In 1605 the first Europeans came to Manhattan island
from Holland. In 1626, Peter Minuit, governor of the Dutch settlements in North
America known as New Amsterdam bought the island from the Native Americans for
a few glass necklaces, valued about twenty-four dollars today. In 1609 Henry
Hudson entered the River of the Mountains. In 1613 the Dutch built only four
small houses on Manhattan as a fur trading station. It was not until 1623, ten
years more, that they started a real settlement, town of New Amsterdam in
honour of the capital of their country in Europe. In 1644, when the English
acquired the island, the village New Amsterdam was renamed New York. Today
Manhattan is the heart of America's business and culture. It is the most
important banking centre in the world. Fewer than two million of the city's
eight million people live on the island.
In 1789 on the steps of Federal Hall George Washington
took the oath of office when he became the first president of the United States
of America. During the years 1785 to 1790 New York was the capital of the
United States. Due to its natural advantages as a harbour, and the rising tide
of immigration from all parts of the world the role of New York as the leading
city accelerated. Villages grew throughout the entire area.
For the visitor New York means skyscrapers, tremendous
traffic, dazzling neon advertisements. Manhattan is full of parallel rows of
buildings, those running from north to south are called avenues while those
running from east to west are called streets. The avenues and streets have only
numbers instead of names. Wall Street from its very beginning became the market
place of money. It was here that a walled stockade was erected to repulse the
Indians, hence its name. As the city expanded the stockade was dismantled as of
no further use, but the market place for the purchase of bonds and securities
remained.
Like every big city, New York has its own traffic
system. Traffic jams can be terrible, and it is usually quicker to go by
subway. It goes to almost every corner of Manhattan. New York is an
international city, the place to try something new. It may be an experience you
will never forget.