Free «Life in New York City in 1900 and 2000» Essay Sample

Introduction

New York is a state located in the southeastern part of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont and Massachusetts to the eastern side, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to the southern region. New York City is the largest city in the United States following global immigration in the past. New York City is the most populated state in the United States of America with a population of approximately eight million people. Immigrants to enter the United States used New York City in the past and this has led to its flourishing in the field of transport, culture, manufacturing activities and cultural practices. The New York City and state is named after the duke of York, James Stuart, which happened in the seventeenth century. The state gained its independence on July 9 nineteen seventy-six and ratified the constitution in the following year, nineteen seventy-seven. It became the eleventh member of the United States in nineteen seventy eight when it ratified the constitution of the United States. (Maffi 2004: 99)

Population and area

New York has an amazing and unimaginable population. By the year 1930, it was the largest city of the world. New York City together with the five boroughs covers an area of seven hundred and eighty six square kilometers. The urban area has twenty-eight counties that are adjacent to each other in states such as New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. These counties together form the New York metropolitan. In 2000, the metropolitan region had eight percent of the nation population occupying the metropolitan region. During the late 1990’s, the northeastern seashore was the urbanized region and was occupied by approximately sixty million people. 

Between the years 1880 and 1919, approximately twenty five million Europeans moved into the United States. About seventeen million out of the twenty three million Europeans settled in New York. By the end of 1880, most of the working population in New York was foreigners, which led to New York having the biggest labour power in the world. In the mid 1900’s, the city had an approximate of two million foreigners consisting about 430,000 Italians and 517,000 Russians. This remained the situation until the end of the twentieth century. Due to the immigration, in the late 1990’s, there were above one hundred and twenty languages spoken in schools, there were many political organizations, ethnic churches, parades, cultural festivities and foreign language televisions, magazines, radio stations and newspapers. The immigration could at times lead to wrangles among the population but still caused exchange of ideas and socializing amongst the foreigners and the natives. (Otis 2010: 102)

Education and culture

Following the population size, and a combination of different people from all over the world caused by immigration, New York offers foreigners and the natives a wide range of educational prospects and cultural treasures. It is the leading city in performing arts and has a wide variety of historical and artistic monuments. The mixture of different cultures is reflected during the ethnic festivities and street celebrations that happen all year round in the city. Many prestigious learning institutions and over one hundred institutions offer higher learning facilities in New York.

Museums range in the fields of ethnic cultures, fire fighting, crafts, broadcasting, and natural history. With over four hundred art galleries, New York is the world’s supreme art centre. The greatest repository art of the twentieth century happened in New York about the importance of the museum of modern art (MOMA). MOMA came into being in 1929, which focused mainly on the artists who were born after the year 1880 and contains an assortment of great French impressionists, photography, modern sculpture and film. Due to its spiral gallery and a collection of great art, the building has had several titles ranging from the giant snail to the most stunning building in New York.

The twentieth century art in America is captured in the Whitney Museum of American Art located along Madison Avenue. The building on itself is artistic in nature since it is has a design of a pyramid that is inverted and is built using a rich gray granite. The American Museum of Natural History is another museum in New York and the largest in the world that is dedicated to innate sciences. It was founded in 1869, and expanded and renovated in the later years of 1990’s. This museum houses a stupendous variety of collections capturing the Native Americans, Eskimos or intuits reptiles, birds and dinosaurs.

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Performing arts

New York has for a very long time been the dance and music capital with the most number of renowned artists all over the world. In the United States, the professional dancers and musicians from New York dominate the theaters. The largest center for performing arts, Lincoln Centre in the globe is located at Broadway. Avery Fisher Hall, found inside the Lincoln centre contains the New York Philharmonic Orchestra among other performances by talented soloists and orchestras all year long.  The metropolitan opera house built in 1966 houses sumptuous international operatic productions and the American Ballet Theater. The Julliard School offers the best musical classes in the nation and it is found in the Lincoln Center. The Lincoln centre has really helped a great deal in the enhancement of artistic operations in New York.

Private and public institutions provide education in New York with the public school system being the largest in the world. The education sector comprises the most important research centers, libraries and universities. The city is known for thorough research in the fields of life sciences and medicine. New York is the city with the most number of college and university students with around one hundred and ten colleges and universities. The more the students that graduate, the better the economy which accounts for the approximately 110 students who were employed in 2007.

There are independent colleges and universities in New York such as Fordham University, Barnard College, pace university, Yeshiva University and Long Island University. In the primary and secondary school sector, the public school system is also the largest in the globe. The New York City department of education is the one responsible for managing the public schools system. Other schools include the parochial and private religious and secular schools that are approximately nine hundred run which are among the leading independent schools in New York. Charter schools are also present in the city, which include schools like Bronx Success Academy, Girls prep and Harlem Success Academy. (Highsmith 1997: 76)

 Conclusion

As explained above, the city of New York has come from a very long way up to where it is today. Although many changes such as in the sector of arts have not happened, evolution has taken place in renovating the museums into what they are today. The different ethnic groups and their different ideas have led to the economy of the country flourishing. Another reason for the good economic features is the educated young population that comes up with brilliant ideas that help steer the state forward.