REPUBLIC BOLÍVARIANA OF VENEZUELA,

MINISTRY OF POWER PEOPLE FOR THE EDUCATION

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New York

MADE BY:
Mariana Caterine Vilera Agelvis
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 REPÚBLICA BOLÍVARIANA DE VENEZUELA
MINISTERIO DEL PODER POPULAR PARA LA EDUCACIÓN
U.E. COLEGIO SALESIANO “SAN LUÍS”
MÉRIDA ESTADO MÉRIDA
 New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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This article is about the state. For the U.S. city, see New York City. For other uses, see
New York (disambiguation).
"NY" redirects here. For other uses, see NY (disambiguation).
State of New York

Flag of New York Seal

Nickname(s): The Empire State
Motto(s): Excelsior[1]

Official language(s) None

Capital Albany
Largest city New York City
Largest metro area New York metropolitan area
Area Ranked 27th
54,520 sq mi
- Total
(141,205 km²)
- Width 285 miles (455 km)
- Length 330 miles (530 km)
- % water 13.3
- Latitude 40° 30′ N to 45° 1′ N
- Longitude 71° 51′ W to 79° 46′ W
Population Ranked 3rd
- Total 18,976,457
401.92/sq mi
- Density
155.18/km² (6th)
Elevation
Mount Marcy[2]
- Highest point
5,344 ft (1,629 m)
- Mean 1,000 ft (305 m)
Atlantic Ocean[2]
- Lowest point
0 ft (0 m)
Admission to Union July 26, 1788 (11th)
Governor Eliot Spitzer (D)
Charles Schumer (D)
U.S. Senators
Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)
Congressional Delegation List
Time zone Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Abbreviations NY US-NY
Web site www.ny.gov
 New York state insignia

Motto Excelsior (Ever upward)

Slogan I Love New York

Bird Eastern bluebird

Animal Beaver

Fish Brook trout; salt water - Striped

bass

Insect Ladybug

Flower Rose

Tree Sugar maple

Song "I Love New York"

Quarter

2001

Reptile Snapping turtle

Beverage Milk

Colors Blue & Gold

Fossil Sea scorpion

Gemstone Garnet

New York

(IPA: /ˌnuːˈjɔrk/) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the

United States. With 62 counties, it is the country's third most populous state. It is
bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and
shares a water border with Rhode Island as well as an international border with the
Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Its five largest cities are New York City
(also the largest city in the United States), Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse.

New York City is known for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United
States and its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center.

New York was inhabited by Algonquian, Iroquois, and Lenape indigenous people at the
time Dutch and French nationals moved into the region in the very early 17th century.
First claimed by Henry Hudson in 1609, the region came to have Dutch forts in Fort
Orange, near the site of the present-day capital of Albany in 1614 and was colonized by
the Dutch in 1624, at both Albany and Manhattan; it later fell to British annexation in
1664. About one third of all of the battles of the Revolutionary War took place in New
York. New York became an independent state on July 9, 1776 and enacted its
constitution in 1777. The state ratified the United States Constitution in 1788, the 11th
state to do so.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Geography
o 1.1 Climate
o 1.2 State parks
• 2 History
o 2.1 New Netherlands
o 2.2 Province of New York
o 2.3 State of New York
• 3 Demographics
o 3.1 Population
o 3.2 Racial and ancestral makeup
o 3.3 Religion
• 4 Economy
• 5 Transportation
• 6 Politics and government
o 6.1 Politics
• 7 Cities and towns
• 8 Education
• 9 Sports
• 10 Navy vessel namesakes
• 11 See also
• 12 References

• 13 External links
Geography
Main article: Geography of New York

New York covers 54,475 square miles (141,089 km²). In size, New York ranks
27th out of the 50 states. The Great Appalachian Valley dominates eastern New York,
while Lake Champlain is the chief northern feature of the valley, which also includes
the Hudson River flowing southward to the Atlantic Ocean. The rugged Adirondack
Mountains, with vast tracts of wilderness, lie west of the valley. Most of the southern
part of the state is on the Allegheny plateau, which rises from the southeast to the
Catskill Mountains. The western section of the state is drained by the Allegheny River
and rivers of the Susquehanna and Delaware systems. The Delaware River Basin
Compact, signed in 1961 by New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the
federal government, regulates the utilization of water of the Delaware system.

