A Billowing Sail-shaped Structure Soaring 321 Metres Above The Arabian Gulf Burj Al Arab Is A Dramatic Tribute To The Regions Seafaring Heritage. Combining The Latest Technology With A Long-standing Reputation Of Arabian Hospitality The Hotel Symbolizes The Very Essence Of Dubai Embracing The Best Of New Alongside Traditions Of The Past. Guests Can Transfer From Dubai International Airport By Rolls Royce Silver Seraph Limousines. 202 Suites Have Been Exquisitely Crafted And Appointed To Achieve A Degree Of Comfortable Luxury To Satisfy The Senses Of Every Guest From All Corners Of The World. Individual Service And Attention To Detail Are Paramount With A Private Reception On Each Floor As Well As Butler Service For Every Suite. Within Each Suite Lies Sophisticated Technology Providing The Largest Selection Of Satellite Television Channels Available In The Middle East. Every Suite Features Its Own Laptop Notebook Computer, Fax Machine And Printer. The Al Falak Ballroom And Conference Suites Located High Above The Arabian Gulf On The 27th Floor Offers The Very Best Of Meeting Facilities. Six Restaurants And Lounges Provide A Variety Of Dining Options From An Underwater Seafood Restaurant ... al Mahara ... accessible By A Three Minute Submarine Voyage To The Heights Of ... al Muntaha ... located On The Top Level Of The Hotel.A Lavishly Decorated Private Health And Fitness Facility The Assawan Spa Is Located On The 18th Floor Its Unique Location Allows Guests To Enjoy Spectacular Views From The Pools, jacuzzis, spas, massage, Beauty And Therapy Rooms And Aerobics Workout Studios. Burj Al Arab Is Setting New Standards Of Luxury ... Service And Comfort On The Shores Of The Arabian Gulf.
New York City (officially The City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, with its metropolitan area ranking among the largest urban areas in the world. Founded as a commercial trading post by the Dutch in 1625, it has been the largest city in the United States since 1790, and was the first capital under the Constitution. Located on one of the world's finest natural harbors, New York is one of the world's major centers of commerce and finance. New York also exerts global influence in media, politics, education, entertainment, arts, fashion and advertising. The city is also a major center for international affairs, hosting the headquarters of the United Nations.
New York City comprises five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island within five counties, respectively: The Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, and Richmond. With over 8.2 million residents within an area of 304.8 sq mi (789.43 km²),[2][3] New York City is the most densely populated major city in the United States.[4][5][6]
Many of the city's neighborhoods and landmarks are known around the world. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wall Street, in Lower Manhattan, has been a dominant global financial center since World War II and is home to the New York Stock Exchange. The city has been home to several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the Empire State Building and the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
New York is the birthplace of many cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art, abstract expressionism (also known as the New York School) in painting, and hip hop,[7] punk,[8] salsa, and Tin Pan Alley in music. It is the home of Broadway theater.
In 2005, nearly 170 languages were spoken in the city and 36% of its population was born outside the United States.[9][10] With its 24-hour subway and constant bustling of traffic and people, New York is sometimes called "The City That Never Sleeps." Other nicknames include the "Big Apple" and "Gotham. History....The region was inhabited by about 5,000 Lenape Native Americans at the time of its European discovery in 1524[12] by Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer in the service of the French crown, who called it "Nouvelle Angoulême" (New Angoulême).[13] European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement, later called "Nieuw Amsterdam" (New Amsterdam), on the southern tip of Manhattan in 1614. Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape in 1626 for a value of 60 guilders (legend, now disproved, says that Manhattan was purchased for $24 worth of glass beads).[14][15] In 1664, the English conquered the city and renamed it "New York" after the English Duke of York and Albany.[16] At the end of the Second Anglo-Dutch War the Dutch gained control of Run (a much more valuable asset at the time) in exchange for the English controlling New Amsterdam (New York) in North America. By 1700, the Lenape population was diminished to 200.[17]
New York City grew in importance as a trading port while under British rule. In 1754, Columbia University was founded under charter by King George II as King's College in Lower Manhattan.[18] The city emerged as the theater for a series of major battles known as the New York Campaign during the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress met in New York City and in 1789 the first President of the United States, George Washington, was inaugurated at Federal Hall on Wall Street.[19] By 1790, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States.
