Mannahatta : A Natural History of New York City

"Sanderson and Boyer invite you to imagine what Manhattan would have looked like to its early explorers; before the skyscrapers, before the crowded sidewalks and the busy intersections of avenues and streets. On the pages of Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City, Sanderson and Boyer take readers on a journey of imagination by geographically matching, or georeferencing, a historical British Headquarts map with a map of modern Manhattan. In addition, Sanderson examined volumes of historical documents and journals and was able to visually reconstruct, down to the city block, what Manhattan looked like four hundred years ago; from the forests of Times Square, to the wetlands of downtown, the meadows of Harlem and the Upper West Side, and the nomadic tribe settlements of Chinatown and the Upper East Side. Although the lush forests, rolling hills, and flowing streams have long disappeared, Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City brings this wild island of Henry Hudson's era to life through insightful text, maps, illustrations and computer visualisations. Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City is not only a view of the past, but also an inspiration for a new vision of the future."--Publisher's description.;Mannahatta Project -- Map found -- Fundamentals of Mannahatta -- Lenape -- Ecological neighbourhoods -- Muir webs : connecting the parts -- Manhattan 2409 -- Appendix A. Natural features -- Appendix B. Lenape sites and place-names -- Appendix C. Flora and fauna. What did New York look like four centuries ago? An extraordinary reconstruction of a wild island from the forests of Times Square to the wetlands downtown. Named a Best Book of the Year by Library Journal , New York Magazine , and San Francisco Chronicle On September 12, 1609, Henry Hudson first set foot on the land that would become Manhattan. Today, it’s difficult to imagine what he saw, but for more than a decade, landscape ecologist Eric Sanderson has been working to do just that. Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City is the astounding result of those efforts, reconstructing in words and images the wild island that millions now call home. By geographically matching an eighteenth-century map with one of the modern city, examining volumes of historic documents, and collecting and analyzing scientific data, Sanderson re-creates topography, flora, and fauna from a time when actual wolves prowled far beyond Wall Street and the degree of biological diversity rivaled that of our most famous national parks. His lively text guides you through this abundant landscape—while breathtaking illustrations transport you back in time. Mannahatta is a groundbreaking work that provides not only a window into the past, but also inspiration for the future. “[A] wise and beautiful book, sure to enthrall anyone interested in NYC history.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A cartographical detective tale . . . The fact-intense charts, maps and tables offered in abundance here are fascinating.” — The New York Times “[An] exuberantly written and beautifully illustrated exploration of pre-European Gotham.” — San Francisco Chronicle “You don’t have to be a New Yorker to be enthralled.” — Library Journal On September 12, 1609, Henry Hudson first set eyes on the land that would become Manhattan. It's difficult for us to imagine what he saw, but for more than a decade, landscape ecologist Eric Sanderson has been working to do just that. Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City is the astounding result of those efforts, reconstructing, in words and images, the wild island that millions of New Yorkers now call home. By geographically matching an 18th-century map of Manhattan's landscape to the modern cityscape, combing through historical and archaeological records, and applying modern principles of ecology and computer modeling, Sanderson is able to re-create the forests of Times Square, the meadows of Harlem, and the wetlands of downtown. Filled with breathtaking illustrations that show what Manhattan looked like 400 years ago, Mannahatta is a groundbreaking work that gives readers not only a window into the past, but inspiration for green cities and wild places of the future.

On September 12, 1609, Henry Hudson first set foot on the land that would become Manhattan. Today, it’s difficult to imagine what he saw, but for more than a decade, landscape ecologist Eric Sanderson has been working to do just that. Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City is the astounding result of those efforts, reconstructing in words and images the wild island that millions now call home. By geographically matching an 18th-century map with one of the modern city, examining volumes of historic documents, and collecting and analyzing scientific data, Sanderson re-creates the forests of Times Square, the meadows of Harlem, and the wetlands of downtown. His lively text guides readers through this abundant landscape, while breathtaking illustrations transport them back in time. Mannahatta is a groundbreaking work that provides not only a window into the past, but also inspiration for the future.

Reconstructs the ecological history of Manhattan through period maps, archeological discoveries, and computational geography to create pictures and descriptions of Manhattan from 1609 to the present day.