Map of Manhattan from 1609

Connected to the 400th anniversary of the first European contact with the Hudson River and the area that now makes up New York City, the Wildlife Conservation Society has launched an amazing mapping system of Manhattan that gives you a glimpse of what the land probably looked like here at the time the first Europeans were arriving.

The Mannahatta Project allows you to enter in a street address and see what that location may have looked like in 1609. You can then click on the virtual thumbtack on the map and get a popup window (like this one for 151 E 25th St) that will detail:

• what wildlife probably lived there (common names and scientific names are provided)
• any uses of the land there by the Lenape
• what the topography was like
• what the area is like now (you get a link to the OASIS map for the location; here's the link provided for 151 E 25th St)

You can drag the map around on your screen, zoom in and out, and even overlay the modern street grid.