New York City Ballet Preeminent U.S. ballet company. The company is descended from the American Ballet, which was founded by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein in 1935 and revived as the Ballet Society in 1946; it assumed its current name in 1948. Under Balanchine’s artistic direction, the company became the leading U.S. ballet troupe, combining European classical ballet with American characterization and innovation and exerting enormous influence on American dance. It moved to its per¬ manent home, the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, in 1964. Later artistic directors Jerome Robbins and Peter Martins contributed numer¬ ous works to its repertoire. Its leading dancers have included Maria Tallchief, Edward Villella, Jacques d'Amboise, and Suzanne Farrell.
New York Daily News Morning daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson and his cousin Robert McCormick as a subsidiary of the Tribune Co. of Chicago. The first successful tabloid-format newspaper in the U.S., it quickly attracted a large readership with sensational coverage of crime, scandal, and violence; it also included lurid photographs, cartoons, and entertainment features. It was an early user of wirephotos and developed a large staff of photographers. In 1993 it was bought by Mortimer B. Zuckerman.
New York Public Library Largest city public library in the U.S. and one of the great libraries of the world. It was established in 1895, and its central building opened in 1911. Its holdings include more than 10 mil¬ lion books and more than 10 million manuscripts, as well as large col¬ lections of pictures, maps, books for the blind, films, and microfilms.
New York school Painters who participated in the development of contemporary art, particularly Abstract Expressionism, in or around New York City in the 1940s and ’50s. During and after World War II, leader¬ ship in avant-garde art shifted from war-tom Europe to New York, and the New York school maintained a dominant position in world art into the 1980s. Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Pop art, and the new realist styles of the late 1960s, among others, all had their beginnings in New York. See also action painting.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World’s largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. It was formally con¬ stituted as the New York Stock and Exchange Board in 1817, and its present name was adopted in 1863. Since 1868 membership has been obtained by purchasing a seat from an existing member; membership has been limited to 1,366 since 1953. The exchange provided capital for the industrialization of the U.S. in the 19th century. After the Panic of 1837 it began to demand that companies disclose information about their finances to the public as a condition of offering stock. The stock-market crash of 1929 led to regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. To be listed on the NYSE, a company must earn $2.5 million before taxes, have more than one million shares of stock outstanding, give common stockholders voting rights, and publish periodic financial statements. See also American Stock Exchange; NASDAQ.
New York Times, The Morning daily newspaper, long the U.S. news¬ paper of record. From its establishment in 1851 it has aimed to avoid sen¬ sationalism and to appeal to cultured, intellectual readers. In 1896 it was bought by Adolph Ochs, who built it into an internationally respected daily. Its prestige was notably enhanced by its coverage of the sinking of the Titanic and of the two world wars. In the 1970s it became involved in controversy with its publication of the Pentagon Papers. Later in the decade, under the direction of Ochs’s grandson, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, its organization and staff underwent sweeping changes, including the introduction of a national edition printed at regional sites. Today it is per¬ haps the most respected and influential newspaper in the world. It is the flagship of The New York Times Co., whose interests include other news¬ papers (including the Boston Globe), magazines, and broadcast and elec¬ tronic media.
New Yorker, The U.S. weekly magazine, famous for its varied liter¬ ary fare and humour. It was founded in 1925 by Harold Ross, who was its editor until 1951. Initially focused on New York City’s amusements and social and cultural life, it gradually acquired a broader scope, encompass¬ ing literature, current affairs, and other topics. Aimed at a sophisticated, liberal audience, it became renowned for its short fiction, cartoons, major (occasionally book-length) nonfiction pieces, and detailed reviews in the arts. It was sold in 1985 to Samuel I. Newhouse, Jr. (see Newhouse fam¬ ily). Since Ross, its editors have been William Shawn (1952-87), Robert Gottlieb (1987-92), Tina Brown (1992-98), and David Remnick (from
1998).
New Zealand Island country, South Pacific Ocean. Area: 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 4,096,000. Capitaclass="underline" Welling¬ ton. Most of the people are of European origin; about one-tenth are Maori,
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consists of the North Island and the South Island, which are separated by Cook Strait, and several smaller islands. Both main islands are bisected by mountain ranges. New Zealand has a developing market economy based largely on agriculture (dominated by sheep raising), small-scale industries, and services. It is a constitutional monarchy with one legisla¬ tive house; its chief of state is the British monarch represented by the governor-general, and the head of government is the prime minister. Polynesian occupation dates to c. ad 1000. First sighted by Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman in 1642, the main islands were charted by Capt. James Cook in 1769. Named a British crown colony in 1840, the area was the scene of warfare between colonists and native Maori through the 1860s. The capital was moved from Auckland to Wellington in 1865, and in 1907 the colony became the Dominion of New Zealand. It administered Western Samoa from 1919 to 1962 and participated in both World Wars. When Britain joined the European Economic Community in the early 1970s, its influence led New Zealand to expand its export markets and diversify its economy. New Zealand also became more independent in its foreign relations and took a strong stand against nuclear proliferation. The literacy rate is nearly 100%. The cultural milieu is predominantly European, although there has been a revival of traditional Maori culture and art, and Maori social and economic activism have been central to political devel¬ opments in New Zealand since the late 20th century.