After World War II, New York City assumed a new global prominence in the international financial markets. It became home to the world’s largest and most prestigious stock market on Wall Street. Today, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, with over 8 million people.

New York is the global capital of investing

Ellis Island was the historical gateway through which many immigrants arrived in the country during the 19th and 20th centuries. New York remains a popular immigrant destination. Ambitious Americans traditionally go to New York to make a name for themselves in industries such as writing, theatre, commerce, fashion, mass media, investment banking, and more. The city is a popular tourist spot and home to the Statue of Liberty, the towering Empire State Building, the famous Broadway theatre district, and Times Square.

New York represents opportunity

<ul><li>The area was inhabited by the Lenape people and other Native American tribes. They used natural waterways for fishing, trade, and war with nearby tribes.</li><li>In 1524, Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the region in service to the French and named it New Angoulême, after the French King Francis I.</li><li>Then in 1609, the English explorer Henry Hudson arrived. He took note of the large local beaver population, whose pelts were a valuable commodity.</li><li>Inspired by Hudson's discovery, the Dutch found several fur trading outposts in the area, including a 1624 settlement in what is now Manhattan.</li></ul>

New York history

<ul><li>By 1626, the Dutch had constructed Fort Amsterdam, which served as the town's nucleus. The town was named New Amsterdam and served as the capital of the local Dutch colonies.</li><li>The Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667) resulted in the British gaining control of the city as part of a treaty.</li><li>After the exchange, New Amsterdam was promptly renamed New York after the English King Charles' brother James, the Duke of York.</li></ul>

How New York got its name

By the late 1940s, New York had become the world's biggest manufacturing centre. It had 40,000 factories, a million factory workers and a port which handled 150 million tons of freight goods a year. The city inherited Paris's role as the centre of the art and fashion world. New York was a refuge for foreign artists fleeing war-battered Europe. New York was a great international city and took on the role of the world's financial capital and the site of the world's two largest stock exchanges: the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.

Postwar New York

Stashed ideas

Centers of Progress, Pt. 28: New York (Finance) - HumanProgress

Tokyo was almost destroyed during World War II but was quickly rebuilt and reinvented itself as a world leader in manufacturing and technology.
Today, Tokyo is Japan's economic centre. The city is safe and prosperous and known for its glamour and cosmopolitanism. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with over 37 million residents.

Tokyo - A prosperous city

Tokyo began as a fishing village. It was first named Edo and was appointed as the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. By the 18th century, it grew into one of the world's most populous cities.
The city benefited from peace (the Pax Tokugawa), where the city's resources were used for economic development. Then, in 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate ended, and the new imperial court moved to Edo and renamed the city Tokyo - meaning "eastern capital."

From Edo to Tokyo

The city was vulnerable to fires and earthquakes. In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake caused a fire whirl and burned down the city centre. Over 140,000 people died, and around 300,000 homes were destroyed.
World War II cost Japan between 1,8 and 2,8 million lives and a quarter of the nation's wealth. The Great Tokyo Air Raid was deadlier than the bombings of Dresden or Hamburg and even the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The firebombings cut Tokyo's economic output in half.

Two major disasters in Tokyo

Prewar Japan had been a major power. The capital city kept their memory of what it was like to be an industrial centre. They still possessed an educated and skilled workforce.
The US forced Japan to surrender its right to a military, causing Japan to allocate its total resources toward civilian activities. When Japan established a national defence force in 1954, the expense was small. When the Korean War broke out, the US procured many of its war supplies from the geographically close Japan, which supercharged Tokyo's recovery.

Tokyo's quick recovery

Tokyo rapidly reindustrialized. With the country's drastic increase in imports and exports, Tokyo acted as a major trade hub.
Japan had few natural resources but imported large amounts of raw materials to manufacture finished goods. The profits from the manufacturing output were reinvested into better equipment and technological research, boosting production and profits. The United States government also removed trade barriers on Japanese goods, ensuring that Japanese entrepreneurs could freely sell their goods in the US and elsewhere.

