Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City

What did the island of Manhattan look like on that day, just over 400 years ago (1609) when it was “discovered” by Henry Hudson? Very different from today. It was a rich place with forests, streams, wetlands, and even some hills. Wildlife was abundant, with nearly 400 species of vertebrates likely and another 200 possible. Vascular plant species may have numbered nearly 1,200.

It was also the home to the Lenape people who gave the island its name: Mannahatta. Eric Sanderson headed a decade-long project to try to describe the likely nature of the island before the arrival of Europeans. That project is described in Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City (2009). He claims that if found today, the island would likely be designated as a national park, but instead, “extraordinary cultural diversity has replaced extraordinary biodiversity.”

Published in the December 2018 Leaflet for Scholars, Volume 5, Issue 12.