Why New York City is so Huge 

Hey Friends. Corrections/clarifications: 1. yes indeed the Erie Canal was built way after the british left. I should have made that clear. 2. "Bronx" isn't dutch. i must have been thinking "Harlem" and should have double checked. Whoops 3. (Old) York has lots to do with water and regularly floods (thank you all for telling me about that. I had no idea!) 4. I wont apologize for misspellings cuz being pedantic about typos is not a good use of our time here on earth. im dyslexic and will mispell things until the day I die. If you can't handle it, maybe best not to watch my videos? 5. k im done. Im doing my best with these vids and sometimes mis things here and there. that will likely always happen as long as I don't have a team to help fact check and comb thru everything I write. Hope you learned a bit about the growth of NYC! -Johnny

NYC is so popular, I see “I ♥️ NYC” shirts in Rural India with people who don’t even know where New York is... These shirts are also Made in China 😆

People: NYC is so crowded Asians: *laughs in overpopulated megacities*

New York’s smaller than some mega cities but what makes it so different and popular from the others in my opinion is the culture. New York is such a diverse city you can meet all types of people from around the world

Also, Manhattan is largely a giant hunk of basalt, so you can built skyscrapers on it, and you can build subway tunnels under it. Lots of places around the world can't handle that sort of building; especially not when skyscrapers were new.

Really profound point about the type of people who went to New York. The risk takers.

I sure hope you talk about Pyongyang, best city in the world

"Immigrants tend to be a self-selecting group of risk takers." This is so perfectly well put I love it

Whenever I see old footage from 1900s or before, it makes me sad thinking nobody is alive anymore. Makes me appreciate life even more.

honored to make a 2 second appearance🥳

5:02 As a Yorkshireman I feel I need to report that sadly York has a lot more to do with water than its people would like. It sits on the confluence of two rivers and gets horrific floods almost every year that cause all kinds of damage to the beautiful, old homes there and people's livelihoods.

I would like to say how interesting and informative I found this video. Living in the England, it is real hard to get my head around how vast the USA is. To link up the Great Lakes and Atlantic ocean in that would must have taken a huge amount of foresight and been engineering nightmare. Thoroughly gripping.

New York was named after the Duke of York, not the city of York, contrary to popular belief

my guy really said "Stanton Island"

This is fast becoming my fave channel, my ex partner used to think I was weird for spending hours just looking at maps & ordnance survey pathfinder maps. Glad to see like minded people uploading super interesting content. Thanks Johnny

This was amazing Johnny. I've been wishing unconsciously for more content like this. Historical but relevant and amazingly compelling. Please keep it coming!

Correction: If I'm not mistaken, New York was named like that by the English in honor of the Duke of York, not because of the city of York (directly at least)

Risk taker immigrant business man perfectly describes my dad who immigrated in 1985 from bangladesh to New York. Before my dad immigrated, he traveled the world working on a ship. I asked him why he chose New York over every other place he could have gone to and he said something like, it is a nice place unlike any other city. This video connected very deeply to me.

New York: Look at me I'm huge! Tokyo, Beijing, Seoul, Karachi, New Dehli: *Your dad's over there bud.*

Really well done. Well structured but also has a wonderful flow from beginning to end. Thank you!

I moved to the US when I was 15. Before landing to the Miami Airport I was looking through the window looking for the Statue of Liberty.. 😂🤷🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

This would make a really cool series, looking at various megacities around the world and how they got to be that way.

i thought you were going to talk about how 5 separate cities merged to create 1 mega city. But it seemed like you were only referring to Manhattan, which definitely is tiny but only has a population of 1.6 million. All 5 boroughs have a combined pop. of 8.4 million, which is huge but is also kinda huge land wise.

Pronouncing Staten Island “Stan-ten” greatly upset me.

It's so insanely petty that the British were like "No we won't trade with Boston or Philadelphia, but sure we will trade with New York! Another city in the same country, just not home to those pesky revolutionaries."

As native Dutch I have to say: 'Our obsession with water is directly tied to preventing mass death by uncontrollable flooding. In fact the Netherlands is by origin a swampy marshland but has been terraformed, especially the past 200-300 years'

Awesome video! Learned a lot, and, re-organized what I already knew. Great, voluminous content! Thank you, Very Much!!!

i love that you cut these infographic pieces with bits of vlogs, it adds a touch of personality to your work.

NYC certainly feels like the epicenter of the world. Center for world finance and media, the UN is there, over 600 languages are spoken within its borders, food from a different country at every corner, it's truly an international city.

