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New York
 Giovanni de Verrazano, a Florentine navigator in the service of Francis I, discovered and explored the U.S.Atlantic coast from Marsh to May 1524. On or about April 15th, he sailed into the bay of New York which he named ?Santa Margarita? in honor of the King?s sister. He named the land around ?Angoulême?, as Francis I was Count of Angoulême before becoming King. Jacques Habert, French Senator representing the French living abroad, has demonstrated in his thesis and many books * this long forgotten historic fact. Each year the city celebrates a Verrazano Day . The world?s longest suspension bridge connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn and spanning the entrance of the bay over the Verrazano Narrows, was named Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The New York Marathon begins from the bridge every year. Not far from there in the bay is the Statue of Liberty, inscribed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO. Opposite is Lower Manhattan where the ?Freedom Towers? will soon be built commemorating the tragedy of September 11 2001, exactly where the ?Twin Towers? existed.
Today, New York City, comprised of 5 boroughs - The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island - is home to almost 8 million urban residents. Headquarters of the United Nations, the city is the global economic and financial capital. Every year 40 million people experience the Big Apple?s stores, museums, hotels and restaurants, out of them 5 million are foreign of which many are French people.
* Jacques Habert, When New York was called Angoulême; a history of the discovery of New York, New York Transocean Press, 1949.
 Additional Information
NYC & Company, Official New York City Visitor Information Center,
810 Seventh Avenue New York,
NY 10019 USA
Phone : (00 1) 212 484 1222
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> http://www.nycgo.com
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