New York's borders touch (clockwise from the west) two Great Lakes (Erie and
Ontario, which are connected by the Niagara River); the provinces of Ontario and
Quebec in Canada; Lake Champlain; three New England states (Vermont,
Massachusetts, and Connecticut); the Atlantic Ocean, and two Mid-Atlantic states (New
Jersey and Pennsylvania). In addition, Rhode Island shares a water border with New
York.

While the state is best known for New York City's urban atmosphere, especially
Manhattan's skyscrapers, most of the state is dominated by farms, forests, rivers,
mountains, and lakes. New York's Adirondack Park is larger than any U.S. National
Park outside of Alaska. Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River as it flows from Lake Erie
to Lake Ontario, is a popular attraction. The Hudson River begins with Lake Tear of the
Clouds and 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 Brooklyn and
Queens on Long Island.

"Upstate" is a common term for New York State counties north of suburban
Westchester and Rockland counties. Upstate New York typically includes the Catskill
and Adirondack Mountains, the Shawangunk Ridge, the Finger Lakes and the Great
Lakes in the west; and Lake Champlain, Lake George, and Oneida Lake in the
northeast; and rivers such as the Delaware, Genesee, Mohawk, and Susquehanna. The
highest elevation in New York is Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks.

Climate

The climate of New York State is broadly representative of the humid

continental type, which prevails in the northeastern United States, but its diversity is not
usually encountered within an area of comparable size. The Great Lakes, ocean, rivers,
and mountains give New York interesting weather. Masses of cold, dry air frequently
arrive from the northern interior of the continent. Prevailing winds from the south and
southwest transport warm, humid air, which has been conditioned by the Gulf of
Mexico and adjacent subtropical waters. These two air masses provide the dominant
continental characteristics of the climate. A third great air mass flows inland from the
North Atlantic Ocean and produces cool, cloudy, and damp weather conditions.

Nearly all storm and frontal systems moving eastward across the continent pass
through or come close in proximity to New York State. Storm systems often move
northward along the Atlantic coast and have an important influence on the weather and
climate of Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. Frequently, areas deep in the
interior of the state feel the effects of such coastal storms.

The winters are long and cold in the Plateau Divisions of the state. In the
majority of winter seasons, a temperature of -25 °C or lower can be expected in the
northern highlands (Northern Plateau) and -15 °C or colder in the southwestern and
east-central highlands (Southern Plateau). The Adirondack region records from 35 to 45
days with below zero temperatures in normal to severe winters. Much of Upstate New
York, particularly Western and Central New York are typically affected by lake-effect
snows. This usually results in high yearly snowfall totals in these regions. Winters are
also long and cold in both Western and Central New York, though not as cold as the
Adirondack region. The New York City metro area in comparison to the rest of the state
is milder in the winter. Thanks in part to geography (its proximity to the Atlantic and
being shielded to its north and west by hillier terrain), the New York metro area usually
sees far less snow than the rest of the state. Lake-effect snow rarely affects the New
York metro area, except for its extreme northwestern suburbs. Winters also tend to be
noticeably shorter here than the rest of the state.

The summer climate is cool in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and higher elevations
of the Southern Plateau. The New York City area and lower portions of the Hudson
Valley have rather warm summers by comparison, with some periods of high,
uncomfortable humidity. The remainder of New York State enjoys pleasantly warm
summers, marred by only occasional, brief intervals of sultry conditions. Summer
daytime temperatures usually range from the upper 70s to mid 80s (25 to 30 ˚C) over
much of the State, producing an atmospheric environment favorable to many athletic,
recreational, and other outdoor activities.

