| An Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrazano, first | | | | for the quantity of its produce. In the 1920s, jazz |
| discovered Manhattan in 1524. He was working for the | | | | musicians began to call the city by this colorful name |
| king of France. He raised the French flag, claimed the | | | | because it was the biggest and the best thing New |
| land for the French, and founded a small village. One | | | | York State had to offer.Even in the 17th century, when |
| hundred years later, the Dutch defeated the French | | | | there were only a few hundred settlers in the city, 18 |
| rivals when they took Manhattan in the early part of | | | | different languages were spoken. The first large |
| the next century. After this victory, the Dutch held the | | | | groups of immigrants after the Dutch and English |
| colony until the English took it from them in | | | | settlers were the Italians, who began to arrive in the |
| 1664.According to one story, it was as a result of the | | | | early 1800s. People from all over the Europe followed. |
| Dutch presence that the city had become known as | | | | The Irish came to the city in their hundreds to escape |
| The Big Apple. The governor of the Dutch colony, | | | | starvation when the Irish potato crop failed in the |
| Peter Stuyvesant, began planting apple orchards, and, | | | | 1840s. The greatest numbers came in 1907, when |
| in due course, the state of New York became famous | | | | 1,004,756 people poured into the country. |