New York (state)

New York is a  in the  and  regions of the. With 62 counties, it is the country's state. It is bordered by, , , , and , and shares a water border with as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of  and. Its five largest cities are (also the largest city in the United States),, , , and.

is known for its history as a to the United States and its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center.

New York was inhabited by, , and  at the time  and  nationals moved into the region in the very early 17th century. First claimed by in 1609, the region came to have Dutch s in, near the site of the present-day  of  in 1614 and was colonized by the Dutch in 1624, at both Albany and ; it later fell to British annexation in 1664. About one third of all of the battles of the took place in New York. New York became an independent state on, and enacted its in 1777. The state ratified the in 1788, the 11th state to do so.

Geography
New York covers 54,475 square miles (141,089 km²). In size, New York ranks 27th out of the 50 states. The dominates eastern New York, while  is the chief northern feature of the valley, which also includes the  flowing southward to the. The rugged, with vast tracts of wilderness, lie west of the valley. Most of the southern part of the state is on the Allegheny plateau, which rises from the southeast to the. The western section of the state is drained by the and rivers of the  and  systems. The Delaware River Basin Compact, signed in 1961 by New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the federal government, regulates the utilization of water of the Delaware system.

New York's borders touch (clockwise from the west) two Great Lakes ( and, which are connected by the ); the provinces of and  in ; ; three  states (, , and ); the , and two  states ( and ). In addition, shares a water border with New York.

While the state is best known for 's urban atmosphere, especially 's skyscrapers, most of the state is dominated by farms, forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. New York's is larger than any  outside of. , on the Niagara River as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is a popular attraction. The begins with  and flows south through the eastern part of the state without draining Lakes  or. Lake George empties at its north end into Lake Champlain, whose northern end extends into Canada, where it drains into the and then the  Rivers. Four of New York City's are on the three islands at the mouth of the Hudson River:, , and  and  on.

is a common term for New York State counties north of suburban and  counties. Upstate New York typically includes the and, the , the  and the  in the west; and , , and  in the northeast; and rivers such as the , , , and. The highest elevation in New York is in the Adirondacks.

Climate
The climate of New York State is broadly representative of the type, which prevails in the northeastern United States, but its diversity is not usually encountered within an area of comparable size. The Great Lakes, ocean, rivers, and mountains give New York interesting weather. Masses of cold, dry air frequently arrive from the northern interior of the continent. Prevailing winds from the south and southwest transport warm, humid air, which has been conditioned by the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent subtropical waters. These two air masses provide the dominant continental characteristics of the climate. A third great air mass flows inland from the North Atlantic Ocean and produces cool, cloudy, and damp weather conditions.

Nearly all storm and frontal systems moving eastward across the continent pass through or in close proximity to New York State. Storm systems often move northward along the Atlantic coast and have an important influence on the weather and climate of Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. Frequently, areas deep in the interior of the state feel the effects of such coastal storms.

The winters are long and cold in the Plateau Divisions of the state. In the majority of winter seasons, a temperature of -25 °C or lower can be expected in the northern highlands (Northern Plateau) and -15 °C or colder in the southwestern and east-central highlands (Southern Plateau). The Adirondack region records from 35 to 45 days with below zero temperatures in normal to severe winters. Much of Upstate New York, particularly Western and Central New York are typically affected by lake-effect snows. This usually results in high yearly snowfall totals in these regions. Winters are also long and cold in both Western and Central New York, though not as cold as the Adirondack region. The New York City metro area in comparison to the rest of the state is milder in the winter. Thanks in part to geography (its proximity to the Atlantic and being shielded to its north and west by hillier terrain), the New York metro area usually sees far less snow than the rest of the state. Lake-effect snow rarely affects the New York metro area, except for its extreme northwestern suburbs. Winters also tend to be noticeably shorter here than the rest of the state.

The summer climate is cool in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and higher elevations of the Southern Plateau. The New York City area and lower portions of the Hudson Valley have rather warm summers by comparison, with some periods of high, uncomfortable humidity. The remainder of New York State enjoys pleasantly warm summers, marred by only occasional, brief intervals of sultry conditions. Summer daytime temperatures usually range from the upper 70s to mid 80s (25 to 30 ˚C) over much of the State, producing an atmospheric environment favorable to many athletic, recreational, and other outdoor activities.

