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Nickname:
Empire State
Origin of name:
In honor of the Duke of York
10 largest cities (2005
est.): New
York, 8,143,197; Buffalo, 279,745; Rochester, 211,091; Yonkers, 196,425; Syracuse, 141,683; Albany, 93,523; New Rochelle, 72,967; Mount Vernon, 67,924; Schenectady, 61,280; Utica, 59,336
Land area:
47,214 sq mi. (122,284 sq km)
Geographic center:
In Madison Co., 12 mi. S of Oneida and 26 mi. SW of Utica
Number of counties:
62
Largest county by population and area:
Kings, 2,486,235 (2005); St. Lawrence, 2,686 sq mi.
National forests: 18
State parks and beaches:
176
Residents:
New Yorker
2005 resident population
est.: 19,264,630
2000 resident census population
(rank): 18,976,457 (3). Male: 9,146,748 (48.2%); Female: 9,829,709 (51.8%). White: 12,893,689 (67.9%); Black: 3,014,385 (15.9%); American Indian: 82,461 (0.4%); Asian: 1,044,976 (5.5%); Other race: 1,341,946 (7.1%); Two or more races: 590,182 (3.1%); Hispanic/Latino: 2,867,583 (15.1%). 2000 percent population 18 and over: 75.3; 65 and over: 12.9; median age: 35.9.
RESOURCES
New York
History
Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian-born navigator sailing for France, discovered New York Bay in 1524. Henry Hudson, an Englishman employed by the Dutch, reached the bay and sailed up the river now bearing his name in 1609, the same year that northern New York was explored and claimed for France by Samuel de Champlain.
In 1624 the first permanent Dutch settlement was established at Fort Orange (now Albany). One year later Peter Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians for trinkets worth about 60 Dutch guilders and founded the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (now New York City), which was surrendered to the English in 1664.
New York's extremely rapid commercial growth may be partly attributed to Gov. De Witt Clinton, who pushed through the construction of the Erie Canal (Buffalo to Albany), which was opened in 1825. Today, the 641-mile Gov. Thomas E. Dewey Thruway connects New York City with Buffalo and with Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania express highways. Two toll-free superhighways, the Adirondack Northway (linking Albany with the Canadian border) and the North-South Expressway (crossing central New York from the Pennsylvania border to the Thousand Islands), have been opened.
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Cities:
