The REAL Reason New York Is Successful

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The REAL Reason New York Is Successful
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Link to sources:
docs.google.com/document/d/1z...

[@OBFYT]

Go to curiositystream.com/OBF To get Curiosity Stream for only $14.99 for the whole year!

[@jakiseitz]

Isn’t it the east India company I could swear I heard you say West India Company

[@husseinb9688]

smukt

[@kurt9395]

Fun fact: New York City, as it exists today, was not even formed until 1898. That's when the City of New York (really just Manhattan and the Bronx) merged with the City of Brooklyn, Long Island City, and assorted towns and villages across Queens county and Richmond county (aka Staten Island). While this made total economic sense given how intertwined all these places were, some historians say the only reason it happened was because the Manhattan Tammany Democrats and the Brooklyn Republicans both thought they could gain the upper hand over the other after consolidation.

[@mrgooglethegreat]

Ive always wondered why Jersey city and Hoboken werent annexed as well. New Jersey shouldnt own that or at least have traded it for staten island

[@daveharrison84]

The structure of the US government would make it hard to have 1 city in more than 1 state. But it would make a lot of sense for the northern NJ cities to be added to NYC. Make Manhattan properly in the middle and have the subway go out in all directions. I would add 3 new boroughs (each the size of Brooklyn or Queens) to bring the total to 8.

[@kurt9395]

@@mrgooglethegreat Staten Island has always been treated as the bastard step-child of NYC. One of the locals' major axes to grind is that there's only five ways to get on or off Staten Island and four of them are toll bridges and the last, the Staten Island Ferry, you can't take your car and only gets you to Manhattan. Of the four bridges, only one goes to Brooklyn and the other three go to New Jersey. When they built the Verrazano Bridge in the 1960's, a lot of people moved there because of the chance to buy a house in brand new developments and they were promised that, once the bonds on the bridge were paid off, the bridge would be toll-free, but that never happened. There were plans way-back-when to build a tunnel to connect Staten Island with the subway and they actually did start some work (there's still an access shaft in a Bay Ridge park), but that never happened either. Also Staten Island is the only borough where the Republicans are in control.

[@mrgooglethegreat]

@@kurt9395 they should redraw the borders and cut staten island off and trade for the hoboken peninsula which is already decently connected to the train

[@HIJ802]

@@mrgooglethegreat Hudson County is a very important economic and cultural center for New Jersey, NJ would never have willingly give it up to NYC, especially not for Staten Island.

[@VullVull]

Not only does the Hudson River give deep inland access, but from Albany the Mohawk River valley cuts a passage through the 2,000 mile long Appalachian mountains to connect to the Great Lakes region! This makes NYC one of the best entry points for the continent's interior

[@Isai314]

Yeah i learned about that a few months ago at school. The creation of the Erie canal allowed for goods to be transported from New York to the great lakes and this cause a huge growth in NYC population

[@jglee6721]

@@Isai314 Very interesting. Thank you.

[@BamBamGT1]

That's actually what the Dutch were looking for, they weren't looking for a harbor, they were looking for a rumored passage to the pacific. Most of the mainland hadn't been explored, and there were rumors of an inland American sea, and that you could travel by sea all the way from the eastst coast to the west coast. There were early map attemps with unexplored territory, which showed a river connecting to this inland sea around the 40° parellel. That's what Hudson was looking for, the bay with a river that connected to this supposed inland sea and the pacific.

[@MrRezRising]

That's why the midwest has towns called Brooklyn, and nine states have towns named Manhattan. NYC was the biggest import/export city in the US for almost 200 years, and during the 1800s a lot of those exports supplied the newly populated midwest.

[@BradThePitts]

Fun fact! During the construction of Central Park, tens of thousands of cartloads of dirt were drawn in by horse from New Jersey. So Central Park is really New Jersey.

[@thejoulesthief6841]

Found the dude from Jersey :P

[@AnonymousReader-er4eg]

I can feel the tension all of a sudden...

