After having landed in New York you should know that Manhattan is also surrounded by the Hudson River. Contrary to what many other sources report, Hudson's meeting with the native population was not that friendly. He found the native inhabitants of the lower part of the river to be warlike and threatening, but upriver they were friendly and polite. Native locals traded with Europeans valuable skins and pelts. As a matter of fact New Netherland (this was the name of the state of New York at that time) was, in the eyes of the Dutch merchants, a source of furs. From the first voyages, an actuive trade with the natives brought beaver pelts on to the Dutch market for resale throughout Europe. In the 16th century there was an immense demand for beaver pelts. They were used to trim clothes and make hats and cloaks. It was also believed that beaver fur had medicinal properties. Detailed knowledge of an exceptionally good port on the North American coast, and the existence of a broad river enabling navigation far into the unknown interior, excited much interest in northern Europe. Hudson's reports to the East India Company formed the basis of the Dutch claim to their colony on the Hudson. However, the Dutch East India Company took no immediate action on the news of Hudson's voyage.

Recent researches in urban political economy about New York disclosed how a city's position in the global system affects its problems and prospects. Contemporary political-economy interpretations, informed by structuralist and world-systems theories, emphasize the global relations between the world core and the periphery as the guiding forces of urban and regional development. In the global urban hierarchy, world cities constitute the dominant urban core regions, interconnected through financial markets, flights and corporate decision-making processes. The determining characteristic of a world city is politicaleconomic control over global production and marketing, not demographic size.