New York City: A Comparison and History

            For over four-hundred years, New York City has been a thriving city sought out by those wishing to better their lives. New York City is situated in a prime location and has been drawing people from all over the world since its grassroots with the Pilgrims who settled Manhattan Island. New York City's business oriented leadership was enough was enough to draw people from all walks of life. The new people who entered the city helped develop New York City's enormous multiethnic population, and was sustained because they needed each other. Opportunity was abundant in New York City, and many foreigners were able to better their lives. De Witt Clinton, the governor and mayor, believed that New York City would become a world city as he oversaw the building and development of the Erie Canal in 1825. He demonstrated symbolism of the occurrence by pouring Lake Erie water into the Atlantic Ocean. He summed up the future of the city when he stated that New York City "would become the emporium of commerce, the seat of manufactures and that whole island of Manhattan , replenished with dense population, would constitute one vast city." Just as Clinton predicted, New York City would become precisely what he said.
             The first official recorded visitor to New York Harbor was in 1524, by an Italian named Giovanni da Verrazano, during a French-sponsored expedition on the ship, Dauphine (named after the eldest son of King Francis I of France). Verranzano left quickly and was not revisited except two years later by Estaban Gomez, who was a fur trader. The second main visitor was Henry Hudson, who was hired by the Dutch East India Company to find the westward passage to Asia. Instead, Hudson discovered New York Harbor which had an island and a river that ventured into the "unknown interior" as well as many hostile natives that he deemed, "Manates". Hudson went north to trade furs and other goods to Indians to were willing to trade.