New York City

40.7128°N, 74.0060°W.

The largest metropolitan area in the Americas, founded as New Amsterdam by the Dutch West India Company in 1626 on the southern tip of Manhattan island. The 1811 Commissioners' Plan imposed a strict orthogonal grid over the rocky wilderness north of Houston Street, rotated 28.9° east of true north to follow the long axis of the island — a single bureaucratic decision that defined the future skyline. Manhattan's bedrock schist is exposed in Central Park and underlies the Empire State Building (381 m) and One World Trade Center (541 m). The city sits on the geologic boundary where the North American plate meets the boundary of the Atlantic continental shelf. Twice a year, on May 28 and July 12, the setting sun aligns precisely with the cross-streets of Manhattan's grid — a phenomenon astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson named Manhattanhenge.

A grid laid down in 1811 still tells the city which days are sacred to the sun.