Think You Know New York? Did you know that in New York City, more than 26,000 people live in each square mile? Or that the island of Manhattan was purchased from Native Americans for about $24? In fact, New York City is not only the largest city in the United States, but is made up of five separate boroughs: Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, and Manhattan. If you think you know everything about the Big Apple, think again. Here are My Top 20 Interesting Facts About New York City, some you might have heard and others I guarantee you haven't.
My Top 20 Facts
1. Dutch explorer Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan (really its southern tip) from the Algonquin tribe for trinkets and tools worth about $24.
2. The first known name for Manhattan was New Amsterdam, which referred to the southern tip of Manhattan, a Dutch trading port.
3. New York City was the U.S. capital from 1789 to 1790
4. New Yorkers travel an average of 40 minutes to work each day.
5. More than 47 percent of New York City's residents over the age of 5 speak a language other than English at home.
6. New York's Central Park is larger than the principality of Monaco.
7. The New York City Council consists of 51 members and is the legislative branch of city.
8. According to Crain's New York Business, the average sale price of an apartment in Manhattan during the 4th quarter of 2007 was a whopping $1.49 million.
9. New York's Yellow Cabs are yellow because John Hertz, the company's founder, learned from a study that yellow was the easiest color for the eye to spot. He was right.
10. The Federal Reserve Bank on New York's Wall Street contains vaults that are located 80 feet beneath the bank and hold about 25 percent of the world's gold bullion.
11. In 2007, 46 million international and domestic visitors came to New York City. They spent approximately $28 billion while there.
12. The average daily room rate in New York hotels in 2006 (the most recent year surveyed) was $267.
13. More than 250 feature films are shot on location in New York City each year.
14. An average of 4.9 million people ride the New York City subway each weekday.
15. The New York City subway system runs 26 routes with 6,200 subway cars that stop at 468 different subway stations.
16. More than 12,700 licensed medallion taxis work the streets of New York City.
17. More than 18,600 restaurants and eating establishments do business in New York City, and the average cost of a dinner in 2006, according to the Zagat Survey, was $39.43. That includes a drink, tax and the tip.
18. As of the 2000 Census, 8,008,278 people live in New York City.
19. Approximately 790,000 companies operate in New York City.
20. Although many legends exist about the origin of New York City's nickname, the Big Apple, most historians agree that it can be traced back to a writer who covered horse racing in the 1920s. In The Morning Telegraph, he wrote that stable hands often referred to New York as the Big Apple, meaning that any thoroughbred that raced in New York had reached the pinnacle of racing.
This intel first appeared on: http://hubpages.com/hub/20-Interesting-Facts-About-New-York-City