New York ranks 46th among the 50 states in the amount of es generated per person. This efficiency is primarily due to the state's relatively higher rate of mass transit use.

State parks


New York has many state parks and two major forest preserves. , roughly the size of the state of and the largest state park in the United States, was established in 1892 and given state constitutional protection in 1894. The thinking that led to the creation of the Park first appeared in 's , published in 1864. Marsh argued that deforestation could lead to desertification; referring to the clearing of once-lush lands surrounding the Mediterranean, he asserted "the operation of causes set in action by man has brought the face of the earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of the moon."

The was protected in legislation passed in 1885, which declared that its land was to be conserved and never put up for sale or lease. Consisting of 700,000 acres (2,800 km²) of land, the park is a habitat for bobcats, minks and fishers. There are some 400 black bears living in the region. The state operates numerous campgrounds and there are over 300 miles (480 km) of multi-use trails in the Park.

The boasts the famous  commissioned by the first  of the, , which is a major tourist attraction and is located in the township of ,. park offers camping and is a popular destination with surfcasting sport fishermen.

History


The western part of New York had been settled by the six nations of the Confederacy for at least 500 years before Europeans came. The Iroquois had maintained the area between and Cayuga Lakes as a grassland prairie, which abounded in wild game including grazing  herds. In colonial times, the Iroquois were prosperously growing corn, vegetables and orchards, and keeping cows and hogs; fish were also abundant.

The far-southern area around what is now New York City was long inhabited by the ; Lenape in canoes met, the first European explorer to enter , in 1524. named this place Nouvelle Angoulême (New ) in honor of the king. A explorer and mapper,, described his explorations through New York in 1608.

New Netherlands
A year later, an working for the , claimed the area in the name of the. It was to be called.

The Dutch, who began to establish trading posts on the in 1613, claimed jurisdiction over the territory between the  and the s, which they called. The government was vested in "", chartered in 1614, and then in "", chartered in 1622.

In 1649, a convention of the settlers petitioned the "" to grant them "suitable burgher government, such as their High Mightinesses shall consider adapted to this province, and resembling somewhat the government of our Fatherland", with certain permanent privileges and exemptions, that they might pursue "the trade of our country, as well along the coast from to  as to the  and Europe, whenever our Lord God shall be pleased to permit."



The directors of the West India Company resented this attempt to shake their rule and wrote their director and council at New Amsterdam: "We have already connived as much as possible at the many impertinences of some restless spirits, in the hope that they might be shamed by our discreetness and benevolence, but, perceiving that all kindnesses do not avail, we must, therefore, have recourse to God to Nature and the Law. We accordingly hereby charge and command your Honors whenever you shall certainly discover any Clandestine Meetings, Conventicles or machinations against our States government or that of our country that you proceed against such malignants in proportion to their crimes."

These grants embraced all the lands between the west bank of the and the east bank of the.

Province of New York
In 1663 the purchased the grant of  and other islands on the  coast made in 1635 to the. The following year, the Duke equipped an armed expedition, which took possession of, which was thenceforth called , after him. This conquest was confirmed by the, in July 1667. In July 1673, a Dutch fleet recaptured New York and held it until it was restored to the English by the in February, 1674.

The was established by its. The colonial charter of New York granted unlimited westward expansion, despite Native American presence in the Area. ' charter had the same provision, causing territorial disputes between the colonies and with the.

State of New York
New York declared itself an independent state on July 9, 1776. The New York state constitution was framed by a which assembled at  on , and after repeated adjournments and changes of location, terminated its labors at  on Sunday evening,  , when the constitution was adopted with but one dissenting vote. It was not submitted to the people for ratification. It was drafted by.

During the, four of the nations fought on the side of the British, with the exceptions of the  and the. In 1779, Major General was sent to defeat the Iroquois. The moved northward through the  and, burning all the Iroquois communities and destroying their crops and orchards. Refugees fled to where they spent the following winter in hunger and misery. Hundreds died of exposure, hunger and disease. After the war, many moved to.

