----------------------------Original message---------------------------- I couldn't resist passing along parts of this discussion to Adrian Ettlinger, the author of AniMap and a resident of the NYC area. He responded with the following dissertation: ============================================================ To clear up, especially for Frank Reed and April Carlucci, the geographical history of the northern end of Manhattan Island: As April correctly points out, Inwood is the northern end of the Island. The part of the mainland that is within the political boundaries of the Borough of Manhattan is Marble Hill. How this came about: Prior to 1895, the waters of the upper Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek were continuous, even at low tide, but navigable only by small craft and shallow enough at low tide that one could wade across. In 1895, the first section of the Harlem Ship Canal was dug, cutting off the Marble Hill area from Manhattan Island. When the Borough of the Bronx was established in 1898, Marble Hill was left in the Borough of Manhattan, as it had been part of the City of New York for long prior to the other areas of the mainland, the first of which had been annexed to New York City only in 1874. In 1938, the Harlem Ship Canal was straightened at its western end and this left a small tract of land south of the channel attached to Manhattan which once had been part of the mainland. In fact, this tract had once been part of Westchester County. This is now parkland adjacent to Columbia University's athletic complex. While there might be some legal reasons for classifying certain islands as part of the mainland, anything that is "a tract of land surrounded by water" is still, by common usage, an island and not a peninsula. The City of Alameda, CA, is as example of a tract that was once a peninsula and was turned into an island by the digging of a canal. I suppose I'd have to concede, however, that no one calls Cape Cod or the Delmarva Peninsula islands because of the canals across their bases. \end of Adrian's comments/ ============================================================= So.... can someone tell me if the legal definition of an island differs from the common dictionary definition. Art Lassagne Gold Bug Historic Maps & Software [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit our web site: http://www.goldbug.com Historic map reproductions ~~ downloadable maps ~~ product info & demos Links to U.S. and Canadian Geographic Servers and other interesting sites ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~