Tokyo: Economic growth

Less than twenty-two years after World War II, Japan had the world's second-largest economy, and Tokyo was at the centre of the nation's prosperity.
Tokyo is known for producing cars (Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi), cameras (Canon, Nikon, and Fujifilm), watches (Casio, Citizen, and Seiko), and digital goods such as Panasonic, Nintendo, Toshiba, Sony, and Yamaha. Since the 1970s, Tokyo has become well-known for cutting-edge robotics.

Tokyo's success

Money

Centers of Progress: Tokyo (Technology)

Los Angeles's Hollywood neighbourhood is known for its unparalleled cinematic contributions. Its new filmmaking styles prepared the way for others to follow.
Los Angeles is the second-most populous city in the United States and may be the most glamorous. It includes two famous landmarks: Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood.

Los Angeles And The Film Industry

The site where Los Angeles now stands first belonged to native tribes, including the Chumash and Tongva. 
In 1542, explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo discovered the area. Spanish settlers founded a small ranching community and named it El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (The town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels), and later shortened it to Pueblo de los Ángeles.

Los Angeles: The site first belonged to native tribes

Hollywood started as a small enclave that contained a post office, a hotel, a livery stable, and a streetcar. A banker and real estate magnate H.J. Whitley further developed the area.
Hollywood was merged with the city of Los Angeles in 1910 because Hollywood was unable to handle its sewage and water needs. Los Angeles had around 300,000 people, and by 1960, it grew to 2.5 million.

Hollywood becomes part of Los Angeles

The first film completed in Los Angeles was the Count of Monte Cristo in 1908. Two years later, the film Old California was produced.
The climate allowed for outdoor filming year-round, and the mixed terrain provided for a variety of settings. But, most importantly, it was far away from the state of New Jersey, where Edison's Motion Picture Patent Company ruled and strangled the film industry.

The film industry

Hollywood became the world leader in narrative silent films. In 1927, Hollywood produced its first movie that included the actors' voices. In the 1930s, Los Angeles studios competed and influenced the film industry. The Acadamy Awards were first presented in Los Angeles and remain the most prestigious awards in the entertainment industry.
The humble town changed into a centre of filmmaking and marked the new art form that enriches and entertains humanity.

The 1930s Los Angeles

Self Improvement

Centers of Progress: Los Angeles (Cinema)

The bayside city has a population of about 200,000 people. It has red cable cars and its Old Government Building - constructed in 1876 - is still one of the world's largest wooden structures. Wellington is known as one of the easiest places in the world to start a business.
Legend has it that the Māori chief Kupe first discovered the city's site in the late 10th century. After noticing the location for trade, an English colonel purchased the land in 1839 for the British settlers.

Wellington - the capital city of New Zealand

New Zealand has no agreed-upon "Independence Day." The country's sovereignty came about gradually, with main events in 1857, 1907, 1947, and 1987. In 1987, New Zealand revoked all residual UK legislative power.
By 1886, most of the non-Māori residents were New Zealand-born and not British immigrants. By 1896, New Zealand had over 700,000 British immigrants and descendants, and about 40,000 Māori.

Population of New Zealand

Political power used to be concentrated mainly among the royal family, while most people, male and female, lacked a voice in political decisions. When a wave of democratisation in the 19th century expanded to include men, women were denied the right to vote because it was believed that they were suited only to the domestic sphere.
But, by the late 19th century, as more women entered professional fields, women were seen as more able to participate in the public sphere.

Women excluded from politics

In 1891 - 1893, suffragettes such as Kate Sheppard gathered signatures and compiled a series of massive petitions calling on parliament to enact female suffrage. The 1893 petition for female suffrage gained over 24,000 signatures that were submitted to the parliament in Wellington.
New Zealand's men supported the suffrage movement. As a "colonial frontier" country, New Zealand had far more men than women and believed that an influx of women would stabilise the society. Women were thought to be morally superior, and that a society where women could vote would increase morality.