Sullivan's men returned from the campaign to and  to tell of the enormous wealth of this new territory. Many of them were given in gratitude for their service in the Revolution. From 1786 through 1797 several groups of wealthy land speculators entered into agreements with one another, with neighboring states, and with the to obtain title to vast tracts of land in western New York. Some purchases of lands are the subject of numerous modern-day land claims by the individual nations of the six nations.

For the nation's assistance in defeating the British, primarily assisting General Washington's army at Valley Forge, then President Washington while on tour of the Mohawk Valley signed the. This Treaty promised the Oneidas among other things a large swath of land from Pennsylvania to Canada, forever. The Treaty was violated in the mid-1800s by New York State. This became the basis for the present land claim dispute.

New York state was one of the original that became the. It was the 11th state to ratify the, on.



Transportation in western New York was difficult before canals were built in the early part of the nineteenth century. The and  Rivers could be navigated only as far as Central New York. While the could be navigated to, the way westward to the other  was blocked by , and so the only route to western New York was over land. Governor strongly advocated building a canal to connect the Hudson River with, and thus all the. Work commenced in 1817, and the was finished in 1825. The canal opened up vast areas of New York to commerce and settlement, and enabled port cities such as to grow and prosper. The was completed in 1833.

Population
As of 2006, New York was the third largest state in population after California and Texas, with an estimated population of 19,306,183. This represents an increase of 329,362, or 1.7%, since the year 2000; it includes a natural increase since the last census of 601,779 people (1,576,125 births minus 974,346 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 422,481 people out of the state. from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 820,388 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of about 800,213

New York is a slow growing state with a large rate of migration to other states. In 2000 and 2005, more people moved from New York to Florida than from any one state to another. New York state is a leading destination for international immigration, however. The of New York is located in, in the town of. New York City and its six suburban counties have a combined population of 12,626,200 people, or 65.67% of the state's population.

Racial and ancestral makeup
The major ancestry groups in New York state are (15.8%),  (14.4%),  (12.9%), and  (11.1%). According to a 2004 estimate, 20.4% of the population is foreign-born. New York is home to the largest and  population in the United States. The New York City neighborhood of has historically been a major cultural capital for sub saharan African-Americans and  is the largest in the United States. , also in New York City, is home to the state's largest population, and is also the most diverse county in the United States.

In the 2000 Census, make up the largest ancestral group in Staten Island and Long Island, followed by. Albany and southeast-central New York are heavily Irish-American and Italian-American. In Buffalo and western New York, are the largest group; in the northern tip of the state,.

6.5% of New York's population were under 5 years of age, 24.7% under 18, and 12.9% were 65 or older. Females made up 51.8% of the population.

New York State has a higher number of Italian-Americans than any other U.S. state.

According to the, 13.61% of the population aged 5 and over speak at home, while 2.04% speak  (including  and ), 1.65% , and 1.23%.

Religion
comprise more than 40% of the population in New York. are 30% of the population, 5%, s 3.5%,  1%, and 13% claim no religious affiliation.

Economy


New York's gross state product in 2006 was $1.02 trillion, ranking third in size behind the larger states of California and Texas. If New York were an independent nation, it would rank as the 16th largest economy in the world behind. Its 2005 per capita personal income was $40,072, an increase of 4.2% from 2004, placing it fifth in the nation behind Maryland, and eighth in the world behind. New York's outputs are  products,  and other, s,  stock, and. Its industrial outputs are printing and, scientific instruments, electric equipment, , products, and.

New York exports a wide variety of goods such as foodstuffs, commodities, minerals, manufactured goods, cut diamonds, and automobile parts. New York's five largest export markets in 2004 were Canada ($30.2 billion), United Kingdom ($3.3 billion), Japan ($2.6 billion), Israel ($2.4 billion), and Switzerland ($1.8 billion). New York's largest imports are oil, gold, aluminum, natural gas, electricity, rough diamonds, and lumber.

Canada is a very important economic partner for the state. 23% of the state's total worldwide exports went to Canada in 2004. Tourism from the north is also a large part of the economy. Canadians spent US$487 million in 2004 while visiting the state.

New York City is the leading center of, and  in the United States and is the location of the , the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume. Many of the world's largest corporations are based in the city.

