the shipping terminals. It also manage the bridges, tunnels, ferries and airports between New York and New Jersey. New York City has three main airports that serve the region: John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK); LaGuardia Airport; and Newark Liberty International Airport.

Approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston, Mass., densely populated and historic, New York City is an economic, financial, commercial, cultural, sporting, and tourism hub. The most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York metropolitan area, New York was home to 8,246,310 residents in 2007 according to the U,S. Census Bureau. New York City is known by various nicknames, including "The Big Apple,” "The City That Never Sleeps” and "Gotham City.”

New York City consists of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. While the term Outer Boroughs refers to all the boroughs excluding Manhattan, New York City's boroughs are a unique form of government within a consolidated city. Each borough is in a different county; The Borough of Bronx is Bronx County, The Borough of Brooklyn is Kings County, The Borough of Manhattan is New York County, The Borough of Queens is Queens County, and The Borough of Staten Island is Richmond County.

Tourism is vital to New York City's economy, with about 47 million tourists visiting each year. Major destinations include the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Broadway, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Carnegie Hall, Times Square, the Statute of Liberty, the Bronx Zoo, New York Botanical Garden, and high-end shopping along Fifth and Madison Avenues.