New York City, NYC, Nueva York, Nova York, the Big Apple; whatever you call it, New York City is the capital of the world. It’s the world capital of culture, finance, media, diplomacy, and diversity.
La Gran Manzana
La Gran Manzana (The Big Apple) is also the capital of the Latin world. It has been Latin since the first immigrant, Juan Rodríguez, arrived in 1613.
Juan Rodríguez was a multilingual African Portuguese sailor on a Dutch ship from Santo Domingo, now the capital of the Dominican Republic. He decided to stay instead of shipping on to the Netherlands. 🇩🇴
Rodríguez set up NYC’s first bodega (corner store) where the National Museum of the American Indian is now.
We acknowledge the Lenape First Nations on whose “Manahatta” New York City is built. The first settlers in the region arrived around 9,000 years ago. Archeologists think it has been continuously settled for about the last 3,000 years.
The Lenape were farmers. After them, New York City has been Latin from its very first immigrant.
The Dutch set up New Amsterdam in 1624. The English took it in 1664 and left in 1783.
New York has always been a city of immigrants. People come from all over the world to start their lives as Americans. Wherever you are from, when you are here, you’re a New Yorker.
The Five Boroughs
Borough is an old English word for town. In New York City, it’s the equivalent of “county.”
Metropolitan New York City
Metropolitan NYC includes parts of New York State, New Jersey and Connecticut.
International New York City
It’s a small world after all.
This is New York
New York is a great diversity of interlocking purposes. We are not the biggest human city, but we are the world’s most diverse human city.
Everyone from everywhere is here. The best and worst of every good and bad idea are here.
If you look at how people live around the world, New York City shouldn’t function at all. Humanity’s investment in petty differences is too great. But on most days, New York does work, and it works surprisingly well.
Perhaps the hurry that is necessary to survive here forces us to drop our differences and let go of our baggage. When you do that, the only thing left is our common humanity.
This is my city. This is your city. This is New York.
We are glad you are here. ¡Bienvenidos!