Online Encyclopedia
New York
- For other uses, see New York (disambiguation).
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| State nickname: Empire State | |||||
| Other U.S. States | |||||
| Capital | Albany | ||||
| Largest city | New York | ||||
| Governor | George Pataki | ||||
| Official languages | None | ||||
| Area | 141,205 km² (27th) | ||||
| - Land | 122,409 km² | ||||
| - Water | 18,795 km² (13.3%) | ||||
| Population (2000) | |||||
| - Population | 18,976,457 (3rd) | ||||
| - Density | 155.18 /km² (6th) | ||||
| Admittance into Union | |||||
| - Date | July 26, 1788 | ||||
| - Order | 11th | ||||
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | ||||
| Latitude | 40°29'40"N to 45°0'42"N | ||||
| Longitude | 71°47'25"W to 79°45'54"W | ||||
| Width | 455 km | ||||
| Length | 530 km | ||||
| Elevation | |||||
| - Highest | 1,629 m | ||||
| - Mean | 305 m | ||||
| - Lowest | 0 m | ||||
| Abbreviations | |||||
| - USPS | NY | ||||
| - ISO 3166-2 | US-NY | ||||
| Web site | www.state.ny.us http://www.state.ny.us/ | ||||
New York is a state in the northeastern United States whose U.S. postal abbreviation is NY. It is sometimes called New York State when there is need to distinguish it from New York City.
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History
See: History of New York
New York was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution.
Law and Government
As in all fifty states, the head of the executive branch of government is a Governor. The legislative branch is called the Legislature, and consists of a Senate and an Assembly. Unlike most States, the New York electoral law permits electoral fusion, and New York ballots tend to have, in consequence, a larger number of parties on them, some being permanent minor parties that seek to influence the major parties and others being ephemeral parties formed to give major-party candidates an additional line on the ballot.
New York's legislature is notoriously dysfunctional. The Assembly has long been controlled by the Democrats, the Senate has long been controlled by the Republicans. No budget has been passed on time for twenty years, and the government is unable to pass legislation for which there is supposed to be a consensus, as in reforming the Nelson Rockefeller Drug Laws.
In 2002, 16,892 laws were introduced in the New York legislature, more than twice as many as in the Illinois General Assembly, whose members are the second most prolific. Of those bills, only 4 percent, 693, actually became law, the lowest passing percentage in the country.
New York's legislature also has more paid staff, 3,428 than any other legislature in the nation. Pennsylvania, whose staff is the second largest, only had 2,947, and California only 2,359. New York's legislature also has more committees than any other legislature in the nation.
New York's subordinate political units are its 62 counties. Smaller officially recognized incorporated municipal units are towns cities, and villages.
For decades it has been the established practice for Albany to pass legislation for some meritorious project, but then mandate county and municipal government to actually pay for it. New York State has its counties pay a higher percentage of welfare costs than any other state and New York State is the only state which requires counties to pay a portion of Medicaid.
The court system in New York is notable for its "backwards" naming: the state's trial court is called the New York Supreme Court, while the highest court in the state is the New York Court of Appeals.
- See: List of New York Governors
- See: Political subdivisions of New York State
- See: List of New York counties
- See: List of cities in New York
- See: List of towns in New York
- See: List of villages in New York
- See: List of census-designated places in New York
- See: List of political parties in New York
- See: Politics of New York
Geography
New York State's borders touch (clockwise from the northwest) two Great Lakes (Erie and Ontario, which are connected by the Niagara River), the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario in Canada, three New England states (Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut), the Atlantic Ocean, and two Mid-Atlantic states (New Jersey and Pennsylvania). In addition, Rhode Island and New York share a sea boundary.
New York is also the site of the only extra-territorial enclave within the boundaries of the USA, the United Nations compound on Manhattan's East River.
