CULTURE AND SOCIETY

1524, April 17

Giovanni da Verrazzano arrives in the bay of New York.

1526

The bay is explored by the Portuguese explorer Esteban Gómez.

1609

It is the turn of the English Henry Hudson, he like Verrazzano and Gómez in search of a route to the East.

1614

A small group of Dutch people settle on the island of Manhattan.

1625, April 22

The Dutch West India Company inaugurates a new settlement in southern Manhattan. He called it New Amsterdam, it was the beginning of what would become New York City.

1926

Peter Minuit buys for 60 guilders from Seyseys, leader of the Canary Islands Indians, fifty-seven square kilometers of Manhattan. The agreement was actually only symbolic because the island did not belong to any tribe and the Canary Islands themselves lived mainly on Long Island.

1643 & 1645

Kieft War, named after the director of the colony, Willem Kieft, and was one of the first conflicts between Native Americans and European settlers.

1647, May 11

Peter Stuyvesant is appointed Governor of the New Netherlands, he will remain in office until 1664.

1650

The population reaches 1,000 inhabitants.

1653

Stuyvesant establishes an early form of city government.

1664, September 8

New Amsterdam is sold by Peter Stuyvesant to the British who renamed it in New York in honor of James Stuart Duke of York.

1673

The Dutch, during the Anglo-Dutch war, re-conquered the city and called it "New Orange".

1674

After the Anglo-Dutch war with the Treaty of Westminster, the Dutch definitively ceded the city to the British.

1698

Population: 4,937. The first Trinity Church is built.

1702

An outbreak of yellow fever kills more than 500 people.

1703

The second town hall in New York was built, then transformed into the current Federal Hall.

1711

A slave market is created between Wall Street and the East River.

1712

There's a slave revolt.

1723

Population: 7,248.

1732

In September, the first play is staged, not in a real theater but on the second floor of a building near the intersection of Maiden Lane and Pearl Street.

1733

The New York Weekly Journal begins its publications.

1738

To reduce the risk of disease, the municipality issues an ordinance that places all incoming ships in quarantine, pending medical checks.

1754

The New York Society Library (NYSL), the city's oldest cultural institution, is founded and has become the Library of Congress. King's College (later Columbia College and later Columbia University) is founded.

1756

Population: 13,046.

1762

Opens the Queen's Head Tavern, later called the Fraunces Tavern.

1765

The Stamp Act Congress, or First Congress of American Colonies, is established.

1774

Population: 22,861.

1775

Bowne & Co., Inc. is founded to provide international financial, marketing and corporate communications services. It was the oldest listed company in the United States until its acquisition in 2010 by RR Donnelley when the name ceased to exist.

1775, April 19

The American War of Independence begins.

1776, June 30

British General William Howe lands on Staten Island. British military occupation of New York.

1776, July 4

Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.

1776, September 21

Over 1,000 buildings were destroyed during the Great Fire of 1776.

1783, November 25

British troops leave New York and General George Washington enters the city. New Yorkers celebrate Evacuation Day.

1789, April 30

George Washington swears as 1st President of the United States of America at the Federal Hall.

1790

Population 33.131.

1798

A large yellow fever epidemic kills 2,086 people.

1800

Popolazione: 60.489.

1802

Founded the American Academy of the Fine Arts.

1804

Founded the New York Historical Society.

1812

The new and current town hall is completed.

1817

Founded the New York Stock & Exchange Board. Staten Island Ferry line opened.

1822

The Fulton Fish Market is opened.

1825

Population 166.136.

1827, July 4

On Independence Day, slavery is abolished in New York.

1832

A serious cholera pandemic affects North America. More than 3,500 people die in New York and more than 80,000, a third of the population, flee the city.

1835, December 16

A major fire, The Great Fire, which rages for two days in the financial district, destroys the New York Stock Exchange and hundreds of buildings. Efforts to stop the fire are limited by sub-zero temperatures, which freeze water in pipes, wells and the East River.

1839

Founded the Astor Library.

1847

Opens Madison Square Park and the Astor Opera House.