In the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration and development. A visionary development proposal, the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan, and the 1819 opening of the Erie Canal connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the North American interior.[20] Local politics fell under the domination of Tammany Hall, a political machine supported by Irish immigrants.[21] Public-minded members of the old merchant aristocracy lobbied for the establishment of Central Park, which became the first landscaped park in an American city in 1857. A significant free-black population also existed in Manhattan, as well as in Brooklyn. Slaves had been held in New York through 1827, but during the 1830s New York became a center of interracial abolitionist activism in the North.
Anger at military conscription during the American Civil War (1861–1865) led to the Draft Riots of 1863, one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American history.[22] In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), the County of New York (which then included parts of the Bronx), the County of Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens.[23] The opening of the New York City Subway in 1904 helped bind the new city together. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. However, this development did not come without a price. In 1904, the steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River, killing 1,021 people on board. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the city's worst industrial disaster, took the lives of 146 garment workers and spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and major improvements in factory safety standards In the 1920s, New York City was a major destination for African Americans during the Great Migration from the American South. By 1916, New York City was home to the largest urban African diaspora in North America. The Harlem Renaissance flourished during the era of Prohibition, coincident with a larger economic boom that saw the skyline develop with the construction of competing skyscrapers. New York City became the most populous city in the world in 1948, overtaking London, which had reigned for over a century. The difficult years of the Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello LaGuardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance.[25]
Returning World War II veterans and immigrants from Europe created a postwar economic boom and the development of huge housing tracts in eastern Queens. New York emerged from the war unscathed and the leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading America's ascendance as the world's dominant economic power, the United Nations headquarters (completed in 1950) emphasizing New York's political influence, and the rise of abstract expressionism in the city precipitating New York's displacement of Paris as the center of the art world.[26] In the 1960s, New York suffered from economic problems, rising crime rates and racial tension, which reached a peak in the 1970s.
In the 1980s, resurgence in the financial industry improved the city's fiscal health. By the 1990s, racial tensions had calmed, crime rates dropped dramatically, and waves of new immigrants arrived from Asia and Latin America. Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley, emerged in the city's economy and New York's population reached an all-time high in the 2000 census.
The city was one of the sites of the September 11, 2001 attacks, when nearly 3,000 people died in the destruction of the World Trade Center. The Freedom Tower will be built on the site and is scheduled for completion in 2012 at the latest New York, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri'nin nüfus bakımından en büyük kenti. Aynı isimli New York eyaleti'nde yer alır. Yüzyıldan fazladır dünyanın en önemli ticaret ve finans merkezlerinden biridir. Şehir, medya, politika, eğitim, eğlence ve modadaki küresel etkilerinden dolayı bir dünya şehri olarak kabul edilmektedir. Birleşmiş Milletler Genel Konseyi binasına ev sahipliği yaptığından dış ilişkiler için de çok önemli bir merkez durumundadır. Fakir semtlerinde ise çok sayıda işsiz ve evsiz yaşar.
Kent beş bölüme ayrılmıştır: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx ve Staten Island. 830 km²'lik bir alanda yaşayan 8,2 milyon nüfusuyla New York, Amerika'da nüfus yoğunluğu en büyük olan şehirdir. Çevre banliyöleriyle birlikte New York metropolitan bölgesi 21 milyonluk nufusa sahiptir ve dünyanın en kalabalık yerleşim bölgelerinden birini oluşturur.
New York, bir göçmen kentidir. Kentte yaklaşık 170 ayrı dil konuşulmaktadır ve her üç kişiden biri ABD dışında bir ülke doğumludur. İngilizce çeşitli aksanlarla konuşulur. İngilizce’nin yanı sıra İspanyolca, Little Italy (Küçük İtalya) semtinde İtalyanca, China Town’da (Çin mahallesi) Çince konuşulur.