At the southern tip of New York State, New York City, its suburbs, and the southern portion of the Hudson Valley form the central core of "Megalopolis', the super-city stretching from the northern suburbs of Boston to the southern suburbs of Washington and therefore often called BosWash. First described by Jean Gottman in 1961 as a new phenomenon in the history of world urbanization, Megalopolis is characterized by a colascence of previous already large cities of the Eastern Seaboard, a heavy specialization on tertiary acitity related to government, trade, law, education, finance, publishing and control of economic activity, plus a growth pattern not so much of more population and more area as more intensive use of already existing urbanized area and ever more sophisticated links from one specialty to another. Several other groups of Megalopolis-type super-cities may exist in the world, but that centered around New York City was the first described and still is the best example.
Megalopolis, however, is not the only aspect of New York State. While best known for New York City's urban atmosphere, especially Manhattan's skyscrapers, by contrast the rest of the state is dominated by farms, forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. Few people know that New York's Adirondack State Park is larger than any National Park in the US. Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario is a popular attraction; the best view is from the Canadian side. The Hudson River flows south through the eastern part of the state without draining Lakes George or Champlain. Lake George empties at its north end into Lake Champlain, whose northern end extends into Canada, where it drains into the Richelieu and then the St. Lawrence Rivers. Four of New York City's five boroughs are on the three islands at the mouth of the Hudson River Manhattan Island, Staten Island, and Long Island.
The five New York City boroughs (and their counties) are: The Bronx (Bronx) on the mainland north of Manhattan (New York) on Manhattan Island; the Hudson River is their western boundary. Brooklyn (Kings) and Queens (Queens) are across the East River from Manhattan on the western end of Long Island and Staten Island (Richmond) is south of Manhattan. The eastern end of Long Island includes suburban Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
"Upstate" is a common term for New York State north of the New York City metropolitan area; but many of those outside of the NYC metropolitan area find the term demeaning because it is emblematic of the cultural and demographic divide which separates the two areas, one rural and conservative, the other urban and liberal. Which of the suburban counties north of The Bronx along the Hudson River (Rockland, Westchester, and Putnam) count as "Upstate" depends on who is making the list. Upstate New York includes the Catskill and Adirondack Mountains, the Shawangunk Ridge, the Finger and Great Lakes in the west and Lake Champlain, Lake George, and Oneida Lake in the northeast, and rivers such as the Delaware, Genesee, Hudson, Mohawk, and Susquehanna. The highest elevation in New York is Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks.
Economy
New York City dominates the economy of the state. It is the leading center of banking, finance and communication in the United States and is the location of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wall Street, Manhattan. In 1999, the total gross state product was $755 billion, second only to California in the nation. Its 2000 Per Capita Personal Income was $34,547, placing it 4th in the nation. New York's agricultural outputs are dairy products, cattle and other livestock, vegetables, nursery stock, and apples. Its industrial outputs are printing and publishing, scientific instruments, electric equipment, machinery, chemical products, and tourism.
Given that this site http://www.lao.ca.gov/2002/cal_facts/econ.html which states that California has the 5th largest economy in the world is true, New York should have the worlds eight largest economy with gross state product exceeding $.7 trillion.
Agriculture
New York State is an agricultural leader, ranking within the top five states for a number of products including dairy, apples, cherries, cabbage, potatoes, onions, maple syrup and many other products. The state has about a quarter of its land in farms and produced 3.4 billion dollars in agricultural products in 2001. The south shore of Lake Ontario provides the right mix of soils and microclimate for many apple, cherry, plum, pear and peach orchards. Apples are also grown in the Hudson Valley and near Lake Champlain. The south shore of Lake Erie and the southern Finger Lakes hillsides have many vineyards. The Finger Lakes area is famous for award-winning farm wineries and others. Many of these wines are made with native American grapes, different in species from the European domesticate.
New York was heavily glaciated in the ice age leaving much of the state with deep, fertile, though somewhat rocky soils. Row crops, including hay, corn (also known as maize), wheat, oats, barley, and soybeans, are grown. Particularly in the western part of the state, sweet corn, peas, carrots, squash, cucumbers and other vegetables are grown. The Hudson and Mohawk valleys are known for pumpkins and blueberries. The glaciers also left numerous swampy areas, which have been drained for the rich humus soils called muckland which is mostly used for onions, potatoes, celery and other vegetables. Dairy farms are present throughout much of the state. Cheese is a major product, often produced by Amish or Mennonite farm cheeseries. New York is rich in nectar-producing plants and is a major honey-producing state. The honeybees are also used for pollination of fruits and vegetables. Most commercial beekeepers are migratory, taking their hives to southern states for the winter. Most cities have Farmers' markets which are well supplied by local truck farmers.
