Broadway (Manhattan)

Route map: Bing / Google

Broadway /ˈbrɔːdweɪ/ is a road in the U.S. state of New York. Broadway runs 13 mi (21 km) through the borough of Manhattan and 2 mi (3.2 km) through the Bronx, exiting north from the city to run an additional 18 mi (29 km) through the municipalities of Yonkers, Hastings-On-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, and Tarrytown, and terminating north of Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County.

It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in New York City, dating to the first New Amsterdam settlement. The name Broadway is the English literal translation of the Dutch name, Breede weg. Broadway is known widely as the heart of the American theatre industry.

History

Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck Trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. Wickquasgeck means "birch-bark country" in the Algonquian language. This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island.

Upon the arrival of the Dutch, the trail soon became the main road through the island from Nieuw Amsterdam at the southern tip. The Dutch explorer and entrepreneur David Pietersz. de Vries gives the first mention of it in his journal for the year 1642 ("the Wickquasgeck Road over which the Indians passed daily"). The Dutch named the road "Heerestraat". Although current street signs are simply labeled as "Broadway", in a 1776 map of New York City, Broadway is explicitly labeled "Broadway Street". In the mid-eighteenth century, part of Broadway in what is now lower Manhattan was known as Great George Street.

Manhattan

Coordinates: 40°47′25″N 73°57′35″W / 40.79028°N 73.95972°W / 40.79028; -73.95972

Manhattan (/mænˈhætən/, /mənˈhætən/) is one of the five boroughs of New York City, in the state of New York in the United States. The borough is coterminous with New York County, founded on November 1, 1683 as one of the state's original counties. The borough consists mostly of Manhattan Island, bounded by the East, Hudson, and Harlem Rivers, and also includes several small adjacent islands and Marble Hill, a small neighborhood on the mainland.

Manhattan is often said to be the economic and cultural center of the United States and hosts the United Nations Headquarters. Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial center of the world, and Manhattan is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization: the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough. Historically documented to have been purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americans in 1626, for the equivalent of US$1050, Manhattan real estate has since become among the most expensive in the world, with the value of Manhattan Island, including real estate, estimated to exceed US$3 trillion in 2013.

Manhattan (ship)

Manhattan may refer to one of several ships:

For other US ships of that name, see USS Manhattan.

Manhattan (TV series)

Manhattan, sometimes styled MANH(A)TTAN, is an American television drama series based on the project of the same name that produced the first nuclear weapons. While some historical figures are referenced in Manhattan, most characters are fictional, and the show is not intended to maintain historical accuracy.

The series premiered on WGN America on July 27, 2014. The series was canceled after its second season.

Plot

Set in 1943 and 1944 at the time of the Manhattan Project, the series focuses on Los Alamos, New Mexico, a town the outside world knows nothing about. The federal government tells the scientists only what they need to know, while the scientists keep secrets from their families.

Though the TV show is not intended to be historically accurate, it does reference many aspects of the actual Manhattan Project, and some actual historical figures such as head scientist Robert Oppenheimer. However, other contributors to the Manhattan Project, such as Nobel Laureates Enrico Fermi and Emilio G. Segrè, do not appear.