The heart of the New York metropolitan area, Manhattan traces its roots to a trading post established by settlers from the Dutch Republic in 1624; the trading post was called New Amsterdam. Historically, Manhattan has been bought by Dutch settlers from Lenape Native Americans for 60 guilders (~$1059 in contemporary terms). The area and its neighborhoods came under the English administration in 1664 and were renamed New York.
The historic bird’s-eye-view maps below show how Manhattan looked in the past centuries.
Bird’s-eye-view of the Manhattan, published by Currier & Ives (1870)
Highly detailed birds eye view of Manhattan (1900)