Demographics
According to the US Census Bureau, as of 2003, New York was the third largest state in population after California and Texas, with a population of 19,190,115. 20.4% of the population is foreign-born.
The racial makeup of the state is:
- 62.0% White Non-Hispanic
- 15.9% Black
- 15.1% Hispanic
- 5.5% Asian
- 0.4% American Indian
- 3.1% mixed race
The top 5 ancestry groups in New York are African American (15.9%), Italian (14.4%), Irish (12.9%), German (11.2%), English (6%).
6.5% of New York's population were reported as under 5, 24.7% under 18, and 12.9% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.8% of the population.
Religion
The Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan contains the shrine and burial place of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini ( Mother Cabrini), the patron saint of immigrants and the first American citizen to be canonized. Immigration has given New York an unusually diverse composition of religious groups in which no one denomination has an overwhelming numerical superiority, as shown by the tables below:
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Christian – 79%
- Roman Catholic – 44%
- Protestant – 34%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Judaism – 9%
- Islam – 2%
- All Other Religions – 1%
- Non-Religious or Undetermined Religion – 9%
The three largest Protestant denominations in New York are: Baptist (8% of the total state population), Methodist (6%), Lutheran (3%).
At Chautauqua Lake in the southwestern portion of the state is the Chautauqua Institution, co-founded by Methodist Rev. John Vincent and devoted to adult continuing education in a uplifting setting, as that ambiance was understood in the last half of the Nineteenth Century. The Institution, which still exists, offers to a predominately middle class and Mid-American clientele a very high standard of intellectual summer lectures, mixed with certain elements of folksy relgious camp meetings, such as outdoor recreation and musical events. While some aspects of this pedagogy may seem quaint today, the Institution helped assure that high intellectual achievement would be recognized as consistent with the value system of an emerging powerful Middle West, and was one of several ways that Upstate New York served between the Civil War and World War I as a transmitting intermediary between the standards of the East Coast and the interior heartland.
Important cities and towns
Albany is the state capital, and New York City is by far the largest city. (See also List of cities in New York)
Its major cities and towns are:
Education
Primary and Secondary Education
The New York State Board of Regents, the University of the State of New York and the State Education Department control all public primary and secondary education in the state.
Colleges and universities
Besides the many private colleges and universities in the state, New York, like many other states, operates its own system of institutions of higher learning known as the State University of New York System (SUNY). New York City operates the City University of New York (CUNY) in conjunction with the state.
- New York's public land grant (agriculture) and forestry colleges are at private schools: Cornell and Syracuse Universities, respectively.
- For a complete list, see Colleges and Universities in the State of New York.
Professional sports teams
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Miscellanea
USS New York was named in honor of this state.
The state animal: Beaver (Castor canadensis)
The state bird: Eastern Bluebird, (Sialia sialis).
The state flower: Rose.
The state tree: Sugar maple (Acer saccharum).
The state fruit: Apple.
The state gemstone: Garnet.
The state motto: Excelsior (ever higher).
External links
- İNew York http://www.cnewyork.net Hundreds of photos of New York, from the Statue of Liberty to Central Park. This website also proposes 360° pictures, photomontages, links...
- Newspapers from New York http://www.mediatico.com/en/newspapers/northamerica/usa/newyork
- http://www.state.ny.us/
- New York travel guide at Wikitravel http://wikitravel.org/en/article/New_York_(city)
- Graphicalic - pictures from New York http://www.graphicalic.dk/pages/photo.html
- Population of each county http://www.eany.org/reports/treadmill/table4_and_5.html
- Una Guía en Espanol de New York http://www.vivenuevayork.com
- US Census Bureau http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36000.html
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