New York birçok Amerikan kültürel hareketinin de doğum yeridir. Edebiyat ve görsel sanatlarda Harlem Rönesansı, resimde soyut ekspresyonizm (New York Ekolü), müzikte hip hop, punk, salsa ve Tin Pan Alley bu hareketlerden bazılarıdır. 24 saat açık olan metrosu ve yoğun trafiğiyle Hiç Uyumayan Şehir adını almıştır.
Özgürlük heykeli, Empire State Binası, Central Park ve Times Meydanı, Modern Sanat Müzesi, Guggenheim Müzesi ve Modern Tarih Müzeleri şehrin ilgi çekici mekanlarıdır. Gökdelenleri, caddeleri, lokantaları, alışveriş merkezleri ve insanlarıyla, New York turistleri cezbetmektedir.
Berlin, Almanya'nın başkenti ve en büyük şehridir.
II.Dünya Savaşı öncesinde 4.3 milyon kişinin yaşadığı şehirde 2005 itibariyla 3.4 milyon kişi yaşamaktadır. Berlin, kuzey Almanya'da, Spree ve Havel nehirlerinin arasındaki kumluk bölgeye kuruludur. 1949'dan 1990'a kadar Doğu ve Batı Berlin olarak ikiye ayrılmış olan kenti ikiye bölen duvara (Berlin Duvarı) sonradan "Utanç duvarı" adı da verilmiştir. 1989 yılı kasımında Doğu ve Batı Berlin'i ikiye ayıran duvar yıkıldıktan sonra tekrar birleşen kentin doğu kesimlerinde yoğun bir tadilat yaşanmaktadır.
Kenti ikiye bölen Spree Nehri'nin, iki kıyısında, Cölln ve Berlin adlı iki balıkçı köyü olarak bölünmüş bir halde iken ilk kez 1307 yılında birleşti. Brandenburg'un (daha sonra ise Prusya'nın) başkentliğini yapan Berlin, 18. yüzyıla kadar önemli arz eden bir şehir değildi. Ancak Prusya'nın güçlenmesi sürecinde öncelikle Kuzey Alman'nın ve sonrasında da Avrupa'nın siyasi, ekonomik ve kültürel anlamda önemli merkezlerinden biri haline geldi. 1871 yılında kurulan Alman İmparatorluğu'na da başkentlik yapan Berlin, İkinci Dünya Savaşı'nın ardından harabeye döndü, müttefik devletler tarafından işgal edildi.
İkinci Dünya Savaşı'ndan sonra şehir Doğu ve Batı Berlin olarak ikiye ayrılmıştır. Kentin imparatorluk merkezi Mitte ile birlikte, Berlin'i inşa eden mimar Karl Friderich Schinkel'in tasarladığı binalar, büyükelçilikler, saraylar, müzeler tamamen kentin doğu kesiminde kaldı. Türkiye'den kaçak yollarla getirilen Bergama Sunağı'nın sergilendiği dünyanın en önemli müzelerinden biri olan Bergama Müzesi , Cölln ile Berlin'i birleştiren anlaşmanın yapıldığı St. Nicholas Kilisesi de tıpkı diğer önemli yapılar gibi Doğu Berlin'de kaldı Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million in its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the ninth most populous urban area in the European Union.[2] Located in northeastern Germany, it is the centre of the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan area, comprising 5 million people from over 180 nations.[3]
First documented in the 13th century, Berlin was successively the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia (1701-1918), the German Empire (1871-1918), the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and the Third Reich (1933-1945).[4] After the Second World War, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a Western enclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall from 1961-1989.[5] Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, the city regained its status as the capital of all Germany.[6]
Berlin is a major center in European politics, culture, media, and science.[7][8][9] It serves as a continental hub for air and rail transport. The city's economy is primarily based on the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, media corporations, environmental services, congress and convention venues.[10][11] Berlin is the third most-visited tourist destination in the EU.[12] Other industries include traffic engineering, optoelectronics, IT, vehicle manufacturing, health care, biomedical engineering, and biotechnology.
