MANNAHATTA

(photo: Markley Boyer/Mannahatta Project, Wildlife Conservation Society)

Ever wondered what New York like before it was a city? Welcome to Mannahatta, 1609: http://www.themannahattaproject.org/

The Wildlife Conservation Society embarked on a decade of research to uncover the original ecology of Manhattan and constructed an interactive website Stated on the site: "the center of one of the world’s largest and most built-up cities was once a natural landscape of hills, valleys, forests, fields, freshwater wetlands, salt marshes, beaches, springs, ponds and streams, supporting a rich and abundant community of wildlife and sustaining people for perhaps 5000 years before Europeans arrived on the scene in 1609."

Visit the site and you can explore Mannahatta through a virtual map, and learn what natural resources and wildlife existed on the island, block by block. Included in the site are wonderful resources for educators, students and researchers.