Dutchie here, Bronx isn't a Dutch name! It's derived from a swedish farmer! Brooklyn is though! There are also a lot of other names derived from dutch, like Broadway or Harlem for example.

Brilliantly crafted & insightful mini doco...just loved it!

That was a great little history of NYC and very informative. I'm a huge map nerd, and that map of NYC with all of the rivers and islands is one of my very favourites.

The Bronx isn't named after a Dutch city, Harlem is (and as mentioned in the video: Brooklyn). The Bronx is named after some Swedish dude called Bronck.

*Americans* :- NYC is overcrowded *Asians* :- laughs in Manila, Tokyo, Jakarta, Delhi, Lahore, Dhaka, Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai and all major cities

Liked the way how you summarised everything at the end.Keep going like this❤️.Huge fan🙌🏼

Well done. Thanks for the brief overview!

All these people who are trolling the title because "NYC is not that huge" The video is about the city's cultural weight and financial importance, not about its actual geographical size or number of inhabitants. That's what happens when you want to be "first" and comment without watching the video.

Every New Yorker cringing hard when Johnny says "StaNten" island 😂😂

Amazing video, well edited, explained and enriching! Thank you

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this! Getting to know why a city is the way it is, especially in YOUR way -the way you present, is a gift. Please do consider doing something like this for more cities that you find fascinating.

This just made my day

Johnny Harris: "NYC is so big!!" Also Johnny Harris: *Only shows footage of 1 borough*

Thank you for this video! I love the way you retell history.

This is one of the most amazing videos about New York I have ever seen....and I have been here for 30 years. Incredible job!

John I think there's an error at 5:07. It says the British sailed to connect to the Eerie Canal. The British were out of NY by the time construction began on it.

I would love his to be a series. Like what factors make some of the massive cities so big. London, Paris, Tokyo, Toronto, Cairo, etc. Why did those cities become so influential and significant? I already know some answers but it's great how you explain it and dive into it!

Beautifully written, beautiful story line and I love, learned and earned from it.

This channels videos are soo good - glad I found it - keep up the good work mate

Great video, but "Sta'n'ten Island" and "Algo-Quin" had me gigglin.

4:58 it wasn't named after the city of York, it was named for the Duke of York, a person

great video! Thanks for your wonderful work! keep going!

Great video! Super helpful!

5:15 MAJOR ERROR ALERT: construction did not begin on the Erie canal until 1817, decades after the British lost control over New York to the new United States.

everywhere you go in this world , you will find connection to Britain .

Very cool! Another thing I absolutely love about New York city is the architecture! There's beautiful art deco all over the place! It's home to the Chrysler building, perhaps one of the most beautiful buildings in the entire world, and probably the best example of the beauty and elegance of art deco! It's my favorite and I hope to visit it one day! ❤ :')

I’m new to this Channel and I love it lots of info and he explains it so well

“The Bronx” is actually named after a Swedish man who bought some land from the natives. His name was Jonas Brunk (or Bronk). Brunks land -> The Bronx en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Bronck

"renamed it after one of their own cities that had nothing to do with water" excuse you I'll have you know York is frequently submerged with water lol

I’m in NYC this weekend and happened upon this video. How timely and informative!

The Eerie Canal thing reminded me of the rise & fall of Buffalo, NY's economic power (and the rust belt in general). You should look at the population rise & crash, as Buffalo at one point was the US's 5th largest city. I'm from Virginia & live in Texas, so has nothing to do with me living there lol. I just think it's fascinating.

What a great video. Well done Johnny!

As a Midwesterner, seeing the Erie Canal spelled “Eerie Canal” bothers me more than I’d like to admit.

Another great video! Keep up the excellent work!

Good work bud! Thank you for sharing

This video is like the bedtime story you always ask your dad to tell you. You know the story, but you never get tired of it. And it gets better if Johnny is the editor and narrator. Thanks for your videos man.

It wasn't named after the city of York (UK), but after the Duke of York of that time (James Stuart, second son of Charles I), who later became King James II & VII (second of England and simultaneously seventh of Scotland). He had fought as Lord Admiral a number of times against the Dutch, and was granted land by King Charles II (his brother) between the Delaware and Connecticut rivers, as well as the area being renamed in his honour (to New York). Note that the "Duke of York" is a title of nobility that when given is usually granted to the second son of English/British monarchs. The current Duke is Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II.

Superb video - well done Johnny 👏

Great job man, really an amazing video! I love the structure, the music, the tension that you build after or before stating something. You're really doing one hell of a good job as a RU-vid Journalist. Respect!

this guy really pronounced Staten Island, Stanten Island

Loved this video. Being a raised by a first generation immigrant parents in NYC is tough. Sometimes I get lost as to why I’m here and the identity of the city. And why so many people come here to visit from all over the world. But you made things a bit clearer and reminded me

Excellent research and use of archive! really well done man :)

great stuff as always!