Reasons men supported the suffrage movement

In 1893, New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote. It was revolutionary at the time.
Since then, New Zealand has had three female prime ministers. Women have held each of New Zealand's key constitutional positions in government. New Zealand has also had a female governor-general, speaker of the House of Representatives, attorney general, and chief justice.

Women are given the right to vote

As New Zealand’s seat of government, Wellington was at the center of the first successful campaign to grant women the right to vote.

Centers of Progress: Wellington (suffrage)

The Enlightenment was a movement that promoted values of reason, evidence-based knowledge, free inquiry, individual liberty, humanism, limited government, and the separation of church and state.
18th century Paris served as a place for intellectual discourse where philosophes birthed the Age of Enlightenment. Paris earned the nickname "the City of Light."

Paris: Home of the Enlightenment

Paris is France's capital. With over two million residents, it is the most populous city today.
Since the 17th century, Paris continues to serve as a significant centre of diplomacy, commerce, high fashion, cuisine, science, and the arts. It is known as a top tourist destination, famed for its architectural landmarks, museums, restaurants, and atmosphere. Paris is also a popular destination for weddings and honeymoons.

Paris today

<ul>
<li>Paris began as a small settlement on the Seine river banks. Paris gets its name from the Parisii, an Iron Age Celtic tribe, who fortified the area around 225BCE.</li>
<li>In 52 BCE, the Romans conquered the site and named it March of the Parisii.</li>
<li>By the 5th century CE, the Franks took control over Paris and made it their capital.</li>
<li>In 843 CE, the kingdom of Francia split. East Francia became the predecessor state to Germany while West Francia became the early version of the Kingdom of France.</li>
</ul>

Paris inhabited since 7600BC

In the 18th century, intellectual discourse moved from universities to coffeehouses and salons where debate of politics and philosophy took place.
Here, nobles and other wealthy financiers intermingled with artists, writers, and philosophers seeking patronage and opportunities to discuss their work. Controversial philosophers who were denied the intellectual freedom to explore their ideas could gather here and develop their critiques of existing norms and institutions.

Enlightenment: Coffeehouses and salons

During the 1760s, the first modern restaurants emerged in France. In 1782, Antoine Beauvilliers (1754–1817), the pastry chef to the future Louis XVIII, opened the first fine-dining establishment in Paris.
French cuisine remains a significant cultural achievement.

Paris is the birthplace of haute cuisine

Funding and feedback by salon patrons encouraged philosophers to put their ideas on paper.
<ul>
<li>In 1748, Montesquieu published Spirit of the Laws, which advocated a separation of governmental powers.</li>
<li>In 1751, Diderot helped create the Encyclopédie, among the first modern, general-purpose encyclopedias.</li>
<li>In 1759, Voltaire published Candide, a sarcastic novella banned for its criticisms of religious and political institutions.</li>
<li>In 1762, Rousseau published The Social Contract, a censored work which argued that laws should reflect the "will of the people" and that monarchs have no "divine right" to rule.</li>
</ul>

Paris: the centre of new ideas

<ul>
<li>Paris became among the first cities to install gas street lighting in the 19th century.</li>
<li>During the19th century artistic achievements reached new highs with marvels such as the Eiffel Tower, impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces.</li>
<li>Influential painters include Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Henri Rousseau, and Vincent Van Gogh.</li>
<li>Well-known writers of that era include Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, and Alexandre Dumas.</li>
</ul>

Centers of Progress, Pt. 28: New York (Finance) - HumanProgress

Centers of Progress: Tokyo (Technology)

Centers of Progress: Los Angeles (Cinema)

Centers of Progress: Wellington (suffrage)

Centers of Progress: Paris (Enlightenment)

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