Manhattan

/man hat"n/, or, esp. for 1, 2, /meuhn-/, n.

1. Also called Manhattan Island. an island in New York City surrounded by the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers. 13¹/₂ mi. (22 km) long; 2¹/₂ mi. (4 km) greatest width; 22¹/₄ sq. mi. (58 sq. km).

2. a borough of New York City approximately coextensive with Manhattan Island: chief business district of the city. 1,427,533.

3. a city in NE Kansas, on the Kansas River. 32,644.

4. (often l.c.) a cocktail made of whiskey and sweet vermouth, usually with a dash of bitters and a maraschino cherry.

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Borough (pop., 2000: 1,537,195) of New York City, southeastern New York, U.S. It includes all of Manhattan island and three smaller islands in the East River.

Bounded by the Hudson River, Harlem River, East River, and Upper New York Bay, it is said to have been purchased by Peter Minuit in 1626 from the Manhattan Indians with trinkets valued at 60 guilders. Incorporated as New Amsterdam in 1653, it was obtained by Britain in 1664 and renamed New York City. In 1898 Manhattan was chartered as one of five boroughs making up Greater New York. It is one of the world's great commercial, financial, and cultural centres. Among its many points of interest are Central Park, the Empire State Building, the site of the former World Trade Center, the United Nations headquarters, Wall Street, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, Columbia University, the Juilliard School, and New York University.

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▪ Kansas, United States

 city, seat (1857) of Riley county and partly in Pottawatomie county, northeastern Kansas, U.S. The city lies where the Big Blue and Kansas (Kansas River) rivers meet, there dammed to form Tuttle Creek Lake, on the northern edge of the rolling Flint Hills. The village was founded in 1855 when the settlements of Poleska and Canton were consolidated as Boston, only to be renamed Manhattan the next year by mutual agreement between the Boston Association of Kansas and a party of colonists from Cincinnati, Ohio. The Beecher Bible and Rifle Church (1862) received its name from the proslavery and antislavery tumult, when rifles for the abolitionist (abolitionism) congregation arrived in crates marked “Bibles.” Chiefly an educational centre, Manhattan is the home of Kansas State University (1863), one of the first land-grant and coeducational colleges in the United States, and Manhattan Christian College (1927). The city is the headquarters of the American Institute of Baking (1919). Manhattan is a trading and processing centre for the grains, alfalfa, and other crops grown in the surrounding agricultural area. Fort Riley (1852), headquarters of the 1st Infantry Division, is 8 miles (13 km) southwest. Pottawatomie State Fishing Lake Number 2 and Tuttle Creek State Park are also nearby. Inc. 1857. Pop. (2000) 44,831; (2006 est.) 50,737.

▪ borough, New York City, New York, United States

  borough of New York City, coextensive with New York county, in southeastern New York state, U.S. The borough, mainly on Manhattan Island, spills over into the Marble Hill section on the mainland and includes a number of islets in the East River. It is bounded by the Hudson River (west), Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek (northeast), East River (east), and Upper New York Bay (south). Manhattan is often mistakenly deemed synonymous with New York City.

 In 1626 Peter Minuit (Minuit, Peter), the first director general of New Netherland province, is said to have purchased the island from the local Indians (the Manhattan, a tribe of the Wappinger Confederacy) with trinkets and cloth valued at 60 guilders, then worth about 1¹/₂ pounds (0.7 kg) of silver. The English took possession in 1664, the island having already been incorporated as the city of New Amsterdam in 1653. Renamed New York City when transferred to the British, it played a prominent role in the nation's early history, both militarily and politically. Congress met there (1785–90), and George Washington was inaugurated there in 1789 as the first U.S. president. In the 19th century, particularly following the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, Manhattan developed as the heart of a prosperous and expanding metropolis. In 1898 Greater New York was formed when Manhattan was joined with the newly created boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Richmond, and the Bronx.

 Manhattan is considered one of the world's foremost commercial, financial, and cultural centres. It is renowned for its many points of interest. Among these are Broadway, one of the world's best-known streets; the financial district of Wall Street; skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building; Greenwich Village, Harlem, and Central Park; the United Nations headquarters; and various cultural and educational institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Opera House, the Museum of Modern Art, Columbia University, two branches of the City University of New York, and New York University. Pop. (2000) 1,537,295; (2005 est.) 1,593,200.

 

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