New York ranks 46th among the 50 states in the amount of greenhouse gases
generated per person. This efficiency is primarily due to the state's relatively higher rate
of mass transit use.[3]

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various New York Cities

City Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
 Albany 31/13 34/16 44/25 57/36 70/46 78/55 82/60 80/58 71/50 60/39 48/31 36/20

Binghamton 28/15 31/17 41/25 53/35 66/46 73/54 78/59 76/57 68/50 57/40 44/31 33/21

Buffalo 31/18 33/19 42/26 54/36 66/48 75/57 80/62 78/60 70/53 59/43 47/34 36/24

Islip/Huntingt
39/23 40/24 48/31 58/40 69/49 77/60 83/66 82/64 75/57 64/45 54/36 44/28
on

New York 38/26 41/28 50/35 61/44 71/54 79/63 84/69 82/68 75/60 64/50 53/41 43/32

Rochester 31/17 33/17 43/25 55/35 68/46 77/55 81/60 79/59 71/51 60/41 47/33 36/23

Syracuse 31/14 34/16 43/24 56/35 68/46 77/55 82/60 80/59 71/51 60/40 47/32 36/21

Temperatures listed using the Fahrenheit scale

Source: [1]

State parks

See also: List of New York state parks

Long Pond in the Saint Regis Canoe Area of the Adirondack Park.

New York has many state parks and two major forest preserves. Adirondack
Park, roughly the size of the state of Vermont and the largest state park in the United
States, was established in 1892 and given state constitutional protection in 1894. The
thinking that led to the creation of the Park first appeared in George Perkins Marsh's
Man and Nature, published in 1864. Marsh argued that deforestation could lead to
desertification; referring to the clearing of once-lush lands surrounding the
Mediterranean, he asserted "the operation of causes set in action by man has brought the
face of the earth to a desolation almost as complete as that of the moon."

The Catskill Park was protected in legislation passed in 1885, which declared
that its land was to be conserved and never put up for sale or lease. Consisting of
700,000 acres (2,800 km²) of land, the park is a habitat for bobcats, minks and fishers.
There are some 400 black bears living in the region. The state operates numerous
campgrounds and there are over 300 miles (480 km) of multi-use trails in the Park.

The Montauk Point State Park boasts the famous Montauk Lighthouse
commissioned by the first President of the U.S.A, George Washington, which is a major
tourist attraction and is located in the township of East Hampton, Suffolk County.
Hither Hills park offers camping and is a popular destination with surfcasting sport
fishermen.

History
Main article: History of New York

An early Dutch map of the Hudson river valley c. 1635 (North is to the right)

The western part of New York had been settled by the six nations of the Iroquois
Confederacy for at least 500 years before Europeans came. The Iroquois had maintained
the area between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes as a grassland prairie, which abounded in
wild game including grazing American Bison herds. In colonial times, the Iroquois were
prosperously growing corn, vegetables and orchards, and keeping cows and hogs; fish
were also abundant.

The far-southern area around what is now New York City was long inhabited by
the Lenape; Lenape in canoes met Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European explorer
to enter New York Harbor, in 1524. Giovanni da Verrazzano named this place Nouvelle
Angoulême (New Angouleme) in honor of the French king François I. A French
explorer and mapper, Samuel de Champlain, described his explorations through New
York in 1608.

New Netherlands

Main article: New Netherlands

 A year later Henry Hudson, an Englishman working for the Dutch, claimed the
area in the name of the Netherlands. It was to be called New Amsterdam.

The Dutch, who began to establish trading posts on the Hudson River in 1613,
claimed jurisdiction over the territory between the Connecticut and the Delaware
Rivers, which they called New Netherlands. The government was vested in "The United
New Netherland Company", chartered in 1614, and then in "The Dutch West India
Company", chartered in 1622.

In 1649, a convention of the settlers petitioned the "Lords States-General of the

United Netherlands" to grant them "suitable burgher government, such as their High
Mightinesses shall consider adapted to this province, and resembling somewhat the
government of our Fatherland", with certain permanent privileges and exemptions, that
they might pursue "the trade of our country, as well along the coast from Terra Nova to
Cape Florida as to the West Indies and Europe, whenever our Lord God shall be pleased
to permit."