[@thomashiggins9320]

You should've gone into the role the Erie Canal played in the development of New York City as the East Coast's primary trading hub. Until the canal, New York competed with Boston and other East Coast cities for cargo handling. However, the canal changed everything, and vaulted New York to dominance.

[@Isai314]

Yes!!!

[@rayhankhan8992]

what canal?

[@SRosenberg203]

@@rayhankhan8992 The Erie Canal, it connects the Hudson River to Lake Erie, allowing ships to get to the Great Lakes from the Atlantic Ocean which completely transformed the development of the Great Lakes region in the US. And since all shipping moving up or down the Hudson had to pass through New York Harbor, NYC became extremely prominent during that time.

[@alexanderlee5669]

You beat me to it. Logically New Orleans should have been America's first city. The US economy at the time was reliant on selling goods to European markets and It was easier to transport the resources of the country down the Mississippi river to New Orleans than trek goods overland to eastern ports. The construction of the Erie canal changed this as it connected the great lakes and the Mississippi to New York. If you combine New York's excellent natural harbour, it's temperate climate, it's location in relation to travel time to Europe and it's access to the country's resources via its rivers and canal systems its easy to understand why New York is so prosperous.

[@johnledingham852]

I'm a seventy five year young bloke, living in Australia's third biggest city of Brisbane. Up in the north east of the continent, I imagine equivalent to southern California. I don't expect ever to get to New York City. However it has always fascinated me, and your documentary proved to be most interesting. So well presented that I felt I was there for a visit. Thank you very much indeed. I appreciate your professional efforts very much.

[@rizkiumlati_867]

Manhattan, in what is now modern-day New York, was a swampy piece of land when the Dutch swapped it with the British 350 years ago for a tiny island in Indonesia. Run island was prized as the home of nutmeg - a spice worth more than gold at the time. Courtesy: The spice island swapped for Manhattan BBC

[@kiranpandith]

I think it was in exchange for Suriname, a small country in South America for it's spices.

[@thysonita2114]

wikipedia: In 1667, the Treaty of Breda ended the conflict in favor of the Dutch. The Dutch did not press their claims on New Netherland but did demand control over the valuable sugar plantations and factories captured by them that year on the coast of Surinam, giving them full control over the coast of what is now Guyana and Suriname.

[@DonHrvato]

So New York is actually New Amsterdam

[@seannaesseannaes]

New Orange

[@shawnm2405]

It it considered a dutch state. Unfortunately it has been overun by orcs in recent decades and parts of it resemble third world condition.

[@jtgd]

Amsterdam, but new

[@jtgd]

@@shawnm2405 eh, maybe in the 70’s. Now, some parts just seem sketchy

[@Pindasaus]

Harlem -> Haarlem Brooklyn -> Breukelen Broadway -> Breede weg Others I don’t remember now

[@SpaceMonkeyBoi]

Fun fact: New York city is so big that you can fit a lot of people on it

[@kodo1232]

uwu

[@archieaullikan6757]

@@kodo1232 shut up

[@nick6014cool]

Central Park original residents was a black community with non-racist white living in the mix too. Besides the good location they didn’t want to see that black community continue to grow

[@randomgamerdude98]

Seneca village its called. I’m a NYer and I didn’t know this till college

[@kodo1232]

uwu

[@nick6014cool]

@Tony X shut up your mouth we not talking politics

[@chobai9996]

False... it's because they were poor, not because of race, lmao. In every country the poor get buggered

[@NeroMai]

"The beaches and marshes of Queens, Long Island, SI, and Brooklyn offer great protection against the Atlantic and it's storm surges" Yea, it's great until you remember there's over 300,000 people living there.

[@TalwinderDhillonTravels]

Lots of bs in this video lol

[@stewiegriffin366]

7:33? A squatter settlement? Seneca Village was a 19th-century settlement of mostly African American landowners in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, within what would become present-day Central Park.

[@kenshuei]

Came here to point out the same problem, These were land owners who got their land stolen from them, not only that one of the first mix race communities. Also No mention of the Erie Canal is just sad.

[@Ktgj79]

yeah I had to stop the video there... I'm not even American and *I* knew that. The people who lived there are a HUGE reason why that space was designated for the park to be built....

