Manhattan, Administrative borough in New York City, United States
Manhattan is a borough of New York City occupying an island surrounded by the Hudson River, the East River, and the Harlem River. The island is divided into a tight grid of streets and neighborhoods, ranging from the skyscrapers of Midtown to the low-rise blocks of upper and lower areas.
Dutch settlers founded a trading colony here in the early 1600s, calling it Nieuw Amsterdam, before English forces took control in 1664 and renamed it New York. Waves of immigration and rapid industrialization in the 1800s and early 1900s turned it into one of the most densely populated places on Earth.
Manhattan gave birth to jazz, hip-hop, and the Broadway musical, and these traditions are still visible across the borough today. Neighborhoods like Harlem and the Lower East Side are home to music clubs, murals, and street festivals that keep these art forms alive.
The subway covers the entire island and is the easiest way to travel between distant neighborhoods. Many areas, such as around Central Park or the streets of Lower Manhattan, are easy to explore on foot, as long as you wear comfortable shoes.
The streets below 14th Street do not follow the famous grid plan because they were already in place before the 1811 Commissioners' Plan laid out the rest of the island. This makes the lower part of Manhattan noticeably harder to navigate than the orderly blocks to the north.
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