The Hudson River has long been an essential transportation corridor for the state.

The directors of the West India Company resented this attempt to shake their rule
and wrote their director and council at New Amsterdam: "We have already connived as
much as possible at the many impertinences of some restless spirits, in the hope that
they might be shamed by our discreetness and benevolence, but, perceiving that all
kindnesses do not avail, we must, therefore, have recourse to God to Nature and the
Law. We accordingly hereby charge and command your Honors whenever you shall
certainly discover any Clandestine Meetings, Conventicles or machinations against our
States government or that of our country that you proceed against such malignants in
proportion to their crimes."

These grants embraced all the lands between the west bank of the Connecticut River
and the east bank of the Delaware River.

Province of New York

Main article: Province of New York

In 1663 the Duke of York purchased the grant of Long Island and other islands
on the New England coast made in 1635 to the Earl of Stirling. The following year, the
Duke equipped an armed expedition, which took possession of New Amsterdam, which
was thenceforth called Province of New York, after him.[4][5] This conquest was
confirmed by the treaty of Breda, in July 1667. In July 1673, a Dutch fleet recaptured
New York and held it until it was restored to the English by the treaty of Westminster in
February, 1674.

The Province of New York was established by its colonial charter. The colonial
charter of New York granted unlimited westward expansion, despite Native American
presence in the Area. Massachusetts' charter had the same provision, causing territorial
disputes between the colonies and with the Iroquois.

State of New York

New York declared itself an independent state on July 9, 1776. The New York
state constitution was framed by a convention which assembled at White Plains, New
York on July 10, 1776, and after repeated adjournments and changes of location,
terminated its labors at Kingston, New York on Sunday evening, April 20, 1777, when
the constitution was adopted with but one dissenting vote. It was not submitted to the
people for ratification. It was drafted by John Jay. On 30 July 1777, George Clinton was
inaugurated as the first Governor of New York at Kingston.

The Woolworth Building, in New York City, was one of the world's first skyscrapers
(1913).

During the revolution, four of the Iroquois nations fought on the side of the
British, with the exceptions of the Oneida and the Tuscarora. In 1779, Major General
John Sullivan was sent to defeat the Iroquois. The Sullivan Expedition moved
northward through the Finger Lakes and Genesee Country, burning all the Iroquois
communities and destroying their crops and orchards. Refugees fled to Fort Niagara
where they spent the following winter in hunger and misery. Hundreds died of exposure,
hunger and disease. After the war, many moved to Canada.

Sullivan's men returned from the campaign to Pennsylvania and New England to
tell of the enormous wealth of this new territory. Many of them were given land grants
in gratitude for their service in the Revolution. From 1786 through 1797 several groups
of wealthy land speculators entered into agreements with one another, with neighboring
states, and with the Indians to obtain title to vast tracts of land in western New York.
Some purchases of Iroquois lands are the subject of numerous modern-day land claims
by the individual nations of the Six Nations.

For the Oneida nation's assistance in defeating the British, primarily assisting
General Washington's army at Valley Forge, then President Washington while on tour of
the Mohawk Valley signed the Treaty of Canandaigua. This Treaty promised the
Oneidas among other things a large swath of land from Pennsylvania to Canada,
forever. The Treaty was violated in the mid-1800s by New York State. This became the
basis for the present land claim dispute.

New York state was one of the original thirteen colonies that became the United States.
It was the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788.

The creation of the Erie Canal led to rapid industrialization in New York.

Transportation in western New York was difficult before canals were built in the
early part of the nineteenth century. The Hudson and Mohawk Rivers could be
navigated only as far as Central New York. While the St. Lawrence River could be
navigated to Lake Ontario, the way westward to the other Great Lakes was blocked by
Niagara Falls, and so the only route to western New York was over land. Governor
DeWitt Clinton strongly advocated building a canal to connect the Hudson River with
Lake Erie, and thus all the Great Lakes. Work commenced in 1817, and the Erie Canal
was finished in 1825. The canal opened up vast areas of New York to commerce and
settlement, and enabled port cities such as Buffalo to grow and prosper. The Welland
Canal was completed in 1833.

