New York City is a strange place. On the surface it looks like a major world city that is bigger than most and more successful than others, but there is a lot more to this city than meets the eye. The city is almost a miracle of homogenous grouping. Just about every race in the world is represented in this city and many have formed their own areas within New York City. It is almost like micro countries existing within a greater group. The greater group is New Yorkers. It's funny when you think about it because all these groups have much less friction between them than do world countries. The world might be able to take a lesson from New York on race relations.

New York City was founded by the Dutch in 1613 as a fur trading post. It was named New Amsterdam. The British took it over in 1664 and renamed it New York after the king's brother James, Duke of York. The British didn't hold it too long, the Dutch regained it in 1673 and now renamed it New Orange, but in 1674 they gave it to the English. History states that New York City was also called New Netherlands by the Dutch. The English remained in control of New York City until the Americans won the Revolutionary War. The last of the British ship left New York Harbor in 1783.

New York City became the first capital of the New Country of the United States in 1788. This only lasted for a few years until 1790. New York City started to become an economic power due to it's fine port and this was enhanced when the Erie Canal opened up in 1825. During the American Civil War the city witnessed many riots. The citizens of New York City objected to the fact that were being drafted to fight in a war that most didn't believe in yet the rich could buy their way out of the draft for about $300.00. New Yorkers had traded with the south for their cotton and wanted this trade to continue since it meant large profits and more jobs. When the war started the cotton was sent to other countries, mainly England, by the southern states.

New York City needed more room for expansion. By 1898 it was composed of the five boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island. How were people to get around this huge city now? The answer to that was the construction of the New York City Subway system in 1904. Immigrants from Europe flowed into the city and after that, African Americans from the south. Soon skyscrapers were going up everywhere in the city.

When World War II ended, New York City had become one of the leading, if not the leading, city in the world. It was now the unquestioned financial capitol of the world being the home to the New York Stock Exchange and many other markets. Racial tension had increased but slowly ebbed away and with it the crime rate diminished. Real estate had boomed in the city and some of the prices for homes were the highest in the land. This boom continues till this day.

Image taken from World Trade Center

On September 11, 2001, New York City was the victim of a terror attack. Two passenger jets slammed into the World Trade Towers destroying both of them. Almost 3,000 people died. The cleanup took a long time and New Yorkers will never forget what happened to them. There were many heroes on that day that risked and even lost their lives trying to save others and New Yorkers are proud of them. The Fire and Police services performed well beyond any call of duty and hundreds of firemen were lost.

New York City is a big place. The population for the year 2000 was 8,008,278. The area of the city was 321.8 square miles. The subway has gotten to the point where there are 490 stations and 660 miles of track. It is possible to travel all day in the subway without going to the same place twice. There are also many buses traveling the streets of the city along with thousands of yellow cabs. If anyone likes good food out there, just drop into the city and you will find restaurants that feature food from every part of the world. Some of the best restaurants in the world are in the city, also some of the most expensive. I remember going into a restaurant in one of the famous hotels and of course the menu had no prices. I was young and was on a date and figured, hey how much could it be? The answer was that it cost me my whole paycheck at the time. I couldn't believe it.

View of street around Rockefeller Center

Everywhere you go in the U.S. you find transplanted New Yorkers. They retire to places like Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and many of the other southern states. As New Yorkers get older they begin to crave warmth. While New York City gets very hot in the summer when the temperature can get up to, or even over, 100 degrees fahrenheit, in the winter in can easily go down below freezing or even 0 degrees Fahrenheit. The truth is that the winters have been getting warmer and many New Yorkers are rethinking moving to Florida because of the terrible hurricanes.

There may be more populated cities than New York City, there may be bigger cities, and there may be cities with a better climate, but there are no cities anywhere that have as diverse a population and are as large.