[@gabykayser1571]

scrolled through the comments looking for exactly this👏🏾

[@cardenasr.2898]

I would like to know if the Native Americans that lived in Manhattan also took advantage of the great geography of the island, like on Detroit where if I recall correctly, the roads that lead to downtown reflect trade routes that were used for the fur trade going on in the region

[@saintcignatius]

Broadway in New York runs along a Native American trail through the island of Manhattan

[@snoopypoopy1522]

@@saintcignatius so does Metropolitan Ave. in queens and brooklyn

[@winterwatson6811]

I was enjoying the video until your description of what came before central park It was neighborhoods of black and Irish people who did not have the political or economic power to fight the city after the original parcel was rejected.

[@prwashin1]

And to make it worst he called them squatters, let’s just rewrite history so awful.

[@mrfriendlolo4971]

Yeah I didn’t like that part either, it’s unfair to those who were seeking refuge from the Jim Crow south

[@KevinJohnson-cv2no]

As much as everyone wants a "boohoo, woe is me" moment, it had to be done. NYC was being molded into the premier productive hub of the entire world lol, a community of laggards laying in the center of the city is simply irrational & illogical. The only thing I disagree with is the dispositioning of their community, instead of just employing them in the factories to start making a living for themselves.

[@bertoberr]

Also the fact that the video described Central Park as ranging from 59th St to 106th St… even the map in the video shows CP as going up to 110th St???

[@TrainsFerriesFeet]

@@mrfriendlolo4971 The park's development pre-dated Jim Crow laws. At the time they bought up the land for the park, those were free blacks that the park evicted/displaced, along with Irish, etc.

[@Yourczarmine]

I had to do a double-take when you said, “Notorious Billionaires’ Row” because I first heard, “notorious billion ass row”

[@WawaD3]

new york isnt just manhattan 💀

[@Tsuki04wolf]

This being such a short video nuance gets left behind but I think calling the former villages in Central Park "squatter settlements" does a huge disservice to the people who actually lived there. It was a settlement of free Black people, the first of its kind in the city and also new immigrants from Ireland and Germany. They had schools, churches and communities and were evicted to build the park

[@crispcentre]

The inclusion of the sponsor for the video was smooth asf

[@jackygil7935]

Fascinating video, but you missed a great opportunity to talk about the displacement of Seneca Village - a predominantly Black community in Manhattan - in order to construct Central Park. Their story is worth mentioning.

[@D0omC0okie]

They mentioned it, sort of

[@girtisholland]

33% of its residents were Irish, which was another group of people disregarded by society in those times. Central Park is an interesting story that deserves a whole video for sure.

[@iancypes5911]

In a way, the Hudson river is actually a long Narrow bay. It stays at sea level until it reaches albany and the salt water reaches well north of the Bronx.

[@SRosenberg203]

I think technically it's an estuary.

[@patrickmazza7055]

I think you underestimate the long-term power of climate disruption to have destructive impacts. The very placement and shape of the coast makes it an ideal place for massive storm surge. Meanwhile, sea level rise is intensified by a slowing Gulf Stream, which is piling up hot water along the East Coast that also fuels storms. Superstorm Sandy was only a foretaste of what faces NYC.

[@upeletix5543]

Great video again! loved it!

[@jmbjmb98]

Correction: Central Park goes from 59-110th st. Great video!

[@MrTortch]

Would love for you to speak more about Seneca Village where Central Park is and not squatters in the area.

[@yaacovdavidowitz4502]

A couple of corrections. 1. There is not much of any beach in Queens 2. The types of rocks under different parts of the island have nothing to do with the types of rocks, this has been disproven over and over again. There were big buildings originally built in Lower Manhattan and then by the time they needed more, the area above it already had slums in it.

[@fatted3004]

Rockaway Beach is in Queens. The 5.5 miles (8.9 km) long Rockaway Boardwalk and 170 acres (0.69 km2) of sandy beaches, fully accessible by the subway, make this a popular summer day trip for New York City residents.