See also: New York State Constitutions

Demographics
Main article: Demographics of New York

Population
 Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1790 340,120 —
1800 589,051 73.2%
1810 959,049 62.8%
Historical population of New York
1820 1,372,851 43.1%
1830 1,918,608 39.8%
New York population density map
1840 2,428,921 26.6%
1850 3,097,394 27.5%
The major cities and roadways of New York State.
1860 3,880,735 25.3%
As of 2006, New York was the third largest 1870 4,382,759 12.9%
state in population after California and Texas, with
an estimated population of 19,306,183.[6] This 1880 5,082,871 16.0%
represents an increase of 329,362, or 1.7%, since 1890 5,997,853 18.0%
the year 2000; it includes a natural increase since
the last census of 601,779 people (1,576,125 births 1900 7,268,894 21.2%
minus 974,346 deaths) and a decrease due to net 1910 9,113,614 25.4%
migration of 422,481 people out of the state.
Immigration from outside the United States 10,385,22
1920 14.0%
resulted in a net increase of 820,388 people, and 7
migration within the country produced a net loss of 12,588,06
about 800,213. 1930 21.2%
6

New York is a slow growing state with a 13,479,14

1940 7.1%
large rate of migration to other states. In 2000 and 2
2005, more people moved from New York to 14,830,19
Florida than from any one state to another. [7] New 1950 10.0%
2
York state is a leading destination for international
immigration, however. The center of population of 16,782,30
1960 13.2%
4
New York is located in Orange County, in the town
of Deerpark.[8] New York City and its six suburban 18,236,96
1970 8.7%
counties have a combined population of 7
12,626,200 people, or 65.67% of the state's
17,558,07
population.[9] 1980 -3.7%
2
Racial and ancestral makeup 17,990,45
1990 2.5%
5
The major ancestry groups in New York 18,976,45
state are African American (15.8%), Italian 2000 5.5%
7
(14.4%), Irish (12.9%), and German (11.1%).[10]
According to a 2004 estimate, 20.4% of the 19,306,18
Est. 2006 1.7%
population is foreign-born. 3

New York is home to the largest Dominican and Jamaican American population
in the United States. The New York City neighborhood of Harlem has historically been
a major cultural capital for sub saharan African-Americans and Bedford Stuyvesant is
the largest in the United States. Queens, also in New York City, is home to the state's
largest Asian-American population, and is also the most diverse county in the United
States.
 In the 2000 Census, Italian-Americans make up the largest ancestral group in
Staten Island and Long Island, followed by Irish-Americans. Albany and southeast-
central New York are heavily Irish-American and Italian-American. In Buffalo and
western New York, German-Americans are the largest group; in the northern tip of the
state, French-Canadians.

6.5% of New York's population were under 5 years of age, 24.7% under 18, and
12.9% were 65 or older. Females made up 51.8% of the population.

New York State has a higher number of Italian-Americans than any other U.S. state.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 13.61% of the population aged 5 and over
speak Spanish at home, while 2.04% speak Chinese (including Cantonese and
Mandarin), 1.65% Italian, and 1.23% Russian [2].

Religion

Catholics comprise more than 40% of the population in New York.[11] Protestants
are 30% of the population, Jews 5%, Muslims 3.5%, Buddhists 1%, and 13% claim no
religious affiliation.

Economy
Main article: Economy of New York

Midtown Manhattan in New York City is home to the greatest concentration of Fortune
500 companies in the world.

A dairy farm near Oxford, New York.

New York's gross state product in 2006 was $1.02 trillion, ranking third in size
behind the larger states of California and Texas.[12] If New York were an independent
nation, it would rank as the 16th largest economy in the world behind South Korea. Its
2005 per capita personal income was $40,072, an increase of 4.2% from 2004, placing it
fifth in the nation behind Maryland, and eighth in the world behind Ireland. 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.