The state also has a large manufacturing sector that includes printing and the production of garments, furs, railroad equipment and bus line vehicles. Many of these industries are concentrated in upstate regions. Albany and the Hudson Valley are major centers of nanotechnology and microchip manufacturing, while the area is important in photographic equipment and imaging.

New York is a major agricultural producer, ranking among the top five states for agricultural products including dairy, apples, cherries, cabbage, potatoes, onions, maple syrup and many others. The state is the largest producer of cabbage in the U.S. The state has about a quarter of its land in farms and produced US$3.4 billion in agricultural products in 2001. The south shore of Lake Ontario provides the right mix of s and for many apple, cherry,,  and  s. Apples are also grown in the Hudson Valley and near Lake Champlain. The south shore of Lake Erie and the southern hillsides have many vineyards. New York is the nation's third-largest grape-producing state, behind California, and second largest wine producer by volume. In 2004, New York's wine and grape industry brought US$6 billion into the state economy. The state has 30,000 acres (120 km²) of vineyards, 212 wineries, and produced 200 million bottles of wine in 2004. A moderately sized saltwater commercial fishery is located along the Atlantic side of Long Island. The principal catches by value are clams, lobsters, squid, and flounder. These areas have been increasing as environmental protection has led to an increase in ocean wildlife.

Transportation


New York boasts the most extensive and one of the oldest transportation infrastructures in the country. Engineering difficulties because of the terrain of the state and the unique issues of the city brought on by urban crowding have had to be overcome since the state was young. Population expansion of the state generally followed the path of the early waterways, first the and then the. Today, railroad lines and the follow the same general route. The is often criticized for how they maintain the roads of the state in certain areas for the fact that the tolls collected along the roadway have long passed their original purpose. Until 2006, tolls were collected on the Thruway within. They were dropped late in 2006 during the campaign for Governor (both candidates called for their removal).



New York City is home to the most complex and extensive transportation network in the United States, with more than 12,000 iconic yellow cabs, 120,000 daily bicyclists, a massive, bus and railroad systems, immense airports, landmark bridges and tunnels, ferry service and even an. About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in New York and its suburbs.

Four suburban commuter railroad systems enter and leave New York City, including the, , the system and five of 's rail services.

Besides New York City, many of the other cities have urban and regional public transportation. is the smallest city in the U.S. to have a commuter rail line, known as. also has a line, sometimes called a  System run by the, and  had a subway system, although it is mostly destroyed. Only a small part exists under the old Erie Canal Aqueduct.

Portions of the transportation system are, allowing travelers to easily switch from one mode of transportation to another. One of the most notable examples is which allows rail passengers to travel directly to terminals at Kennedy Airport.

Politics and government


Under its present constitution (adopted in 1894), New York is governed by three branches of government: the, consisting of the and the other independently elected constitutional officers; the , consisting of the  ; and the , consisting of the state's highest court, the , and lower courts. The state has two U.S. senators, 29 members in the, and 31 in national presidential elections (a drop from its 41 votes during the 1970s).

New York's capital is. The state's subordinate political units are its 62. Other officially incorporated governmental units are, , and. New York has more than 4,200 local governments that take one of these forms. About 52% of all revenue raised by local governments in the state is raised solely by the, which is the largest municipal government in the United States.

The state has a strong imbalance of payments with the federal government. New York State receives 82 cents in services for every $1 it sends in taxes to the federal government in Washington. The state ranks near the bottom, in 42nd place, in federal spending per tax dollar.

Many of New York's public services are carried out by, frequently called authorities or development corporations. Well known include the, which oversees New York City's public transportation system, and the , a bi-state transportation infrastructure agency.

New York's legal system is explicitly based on. was declared unconstitutional in 2004.

Politics
New York State consistently supports candidates belonging to the in national elections. Democratic presidential candidate won New York State by 18 percentage points in 2004, while Democrat Al Gore won the state by an even larger margin in 2000. New York City is a major Democratic stronghold with liberal politics. Many of the state's other urban areas, like, , , , and are also Democratic. Rural upstate New York, however, is generally more conservative than the cities and tends to favor. Heavily populated suburban areas such as and  have swung between the major parties over the past 25 years and often have tightly contested local elections.