[@jameson5581]

Queens has the second longest beach boardwalk in North America

[@Ktgj79]

I'm not even American and even I knew that Central Park was not simply a "squatter settlement".... from one geographer to another, it's bit disappointing to hear that so blatantly glossed over and dismissed, seeing as that is an integral piece of information for explaining why/how New York's geography explains its design.

[@keimcpartlan7434]

Britain: we rule the waves! Holland: maybe so but we can control them.

[@ruchitshah8518]

Central park was a community of middle class black people not squatters. They were pushed out to build the park. I suggest looking into this part of New York history.

[@loudi420]

What software does he use to make his videos?

[@zqpcydbfoqbdiehdj]

I feel anxious.. because I know most coastal cities like New York will be underwater soon if nothing is done about climate change. :( so many will be left without house. And so much history and beautiful architecture will be buried away.

[@orthrus4490]

The Dutch have managed so I think new York can figure something out. Plus, the people advocating that climate change is an immediate threat are also buying beachfront properties, so idk if we should really be worried since it'll be the hippocrits who drown first if they're not lying

[@poTato_777]

No lel

[@norbertdx]

So just for clarification, was Central Park built on a settlement by squatters or an actual city?

[@winterwatson6811]

It was a black and Irish part of town

[@EldeGaming]

No, as some other commentors have pointed out it was built on a series of villages that were predominatly black (and some irish too). NOT "squatters"

[@samuelitooooo]

It was called Seneca Village

[@linuxman7777]

Geographical Advantage, Fresh Water from River and a Calm deep water harbor. Every major US city has some form of Geographical advantage, that some other place does not have

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

NY should expand the number of boroughs and have borough councils. Then reforming the city council as an assembly… much like London’s. Edit: Lmao, the NIMBYs.

[@ATLMike94]

No

[@nictheperson6709]

Feel like borough councils will only make the NIMBYs even more powerful.

[@altacalifornio5375]

maybe you should have thought twice about Waterloo...

[@bl00dkillz]

Nope, I’d make staten island even more vocal and complain more about everything

[@KevinJohnson-cv2no]

Just throwing out my two cents, what if NYC should secede and follow the Singaporean model of becoming an overpowered city-state? That said, I don't know how vulnerable it'd be to external attacks after secession; so take this with a grain of salt.

[@mufaaz97]

New york geography is good until sea level is rising

[@prunediagon]

Harlem - Haarlem Brooklyn - Breukelen Broadway - Breede weg now that makes sense

[@RedRocketthefirst]

AND MANY more

[@arolemaprarath6615]

Too bad, the English 🇬🇧 took over.

[@RedRocketthefirst]

@@arolemaprarath6615 too bad the British have one of the highest depressed children.

[@arolemaprarath6615]

@@RedRocketthefirst they can fix it at least English language rule the world as you do right now 🤣

[@DaviRenania]

Now make 'Why Rio de Janeiro's Beautiful Geography IS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE'

[@NoctisSIEG]

Could you elaborate further? it has the second biggest economy of Brazil and is also a coastal city, why would it be bad?

[@DaviRenania]

​@@NoctisSIEG ​The hills you see in the postcards make the city full of bottlenecks, so one accident in an important avenue make the entire city paralized. When they introduced cars, literal mountains had to get demolish in order to ease the urban flow. And I'm not even telling the public health problems the city had up until the 20th century due to the combination of marshes and hills blocking air circulation.

[@jthe1337]

As someone born and raised in New York City thank you for this video 💯

[@zqpcydbfoqbdiehdj]

That at 3:20 is the Statue of Liberty from the New York, New York Hotel & Casino from Las Vegas, NV 😂

[@avery4528]

I'm surprised that Maryland isn't a top 5 for TEUs handled at the start of the video. I would figure more container units would go to Baltimore than to Norfolk. Are you including both as one and the same since they are both within the Chesapeake Bay?

[@WonderWhy66]

Man, I really love these Geo-Informatic videos on KZbin!

