{"id":312291,"date":"2026-08-03T09:25:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/312291\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T09:25:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T09:25:43","slug":"watch-the-evolution-of-manhattan-unfold-in-a-timelapse-video-from-1600-to-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/312291\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch the Evolution of Manhattan Unfold in a Timelapse Video, from 1600 to 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Man\u00adhat\u00adtan with\u00adout sky\u00adscrap\u00aders sounds dif\u00adfi\u00adcult, if not impos\u00adsi\u00adble, to imag\u00adine today. But such a place real\u00adly did exist, at least up until the turn of the twen\u00adti\u00adeth cen\u00adtu\u00adry. While the title of the very first sky\u00adscraper ever built may go to the Home Insur\u00adance Build\u00ading in Chica\u00adgo<\/a>, New York City caught up so aggres\u00adsive\u00adly there\u00adafter \u2014 in its char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adis\u00adtic style \u2014 that it soon became prac\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly syn\u00adony\u00admous with tall steel-framed tow\u00aders. The shape of mod\u00adern Man\u00adhat\u00adtan would sure\u00adly have been unimag\u00adin\u00adable to the first non-native arrivals in the ear\u00adly sev\u00aden\u00adteenth cen\u00adtu\u00adry, the approach of whose ships you can see re-cre\u00adat\u00aded in the ani\u00admat\u00aded time\u00adlapse above.<\/a><\/p>\n

The video is a pro\u00adduc\u00adtion of CITY 3D TIMELAPSE<\/a>, a YouTube chan\u00adnel pre\u00advi\u00adous\u00adly fea\u00adtured here on Open Cul\u00adture for its sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adly accel\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded visu\u00adal\u00adiza\u00adtion of the evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of Paris<\/a>. While that video had 23 cen\u00adturies to com\u00adpress into a three-minute run\u00adtime, this new one on New York takes a leisure\u00adly-by-com\u00adpar\u00adi\u00adson eight min\u00adutes to ren\u00adder \u201cjust\u201d 450 years or so of his\u00adto\u00adry (at least after about twen\u00adty sec\u00adonds spent in the native era\u2019s mil\u00adlen\u00adni\u00adum and a half).<\/p>\n

But it also shows us the urban evo\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adary process three times: the first zooms out to the whole of Man\u00adhat\u00adtan, the sec\u00adond focus\u00ades on Low\u00ader Man\u00adhat\u00adtan, and the third on Mid\u00adtown Man\u00adhat\u00adtan \u2014 a suit\u00adable divi\u00adsion, as any New York\u00ader knows, for those mutu\u00adal\u00adly incom\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsi\u00adble civ\u00adi\u00adliza\u00adtions.<\/p>\n

Even if we\u2019ve nev\u00ader set foot there, we may well know that even old New York was once New Ams\u00adter\u00addam<\/a>. That Dutch colo\u00adnial era, as depict\u00aded in the time\u00adlapse, is when the city begins. There fol\u00adlows den\u00adsi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion and expan\u00adsion under Eng\u00adlish rule, the mar\u00aditime infra\u00adstruc\u00adtur\u00adal build-out of ear\u00adly Amer\u00adi\u00adca, the ambi\u00adtious grid-lay\u00ading under the Com\u00admis\u00adsion\u00aders\u2019 Plan of 1811, the relent\u00adless nine\u00adteenth-cen\u00adtu\u00adry indus\u00adtri\u00adal\u00adiza\u00adtion that imbued the city with the might its rep\u00adu\u00adta\u00adtion still retains, the rise of the sky\u00adscrap\u00aders that shaped (and con\u00adtin\u00adue to shape) its sky\u00adline, and final\u00adly the \u201cglob\u00adal\u00adiza\u00adtion era\u201d in which we find our\u00adselves today. That \u201cwe,\u201d of course, includes not just New York\u00aders, but urban\u00adites every\u00adwhere, for the evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of New York pro\u00adduced not just a city, but in many respects, the city: the mod\u00adel by which so many metrop\u00ado\u00adlis\u00ades have been inspired to get a bit of the action for them\u00adselves.<\/p>\n

Relat\u00aded Con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n

A 3D Ani\u00adma\u00adtion Shows the Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of New York City (1524 \u2014 2023)<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch a Time\u00adlapse Video Show\u00ading the Cre\u00adation of New York City\u2019s Sky\u00adline: 1500 to Present<\/a><\/p>\n

Immac\u00adu\u00adlate\u00adly Restored Film Lets You Revis\u00adit Life in New York City in 1911<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch Man\u00adhat\u00adta, the First Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Avant-Garde Film (1921)<\/a><\/p>\n

Ani\u00adma\u00adtions Visu\u00adal\u00adize the Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of Lon\u00addon and New York: From Their Cre\u00adation to the Present Day<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch the Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of Paris Unfold in a Time\u00adlapse Video, from 300 BCE to 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Based in Seoul,\u00a0Col\u00adin<\/a>\u00a0M<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>\u00a0writes and broad\u00adcasts on cities, lan\u00adguage, and cul\u00adture. He\u2019s the author of the newslet\u00adter\u00a0Books on Cities<\/a>\u00a0as well as the books\u00a0\ud55c\uad6d \uc694\uc57d \uae08\uc9c0<\/a>\u00a0(No Sum\u00adma\u00adriz\u00ading Korea) and\u00a0Kore\u00adan Newtro<\/a>.\u00a0Fol\u00adlow him on the social net\u00adwork for\u00admer\u00adly known as Twit\u00adter at\u00a0@colinm<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t