A megacity is defined as a city with a population exceeding 8 million. In 1950, only London and New York City satisfied this definition. In 2000 there about 28, of which 22 were in LEDC’s.
A megacity in an MEDC, is New York founded in 1609, the largest city in North America, located at the mouth of the Hudson river with an area of 900 square miles and a population of 18.1 million people. New York is also one of the world’s pre-eminent financial, commercial, and cultural centres. Situated on the east coast of the USA, about midway between Washington DC and Boston, New York lies on the same latitude as Rome and Istanbul. However it experiences a very different climate, with bitterly cold winters, often with heavy snow and very hot summers.
The city’s origins date back to 1609, when European colonists set up a trading post on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River. Sheltered from the Atlantic by Long Island and with access to the interior of the country via the Hudson River, Manhattan provided the ideal gateway to North America. Because it has the best harbour on the eastern seaboard, Manhattan attracted many European traders, and first developed as the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. It was a flourishing port long before it was captured by the British in 1664 and renamed New York. It is estimated than more than half of the people and goods that have ever entered the USA came in through the docks of New York. Between 1892 and 1954, some 17 million immigrants landed at Ellis Island, another island in the mouth of the Hudson River, close to Manhattan and Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty now stands. Today, the point of arrival for people in North America is New York’s JFK international airport. Until the 1950’s, New York was by far the world’s busiest seaport and, although it has declined in importance since the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway in 1959, it remains the second largest seaport in the USA.
