USA

‘The Big Apple’, ‘The City That Never Sleeps’ – whatever you want to call it – New York remains one of the most desirable places to visit in the world. From the views atop the Rockefeller Centre to the story of how it all began at Ellis Island, this vibrant and cosmopolitan city has something for everyone. For an extra special treat, why not take a dinner cruise down the Hudson for fabulous sunset views of the Manhattan skyline at its very best. Whatever you choose to do, it will leave you wanting more and a return trip is simply a must.

Before the 20th century

The area now known as New York City had been occupied by Native Americans for more than 11,000 years before Giovanni da Verrazano, a Florentine hired by the French to explore the northeastern coast, arrived at New York Bay in 1524. The area lay unmolested until English explorer Henry Hudson stumbled on it while searching for the Northwest Passage in 1609. 'It is as beautiful a land as one can hope to tread upon,' reported Hudson, who claimed the place for the Dutch East India Company.

By 1625, the Dutch settlers had established a fur trade with the natives and were augmented by a group that established a post they eventually called New Amsterdam, the seat of a much larger colony called New Netherland. Advertisements in Europe lured settlers to New Amsterdam with promises of a temperate climate and bountiful land, but the harsh winters claimed many lives. Historians agree that Peter Minuit, the director of the Dutch West India Company, purchased the island from local tribes for goods worth a pittance. But the goods were worth a bit more than the 24.00 commonly recorded - probably closer to 600.00 (still a bargain).

After some to-ing and fro-ing between Britain and the Netherlands, New Amsterdam became the British colony of New York in the 1670s. Though colonists began cultivating farms in New Jersey and on Long Island, the port town remained geographically tiny - the area that today runs from Wall St south to the tip of Manhattan. Anti-British zeal caught on as early as the 1730s. Thirty years later, New York's Commons - where City Hall stands today - was the centre of many anti-British protests. Despite the intensity of New Yorkers' sentiments, King George III's troops controlled New York for most of the war, finally withdrawing in 1783, a full two years after the fighting stopped.

By the time George Washington was sworn in as president of the new republic on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall St in 1789, New York was a bustling seaport of 33,000 people, but it lagged behind Philadelphia as a cultural capital. The new Congress abandoned the city for the District of Columbia the following year - Thomas Jefferson later remarked that New York was a 'cloacina (sewer) of all the depravities of human nature.'

New York boomed in the early 19th century. Its population swelled from 65,000 in 1800 to 250,000 in 1820. During the Civil War, the city provided many volunteers for the Union cause. But as the war dragged on, many of the city's poorest citizens turned against the effort, especially after mandatory conscription was introduced. In the summer of 1863, Irish immigrants launched the 'draft riots' protesting the provision that allowed wealthy men to pay 300.00 in order to avoid fighting. Within days the rioters turned their anger on black citizens, as they were considered the real reason for the war and their main competition for work. More than 11 men were lynched in the streets and a black orphans' home was burned to the ground.

The remainder of the century in New York was a boom time for the city's population, which grew thanks to European immigration, and for businessmen, who took advantage of lax oversight of industry and stock trading during the so-called 'Gilded Age'. These men built grand mansions along 'millionaires row' on lower Fifth Ave. Along Broadway from City Hall to Union Square, multi-storey buildings - the first 'skyscrapers' - were built to house corporate headquarters.

As the city's population more than doubled from 500,000 in 1850 to over 1.1 million in 1880, a tenement culture developed. The burgeoning of New York's population beyond the city limits led to the consolidation movement, as the city and its neighbouring districts struggled to service the growing numbers. Residents of the independent districts of Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx and financially-strapped Brooklyn voted to become 'boroughs' of New York City in 1898.

Modern history

Between 1900 and 1930 the new metropolis absorbed a huge wave of European immigrants who arrived at New York's Ellis Island and its population exploded, from just over 3 million in 1900 to 7 million in 1930. During this period, horse-drawn trolleys disappeared as a major network of underground subways and elevated trains ('Els') expanded into the city's outer reaches.

As the immigrant population gathered political strength, demands for change became overwhelming and during the Depression a crusader named Fiorello La Guardia (previously an Ellis Island interpreter) was elected mayor. In three terms in office the popular 'Little Flower' fought municipal corruption and expanded the social service network. Meanwhile civic planner Robert Moses used a series of appointed positions to remake the city's landscape through public works projects, highways and big events like the World's Fairs of 1939 and 1964. Unfortunately, his projects (which include the Triborough Bridge, Lincoln Center, several highways and massive housing projects) often destroyed entire neighbourhoods and rousted huge numbers of residents.

New York emerged from WWII proud and ready for business. As one of the few world-class cities untouched by war, New York seemed the place to be. But prosperity wasn't limited to the city. In the 1950s, highways made access to the suburbs easy and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers moved away permanently. It wasn't just an understandable desire for upward mobility that drew them away: many white residents left neighbourhoods they felt had 'gone bad', which was a racist way of saying that African Americans and Puerto Ricans had taken their rightful place there too.

