Importance of New York City

History

New York City, also known as the big apple was discovered by Giovanni Da Verrazano in 1524, when he sailed into the area and landed there. In 1609 Henry Hudson was the first person who actually settled there while he was searching for a new route to Asia. At the time, they named the city New Amsterdam and established as a Dutch trading colony. The name of the settlement eventually became known as New York in 1664, when the British took control of the colonies.

New York City became an important city during the Revolutionary War period. In the 1800's, with the opening of the Erie Canal providing passage to the Great Lakes, New York became one of the most important sea ports on the Atlantic Ocean, and became a center of trade. This lead to a huge population growth into the largest city in the United States.

New York City also became a destination for immigrants coming in to the country to begin a new life. In the early 1900's millions of people came though Ellis Island seeking citizenship in the United States. A vast majority of these immigrants settled in New York City, which today is still one of the most diverse populations in the world.

Over time the city has grown to be a population center in the United States as well as a center for various activities. New York City is known for Broadway, the fabulous skyline, Central Park, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, top sports venues and teams, and is one of the top destinations for tourists around the world. 

Wall Street 

Wall Street 1929

Wall Street is the name of a street in lower Manhattan running east from Broadway downhill to the East River. Wall Street got its name in the 17th century when the wall formed the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam settlement erected for defensive purposes. Now the term includes all business directly related to stock exchanges and the financial market. The term has become known for financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial sector, or signifying New York-based financial interests.

Wall Street is the home of the New York Stock Exchange. It is the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization. There are several other major exchanges have or had headquarters in the Wall Street area, including NASDAQ, the New York Mercantile Exchange, the New York Board of Trade, and the former American Stock Exchange. Next to Wall Street, New York City is one of the world's principal financial centers.

Wall Street is a major location of tourism in New York City. Tour guides highlight places such as Trinity Church, the Federal Reserve gold vaults 80 feet below street level, worth $100 billion, and the New York Stock Exchange.  A Scoundrels of Wall Street Tour is a walking historical tour. It includes a museum visit and discussion of various financiers. Usually, artists make unprepared performances. One chief attraction, the Federal Reserve Building in lower Manhattan, paid $750,000 to open a visitors' gallery in 1997. The New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange also spent money in the late 1990s to upgrade facilities for visitors. Attractions include the gold vault beneath the Federal Reserve and to some tourists, staring down from the vault became more exciting to them than visiting the Statue of Liberty. 

Wall Street until this day has become a huge historical landmark for New York and the United States.

 

Fifth Avenue NYC

Fifth Avenue is a main area for tourists in the center Manhattan in New York City.  The section between 49th Street and 60th Street is lined with high-status shops and is ranked among the most expensive shopping streets in the world. Since the mid-1990s, the shopping district between 49th and 57th Streets was ranked as having the world's most expensive retail spaces on a cost per square foot basis. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Fifth Avenue as being the most expensive street in the world. Some of the most popular real estate on Fifth Avenue is the penthouses in the buildings.

High Fashion shops on Fifth Avenue include Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Gucci, Prada, Bottega Veneta, Armani, Fendi, Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, Cartier, Omega, Chanel, BCBG Max Azria, Harry Winston, Salvatore Ferragamo, Nike, Escada, Swarovski, Bvlgari, Emilio Pucci, Ermenegildo Zegna, Diesel, and many more. Fifth Avenue is also home to luxury department stores such as Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys, & Bergdorf Goodman. 

 

 New York Fashion Week 

New York Fashion Week is held in February and September of each year.This event usually lasts seven to nine days. International fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press and the general public during a fashion show. It consists of numerous branded events, including Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York and MADE Fashion Week, as well as numerous independent fashion productions around town.  It is one of four major fashion weeks in the world, including the ones held in Paris, London, and Milan. New York Fashion Week 2014 will be held on February 6-13th.

New York City’s importance has given people all over the world a reason to go back continuously. With amazing sites for art and fashion, as well as being the world center for finance and having beautiful scenery of tall buildings and  unique structures. We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to travel to New York with our fashion marketing professor and classmates!