Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan[Bowling Green (New York City)|], also known as Downtown Manhattan, is the southernmost part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The area is the historical birthplace of New York City and in the 17th and 18th centuries composed the entirety of the city. Lower Manhattan serves as the seat of government of both Manhattan and the entire City of New York. Because there are no municipally defined boundaries for the area, a precise population cannot be quoted, but several sources have suggested that it was one of the fastest-growing locations in New York City between 2010 and 2020, related to the influx of young adults and significant development of new housing units.
Despite various definitions of Lower Manhattan, they generally include all of Manhattan Island south of 14th Street, with the
Bowling Green and the Battery near the southern end. Anchored by Wall Street and the Financial District in Lower Manhattan, New York City is the leading global center for finance and fintech. The Financial District houses the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and other major financial institutions. A center of culture and tourism, Lower Manhattan is home to many of New York City's most iconic structures, including New York City Hall, the Woolworth Building, the Stonewall Inn, the Bull of Wall Street, and One World Trade Center, the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere.
Geography and neighborhoods
Lower Manhattan is delineated on the north by 14th Street, on the west by the Hudson River, on the east by the East River, and on the south by New York Harbor. Its northern border is designated by thoroughfares about a mile-and-a-half south of 14th Street and a mile north of Manhattan's southern tip around Chambers Street near the Hudson River east of the entrances and overpass to the Brooklyn Bridge. Two other major arteries to Lower Manhattan are Canal Street, roughly half a mile north of Chambers Street, and 23rd Street, roughly half a mile north of 14th Street.Lower Manhattan's central business district forms the core of the area below Chambers Street and includes the Financial District, commonly known as Wall Street after the name of its primary artery, and the World Trade Center site. At the island's southern tip is Battery Park, near the Bowling Green; City Hall is north of the Financial District. South of Chambers Street are Battery Park City and South Street Seaport. TriBeCa straddles Chambers Street on the west side; at the street's east end is the giant Manhattan Municipal Building. North of Chambers Street and the Brooklyn Bridge and south of Canal Street is the Chinatown neighborhood, home to the largest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Many court buildings and other government offices are located in this area.
The Lower East Side neighborhood straddles Canal Street. North of Canal Street and south of 14th Street are SoHo, the Meatpacking District, the West Village, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Nolita, and the East Village. Between 14th and 23rd Streets are lower Chelsea, Union Square, the Flatiron District, Gramercy, and Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village.
History
Lenape and New Netherland
The area that would eventually encompass modern-day New York City was inhabited by the Lenape people. These groups of culturally and linguistically identical Native Americans who spoke an Algonquian language now referred to as Unami. European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch fur trading post in Lower Manhattan, later called New Amsterdam in 1626. The first fort was built at The Battery to protect New Netherland.In approximately 1626, construction of Fort Amsterdam began. The Dutch West Indies Company subsequently imported African slaves to serve as laborers; they helped to build the wall that defended the town against English and native attacks. Early directors included Willem Verhulst and Peter Minuit. Willem Kieft became a director in 1638 but five years later was embroiled in Kieft's War against the Native Americans. The Pavonia Massacre, across the Hudson River in present-day Jersey City, New Jersey resulted in the death of 80 natives in February 1643. Following the massacre, Algonquian tribes joined forces and nearly defeated the Dutch. The Dutch Republic sent additional forces to the aid of Kieft, leading to the overwhelming defeat of the Native Americans and a peace treaty on August 29, 1645.
On May 27, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was inaugurated as director general upon his arrival. The colony was granted self-government in 1652, and New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2, 1653. The first mayors of New Amsterdam, Arent van Hattem and Martin Cregier, were appointed in that year.
17th and 18th centuries
In 1664, the English conquered the area and renamed it "New York" after the Duke of York and the city of York in Yorkshire. At that time, people of African descent made up 20% of the population of the city, with European settlers numbering approximately 1,500, and people of African descent numbering 375. While it has been claimed that African slaves comprised 40% of the small population of the city at that time, this claim has not been substantiated. During the mid-1600s, farms of free blacks covered where Washington Square Park later developed. The Dutch briefly regained the city in 1673, renaming the city "New Orange", before permanently ceding the colony of New Netherland to the English for what is now Suriname in November 1674. The new English rulers of the formerly Dutch New Amsterdam and New Netherland renamed the settlement back to New York. As the colony grew and prospered, sentiment also grew for greater autonomy. In the context of the Glorious Revolution in England, Jacob Leisler led Leisler's Rebellion and effectively controlled the city and surrounding areas from 1689 to 1691, before being arrested and executed.By 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200. By 1703, 42% of households in New York had slaves, a higher percentage than in Philadelphia or Boston. The 1735 libel trial of John Peter Zenger in the city was a seminal influence on freedom of the press in North America. It would be a standard for the basic articles of freedom in the United States Declaration of Independence. By the 1740s, with expansion of settlers, 20% of the population of New York were slaves, totaling about 2,500 people. After a series of fires in 1741, the city became panicked that blacks planned to burn the city in a conspiracy with some poor whites. Historians believe their alarm was mostly fabrication and fear, but officials rounded up 31 blacks and 4 whites, all of whom were convicted of arson and executed. City officials executed 13 blacks by burning them alive and hanged 4 whites and 18 blacks.
In 1754, Columbia University was founded under charter by George II of Great Britain as King's College in Lower Manhattan. The Stamp Act and other British measures fomented dissent, particularly among the Sons of Liberty, who maintained a long-running skirmish with locally stationed British troops over Liberty Poles from 1766 to 1776. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York City in 1765 in the first organized resistance to British authority across the colonies. After the major defeat of the Continental Army in the Battle of Long Island, General George Washington withdrew to Manhattan Island, but with the subsequent defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington the island was effectively left to the British. The city became a haven for loyalist refugees, becoming a British stronghold for the entire war. Consequently, the area also became the focal point for Washington's espionage and intelligence-gathering throughout the war. In 1771, Bear Market was established along the Hudson River shoreline on land donated by Trinity Church, and replaced by Washington Market in 1813.
New York City was greatly damaged twice by fires of suspicious origin during British military rule. The city became the political and military center of operations for the British in North America for the remainder of the war and a haven for Loyalist refugees. Continental Army officer Nathan Hale was hanged in Manhattan for espionage. In addition, the British began to hold the majority of captured American prisoners of war aboard prison ships in Wallabout Bay, across the East River in Brooklyn. More Americans died from neglect aboard these ships than died in all the battles of the war. British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783. George Washington triumphantly returned to the city that day, as the last British forces left the city.
Starting in 1785, the Congress met in New York City under the Articles of Confederation. In 1789, New York City became the first national capital of the United States under the new United States Constitution. The Constitution also created the current Congress of the United States, and its first sitting was at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The first United States Supreme Court sat there. The United States Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified there. George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall. New York City remained the capital of the U.S. until 1790, when the role was transferred to Philadelphia.
19th century
New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton's policies and practices as the first Secretary of the Treasury and, later, with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the North American interior. Immigration resumed after being slowed by wars in Europe, and a new street grid system, the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, expanded to encompass all of Manhattan. Early in the 19th century, the landfill was used to expand Lower Manhattan from the natural Hudson shoreline at Greenwich Street to West Street.In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn, Manhattan and outlying areas. The borough of Brooklyn incorporated the independent City of Brooklyn, recently joined to Manhattan by the Brooklyn Bridge in Lower Manhattan. Municipal governments contained within the boroughs were abolished, and the county governmental functions, housed in Lower Manhattan after unification, were absorbed by the city or each borough.