New York City

I would like to tell you something about NEW YORK CITY. The reason why I have chosen this subject is because I visited in the city last summer for a few days. I visited also San Francisco and Seattle, but of the al these cities I was most impressed by New York. First I want to tell you something about its history. In 1625 Dutch colonial soldiers established Manhattan (laten zien op een kaartje). They bought this part of the city, by that time of course not yet a city, for only 60 guilders from the Indians who lived there. They built a fort named New Amsterdam, in which 270 people lived. In 1664, 39 years after the foundation of New Amsterdam, the Britains conquered the city and changed the name into New York. In 1670 a governor bought Staten Island (laten zien) from the Indians too. In 1731 Harlem became more populated. The city grew fast and got an international character. Around 1800, the fast growth of the city became a problem. Houses were built too close to each other which might cause the outbreak and rapid spread of a fire. After a great fire in 1776 they built a lot of new houses in a short time. The municipality took the `straight-roads-design` into consideration. You can see it on this map (laten zien). Broadway is the only way which isn't straight. That's because the street was already constructed when they made the new streets. The names of the streets are simple, Avenue's are from north to south, streets from the east to the west. Now, I would like to tell something about the best known places of interest in New York. Most people will know the names of the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, World Trade Center, Chrysler Building and Times Square. I will tell you some facts about each sight. 1st. The Statue of Liberty. The statue was unveiled in 1885. It was a gift from the French Government to demonstrate the friendship between both nations. 2nd. The Empire State Building. The building is 102 floors high, that's about 200 meters. It was ready in 1931. By that time it was twice the normal height of a skyscraper. Since the opening 17 people died by falling from the building. 3rd. The World Trade Centre. The `twin towers` have 110 floors and are the highest buildings of New York city. From the top you can look down over the whole city, in clear weather you can overlook 100 to 150 kilometers. 4th. The Chrysler Building. This skyscraper is famous for its iron point and it is one of the best known skyscrapers. It was built for the owner of the car-factory of Chrysler. 5th. is Times Square. This square is brightly lit by neon-tubes at night-time and is well visited by theatre visitors. It is also a meeting place for special events, like the championship of the New York Yankees, the baseball club. Now about 8 million people from many different cultures live in the city of New York.