New York and Other Important American Cities
Questions to help:
How did it begin?
New York today – a promised city, a nightmare or something else?
Other cities have their own atmosphere, too. Can you talk about some of them and point out what makes them special?
History
The original inhabitants were Indians and the first explorer was Giovanni da Verrazano who found this area. But the first settlement was set up by the Dutch. They bought this area from the Indians only for the bargain price of US $25. It was in 1626. And the original name of the settlement was New Amsterdam.
But few years later the city was conquered by the British and renamed to New York.
New York City became an important city during the Revolutionary War period and for a brief times, it was Capital of the new United States after the colonies of British declared their independence.
The War of Independence 1775- 1783
A The War of Independence was the war between the colonists and the British soldiers.
British soldiers stayed in the 13 original colonies and colonists had to pay for protection.
The British government increased taxes which made colonists angry, because they had no representation in the British Parliament.
The radical colonists began to form secret groups. The most famous one was called the Sons of Liberty, with John Adams as a leader (and later a US president).
In 1773 three ships carrying British tea arrived in Boston. More than 50 patriots dressed themselves as Indians and dumped the tea into the water.
The British decided that the people of Boston must be punished for destroying British property. They ordered that no ships could enter or leave Boston harbour until the colonists paid for the destroyed tea. The colonists were forbidden to meet together and they had to house and feed British soldiers.
The Boston Tea Party was the climax of the American resistance and was followed by the Revolutionary War of independence. The war started in 1775.
In the southern part of Manhattan Island there used to be a wall against Indians, now there is Wall Street – the center of financial life.
B. Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers. During the War of Independence he helped T. Jefferson and J. Adams to prepare the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence: people have the right to change or destroy a government that does not grant them their basic rights.
New York City also became a destination for immigrants coming in to the country to begin a new life.
New York was one of the fighting centers in North America (1863) during Civil war.
The Civil war (1861-65)
The North and the South lived differently. The North had developed rapidly.
It had factories, railroads, steamship lines, all kinds of industries.
The South was farming country.
It had only about one-fifth (20%) of the nation´s factories and few railroads. It depended on 2 crops cotton and tobacco. There were large plantations with slaves to do the work.(about 4 million slaves in the 1860s)
10 years before the Civil War 2 million people had come to the USA. They had little or no money and needed work to live. There was no work for them in the South because everything was done by the slaves.
They settled in the North, East and later in the West. New states were formed in the West and people there did not want slaves who would take the work away from them.
The South wanted more land to extend its plantations but it was impossible. Also laws that were good for industry were sometimes bad for farmers.
The Abolitionists were the most active group of people from the North who fought against slavery in the South. The most outstanding ones were John Brown and Frederick Douglas.
Abraham Lincoln: In his EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION (1863) LINCOLN declared that ALL SLAVES IN SOUTHERN STATES SHOULD BE FREE.
In 1860 Abraham Lincoln, who was against slavery, was elected President of the United States.
Southern (Confederate) army began to occupy all federal forts in the South but the North won the war. About a million soldiers died and the South was in ruins.
Today New York
New York is the biggest city in the USA. It has about 8 million people. It is one of the largest cities in the world (after Sao Paulo, Seoul, Mexico City, Tokyo). It’s situated in the northeast of the US on the coast of Atlantic Ocean. It has many nicknames such as The City That Never Sleeps, The Big apple or just The City. It is one of the most exciting, cosmopolitan cities in the US
It’s the capital of commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment. It’s also one of 3 headquarters of United Nations (the other 2 are in Geneva and Vienna).
- For me New York is incredible city which I want to visit but I don’t want to live there. Never!
There are so many people that it must be chaos.
It consists of major boroughs: Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Brooklyn.
From these the most known is surely Manhattan – full of skyscrapers – contains the most known streets and city districts.
So what are the nicest and famous places?
- Broadway – maybe the most famous street, it diagonally crosses Manhattan and continues to The Bronx, there are many famous and successful theatres such as Broadway theatre etc.
- 7th avenue – known as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard north of Central Park, is a thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is southbound below Central Park and a two-way street north of the park
- Times Square – famous square in NYC with lot of neon commercials, crossing 7th avenue and Broadway, there is a headquarter of New York Times newspaper and annual celebration of New Year’s Eve
- Wall street – famous financial centre
- Rockefeller centre – 19 commercial buildings in a large area
- Empire State Building – skyscraper, 381m
- Central Park – really large public part of NYC, it’s a heart of New York, a few lakes and full of trees and green surrounded by the most expensive living places in NYC
- Carnegie Hall – on 7th avenue, it’s the place where every musicians wants to get when he or she is successful, there were performing such artists and icons of music as Benny Goodman (1938), Albert Ammons (boogie woogie), etc.
Manhattan city plan
The city was built on a modern plan of streets and avenues which are numbered.
Streets run east to west and avenues north to south. Broadway is the center of cultural life.
The city is notorious for its crime. Many people believe New York is not healthy place to live.
Manhattan is famous for its skyscrapers skyline – a large number of skyscrapers in a small area.
The first skyscrapers were built in 1903. The best known skyscrapers are Empire State Building and the World Trade Center (WTC) – the New York’s highest skyscraper built in 1973 is 417m high.
Park, Islands
The only quiet place where, however, it is dangerous to go after dark is Central Park. Rock concerts by famous musicians also take place there. There are many attractive places where visitors like to go – the most widely known is the Brooklyn Bridge. There is the Statue of Liberty – it is a symbol of hope and freedom. Economy New York is an important industrial city and business center (machinery, electronics, chemistry, food, textiles, fish market ). It is also the biggest port in the USA. There are 4 airports, 15 TV stations, 39 radio stations, over 100 hospitals, 29 universities, many cultural institutions, galleries. New York has the largest subway system in the world.
Other cities
Washington D.C. (D.C. stands for District of Columbia)
Is the capital of USA from 1800 founded on July 16, 1790. The city is located on the north bank of Potomac River and border with states of Virginia and Maryland. The city has population of 500 000 people but in metropolitan area more than 5 million.
The city is named Washington after the country’s first president, George Washington, who chose the area and laid the corner- stone of the Capitol.
All the country’s big federal offices are located here, including the Capitol, the seat of the government, and the White House, official home of the president.
There are many monuments located along the National all, a large open area in the center of the city.
Here you can find the Washington Monument, which was proposed to Congress within a week after his death in 1799. The other attractions include the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the National World War II Memorial.
We are not able to find any skyscrapers here because is prohibited to build higher building than the top of Capitol (87.6 m).
Los Angeles
It’s the second largest city in California and second largest in USA (nickname the City of Angeles) with population of 3.8 million (but in metropolitan area 13 million).
It’s world centre of business, entertainment, culture, fashion, science, technology and film.
Hollywood is known as the Entertainment Capital of the World and entertainment industry in LA we can find here a home of many celebrities.
There are a lot of suburbs (předměstí) -> Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Malibu and Long Beach…