1848

A cholera epidemic kills 5,071 people.

1849, May 10

Astor Place Riot.

1850

Popolazione 550.394.

1851

The New York Daily Times begins publications.

1857

Central Park opens. The first baseball game is played.

1860

Population 813,669.

1863, July 13-16

About 50,000 people in revolt to protest against President Abraham Lincoln's announcement of a project for troops to be sent to fight in the American Civil War. More than 100 people are killed and many African Americans flee the city. The movie Gangs of New York is set in this period.

1865

The Metropolitan Fire Department is established.

1867

The first elevated transport line is built by the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway Company along Greenwich Street and Ninth Avenue.

1871

The Grand Central Depot, now the Grand Central Terminal, is inaugurated.

1872

Opens the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Bloomingdale's department store.

1877

Opens the Museum of Natural History.

1879

Opens the first Madison Square Garden.

1880

Population 1,206,599.

1883, May 24

Brooklyn Bridge opened.

1886, October 28

The Statue of Liberty is inaugurated.

1890

Population 1,710,715.

1892

Washington Square Arch opened. U.S. Immigrant Inspection Station opened on Ellis Island.

1895

New York Public Library founded.

1898, January 1

Established the City of Greater New York which includes the eastern part of the Bronx, Brooklyn, most of the county of Queens County and Staten Island.

1899, September 13

Henry H. Bliss is the first person killed in a car accident.

1900

Population 3,437,202.

1901

The Bergdorf Goodman store opens.

1902

Macy's Herald Square department store opens. The Flatiron Building is completed.

1903

The Williamsburg Bridge opens and the New Amsterdam Theater and Lyric Theater theaters open.

1907

Opens the Plaza Hotel.

1913

Grand Central Terminal rebuilt.

1917, July 28

African Americans organize the Silent Parade on Fifth Avenue as a gesture of protest for the massacre of St. Louis.

1920

Population 5,620,048.

1921

The Port of New York Authority is established.

1925

The population reaches 7,774,000 people, making New York City the largest in the world according to demographers Chandler & Fox. This record remains until 1965 when Tokyo becomes the most populous city.

1927, November 13

Opens the Holland Tunnel.

1929, October 29

Black Tuesday, "Big Crash," the collapse of the stock exchange.

1929, November 7

Opens the Museum of Modern Art.

1930

The Chrysler Building is inaugurated.

1931

The Empire State Building opened. Opens the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

1932

Opens Radio City Music Hall.

1933

Fiorello H. The Guard is elected the first Italian-American mayor. Completed the RCA Building.

1937

The Lincoln Tunnel opened.

1940

Population 7,454,995.

1941

The first two television stations open. The first was WNBT Channel 1 (now WNBC Channel 4), then WCBW Channel 2 (now WCBS TV).

1945, July 28

A B-25 bomber Mitchell accidentally crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 13 people.

1948

New York International Airport opened.

1952

United Nations headquarters inaugurated.

1960

Population 7,781,984.

1961

Opens the City University of New York.

1964, November 21

Inauguration of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, at the time the longest in the world, connecting Brooklyn to Staten Island.

1968

Opens the current Madison Square Garden.

1970

First New York City Marathon. First NBA title for the New York Knicks.

1973

Complete the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

1990, January 1

David Dinkins is the city's first African-American mayor.

1993, February 26

A terrorist bomb explodes in the underground garage of the World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring over a thousand.

1994, January 1

Rudy Giuliani becomes mayor.

2000

Population 8,008,288.

2001, September 11

Terrorist attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.

2001, November 12

American Airlines flight 587 crashes into Queens shortly after takeoff from Kennedy airport, killing all 265 on board and 5 people on the ground.

2008, September 15

Lehman Brothers pleads bankruptcy.

2011, September 12

Inaugurated the National 9/11 Memorial.

2012, October 29-30

Hurricane Sandy hits the city, killing 43 people. The New York Stock Exchange, public schools and all mass transport services are closed.

2018, January 1

The new year begins with a temperature of 12.22 °C (53.996 ℉), the lowest temperature measured in the last 100 years.