American Scientist

Cities and water go together. It was natural to establish early camps, settlements and forts beside streams, rivers, lakes and bays. Such locations provided ready access not only to the substance essential to life but also to fishing, transportation and security. It is no accident that the nucleus of New York City was at the tip of lower Manhattan, which commands a strategic view of the harbor, or that the U.S. Military Academy sits on West Point, which is located at a double turn in the Hudson River, where enemy ships were forced to navigate slowly, thus making them easy targets.