New York

Capital - Albany Largest city - New York City Area Ranked 141,299 km²

^Latitude 40°30' N to 45°1' N Longitude 71°51' W to 79°46' W

POPULATION(Ranked 3rd in the US) - Total 19,541,453 (2009 est.)

General

The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border with Rhode Island east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Ontario to the west, and Quebec to the north. New York was inhabited by the Algonquin, Iroquois, and Lenape Native American groups at the time Dutch and French nationals moved into the region in the early 17th century. First claimed by Henry Hudson in 1609, the region came to have Dutch forts at Fort Orange, near the site of the present-day capital of Albany in 1614. The Dutch colonized the Albany and Manhattan areas in 1624. The British took over Manhattan and the colony by annexation in 1664.

The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were roughly similar to those of the present-day state. About one third of all of the battles of the Revolutionary War took place in New York. New York became an independent state on July 9, 1776 and enacted its constitution in 1777. The state ratified the United States Constitution on July 26, 1788 to become the 11th state.

New York's agricultural outputs are dairy products, cattle and other livestock, vegetables, nursery stock, and apples The state has about a quarter of its land in farms and produced US$3.4 billion in agricultural products in 2001.Its industrial outputs are printing and publishing, scientific instruments, electric equipment, machinery, chemical products, and tourism.New York's largest imports are oil, gold, aluminum, natural gas, electricity, rough diamonds, and lumber.

New York City is the leading center of banking, finance and communication in the United States and is the location of the New York Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume. Many of the world's largest corporations are based in the city

The culture of New York City is shaped by centuries of immigration, the city's size and variety, and its status as the cultural capital of the United States. Many major American cultural movements first emerged in the city.