Chapter Seven - Megalopolis

The Northeast Megalopolis is the most densely populated region in the United States, including the five major cities of Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, and New York City.

Geography

Despite this region's population, it is concentrated into an area of about fifty thousand square miles, less than the size of the state of Illinois.  Megalopolis spreads across three physiographic regions in the Northeast: the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Piedmont, and the Appalachian Mountains.  

Population

Megalopolis, aided by the strategic placement of Ellis Island in NYC, is the home to a wide immigrant population.  Megalopolis became a "landing wharf for European immigrants," creating significant diversity throughout the region.  Areas such as Little Italy and others sprung up around these city centers, creating a culture within Megalopolis all its own.

Climate & Weather

The climate in Megalopolis is moderate, with precipitation throughout the year.  The southern portion of Megalopolis is more humid in its subtropical climate, with hot, humid summers and mild winters.  The northern portion of Megalopolis observes a winter that is much longer and colder, and a summer that is much shorter and cooler.  Hurricanes are a major meteorological threat to this area.  

NYC Financial District

New York City is one of the five major cities included in the Megalopolis region of the Northeastern United States.  NYC remains the largest city in not only the United States, but in the world.  It is also the largest and most influential financial center across the globe, which plays a significant role in its inclusion in the Megalopolis region.  With a population of over nine million, and an additional eight million in its immediate surrounding areas, New York City is a major hubbub of Megalopolis.

Works Cited -
http://www.geog.nau.edu/courses/alew/gsp220/text/chapters/ch4.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_megalopolis

Chapter Five - The Atlantic Periphery

The Atlantic Periphery includes Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the eastern portion of New York State.  Therefore, New York City is located just outside of the Atlantic Periphery.

The area experiences weather similar to that of the northern Megalopolis, in which NYC is included - cool, mild summers and cold, snowy winters, with year-round precipitation.  

The Atlantic Periphery, in being considered a "peripheral" area, has a weak economy, and must rely upon the policies and decisions of stronger economies, such as that of Megalopolis.  New York City is considered to be a main portion of the Megalopolis of the New England area, and so acts as one of the economies which the Atlantic Periphery relies upon.  

The economy of the Atlantic Periphery is weak due to the lack of natural resources, marginal agriculture, and relative isolation.  But since NYC is adjacent to the Atlantic Periphery, there are often many spillovers between the two.  Such spillovers are evident in terms of tourism, second-home development, and permanent in-migration.  

Works Cited - 

http://newyorkgeo321.weebly.com/the-atlantic-periphery.html

Chapter Four - Political Economy

Agriculture
New York City is not necessarily a place you would expect urban agriculture to thrive - it is one of the most densely populated cities in the United States.  And yet, NYC is a leader in the practice of urban agriculture.  The city's urban agriculture community includes not only farmers and gardeners, but also school principals, sanitation workers, bodega owners, and public housing residents, as well as city officials, support organizations, and foundations.
New York City is host to two hundred, forty-five institutional farms, three commercial farms, three hundred, ninety community gardens, and seven community farms, total.

Community Garden

Institutional Farm

Economic Base

New York City is the core of international finance dealings and the global center of corporate headquarters in finance and services, real estate, media, entertainment and telecommunications, manufacturing, and trade.  Financial service jobs, though, are currently on the decline, as New York City is quickly becoming an international technological hubbub, particularly in what is being termed "Silicon Alley" - Upper Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island.

NYC currently leads the country in the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered there, including eight of the world's top ten securities firms, and about two-fifths of the country's fifty leading law firms, as well as two hundred, nineteen banks representing every major global player.  The city's biggest industry is publishing, with more printing plants than anywhere else in the United States and employing approximately thirteen thousand individuals.  

New York City's clothing industry is headquartered in the Garment District near Times Square, where hundreds of factories employ more than one hundred thousand persons.  

NYC Garment District

7th Avenue (Fashion Avenue)

Works Cited -
http://www.urbandesignlab.columbia.edu/?pid=nyc-urban-agriculture
http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-Northeast/New-York-Economy.html

Chapter Three - Settlement

European settlement began on 3 September 1609, when Englishman Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, sailed through The Narrows into Upper New York Bay, searching for a westerly passage to Asia.

Henry Hudson

Hudson's report on the abundance of beavers in the city, at the time a high end fashion trend across Europe, served as the impetus for the founding of Dutch trading colonies in the New World, including New Amsterdam, which would later become New York City.




The Dutch West Indies Company transported African slaves as trading laborers for the area.  By the late seventeenth century, 40% of the region's settlers were African slaves. After the English took ownership of New Amsterdam in 1664, officially renaming the colony New York, they continued to import slaves from both Africa and the Caribbean.

New Amsterdam

During the American Revolution, NYC came under the control of the British, becoming its base on the North American continent until the end of 1783.

New York City served as the new nation of the United States' capital from 1785-9 under the Articles of Confederation, as well as briefly served as its capital from 1789-90 under the United States Constitution that replaced it.

Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, waves of new immigrants arrived from Europe, dramatically changing the composition of the city and serving as workers in the expanding industries.  Home to the infamous port, Ellis Island, NYC was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States, and thus, New York City served as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892-1954.

Ellis Island

Throughout its history, NYC has served as a main port of entry for many immigrants, and its cultural and economic influence has made it one of the most important urban areas in not only the United States, but the world.









Works Cited -
http://www.ny.com/histfacts/settlement.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_York_City

Chapter Two - Environmental Setting

Geography 
New York City is located in the northeastern United States, in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston.  Its location at the mouth of the Hudson River, which flows into New York Bay, separates the city from New Jersey.

The city's total area is 468.9 square miles, of which 164.1 square miles are water.  The highest point in the city is Todt Hill on Staten Island, reaching an elevation of 410 feet above sea level.

The boroughs of NYC straddle the border between two geologic provinces of eastern North America.  Brooklyn and Queens, located on Long Island (a massive moraine which formed at the southern fringe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last Ice Age), are part of the eastern coastal plain.  The Bronx and Manhattan lie on the eastern edge of the Newark Basin, a block of the Earth's crust which sank downward during the disintegration of the supercontinent Pangea during the Triassic Period.  Tough metamorphic rocks underlie much of Manhattan, providing solid support for its many skyscrapers.

Climate

NYC has a humid, subtropical climate, which is vastly affected by the city's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, a seventy-year-long warming and cooling cycle in the Atlantic that influences the frequency and severity of hurricanes and coastal storms.  

Winters in NYC are notoriously frigid.  The city is located in the USDA Hardiness Zone 7, indicating that the coldest temperature of the year is typically between 0 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit.  New York winters often feature several nor'easters, as well, which can paralyze the city with over a foot of snow.  

Spring and Autumn are generally mild, but notably unpredictable.  These seasons have the capacity to surprise New Yorkers with late snowstorms in the first few weeks of April or long stretches of dry weather.  

Summers in NYC are hot and humid.  Thunderstorms are common, and even the occasional tornado can form! 

Vegetation

Plants native to New York City thrive in its low nutrient soils.  Some of the most commonly found flora in NYC include: 

Field Pussytoes

Birdfoot Violets

Purple Lovegrass

Bearberry

Works Cited -

http://www.nycgo.com/basic-info/ 

http://nycwildflowerweek.org/nyc_native_plant.pdf

Chapter One - Introduction

New York City, the most populous city in the United States, is one of the most exciting and influential cities in the world.  Known for having its own unique flair, NYC has become a hubbub for international commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment.  Described as the cultural capital of the world, NYC is always alive with passion, hard work, and an obvious love for life.

Here is a brief history of NYC!