New York (The Long Run)

New York, constituent state of the United States of America, was one of the 13 original colonies and states (Scudiere and Campbell). The capital of New York is Albany, although probably most people think that it is New York City, because this is the most famous city in New York (Scudiere and Campbell).

The area around the Manhattan peninsula was discovered by Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524, but the explorer did not undertake any major expeditions (Krause). It was not until 1626 that Meter Minuit bought the land named “Manna-hatta” from the local Indians and founded the settlement Nieuw Amsterdam (Krause). In 1664 the English conquered the city and renamed it in Newe York after the Duke of York (Krause). About ten years later, the Dutch claimed the settlement for themselves again, only to hand it over again one year later with the signing of the Westminster Peace Treaty (Krause).

According to Krause, in the 18th century, New York City actively participated in the independence movement and witnessed war once again. Although the USA declared itself independent as early as 1776, many European states only accepted this independence years later (Krause). So did the British, who finally left New York City in 1783 (Krause).

As a result, New York City became more and more important and was even declared the capital of the United States (Krause). Therefore, the assumption of many, that New York City is the capital of New York is not completely wrong.

With the beginning of the 19th century the city began to grow explosively (Krause). A grid-shaped road network was built over the entire island of Manhattan and has been maintained to this day (Krause).

The short story “The Long Run” is set in New York City. This can be seen in the fact that Philip Trant, before his illness, is “possessed” by the Wall Street and Fifth Avenue. These two streets are located in Manhattan, which is one of the five boroughs of New York city. The other four boroughs are Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island (Brand-Reyes).

Manhattan itself is an island that is divided into numerous districts, the so-called Neighborhoods. The Bronx is located on the mainland, north of Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn on the western tip of Long Island (Brand-Reyes).

Many people use Manhattan as a synonym for New York City. More than 90 percent of the sights are located here, such as Broadway, Empire State Building or Central Park (Brand-Reyes).

New York’s northernmost borough is the Bronx. There one can find Yankee Stadium, Bronx Zoo, Little Italy and the New York Botanical Garden (Brand-Reyes).

The southeastern part of the city is Brooklyn. Here is the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Coney Island, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Prospect Park (Brand-Reyes).

New York’s East is Queens, the home of film studios, the Socrates Sculpture Park or the Museum of the Moving Image (Brand-Reyes).

Southwest of Manhattan Staten Island is located, easily to reach by the Staten Island Ferry, which brings one to the Staten Island Botanical Garden, the Alice Austen House Museum, or the Historic Richmond Town (Brand-Reyes).

Sources:

• Brand-Reyse, Susanne. “Die Stadtteile von New York City.“ Rhein-Kurier GmbH. 2019. Web. 05. Nov. 2019. <https://www.newyork.de/ueber-new-york/ny-guide/stadtteile/>

• Krause, Michael. “Die Geschichte von New York.“ M!Kra SEO & Online Marketing. 2019. 2019. Web. 05. Nov. 2019. <https://www.nyc-info.de/geschichte/>

• Scudiere, Paul Joseph; Campbell, Alan K. “New York”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. 14. March. 2019. Web. 04. Nov. 2019. <https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-state>