1) A little over 8 million people live in New York City. That means 1 in every 38 people in the United States call the city home. 2) More than 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. 4 in 10 households speak a language other than English. 3) Oysters were so popular in New York in the 19th century that the shells were used to pave Pearl Street. They were also used for lime for the masonry of the Trinity Church. 4) *France gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States in 1886 for its centennial celebration. The statue was shipped as 350 pieces in 214 crates and took 4 months to assemble at its current home on Ellis Island. 5) New York City’s Federal Reserve Bank has the largest gold storage in the world. The vault is 80 feet below street level and contains $90 billion in gold. 6) The New York Public Library has over 50 million books and other items and is the second-largest library system in the nation after the Library of Congress. It is also the 3rd largest library in the world. 7) The borough of Brooklyn alone would be the fourth largest city in the United States. Queens would also rank fourth nationally. 8) Times Square is named after the New York Times. It was originally called Longacre Square until the Times moved there in 1904. 9) More Chinese people live in New York City than any other city outside of Asia. More Jewish people live there than any other city outside of Israel. 10) In 1626, Manhattan Island was bought by Dutch settlers and named ‘New Amsterdam’, then used as a fur trading post for the Dutch East India Company. The city only became the New York we know today after the English took over in 1664. 11) According to data collected from a global health survey, New Yorkers gulp down 7 times as much coffee as their fellow Americans. 12) New York is the most densely populated city in the United States. More than 8 million people live within the city boundaries. New York is divided into five boroughs, or districts: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronxs and Staten Island. 13) Small crustaceans can be found in the drinking water. The reason for this is the fact that the water is not getting filtered, but it’s still pure enough to drink, even though it’s probably best to filter the water before drinking. I recommend bringing a filtered water bottle if you’re coming as a tourist. 14) The Grand Central Terminal is an architectonic masterpiece and the interior is absolutely beautiful to look at. However, that’s not all that comes with this extravagant train station. Another interesting spot that you shouldn’t miss – The Whispering Gallery. Here you can stand at opposite diagonal corners and whisper to the ones standing on the other side of the room. 15) The physical location of Wall Street is in lower Manhattan, where the New York Stock Exchange is housed. The street's name refers to a long-gone wall that was erected in the 17th Century by Dutch settlers intent on keeping out the British and pirates. 16) New York City is known by many nicknames—such as “the City that Never Sleeps” or “Gotham”—but the most popular one is probably “the Big Apple.” Although uses of the phrase are documented in the early 1900s, the term first became popular in the 1920s when John J. Fitz Gerald, a sports writer, started a column about horse racing called “Around the Big Apple.” However, it wasn’t until a tourism campaign in the 1970s that the nickname came to be synonymous with New York City. *

New York - Interesting Facts

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