[@P48L1N]

I love your videos, but you should add metric units whenever you use measurements, not only in imperial. It will gave you more inteligibility across the world. I'm from Spain and I don't remotely know how much land is 22.6 sq. mi. if I don't convert the number, which lessens the "rythm of watching" of your interesting documentaries. Keep going! Cheers!

[@aindoria]

While I agree, you should still do your research. The United States does not use imperial units, it uses something called US Customary.

[@markusmaekivi1082]

​@@aindoria Distance and height are virtually the same in these two systems, so what are you implying on excatly? Mile in both of these systems is determined as approx. 1,6 km. So what's the purpose of your smartass comment then?

[@SaxandRelax]

22.6 sq miles is a lot of land. Yw

[@P48L1N]

@@aindoria Here in Spain, we call it Imperial, as a legacy from the British Empire. I'm sorry for the mistake, but you get the point.

[@auburntiger6829]

Even though I’m from Canada and we used to use Imperial for everything, I have to agree with you. Most of the younger generation like myself now only use the metric system for space & distance, and we have a hard time converting that in our head (unless we drive to the states often)

[@anniekoruga8892]

The village of those in Central Park wasn’t just “squatters,” it was called Seneca Village and was a place where Black Americans could live in community together, own land, and escape some of the worst types of discrimination

[@Ar1AnX1x]

masterpiece of a video dude I just love this, its dripping with facts and information and being super entertaining

[@CheapCharlieChronicles]

The Dutch made a big mistake giving up this city to the English.

[@5thMilitia]

Why? Suriname was more valuable

[@fanta-cool7532]

@@5thMilitia not in the long run :(

[@5thMilitia]

@@fanta-cool7532 It was tho. The English lost New York in the 1770s while it was still an unremarkable town. The Dutch kept the profitable Sugar colony of Suriname till the 1970s

[@fanta-cool7532]

@@5thMilitia Never thought of it that way, thanks dude! :D

[@arolemaprarath6615]

@@5thMilitia Surinamese don't even speak Dutch to their everyday lives but rather a jumble mix of Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, African and many more.

[@JakeWolven]

I don't think I've ever actually bought anything from a KZbin sponsorship but curiosity actually seems perfect.

[@logistaur]

Now polymatter gonna upload a video about new york 😂

[@jtgd]

3:00 you forgot to mention the World Trade Center

[@WeirdAwesomeGeography]

Awesome video!!

[@SandyRiverBlue]

Output Buffer Full?

[@staytheknight]

NYC is the best city in the US! We’re the OG everyone else compares themselves to us

[@Puma-jr3xr]

The correct name is actually Grand Central Terminal. Grand Central Station refers to the post office down the street or the subway station under GCT. I don't get why no one gets the name right when it's literally written on the building, lol.

[@gayshay]

True, Central Park originally stretched from 59th to 106th, but the move north to 110th two years later is worth stating.

[@jacobobos]

So when can we expect a video Why New York is falling apart?

[@boojr0906]

Central Park was modelled after Birkenhead Park in, well, Birkenhead. (UK)

[@sokkaoaf2699]

Yay! Central Park: where tourist hover above in helicopters eliminating any form of the escape we New Yorkers desperately require. SMH. There’s an online petition to ban helicopters from flying over and hovering above the park. Please sign! We love tourists but strongly dislike having the peace in the one true green space we have taken away.

[@chobai9996]

Move out

[@amdenis]

Actually, there is bedrock directly under midtown, the financial district and upper-midtown; while there is mostly bog under areas of low-rise and central park. They would have been much less greenbelt (i.e. Central Park, etc), if they could have readily built upon it. Also, about 15% of Manhattan Island (i.e. NY City) is actually landfill, dredged up from the East River and the Hudson, and brought back to enlarge the area of NY City.

[@Quast]

5:28 what did you do, my subwoofer is going crazy! as well as 7:28 and 7:30

[@Abcflc]

Can you please use the metric system as well…

[@yasserelhanafy4452]

👍🏼 but what OBF stands for?

[@thonkingintensifies9510]

The visuals are crazy

[@glsplace]

great video 👍

[@rosenberry9150]

Just by adding the tourists coming to Manhattan, the density of Manhattan Island is over 1,000,000 people per km²

[@Sfs678]

Hello, you make very cool and informativ Videos, is this your only Channel?