While the politicos dithered and played to various entrenched constituencies, the city began to slide. TV production, manufacturing jobs and even the fabled Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team moved to the West Coast, along with the Dodgers' cross-town rivals the New York Giants. Like most of the US, New York looked to the West for cultural direction, and eventually corporations began abandoning the city as innovation in communications technology made it possible to do business anywhere. The city's economic slide led to the threat of bankruptcy in the 1970s, which was staved off only by massive infusions of federal cash.

During the anything-goes Reagan years, the city regained much of its swagger as billions were made on Wall St. Ed Koch, the colourful three-term mayor, seemed to embody the New Yorker's ability to charm and irritate at the same time. But in 1989 Koch was defeated in a Democratic primary election by David Dinkins, who became the city's first African American mayor. Dinkins, a career Democratic-machine politician, was rightly criticised for merely presiding over a city government in need of reform, though his moves to put more police on the streets helped curb crime. He was narrowly defeated for a second term in 1993 by moderate Republican Rudolph Giuliani. Thanks to a big drop in crime and the weakness of his Democratic opponents, Giuliani triumphed in the 1997 mayoral election. The tech bubble usually associated with Silicon Valley in northern California also took root here (NYC even had their own 'Silicon Alley') - well at least for several years - and it seemed like every other downtown twentysomething was launching some obscure internet venture in the hopes of being bought out in a few months and retiring. For the first time in decades the city contemplated huge (and necessary) projects to augment its infrastructure, such as a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River. Meanwhile Times Square underwent transformation from a crime- and drug-ridden red-light district in the 1960s and 1970s to a Disneyfied tourist attraction in the late 1990s. The city became safer and more prosperous, but also more homogenised; the gap between rich and poor widened, and the colourful subcultures that used to give Manhattan its edge began a mass exodus to the suburbs.

Recent history

New York's famous hustle and bustle was abruptly cut short on 11 September 2001 when a terrorist attack in the form of two hijacked passenger aircraft razed the gleaming twin towers of the World Trade Center. Thousands of people were killed in the worst terrorist act ever on US soil. New York, though severely shaken, showed its grit. The city was fairly quick to regain its composure and normality, rebuilding its business district and its confidence.

In the same year, New York elected its 108th mayor, Republican Michael Bloomberg. He is known as an independent political pragmatist, and his administration has earned both raves and criticism for its dual pursuit of environmental and development goals. Bloomberg was reelected for a second term in November 2005, and then altered the term-limits law to allow for a third term. He spent more than 85 million of his own money on a campaign to crush opponent Bill Thompson in 2009, to the outrage of many of his most ardent fans. He won, but with much less of an edge than he had expected.

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Considering how limited the green spaces are in New York, it's surprising for some visitors how active locals are: everywhere you go you see locals jogging, riding bikes, playing pick-up hoops or soccer, or cheering on Little Leaguers on baseball diamonds that freckle the metropolis.

Generally the nicest and most temperate time to visit New York is from mid-September to mid-November, along with all of May and early June. Unfortunately, as these months are popular with tourists, hotel prices are scaled accordingly. Long periods of wet weather are common in November and April, with freezing rain and often snow from December to February. In summer, humidity reigns supreme to make a unique, quintessentially New York kind of soupy heat that drives everyone to despair. This is perhaps the time to explore further afield and leave the city to its temper.

Average weather

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Transport

Getting there and away

Served by three major airports, two train terminals and a massive bus depot, New York City is the most important transportation hub in the northeastern USA. Of the airports, Newark or La Guardia are more convenient to the city than JFK. Getting into the city by car is easy enough until you hit the tunnels and bridges, which are often clogged to bursting point.

Getting around

Don't be afraid of the subway: it's pretty safe these days and is still the speediest way of taking Manhattan, although the buses are also efficient. They do take much longer than trains but sometimes you need to take one if want to get crosstown.

Don't be afraid of the taxi drivers, either: the majority of them are fine, and if you do have a problem it can almost always be solved by taking the license number - most cabbies fear being reported. Do be afraid of negotiating New York traffic; it's a nightmare, and rentals and petrol are pricey. If it's a scenic journey you're after, a ferry is your best bet.

Health & Legal Requirements

Dangers and annoyances

Crime rates here remain at their lowest in years. There are few neighborhoods remaining where you might feel scared, no matter what time of night it is (and they're mainly in the outer boroughs). Subway stations are generally safe, too, though some in low- income neighborhoods, especially in the outer boroughs, can be dicey. There's no reason to be paranoid, but it's better to be safe than sorry, so use common sense: don't walk around alone at night in unfamiliar, sparsely populated areas, especially if you're a woman.

Don't flash money around on the street, and keep your valuables somewhere safe. Unless you must accessorize with the real thing, leave the good jewelry at home. Carry your daily walking-around money somewhere inside your clothing (in a money belt, bra or sock) rather than in a handbag or an outside pocket, and be aware of pickpockets particularly in mobbed areas, like Times Sq or Penn Station at rush hour.