The Big Apple. The city that never sleeps. The five boroughs. New York is known by many names and expands much further than the island of Manhattan.

Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx.

All the boroughs are part of New York but what does that even mean, with a city of over 8 million? It means that New York City is the largest, most densely populated city in the United States. The only city bigger on this continent is Mexico City. It also means that New York is one of the most diverse places on Earth. Just walking through any neighborhood in Brooklyn or Manhattan, you can hear dozens of languages being spoken, read foreign scripts on business fronts and smell delicacies from as far away as India.

The New York Stock Exchange and United Nations make New York City a powerhouse for politicians and financial moguls alike. Broadway shimmers with signs advertising world-renowned theatre. Greenwich Village is home to CBGB’s, which is arguably the birthplace of punk rock. Many years before that, Harlem was the center for an artistic renaissance that propelled black artists into the limelight. 

All this history makes New York a place to be, a place to go. People leave New York City to escape the frightening pace of city life and others move in to seek opportunity. Neighborhoods like Little Italy and Chinatown shrink and grow as people come and go.

There are dark times in New York’s history too. September 11th and the Great Depression come to mind. But from the rubble, from the failures of society comes the pinnacle of all society: innovation. New York City is what it is today because of the innovation driven by the diverse people who live here.

The subway, Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building: do these landmarks exemplify what New York really is? Yes and no. The landmarks bring in the tourists and make for New York’s signature skyline. But in the end, the city is nothing without the people who live there. The people who ride the subway each day, walk in central park and work hard to make New York City what it is today.