City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River .
The largest city in the U.S. and an important seaport, it consists of five boroughs: the Bronx , Brooklyn , Manhattan , Queens , and Staten Island . The site of a Dutch trading post on Manhattan Island, it was colonized as New Amsterdam by Dutch director general Erie Canal in 1825, and the city expanded rapidly after the American Civil War , developing transportation and communications systems. In 1898 the five boroughs were merged into a single city. Long a magnet for immigrants to the U.S., it is a centre of world trade and finance, media, art, entertainment, and fashion. Because of its prominence and its central role in world commerce, the city was a target for acts of terrorism . In September 2001, hijackers intentionally flew airliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center , destroying them and destroying or damaging several adjacent buildings; the attacks killed some 2,800 people. See September 11 attacks .