New York City York metropolitan area produced a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of US$1.73 trillion. If greater New York City were a sovereign state, it would have the 12th highest GDP in the world. New York City traces its origins to a trading post founded by colonists from the Dutch Republic in 1624 on Lower Manhattan; the post was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed "New York" after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York. New York served as the capital of
New York City English of a process of social identification, recent researches attribute the loss of typical accent features to in-group ethnic distancing. In other words, many of the young generations of ethnic groups who formerly were the most representative speakers of the accent are currently avoiding its features in order to not stand out socially and/or ethnically. The pronunciation of New York City English, most popularly acknowledged by the term "New York accent", is readily noticed and stereotyped, garnering considerable attention in American culture. Some well-known phonological features include its traditional dropping of "r", a short-"a" split system (in which, for example, the