Everything about The Big Apple is enormous, from the towering skyscrapers to the Statue of Liberty and the neon billboards of Times Square. New York City is the most populous city in the United States, attracting a diverse melting pot of people from around the world. The city offers world-class museums, cultural hot spots, endless entertainment and several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the Empire State Building. No matter what you’re interested in, you’ll find it here: Broadway and the arts, business and finance, architecture, sports, and of course, shopping and great restaurants! When it’s time to slow down, New York City also offers Central Park, an 843-acre urban oasis and the first urban landscaped park in America.
New York City has a humid subtropical climate. The city enjoys an average of 234 sunshine days annually, but can suffer through severe, snowy winters.
New York was founded as a commercial trading post by the Dutch East India Company in 1624. The settlement was called New Amsterdam until 1664 when the colony came under British control. New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It's been the nation's largest city since 1790. The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wall Street, in Lower Manhattan, has been a dominant global financial center since World War II and is home to the New York Stock Exchange. The city has been home to several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the Empire State Building and the twin towers of the former World Trade Center. New York is also the birthplace of many cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art.