New York exports a wide variety of goods such as foodstuffs, commodities,

minerals, manufactured goods, cut diamonds, and automobile parts. New York's five
largest export markets in 2004 were Canada ($30.2 billion), United Kingdom ($3.3
billion), Japan ($2.6 billion), Israel ($2.4 billion), and Switzerland ($1.8 billion). New
York's largest imports are oil, gold, aluminum, natural gas, electricity, rough diamonds,
and lumber.

Canada is a very important economic partner for the state. 23% of the state's
total worldwide exports went to Canada in 2004. Tourism from the north is also a large
part of the economy. Canadians spent US$487 million in 2004 while visiting the state.

New York City is the leading center of banking, finance and communication in
the United States and is the location of the New York Stock Exchange, the largest stock
exchange in the world by dollar volume. Many of the world's largest corporations are
based in the city.

The state also has a large manufacturing sector that includes printing and the
production of garments, furs, railroad equipment and bus line vehicles. Many of these
industries are concentrated in upstate regions. Albany and the Hudson Valley are major
centers of nanotechnology and microchip manufacturing, while the Rochester area is
important in photographic equipment and imaging.

New York is a major agricultural producer, ranking among the top five states for
agricultural products including dairy, apples, cherries, cabbage, potatoes, onions, maple
syrup and many others. The state is the largest producer of cabbage in the U.S. The state
has about a quarter of its land in farms and produced US$3.4 billion 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. New York is the nation's
third-largest grape-producing state, behind California, and second largest wine producer
by volume. In 2004, New York's wine and grape industry brought US$6 billion into the
state economy. The state has 30,000 acres (120 km²) of vineyards, 212 wineries, and
produced 200 million bottles of wine in 2004. A moderately sized saltwater commercial
fishery is located along the Atlantic side of Long Island. The principal catches by value
are clams, lobsters, squid, and flounder. These areas have been increasing as
environmental protection has led to an increase in ocean wildlife.

Transportation
Main article: Transportation in New York
The New York City subway is the largest mass transit system in the world by number of
stations.

New York boasts the most extensive and one of the oldest transportation
infrastructures in the country. Engineering difficulties because of the terrain of the state
and the unique issues of the city brought on by urban crowding have had to be
overcome since the state was young. Population expansion of the state generally
followed the path of the early waterways, first the Hudson River and then the Erie
Canal. Today, railroad lines and the New York State Thruway follow the same general
route. The New York State Department of Transportation is often criticized for how they
maintain the roads of the state in certain areas for the fact that the tolls collected along
the roadway have long passed their original purpose. Until 2006, tolls were collected on
the Thruway within The City of Buffalo. They were dropped late in 2006 during the
campaign for Governor (both candidates called for their removal).

The Bear Mountain Bridge crossing the Hudson River.

New York City is home to the most complex and extensive transportation
network in the United States, with more than 12,000 iconic yellow cabs,[13] 120,000
daily bicyclists,[14] a massive subway system, bus and railroad systems, immense
airports, landmark bridges and tunnels, ferry service and even an aerial commuter
tramway. About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-
thirds of the nation's rail riders live in New York and its suburbs.

Four suburban commuter railroad systems enter and leave New York City,
including the Long Island Rail Road, MTA Metro-North, the PATH system and five of
NJTransit's rail services.
Grand Central Terminal is the hub for Metro North trains to the northern suburbs

Besides New York City, many of the other cities have urban and regional public
transportation. Syracuse is the smallest city in the U.S. to have a commuter rail line,
known as OnTrack. Buffalo also has a Subway line, sometimes called a Lightrail
System run by the NFTA, and Rochester had a subway system, although it is mostly
destroyed. Only a small part exists under the old Erie Canal Aqueduct.

Portions of the transportation system are intermodal, allowing travelers to easily

switch from one mode of transportation to another. One of the most notable examples is
AirTrain JFK which allows rail passengers to travel directly to terminals at Kennedy
Airport.

See also: Transportation in New York City

Politics and government

Main article: Government of New York

New York State Capitol Building.

