New York City has long been unusual because of its sheer size.
Even before 1775, when it's population was never more than 25,000, it ranked among the five leading cities in the colonies.
It surpassed Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by 1810 to become the largest city in the United States, and in 1830 it passed Mexico City, Mexico, to become the largest in the western hemisphere.
By 1930 it was the largest city in the world. In the 1980s the metro region was surpassed in total size by Tokyo, Japan; Mexico City; and São Paolo, Brazil. Yet with 21.2 million people, the New York City region remains an urban agglomeration of almost unimaginable size.
For example, in 2004, when the population of the city itself was 8.1 million, each of its five boroughs was large enough to have been an important city in its own right, with populations exceeding those of many major U.S. cities.
The five boroughs of New York City together cover 786 sq km (303 sq mi).
The urbanized area, however, includes 28 adjacent counties in New York state, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.
Together, they make up the New York metropolitan region, which in 2000 housed about 8 percent of the national population on about 0.2 percent of the land area of the contiguous 48 states.
Moreover, New York stands at the center of the urbanized northeastern seaboard, which contained about 60 million people in the late 1990s.
New York has been among the most ethnically diverse cities in the world since the 1640s, when fewer than 1,000 total residents spoke more than 15 languages.
Between 1880 and 1919, more than 23 million Europeans immigrated to the United States. At least 17 million of them disembarked in New York.
No one knows how many remained there, but as early as 1880, more than half the city’s working population was foreign-born, providing New York with the largest immigrant labor force on earth.
Half a century later, the city still contained 2 million foreign-born residents (including 517,000 Russians and 430,000 Italians) and an even larger number of persons of foreign parentage. And at the end of the 20th century, the pattern remained the same.
In 1996 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that more than 11 out of every 20 New Yorkers were immigrants or the children of immigrants.
Nearly half of all Bronx residents and one-third of Manhattan’s were Hispanic and nearly one-fifth of the population of Queens was Asian-American.
Researchers estimated that immigrants would make up about 33 percent of the city’s population in 2000, approaching the 20th-century peak of about 40 percent, reached in 1910.
Meanwhile, the black proportion of the New York population, which reached 20 percent in the colonial period and declined to less than 2 percent in the 1870s, began a slow rise thereafter.
According to the 2000 census, whites make up 44.7 percent of the city’s population; blacks, 26.6 percent; Asians, 9.8 percent; Native Americans, 0.5 percent; Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, 0.1 percent; and people of mixed heritage or not reporting race, 18.3 percent.
Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 27 percent of the population.
By the late 1990s, more than 120 languages were spoken in the city’s schools, and there were dozens of ethnic churches, political organizations, cultural festivals, and parades, as well as scores of foreign-language newspapers, magazines, and television and radio stations.
Although rivalries among the various groups could be intense, the very diversity of the city permitted immigrants to mingle more easily than in most other parts of the nation.
Even before 1775, when it's population was never more than 25,000, it ranked among the five leading cities in the colonies.
It surpassed Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by 1810 to become the largest city in the United States, and in 1830 it passed Mexico City, Mexico, to become the largest in the western hemisphere.
By 1930 it was the largest city in the world. In the 1980s the metro region was surpassed in total size by Tokyo, Japan; Mexico City; and São Paolo, Brazil. Yet with 21.2 million people, the New York City region remains an urban agglomeration of almost unimaginable size.
For example, in 2004, when the population of the city itself was 8.1 million, each of its five boroughs was large enough to have been an important city in its own right, with populations exceeding those of many major U.S. cities.
The five boroughs of New York City together cover 786 sq km (303 sq mi).
The urbanized area, however, includes 28 adjacent counties in New York state, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.
Together, they make up the New York metropolitan region, which in 2000 housed about 8 percent of the national population on about 0.2 percent of the land area of the contiguous 48 states.
Moreover, New York stands at the center of the urbanized northeastern seaboard, which contained about 60 million people in the late 1990s.
New York has been among the most ethnically diverse cities in the world since the 1640s, when fewer than 1,000 total residents spoke more than 15 languages.
Between 1880 and 1919, more than 23 million Europeans immigrated to the United States. At least 17 million of them disembarked in New York.
No one knows how many remained there, but as early as 1880, more than half the city’s working population was foreign-born, providing New York with the largest immigrant labor force on earth.
Half a century later, the city still contained 2 million foreign-born residents (including 517,000 Russians and 430,000 Italians) and an even larger number of persons of foreign parentage. And at the end of the 20th century, the pattern remained the same.
In 1996 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that more than 11 out of every 20 New Yorkers were immigrants or the children of immigrants.
Nearly half of all Bronx residents and one-third of Manhattan’s were Hispanic and nearly one-fifth of the population of Queens was Asian-American.
Researchers estimated that immigrants would make up about 33 percent of the city’s population in 2000, approaching the 20th-century peak of about 40 percent, reached in 1910.
Meanwhile, the black proportion of the New York population, which reached 20 percent in the colonial period and declined to less than 2 percent in the 1870s, began a slow rise thereafter.
According to the 2000 census, whites make up 44.7 percent of the city’s population; blacks, 26.6 percent; Asians, 9.8 percent; Native Americans, 0.5 percent; Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, 0.1 percent; and people of mixed heritage or not reporting race, 18.3 percent.
Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 27 percent of the population.
By the late 1990s, more than 120 languages were spoken in the city’s schools, and there were dozens of ethnic churches, political organizations, cultural festivals, and parades, as well as scores of foreign-language newspapers, magazines, and television and radio stations.
Although rivalries among the various groups could be intense, the very diversity of the city permitted immigrants to mingle more easily than in most other parts of the nation.
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