NEW YORK

constituent state of the United States of America, one of the 13 original states. The 49,108 square miles (127,190 square kilometres) of New York are bounded, from west to north, by Lake Erie, the Canadian province of Ontario, Lake Ontario, and Quebec province; on the east by the New England states of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut; on the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean and New Jersey; and on the south by Pennsylvania. The capital is Albany. Until the 1960s New York was the nation's leading state in nearly all population, cultural, and economic indexes. Its displacement by California about the middle of the 1960s was caused by the enormous growth rate that has persisted on the West Coast rather than by a large decline in New York itself. New York remains the second most populous state in the nation, and its gross economic product exceeds that of all but a handful of nations throughout the world. New York is situated across a region of contrastfrom the Atlantic shores of Long Island and the skyscrapers of Manhattan through the rivers, mountains, and lakes of upstate New York to the plains of the Great Lakes. With canals, railroads, and highways, New York is a principal gateway to the west from the Middle Atlantic and New England states and a hub for travel to and from much of the nation. The cities of the statefrom New York City through Albany, Utica, and Syracuse to Rochester and Buffalo on the Great Lakesand their suburbs are home to more than four-fifths of all New Yorkers. Both the New England and Southern colonies had a great deal more to do with the movement toward revolution and with stabilizing the new nation during its early decades than did New York, but, once it got under way, New York's growth attained a breakneck pace. The stateand New York City in particularremains the centre of much of the nation's economy and finance, as well as of many formative impulses in American art and culture. The overwhelming presence of New York City has tended to divide the state socially and politically, causing long-standing problems for both the city and state, but the influence and image of the state is a major element in national political life. The Middle Atlantic region. constituent state of the United States of America, one of the Middle Atlantic states, lying in the eastern United States, bounded on the north by Lake Ontario and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, on the east by Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, on the extreme southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and on the west by Pennsylvania, Lakes Erie and Ontario, and the Canadian province of Ontario. The state capital is Albany on the Hudson River. Two major groupings of Indians originally inhabited New York: the Algonquian-speaking Mahican (Mohican) and Munsee, and the Iroquois Confederacy of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. These Iroquois tribes sided with the British during the French and Indian War (175663). New York was first settled as a colony of the Netherlands following the explorations (1609) of Henry Hudson on the river that bears his name. The Dutch founded Fort Orange (present-day Albany) in 1624 and New Amsterdam in 1625. The British took control of New Amsterdam in 1664 and renamed it New York. The French defeat in 1763 encouraged New Englanders to settle in New York, and by the time of the American Revolution, its population was 163,000. Many of the Revolution's battles were fought in New York, including the important battle at Saratoga. New York was the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. By 1810 New York had grown to be the most populous state and was already the manufacturing, trade, and transportation centre of the country. New York is divided into a number of physiographic regions, the largest of which is the Appalachian Highlands, covering half of the state and extending westward from the Hudson River valley to the state's southern and western boundaries. Within this region can be found the Catskill Mountains, the Finger Lakes, and the Delaware River basin. The Hudson-Mohawk Lowland follows the Hudson River to Albany (north) and then the Mohawk River to the west. A plateaulike region known as the Erie-Ontario Lowlands lies to the north of the Appalachian Highlands and west of the Mohawk valley. It extends along the southern shores of the Great Lakes. East of it lie the Adirondack Mountains, an ancient upland structurally distinct from the Appalachian Highlands to its south. The state generally has warm summers and cold winters. A tendency to cloudiness across the state results in few completely clear days. Rainfall and snow produce a range of precipitation from 32 to 45 inches (810 to 1,140 mm) a year. The Catskills receive the greatest amount of precipitation, while the Erie-Ontario Lowlands receive the least. The regions east of Buffalo and Watertown receive an unusually heavy amount of snowfall. New York was the nation's most populous state until the early 1960s, when it was overtaken by California. Since the colonial period, much of New York's growth has resulted from immigration funneled through the port of New York City, and even in the late 20th century millions of New Yorkers were foreign-born. Blacks comprised more than one-sixth of the total population and Hispanic persons more than one-eighth. Of the state's significant Puerto Rican minority, most live in New York City. New York was one of the few states that lost population between 1970 and 1980, and during the same period New York City's population declined by more than 10 percent. Subsequently, the state's population again increased, however, and the density of population has remained high. New York had the largest economic output of any state in the union until the later 20th century. Its great economic strength arose from several factors, among them the commercial supremacy of New York City and its busy harbour, the state's access to the shipping lanes of the Great Lakes, and its role as a vital transportation link between the Atlantic coast and the Midwest. New York ranked first among the states in manufacturing from 1830 to 1970, when it was surpassed by California. The manufacturing sector has continued to shrink since then, but the state remains high nationwide for total value added by manufacture. Buffalo is strong in many heavy industries, Rochester in photographic and optical equipment, and Syracuse and Utica-Rome in machinery, electronic equipment, and primary metals. The state's economy is now dominated by services, and these are concentrated in New York City, which remains the chief financial centre of the United States. New York City is home to many corporate headquarters and to the major American stock exchanges. Its economy also relies on wholesale and retail trade, printing and publishing, advertising, government, education, insurance, television production, and tourism. Livestock, poultry, and dairy products are the major components of New York state's farm income. The main crops are hay, corn (maize), apples, grapes, and potatoes. Important minerals are stone, sand and gravel, zinc, and salt. The Hudson-Mohawk Lowland has always been a major transportation artery for the state. Those rivers were the basis of the Erie Canal and the later New York State Barge Canal System. Through their valleys ran the New York Central Railroad to Buffalo and Chicago, and most recently the New York State Thruway was built on the same course. The interstate port of New York and New Jersey is the largest centre for shipping in the United States. The New York City metropolitan area, served by three international airports, is one of the country's main points of entry. The state has an extensive network of highways, roads, and streets and is well served by railways. New York City is also the nation's chief cultural centre, and many trends in fashion, theatre, television, and music emanate from it. New York City has long been one of the most important world centres of the print and broadcast news media. It is the seat of the United Nations. Cultural and related activities are not confined to New York City, however. Buffalo and Rochester have well-known art museums and outstanding symphony orchestras. The Eastman School of Music at Rochester is internationally known. The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cooperstown. Educational opportunities are plentiful. The State University of New York (est. 1948) is one of the most comprehensive educational organizations in the world. Area 53,013 square miles (137,304 square km). Pop. (1970) 18,190,740; (1980) 17,557,288; (1990) 17,990,455; (1995 est.) 18,178,000. Additional reading Many aspects of the state are still usefully addressed in Writers' Program, New York, New York: A Guide to the Empire State (1940, reprinted 1976). Physical features are described in John H. Thompson (ed.), Geography of New York State (1966, reprinted 1977); and are represented graphically in both DeLorme Mapping Company, New York State Atlas & Gazetteer, 5th ed. (1998); and New York Department of Transportation, New York State Atlas, 4th ed. (1998).Historical works include David M. Ellis et al., A History of New York State, rev. ed. (1967); Michael Kammen, Colonial New York (1975, reissued 1996); David M. Ellis, New York: State & City (1979); David M. Ellis, James A. Frost, and William B. Fink, New York, 5th ed. (1980); and Bruce Bliven, Jr., New York: A Bicentennial History (1981). Current research is reported in New York History (quarterly). Paul Joseph Scudiere