As soon as I saw this on my feed - “LET’S GOOOOOOOOO”

Johnny : Why is NYC so big Japan : Laughs in Tokyo Metropolitan Area

Hey Johnny! I see you already fact checked the bit about the Erie Canal. It’s also worth noting that the canal system spanning off the Hudson is even larger including the Delaware and Champlain canals. Not sure if you looked into the Champlain canal, but with your love of maps I’m sure you would appreciate that one can travel from NYC to Montreal via boat thru lake Champlain. One other thing to note is that even though the canals didn’t come till the 1820s, the Hudson River still had a massive effect on how NYC developed. It’s by far the longest navigable river on the East coast and this allowed New York a way to relatively quickly ship goods from upstate to population centers downstate. Even before the canals the distances between the Hudson and lake George and lake Champlain were short enough to facilitate trade via portage with Vermont as well. What I’m getting at is that NYCs access to the interior via waterways helped provide it with easy access to agricultural areas that could help sustain its population and industrial growth. Lastly, a fun fact is that the US Navy was founded at whitehall, New York on lake Champlain to fight the British and prevent them from using the two lakes and Hudson River to cut off the New England colonies. I don’t usually comment on RU-vid videos but I really appreciate your work and thought you might appreciate some of the things I’ve mentioned. Thanks for doing what you do !

So easy and fun to learn from your style of filmmaking 🙏🏼

Answer me this: Why it is called "big apple"?

NYC's whole existence is due to that $24 imagine if they refused to give that land?

Dude, I can sit and watch your video's the day long, you have the most interesting touch to some great topics.

Very informative! I love your channel!

Johnny, possible mistake: the Dutch didn't pay $24 for Manhattan, because dollars didn't exist yet. They paid 24 gilders. Side note, if 24 gilders have been invested that day in Lloyds of London, that same money would buy back Manhattan today. Guess that means it was a fair price

I've been learning english to myself(I am still learning and I'll always learn until the moment I die) with internet and contents like this.Generally I use subtitles sometimes I just watch and listen without subtitles and pal!!! YOU ARE THE ONE OF THE PEOPLE that I can understand most,you speak so clear and your toning,elocution,spirit of your voice are great and your vid topics really attract me.While I watch you and those like you,Frankly I really feel like i am immersed in this wonderful language.Thank you for all

Super interesting. Thanks!

Dude your video journeys are amazing

“Stanton Island” 😂 Great video just thought this was funny

As a rural Oregonian, I'm just finding out that Johnny Harris grew up in rural Oregon! If you see this Johnny where did you grow up in Oregon?

Awesome video! It shed some light on the city I live and love. I would love to see you do a follow up video about how many New Yorkers are now leaving New York for greener pastures far far away from NYC. My great grandfather was an immigrant who worked on the Empire State Building construction. My ancestors actually built NY and it hurts my heart to know I’ll never be able to live the American dream if I want to stay here.

What a great video, making history so easy and entertaining 👏🏽

I have to say, this video shows much hard work you’ve put into your craft!! Animations, footage, the story telling, the history and all - you absolutely nailed it! Fantastic video Johnny, keep up the amazing work!!😎

At first i wondered “why NYC? There have been oodles of other documentaries on NYC being big, and there are other larger cities with a much longer history” but then, as always, Johnny surprizes me with his killer researc- and-storytelling combination. Great video!

Amazing video! I was glad to see some of my timelapse videos in it :D

Out of so may RU-vid channels, this is the one and only I'd happily watch all the ads to help the channel...!

The title shud be: Why is Manhattan so Big?

Great video! Fun facts: the Dutch took New Sweden (Wilmington) & then Britain kicked out the Dutch from NYC. Jonas Bronk(Bronx) was Swedish. The Dutch settlement started on Governor's island, which became the East Battery and Fort Amsterdam became West Battery. After a fire on Ellis island, immigration resumed at fort Amsterdam until it was rebuilt. Dutch had multiple settlements in the vicinity, including New Dorp on SI.

Johnny you're doing such a great job for this planet earth. I love your border series.

Excellent video. Keep it up!

As some who has lived in many states/countries I never had the image of new York as the center of the American universe.

watching this while drawing a map for my geography project such a coincidence edit:and the report is about the transportation problem in my neighborhood

you should do a video on Galveston, TX before the 1900 hurricane. It was the largest US port before the hurricane wiped the island out.

I'm so glad you have subtitles!!!