Ну лана, лана, знаток истории

, я был в неведении

Вот факты, исправляюсь:
The region was inhabited by about 5,000 Lenape Native Americans at the time of its European discovery in 1524[citation needed] by Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer in the service of the French crown, who called it "Nouvelle Angoulкme" (New Angoulкme).[9] European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement, later called "Nieuw Amsterdam" (New Amsterdam), on the southern tip of Manhattan in 1614. Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape in 1626 (legend, now disproved, says that Manhattan was purchased for $24 worth of glass beads).[10] In 1664, the English conquered the city and renamed it "New York" after the English Duke of York and Albany.[11] At the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War the Dutch gained control of Run (a much more valuable asset at the time) in exchange for the English controlling New Amsterdam (New York) in North America. By 1700, the Lenape population was diminished to 200.[12]
New York City grew in importance as a trading port while under British rule. In 1754, Columbia University was founded under charter by King George II as King's College in Lower Manhattan.[13] The city emerged as the theater for a series of major battles known as the New York Campaign during the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress met in New York City and in 1789 the first President of the United States, George Washington, was inaugurated at Federal Hall on Wall Street.[14] New York City was the capital of the United States until 1790.
In the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration and development. A visionary development proposal, the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan, and the 1819 opening of the Erie Canal connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the North American interior.[15] By 1835, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States. Local politics fell under the domination of Tammany Hall, a political machine supported by Irish immigrants.[16] Public-minded members of the old merchant aristocracy lobbied for the establishment of Central Park, which became the first landscaped park in an American city in 1857. A significant free-black population also existed in Manhattan, as well as in Brooklyn. Slaves had been held in New York through 1827, but during the 1830s New York became the center of interracial abolitionist activism in the North.
Что в переводе означает, что тут жило полным-полно индейцев до 1524 года, а потом сюда приплыли европейцы и какой-то хитрый датчанин прикупил Манхэттен за 24 бакса в один прекрасный день 1626 года. Те, кто не верят в индейцев, могут считайть этот день датой основания города, а также имеют возможность выбрать любую другую дату из текста выше...
Продолжение тут:
http://en.wikipedia....i/New_York_CityТолько сразу предупреждаю, там путано очень. Не как про Питер, пришел царь Петр и сказал: "Городу на Неве быть!". Взял и построил все...