Under its present constitution (adopted in 1894), New York is governed by three
branches of government: the executive branch, consisting of the Governor of New York
and the other independently elected constitutional officers; the legislative branch,
consisting of the bicameral New York State Legislature; and the judicial branch,
consisting of the state's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals, and lower courts.
The state has two U.S. senators, 29 members in the United States House of
Representatives, and 31 electoral votes in national presidential elections (a drop from its
41 votes during the 1970s).

New York's capital is Albany. The state's subordinate political units are its 62
counties. Other officially incorporated governmental units are towns, cities, and
villages. New York has more than 4,200 local governments that take one of these forms.
About 52% of all revenue raised by local governments in the state is raised solely by the
government of New York City, which is the largest municipal government in the United
States.[15]

The state has a strong imbalance of payments with the federal government. New
York State receives 82 cents in services for every $1 it sends in taxes to the federal
government in Washington.[16] The state ranks near the bottom, in 42nd place, in federal
spending per tax dollar.

Many of New York's public services are carried out by public benefit
corporations, frequently called authorities or development corporations. Well known
public benefit corporations in New York include the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority, which oversees New York City's public transportation system, and the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey, a bi-state transportation infrastructure agency.

New York's legal system is explicitly based on English common Law. Capital
punishment was declared unconstitutional in 2004.

Politics

Main articles: Politics of New York and Elections in New York

New York State consistently supports candidates belonging to the Democratic

Party in national elections. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry won New
York State by 18 percentage points in 2004, while Democrat Al Gore won the state by
an even larger margin in 2000. New York City is a major Democratic stronghold with
liberal politics. Many of the state's other urban areas, like Albany, Ithaca, Buffalo,
Rochester, and Syracuse are also Democratic. Rural upstate New York, however, is
generally more conservative than the cities and tends to favor Republicans. Heavily
populated suburban areas such as Westchester County and Long Island have swung
between the major parties over the past 25 years and often have tightly contested local
elections.

New York City is the most important source of political fund-raising in the
United States for both major parties. Four of the top five zip codes in the nation for
political contributions are in Manhattan. The top zip code, 10021 on the Upper East
Side, generated the most money for the 2000 presidential campaigns of both George
Bush and Al Gore.[17] Republican Presidential candidates will often skip campaigning in
the state, taking it as a loss and focusing on vital swing states.

Cities and towns

For lists of cities, towns, and counties in New York, see List of cities in New
York, List of towns in New York, List of villages in New York, List of counties in
New York, List of census-designated places in New York and Administrative
divisions of New York.
 Elmira
Albany Binghamton Buffalo

New York City Rochester Saranac Lake

Poughkeepsie

Schenectady Syracuse Utica Yonkers

The largest city in the state and the most populous city in the United States is
New York City, which is comprised of five counties, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens,
Brooklyn, and Staten Island. New York City is home to more than two-fifths of the
state's population. Buffalo is the second largest city in the state. The smallest city is
Sherrill, New York, located just west of the Town of Vernon in Oneida County. Albany
is the state capital, and the Town of Hempstead is the civil township with the largest
population.

The southern tip of New York State—New York City, its suburbs including Long
Island, the southern portion of the Hudson Valley, and most of northern New Jersey—
can be considered to form the central core of a "megalopolis", a super-city stretching
from the northern suburbs of Boston to the southern suburbs of Washington D.C. in
Virginia and therefore occasionally called "BosWash". First described by Jean
Gottmann in 1961 as a new phenomenon in the history of world urbanization, the
megalopolis is characterized by a coalescence of previous already-large cities of the
Eastern Seaboard: a heavy specialization on tertiary activity 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 exist in the world, but
that centered around New York City was the first described and still is the best example.
Education
Main article: Education in New York

The University of the State of New York oversees all public primary, middle-
level, and secondary education in the state, while the New York City Department of
Education manages the public school system in New York City.

At college level, the statewide public university system is the State University of
New York (SUNY). The City University of New York (CUNY) is the public university
system of New York City. In addition there are several private universities, including the
oldest Catholic institution in the northeast, Fordham University. New York is home to
both Columbia University and Cornell University, making it the only state to contain
more than one Ivy League school.

