Engelse Presentatie New York

Hello everybody,

I want to tell you something about New York City.  New York City is the most populous city of the United States of America. There are living more than nine and a half million people. Some people think New York City is the capital city of the State New York, but that isn’t true, because Albany is the capital city of New York. Because of the overcrowding and liveliness they sometimes call New York City ‘The City that Never Sleeps’. Another popular nickname is ‘the Big Apple’.

The city was founded in 1624 as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic. They named it New Amsterdam. The city came under English control in 1664 and is renamed New York City after king Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother James.

New York City consists of 5 boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.

In Manhattan you  can find one of the most famous streets of the world; Wall street. It’s a street full of skyscrapers that are used for financial businesses. Over time, the term has become the metonym for the financial markets of the United States. They named it Wall street because of the City wall the Netherlanders build to  protect the city for the Indians.

There is another famous street in Manhattan, which is Broadway. This is the street of culture. There are a lot of theatres there, where you can visit famous musicals like; The Lion King, Mary Poppins and Mama Mia. Participating in a musical in Broadway is by lots of actors considered as the ultimate success. Broadway is the only street in Manhattan that isn’t parallel to the other streets there.

Near Broadway, you can find the major commercial intersection Times Square.  It’s a brightly illuminated intersection and a centre of the entertainment industry.  Typical of Time Square are the large electronic billboards. They named it Times Square because the popular newspaper New York Times has its head office there.  Times Square is the world’s most visited tourist attraction, bringing in over 39 million visitors every year. About 300.000 people pass through Times Square daily. When it’s New Year’s Eve many people come to Times Square to see the Times Square Ball drop and celebrate the New Year.

In the middle of Manhattan, you can find Central Park. Central Park is a really big town park, it’s about 4 kilometres. The construction of the park took 16 years and they planted over 500.000 trees and plants. With 25 million visitors every year, it’s the most visited park in the United States. There are often big concerts in the park by famous singers and bands.

On liberty Island, between Staten Island en Manhattan, you can find the statue of liberty. This statue is the symbol for the recurrent Americans, guests and immigrants. It was a gift from France in honour of the American Declaration of Independence. The crown consists of 7 spikes symbol for the 7 continents and seas. The statue was closed for a year because of renovations, but since October last year tourists can visit it again. When you look out the windows in the crown, the view is very beautiful.

Other curiosities in New York City are the Empire State Building, Rockefeller centre and the Brooklyn bridge.

I’ve never been to New York, but I really want to someday.

This was my presentation, I hope you enjoyed it.