The metropolis is home to world-renowned universities, research institutes, sporting events, orchestras, museums and personalities.[13] Berlin's urban landscape and historical legacy has made it a popular setting for international film productions.[14] The city is recognized for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts and a high quality of living.[15][16][17] During the last decade Berlin has evolved into a global focal point for young individuals and artists attracted by liberal lifestyle and modern zeitgeist. The name Berlin, which is pronounced /bɚˈlɪn/ in English and /bɛɐˈliːn/ (help·info) in German, is of unknown origin, but may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl- "swamp".[20]
The earliest evidence of Berlin is an artifact dated approximately 45 years before the official founding of the city. A wooden beam from a cellar near the (demolished) Petrikirche in Petriplatz, which is now located in Berlin's Mitte District but was originally part of Cölln, has been dated to 1157.[21] The first written mention of towns in the area of present-day Berlin dates from the late 12th and early 13th century. The suburb of Spandau is first mentioned in 1197,[22] and Köpenick in 1209, though these areas did not join Berlin until 1920. The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns: Cölln (on the Fisher Island) is first mentioned in a 1237 document that references a priest at Petrikirche.[21] Berlin (across the Spree in what is now called the Nikolaiviertel) is referenced in a document from 1244. From the beginning, the two cities formed an economic and social unit. In 1307, the two cities were united politically. Over time, the twin cities came to be known simply as Berlin, the larger of the pair.
In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440.[23] His successor, Frederick II, established Berlin as capital of the margraviate, and subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled until 1918 in Berlin, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and finally as German emperors. In 1448 citizens rebelled in the “Berlin Indignation” against the construction of a new royal palace by Elector Frederick II Irontooth. This protest was not successful, however, and the citizenry lost many of its political and economic privileges. In 1451 Berlin became the royal residence of the Brandenburg electors, and Berlin had to give up its status as a free Hanseatic city. In 1539, the electors and the city officially became Lutheran In 2007, the nominal GDP of the citystate Berlin experienced a growth rate of 1.8% (2.5% in Germany) and totaled €81.7 ($114) billion.[50] During the last decade Berlin has experienced significant changes towards a service orientated economy. After the reunification of Germany and Berlin in 1990, substantial subsidies were phased out, formerly received by the city of West Berlin. The industrial base of former East Berlin decreased significantly within a decade, leading to stagnant nominal GDP growth and high unemployment rates until 2005. Since then the unemployment rate steadily decreased and reached a 13 year-low with 13.6% in June 2008, but remains above the German (7.5%/June/2008) average.[51][52]
Among the Forbes Global 2000 and the 30 German DAX companies, only Siemens and Deutsche Bahn control a headquarters in Berlin. Nevertheless, a multitude of German and international companies established secondary departments or service offices in the city. Among the 20 largest employers in Berlin are the railway company Deutsche Bahn AG, the hospital company Charité, the local public transport company BVG, the service provider Dussmann and the Piepenbrock Group. Daimler manufactures cars, and BMW builds motorcycles in Berlin. BayerSchering Pharma and Berlin Chemie are major pharmaceutical companies headquartered in the city.
The Science and Business Park of Berlin-Adlershof is among the 15 largest technology parks world-wide. Research and development have established economic significance, and the Berlin Brandenburg region ranks among the top three innovative regions in the EU.[53][46]
Fast-growing sectors are communications, life sciences, mobility and services with information and communication technologies, media and music, advertising and design, biotechnology and environmental services, transportation and medical engineering.[54] Berlin is among the top three congress cities in the world and is home to Europe's biggest convention center in the form of the Internationales Congress Centrum (ICC).[10] It contributes to the rapidly increasing tourism sector encompassing 592 hotels with 90,700 beds and numbered 17.3 million overnight stays and 7.5 million hotel guests in 2007. Berlin has established itself as the third most visited city destination in the European Union