http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/north_america/new_york_city/history.htm Answer key 1. Who was the first European to visit the area of New York?

1524: a rude awakening The Lenape people lived undisturbed until explorers muscled in, firstly by way of the French vessel La Dauphine, piloted by Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazano. 2.Which two Native American groups inhabited the area? Living off the land Long before land-grabbing settlers or property-obsessed residents took hold of this area, the swath that would eventually become NYC belonged to Native Americans known as the Lenape original people who resided in a series of seasonal campsites. 3.What is the name of the river in New York? Who was it named after? By the time the Dutch West India Company employee Henry Hudson arrived in 1609, encounters with Native Americans were often dichotomized into two crude stories that alternated between delightful primitives and brutal savages. 4.What was the original name of New York? Buying Manhattan The Dutch West India Company sent 110 settlers to begin a trading post here in 1624. They settled in Lower Manhattan and called their colony New Amsterdam 5.Who designed Brooklyn Bridge ? As much as Central Park promised a playground for the masses, the park project also offered work relief for the city when the Panic of 1857 (one of the citys periodic financial debacles) shattered the nations finance system. Another vision was realized by German-born engineer John Roebling, who sought a solution to a series of winter freezes that had shut down the ferry system connecting downtown Manhattan to Brooklyn, then an independent city. He designed a soaring symphony of spun wire and Gothic arches to span the East River, and his Brooklyn Bridge accelerated the fusion of the neighboring cities

6.How many skycrapers were ther in N.Y in 1902? 1898: boroughs join Manhattan .New York was home to nearly 70 skyscrapers by 1902. 7.Who was the first African American mayor of New York? . Throwing off the uncertainty of the era of David Dinkins, a cautious politician who was NYCs first African American mayor, New Yorkers flaunted the new wealth.