The Lenape tribe had been the indigenous tribe that inhabited the North Eastern seaboard of North America, probably for thousands of years. In a land they called Lanapehoking, they remained among the meadows and forested land undisturbed until 1524. In that year, the Lenape tribe's idyllic existence was turned upside-down with the arrival of Giovanni da Verrazano, the first tourist to arrive from Europe. He didn't stay long though. He had been commissioned by the French to find a short cut to the Orient. He realised that Staten Island wasn't what he was looking for, pulled up anchor and sailed away without even landing ashore.

Verrazano wouldn't be the first though and 85 years later along came another European tourist, and Englishman this time by the name of Henry Hudson. Hudson arrived in September 1609 and stayed long enough to explore the length of the river that now bears his name. He returned in 1611 only to be cast adrift by his mutinous crew. His stories did manage to raise an interest in the new land though and in 1624 the Dutch West India company sent 110 settlers to set up a trading post. The set themselves up on an island called Mannahata and named their new settlement New Amsterdam.

There was a small problem with the native Lenape tribe though. They wouldn't go away and after many bloody battles, it was becoming clear that another solution to the problem was needed. What followed has since been written into folkore. In 1626 a man called Peter Minuit decided to buy the 14000 acres of Manhattan Island from the Lenape. The price paid was 60 guilders worth of goods. Legend says that this was the equivalent of $24, although modern historians believe that the actual value was probably closer to $500. Never the less, that was a small price to pay for a piece of land that some 400 years later would be one of the most expensive pieces of real estate on the planet.

New York today is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the World. If you want to be seen then you want to be seen in New York. If you have an address there, then you can truly claim to have placed yourself on the map. There is something for everyone here. In the city that famously 'never sleeps' there are some wonderful things to see and do with a mind blowing array of shops and entertainment thrown in.

The New York Visits website is split into a number of sections to help you plan an unforgettable trip to the 'Big Apple'.