New York City is the most important source of political fund-raising in the United States for both major parties. Four of the top five zip codes in the nation for political contributions are in Manhattan. The top zip code, 10021 on the, generated the most money for the 2000 presidential campaigns of both George Bush and Al Gore. Republican Presidential candidates will often skip campaigning in the state, taking it as a loss and focusing on vital swing states.

Cities and towns

 * For lists of cities, towns, and counties in New York, see, , , , and .

The largest city in the state and the most populous city in the United States is, which is comprised of five counties, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. New York City is home to more than two-fifths of the state's population. is the second largest city in the state. The smallest city is, located just west of the in. is the state capital, and the is the civil township with the largest population.

The southern tip of New York State&mdash;, its suburbs including, the southern portion of the Hudson Valley, and most of northern &mdash;can be considered to form the central core of a "", a super-city stretching from the northern suburbs of to the southern suburbs of  in  and therefore occasionally called "". First described by in 1961 as a new phenomenon in the history of world urbanization, the megalopolis is characterized by a coalescence of previous already-large cities of the : a heavy specialization on tertiary activity related to government, trade, law, education, finance, publishing and control of economic activity; plus a growth pattern not so much of more population and more area as more intensive use of already existing urbanized area and ever more sophisticated links from one specialty to another. Several other groups of megalopolis-type super-cities exist in the world, but that centered around New York City was the first described and still is the best example.

Education
The oversees all public primary, middle-level, and secondary education in the state, while the  manages the public school system in New York City.

At college level, the statewide public university system is the (SUNY). The (CUNY) is the public university system of New York City. In addition there are several private universities, including the oldest institution in the northeast,. New York also has two universities,  and, making it the state with the most  schools.

Sports
New York hosted the at, the Games known for the USA-USSR hockey game dubbed the "" in which a group of American college students and amateurs defeated the heavily-favored Soviet national ice hockey team 4-3 and went on to win the gold medal. Lake Placid also hosted the. Along with and, it is one of the three places to have twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games. The US Open for tennis is also played in Queens, New York.

New York is represented in the by the ; Despite their names, the  and, which had both been based in New York City, play in , which is located in ,. New York also has two teams, the  (based in ), and the  (based in ). Three franchises (the, the  and the ) are based in New York. A team, the  is based in, while the  are scheduled to move into  in the near future.

Navy vessel namesakes
There have been at least six ships named  in honor of the state. The keel was laid for the on,  and she will be the seventh US Navy ship to be named for the state. The New York's motto will be "Never Forget."

The USS New York is one of several ships in the of amphibious transport dock ships (LPD stands for Landing Ship Transport, Dock). The ship will be used to transport and land, their equipment and supplies, such as amphibious vehicles and helicopters. It is one of three similar ships that are being built and being given names that are associated with. The others are the (named because of the location of the ) and the  (named after the county in  where  crashed).

Twenty-four tons of steel from the have been recycled for construction of the ship. Approximately seven tons were used to make the bow section of the ship's hull. The steel from the World Trade Center has been treated with reverence by the ship builders. Several workers have postponed their retirements for the honor of constructing the USS New York.

According to Naval records, several other ships have carried the name the USS New York. This new ship was given the name the USS New York when former New York  wrote to   and requested that the Navy use the name to honor the victims of September 11 and to give it to a surface ship that would be used to fight the. This is an exception to the current use of state names for only.

The first ship to carry the name USS New York was an armed gondola built by   in. She was burned to avoid capture later in the Revolutionary War.

The second ship named was a 36-gun  built in New York and commissioned in. She saw service in the in the war against the. She was burned by the British in  while she was in the.

The third USS New York was one of nine built to discourage a future war with after the war of. The threat abated, so she was never launched. Union Forces later burned the 74-gun to avoid her capture at the start of the.

Beginning in 1863, a that was being built that would have carried the name USS New York, but it also never got launched, being sold in.

The fifth was a  commissioned in. She was used in the and was the  of   in the , which destroyed the Spanish fleet. She was later renamed the in  and then renamed again as the  in.

The sixth was the, commissioned in. She saw service in both and. She participated in surviving both an atmospheric explosion and an underwater detonation. She was used as a target ship in and was sunk off,.

Finally, there was a nuclear attack submarine  in service from  until  when she was decommissioned.