Manhattan

Manhattan, sometimes known as The City in the area, is the most densely inhabited and geographically smallest of New York City's five boroughs. It is the urban centre of the New York metropolitan region, and it is coextensive with New York County, which was one of the founding counties in the state of New York, which is located in the United States. Manhattan is the city's commercial and administrative hub, as well as its cultural identity and historical origin, among other things. The borough is mostly comprised of Manhattan Island, which is bordered by the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers, as well as many tiny nearby islands, including Roosevelt, U Thant, Randalls, and Wards Islands. Manhattan Island is the largest island in the borough. Additionally, Manhattan comprises Marble Hill, a tiny neighbourhood that is now part of the United States mainland, isolated from the rest of Manhattan by the Harlem Ship Canal and subsequently linked to the Bronx by means of a landfill site. Lower Manhattan, Midtown Manhattan, and Upper Manhattan are the three loosely bound components of Manhattan Island, each of which cuts across the borough's long axis: Lower, Midtown, and Upper Manhattan.

Known as the "Cultural Capital of the Globe," Manhattan is also home to the United Nations headquarters, as well as the financial, media, and entertainment centres of the world.

In the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City has been referred to as both the world's most economically powerful city and the world's most important financial centre. Manhattan is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges, the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, which rank first and second, respectively, in terms of total market capitalization. Countless global media organisations have their headquarters in Manhattan, and the borough has served as the scene for numerous novels, films, and television series. Manhattan is also known for its financial district. In 2013, the value of Manhattan Island, including real estate, was estimated to be in excess of US$3 trillion; median residential property sale prices in Manhattan approximated US$1,600 per square foot ($17,000/m2) as of 2018, with Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan commanding the highest retail rents in the world, at US$3,000 per square foot ($32,000/m2) per year in 2017. Manhattan real estate is among the most expensive in the world.

Manhattan dates its roots to a trade colony established on Lower Manhattan in 1624 by colonists from the Dutch Republic, which was renamed New Amsterdam in 1626. Manhattan is the most populous borough in New York City. Following the gift of the holdings to the Duke of York by King Charles II of England, the province and its surrounding areas fell under English rule in 1664 and were christened New York. For a brief period from 1785 and 1790, the city of New York, centred on present-day Manhattan, functioned as the nation's capital. The Statue of Liberty, which welcomed millions of immigrants who arrived in America by ship in the late nineteenth century, is recognised across the globe as a symbol of the United States and its principles of liberty and peace, among other things. Manhattan was elevated to the status of a borough after the incorporation of New York City in 1898.