New Thought Mind-healing movement that originated in the U.S. in the 19th century. Its earliest proponent, Phineas P. Quimby (1802-66), was a mesmerist who taught that illness is mental. New Thought was influenced by philosophers ranging from Plato to Emanuel Swedenborg, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Ralph Waldo Emerson and in turn influenced Mary Baker Eddy’s Christian Science. The International New Thought Alliance (formed 1914) asserts that sin and illness stem from incorrect thinking. New Thought groups emphasize Jesus as a teacher and healer and proclaim his kingdom as being within each person.
new town Form of urban planning designed to relocate populations away from large cities by grouping homes, hospitals, industry and cul¬ tural, recreational, and shopping centers to form entirely new, relatively autonomous communities. The new-town movement was anticipated by the Utopian Ebenezer Howard in the early 20th century (see garden city). The first official new towns were proposed in Britain’s New Towns Act of 1946. The idea found favor in other countries, especially in the U.S., Western Europe, and Soviet Siberia. New towns outside Britain often failed to incorporate enough of the mixed-use atmosphere that gives a town vitality. A dramatic increase in commuting and use of the car obvi¬ ated the need for new towns to be so self-contained.
New Wave French nouvelle vague Group of individualistic French film directors of the late 1950s, including Claude Chabrol, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, Eric Rohmer, Alain Resnais, and oth¬ ers. Most of the New Wave directors were associated with the important film magazine Cahiers du Cinema, in which they developed the highly influential auteur theory, calling for films to express the director’s per¬ sonal vision. Their films were characterized by a brilliance of technique that sometimes overshadowed the subject matter. Among the most impor¬ tant New Wave films were Godard’s Breathless (1959), Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959), and Resnais’s Hiroshima mon amour (1959).
New World monkey Any of some 100 species of monkeys (the platyr- rhine [“flat-nosed”] monkeys) that inhabit tropical Central and South America. Platyrrhines have a broad nose, with a wide septum separating the outwardly directed nostrils, and relatively unopposable thumbs. Most species have a long tail, which in a few species is prehensile. They are divided by zoologists into five families: the marmosets and tamarins; the titis, sakis, and uakaris; the spider monkeys and woolly monkeys; the capu¬ chin monkeys and squirrel monkeys; and the durukulis. See also Old World
MONKEY.
New Year's Day First day of the new year, celebrated with religious, cultural, and social observances around the world. It is usually marked by
rites and ceremonies that symbolize casting off the old year and rejoicing in the new. Most of the world recognizes January 1 as the start of a new year because the Gregorian calendar, from its papal origin in 1582, has become the international reference for treaties, corporate contracts, and other legal documents. Nevertheless, numerous religious and national cal¬ endars have been retained. For example, in the Persian calendar (used in Iran and Afghanistan) New Year’s Day falls on the spring equinox (March 20 or 21 in the Gregorian calendar). The more widely employed Islamic (Hijrl) calendar is based on 12 lunar months of 29 or 30 days; thus, the Islamic New Year’s Day gradually regresses through the longer Grego¬ rian calendar. The Hindu new year starts on the day following the first new moon on or after the spring equinox. The Chinese new year begins at sunset on the new moon in the sign of Aquarius (late January or early February). The Hebrew calendar is based on 12 lunar months (13 in cer¬ tain years) of 29 or 30 days; the Jewish New Year’s Day, or Rosh Ha- shanah, can fall anytime from September 6 to October 5 in the Gregorian calendar.
New York State (pop., 2000: 18,976,457), eastern U.S. It is bordered by Canada and the U.S. states of Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. New York covers 53,013 sq mi (137,304 sq km); its capital is Albany. The Hudson, St. Lawrence, Dela¬ ware, and Niagara rivers all form parts of its boundaries. The Adirondack Mountains are in the northeast; the Catskills are in the east. Before European colonization, Algonquins (see Algonquian languages) and Iro¬ quois inhabited the area. In 1524 Giovanni Verrazzano visited New York Bay. The 1609 explorations of Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain led to settlement. In 1664 the Dutch colony, New Netherland, led by Peter Stuyvesant, surrendered to the British and was renamed New York. The French and Indian War resulted in skirmishes in northern and central New York; its conclusion confirmed English dominance in the region. In the American Revolution, it was the scene of many battles, including those of Ticonderoga and Saratoga, and of Benedict Arnold’s treason at West Point. New York adopted the first state constitution (1777). The capital moved from New York City to Albany in 1797. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 spurred development of the western part of the state. In the 19th century the growing influence in New York City of Tammany Hall caused tension between the city and the state. The economy was once based largely on manufacturing in cities, including Buffalo, Rochester, and Syra¬ cuse. It is now dominated by service industries, concentrated in New York City.
New York, State University of (SUNY) Largest university sys¬ tem in the U.S. Founded in 1948, it consists of university centres in Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, and Stony Brook; colleges of arts and sci¬ ences in Brockport, Buffalo, Cortland, Fredonia, Geneseo, New Paltz, Old Westbury, Oneonta, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, and Purchase; three medical centres (two in New York City and one in Syracuse); several two-year agricultural and technical colleges; a nonresidential continuing- education program (Empire State College); over 30 community colleges; and various other specialized units.
New York Central Railroad Major U.S. railroad. It was founded in 1853 to consolidate 10 railroads that paralleled the Erie Canal between Albany and Buffalo, the oldest being the Mohawk and Hudson, New York state’s first railway (established 1831). Cornelius Vanderbilt won control of the New York Central in 1867 and combined it with his New York and Hudson railroads running from Manhattan to Albany. The system grew until it had 10,000 mi (16,000 km) of track linking New York with Bos¬ ton, Montreal, Chicago, and St. Louis. The New York Central began to decline after World War II, and in 1968 it merged with its chief competi¬ tor, the Pennsylvania Railroad Co., to form the Penn Central Transporta¬ tion Co. The merger failed, and the railroad was forced into bankruptcy in 1970. Its passenger services were taken over by Amtrak in 1971, and its other railroad assets were transferred to Conrail in 1976.
New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. and an important seaport, it consists of five boroughs: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Man¬ hattan, Queens, and Staten Island. The site of a Dutch trading post on Manhattan Island, it was colonized as New Amsterdam by Dutch direc¬ tor general Peter Minuit, who bought it from the Indians in 1626. The colony surrendered to the British in 1664 and was renamed New York. It was the capital of the state (1784-97) and of the U.S. (1789-90). The economy grew after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, and the city
L_
M
N
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1354 I New York City Ballet ► Newar
L_
N
expanded rapidly after the American Civil War, developing transportation and communications systems. In 1898 the five boroughs were merged into a single city. Long a magnet for immigrants to the U.S., it is a centre of world trade and finance, media, art, entertainment, and fashion. Because of its prominence and its central role in world commerce, the city was a target for acts of terrorism. In September 2001, hijackers intentionally flew airliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, destroying them and destroying or damaging several adjacent buildings; the attacks killed some 2,800 people. See September 11 attacks.