Sports
Main article: Sports in New York

New York hosted the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, the Games known
for the USA-USSR hockey game dubbed the "Miracle on Ice" in which a group of
American college students and amateurs defeated the heavily-favored Soviet national
ice hockey team 4-3 and went on to win the gold medal. Lake Placid also hosted the
1932 Winter Olympics. Along with St. Moritz, Switzerland and Innsbruck, Austria, it is
one of the three places to have twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games. The US Open
for tennis is also played in Queens, New York.

New York is represented in the National Football League by the Buffalo Bills; Despite
their names, the New York Giants and New York Jets, which had both been based in
New York City, play in Giants Stadium, which is located in East Rutherford, New
Jersey. New York also has two Major League Baseball teams, the New York Yankees
(based in The Bronx), and the New York Mets (based in Queens). Three National
Hockey League franchises (the New York Rangers, the New York Islanders and the
Buffalo Sabres) are based in New York. A National Basketball Association team, the
New York Knicks is based in Manhattan, while the New Jersey Nets are scheduled to
move into Brooklyn in the near future.

Navy vessel namesakes

There have been at least six United States Navy ships named USS New York in
honor of the state. The keel was laid for the USS New York (LPD 21) on September 10,
2004 and she will be the seventh US Navy ship to be named for the state. The New
York's motto will be "Never Forget."

The USS New York is one of several ships in the San Antonio-class of
amphibious transport dock ships (LPD stands for Landing Ship Transport, Dock). The
ship will be used to transport and land Marines, their equipment and supplies, such as
amphibious vehicles and helicopters. It is one of three similar ships that are being built
and being given names that are associated with September 11. The others are the LPD
24 USS Arlington (named because of the location of the Pentagon) and the LPD 25 USS
Somerset (named after the county in Pennsylvania where United Airlines Flight 93
crashed).

Twenty-four tons of steel from the World Trade Center have been recycled for
construction of the ship. Approximately seven tons were used to make the bow section
of the ship's hull. The steel from the World Trade Center has been treated with reverence
by the ship builders. Several workers have postponed their retirements for the honor of
constructing the USS New York.

According to Naval records, several other ships have carried the name the USS
New York. This new ship was given the name the USS New York when former New
York governor George Pataki wrote to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England and
requested that the Navy use the name to honor the victims of September 11 and to give
it to a surface ship that would be used to fight the War on Terror. This is an exception to
the current use of state names for submarines only.

The first ship to carry the name USS New York was an armed gondola built by
Revolutionary War General Benedict Arnold in 1776. She was burned to avoid capture
later in the Revolutionary War.

The second ship named USS New York was a 36-gun frigate built in New York
and commissioned in 1800. She saw service in the Mediterranean in the war against the
Barbary Pirates. She was burned by the British in 1814 while she was in the Washington
Navy Yard.

The third USS New York was one of nine built to discourage a future war with
Britain after the war of 1812. The threat abated, so she was never launched. Union
forces later burned the 74-gun ship of the line to avoid her capture at the start of the
American Civil War.

Beginning in 1863, a screw sloop that was being built that would have carried
the name USS New York, but it also never got launched, being sold in 1888.

The fifth USS New York (ACR 2) was a armored cruiser commissioned in 1893.
She was used in the Spanish-American War and was the flagship of Rear Admiral
William T. Sampson in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba (July 3, 1898), which destroyed
the Spanish fleet. She was later renamed the USS Saratoga in 1911 and then renamed
again as the USS Rochester in 1917.

The sixth was the battleship USS New York (BB 34), commissioned in 1914.
She saw service in both World War I and World War II. She participated in atomic
testing off the Bikini Islands surviving both an atmospheric explosion and an
underwater detonation. She was used as a target ship in 1948 and was sunk off Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii.

Finally, there was a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine USS New York
City (SSN 696) in service from 1979 until 1997 when she was decommissioned.[18][19]