[@ismailsaoud]

Bro ur videos are genuinely so good. Thank you for making my day always

[@clamstan1193]

wow really breezed over central park being taken over.... Though their were squatters there was also a thriving African American community that the city just pushed out..... Fun fact, the Dutch gave up New York in exchange for British holdings in South America which the Dutch called Dutch Guiana. Today the country is called Suriname, the only Dutch speaking country in South America and one of the continents most diverse.

[@chris1z142]

Honestly should question claims like that more. Thriving is entirely subjective and the history of Central Park gained notoriety gained popularity at the height of BLM. It’s likely that African Americans there at the time suffered from the displacement, but the narrative around some similar situations claiming the groups were “exceptionally successful and white people in power simply couldn’t allow that so they broke the community up”, can be borderline misinformation.

[@damsgaards]

oh, I didn't know that Albany was New Yorks capital

[@JL1009]

haha

[@fazaldgx6822]

Good info

[@regntonne]

When we're in Holland we eat the pannekoeken.

[@dutmala]

seneca village was way more then that

[@zqpcydbfoqbdiehdj]

3:07 Grand Central Terminal**

[@ThisIsntmyrealnameGoogle]

Excellent video, as a New Yorker I can say you've done our city justice that I actually want to support you and signed up for curiosity stream.

[@dynamitedingo7720]

So basically it s popularity began because it was strategic place for trade

[@bmantvclips]

feels illegal to be this early

[@D0omC0okie]

Imminent domain & beautiful are seldom words that compliment one another

[@DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD571]

0:58 we shouldnt have made the deal with england😢

[@skyfeelan]

this is peak OBF, I hope you make more video like this instead of cookie cutter video about russia anyway, I hope algorithm bless you, I have no idea why youtube never recommended this video to me (until now)

[@maxclark8099]

The Bedrock theory is not necessarily true. The skyline gap has to do with people moving away from manufacturing areas that were later replaced by offices.

[@theseventhgeneration6910]

Actually, because the goal is to make us more alike. It's more financially rewarding. The higher the individuality, the higher the cost.

[@notgonnalie5963]

But those skyscrapers still make it look so unappealing

[@boywonder8114]

The comments are teaching me I didn’t know a lot of African Americans Got displaced

[@Prodigious1One]

Nice video.

[@Mag-RF]

Square miles???

[@mikerood7193]

Grand Central TERMINAL 👍👍

[@MBP1918]

Incredible

[@Rickyrab]

If it wasn't the site of a great city it would've been a great national park. Heh.

[@fusionreactor7179]

Probably the city with the highest chance of Nuclear detonation globally by far

[@SRosenberg203]

That's a risk that comes with being the most important city in the world ;)

[@Hunter-jo8ud]

I still cant get it. While europe still looked like half middle age time New York already looked like in 1960 or even 1970 :D It wasnt even 100 years ago where Napoleon lived and the city already looked modern (about 1890).

[@ImperatorVolkan]

Queens has amazing beaches?

[@dans9463]

I payed for no advertisements

[@maryocecilyo3372]

Terça-feira, 19 de Abril de 2022

[@tobygoodguy4032]

Aside from those chumps that might be wowed by this tourist infomercial, there are millions of us who last saw the city from the rearview mirror. And here I was scammed into thinking I'd find an obtuse nugget to tickle a couple o' synapses. 👎

[@Informalities]

The beaches in staten island are just awful if you’ve been.

[@markonikolic7957]

Nice

[@Salyjey]

I love how comments are ≠ to each other 😂

[@originalzo6091]

You did good

[@animheru]

Central Park was actually a predominantly African American community called Seneca Village. It was a thriving community that was taken away from them. It was not a squatter settlement...

[@Chandankumar-qw6hb]

thanks

[@Lords1997]

As shitty & expensive as it is; I love NY♥️

[@lornarana6880]

indeed.

[@kaybe3044]

Nieuw Amsterdam 🤝