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As in much of North America, human habitation appeared in the island fairly rapidly after the retreat of the ice sheet. Archaeologists have recovered tool evidence of Clovis culture activity dating from approximately 14,000 years ago. The island was probably abandoned later, possibly because of the extinction of large mammals on the island. Evidence of the first permanent Native American settlements and agriculture date from about 5,000 years ago (Jackson, 1995).

New Yorkers lived through the city's bloodiest and perhaps most tragic day on September 11, 2001, when hijackers linked to the jihadist organization Al-Qaeda piloted two airliners into each of the World Trade Center towers.

During the American Civil War on July 13, 1863 opponents of conscription began five days of rioting, the 'Draft Riots' that for a century would be regarded as the worst in United States history.

The phrase "Wall Street" is also used to refer to the financial markets as a whole. Interestingly, most New York financial firms are no longer headquartered on Wall Street (JPMorgan Chase, the last major holdout, sold its headquarters tower at 60 Wall Street to Deutsche Bank in November 2001), but elsewhere in lower and midtown Manhattan. When contrasted to "Main Street", it can refer to big business interests as against those of small business.

The first European to see the harbor was Giovanni da Verrazano, during his expedition of 1524 and named it Nouvelle-Angoulême. Verrazano entered the harbor on April 17 and set anchor in the Narrows between Staten Island and Brooklyn, where he was greeted by a canoe party of Lenape.

The megalopolis, however, is not the only aspect of New York State. While best known for New York City's urban atmosphere, especially Manhattan's skyscrapers, by contrast the rest of the state is dominated by farms, forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. Few people know that New York's Adirondack State Park is larger than any National Park in the US.

When his term "Adirondack Park" led to some derision and fears from longtime residents of the area that they might be bought out and evicted, proponents of the idea began to use "Adirondack Forest Preserve" instead. Both terms continue in use to thise day, with the former referring to the land inside the Blue Line and the latter to that portion owned by the state.

Had the Welland Canal, which bypassed Niagara Falls to connect Lakes Ontario and Erie, been built first, instead of in 1833, the history of North America could have been far different, with Montreal, Quebec becoming the main eastern port, instead of New York City.

New York is also the site of the only extra-territorial enclave within the boundaries of the USA, the United Nations compound on Manhattan's East River.

New York City is comprised of five boroughs: Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island, each of which could be a major city in its own right. The city is at the heart of the New York Metropolitan Area, which, with over 22 million people, is one of the largest urban conglomerations in the world, and is the epicenter of both the Tri-State area and the BosWash megalopolis.

Within "downtown" is Lower Manhattan, a neighborhood defined as everything approximately south of Barclay Street and the Brooklyn Bridge; it is perhaps one of the most well-known parts of the city, home to City Hall, Wall Street, the South Street Seaport, the site of the World Trade Center, as well as a number of other significant landmarks.

At the north end of the Morris Reserve, a 87,000 acre (350 km²) triangular shaped tract ("The Triangle Tract") was sold by Morris to Herman Leroy, William Bayard and John McEvers, while a 100,000 acre (400 km²) tract due west of the Triangle Tract was sold to the State of Connecticut.