That little highlighted box, or part thereof, in the corner is 119th street between Morningside and Amsterdam. Or it will be 400 years from now. Or from when this image was taken. Or rather digitally visualized, by the Manhatta Project, a years-long datalogical reconstruction of what the island looked like when Henry Hudson showed up. The recovered natural history — surprising fact 1: Manhattan was a diverse patchwork of many ecosystems with rich and abundant wildlife — has been compiled in book form, but the website too is very nifty. Interactive maps! Sliding overlays! Hours of fun for anyone who has lived in New York.
