New York is the largest city in the United States and one of the largest in the world. It is in the southeastern corner of New York State, where the Hudson River empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
Five boroughs (towns) joined together make up the city of New York. The borough of Manhattan takes up Manhattan Island. The boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens lie across the East River from Manhattan, on Long Island. The Bronx, another borough, is on the mainland, north of Manhattan and Queens. The fifth borough, Staten Island, is in New York Bay.
Beginning in the 1880s, great numbers of Europeans moved to the United States. Many of them landed first in New York City. If they arrived after 1886, they passed the Statue of Liberty as they entered New York Bay.
Throughout the five boroughs there are neighbourhoods where people from various countries have kept their own languages, customs and foods.
