Mannahatta / Manhattan

Mannahatta  / Manhattan

Before the English explorer Henry Hudson arrived in 1609, Manhattan was home to the Lenape Indians who called the island Mannahatta, or "Land of Many Hills."

The result of five years of historical map research, fieldwork, and GIS analysis, the Digital Elevation Model, or DEM, of 1609 was a vital step in the process of recreating Mannahatta.

The 1735 portrait of Lenape Chief Tishcohan 

by Gustavus Hesselius. 

Courtesy of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia. 

http://nymag.com/news/articles/09/04/manhatta090420_lay.pdf

Dutch Broadway

Since time began, Broadway was the main artery of Mannahatta. It began as a Native American pathway called the Wickquasgeck Trail (end of the marsh) that followed the length of the 13-mile island. During Dutch rule, the path was widened as it passed by the fort of New Amsterdam and was named de Heere Straat — the Gentlemen’s Street, but most simply knew it as Breede weg (the broad road), which the British translated to Broadway.

Read more:

1. http://welikia.org/science/recreating-mannahatta/ 
2.  
3. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/21/nyregion/map-of-how-manhattan-grid-grew.html?ref=design

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Mannahatta

Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
Leaves of Grass  1900

I WAS asking for something specific and perfect for my city,
Whereupon, lo! upsprang the aboriginal name!

Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly, musical, self-sufficient;
I see that the word of my city is that word up there,
Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb, with tall and wonderful spires,
Rich, hemm’d thick all around with sailships and steamships-an island sixteen miles long, solid-founded,
Numberless crowded streets-high growths of iron, slender, strong, light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies;
Tide swift and ample, well-loved by me, toward sundown,
The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining islands, the heights, the villas,
The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters, the ferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-model’d;
The down-town streets, the jobbers’ houses of business-the houses of business of the ship-merchants, and money-brokers-the river-streets;
Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week;
The carts hauling goods-the manly race of drivers of horses-the brown-faced sailors;
The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft;
The winter snows, the sleigh-bells-the broken ice in the river, passing along, up or down, with the flood tide or ebb-tide;
The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form’d, beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes;
Trottoirs throng’d-vehicles-Broadway-the women-the shops and shows,
The parades, processions, bugles playing, flags flying, drums beating;
A million people-manners free and superb-open voices-hospitality-the most courageous and friendly young men;
The free city! no slaves! no owners of slaves!
The beautiful city, the city of hurried and sparkling waters! the city of spires and masts!
The city nested in bays! my city!
The city of such women, I am mad to be with them! I will return after death to be with them!
The city of such young men, I swear I cannot live happy, without I often go talk, walk, eat, drink, sleep, with them!

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New York - Before the City

400 years after Hudson found New York harbor, Eric Sanderson shares how he made a 3D map of Mannahatta's fascinating pre-city ecology of hills, rivers, wildlife -- accurate down to the block -- when Times Square was a wetland and you couldn't get delivery.
This talk was presented at an official TED conference, and was featured by our editors on the home page.

http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_sanderson_pictures_new_york_before_the_city.html

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/09/manhattan/clark-photography