Spectacular New York At Night From 31,000ft

A Dutch 747 captain, Christiaan van Heijst, has taken this spectacular photo of New York at night from 31,000ft.

Christiaan van Heijst takes up the story:

"Millions of lights and millions of people, as seen from 31,000 feet. Manhattan, New Jersey, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens are quickly identified. The sparkling lights of Times Square, the lack of lights in Central Park, the high-rise skyscrapers of lower Manhattan.

"New York City is a place you either love or hate, and I'm definitely in the former faction. The first time I visited NYC was back in 1986 with my parents as a young toddler, only to go here on an almost monthly basis when I began flying the Boeing 747. Every time I'm here it feels like I see the city evolving and changing faces: new skyscrapers replacing older ones, ever more potholes, shops closing and new ones opening. I love it.

"Today a symbol of American culture, the city of New York was originally founded as 'New Amsterdam' in 1624 on the most southerly tip of Manhattan. This Dutch trading post served as the capital of the colonial providence of New Netherland: an area that encompassed a large part of what we now call the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and Pennsylvania. We can still see many references to these Dutch times in local names that have been anglicized over the course of the last three centuries: Brooklyn (Breukelen), Coney Island (Konijnen eiland), Wall Street (wal straat), Hempstead (Heemstede), Harlem (Haarlem) and of course the well-known Nassau Street and Holland Tunnel, to name a few.

"A few years of squabbling between the English and Dutch followed, where the city of New Amsterdam changed hands and names: from New York to New Orange and finally back to New York in 1674, when the Dutch decided to trade the entire area of New Netherland for modern-day Surinam: you win some, you lose some. I guess hindsight is always 20/20.

"Anyway, nearly four hundred years after the first Dutch dropped anchor from their wooden ships, a 20th century Dutchman sails high over old New Netherland, laying eyes on New Amsterdam.

"The Flying Dutchman with a camera, home away from home."

Nerd-facts: Nikon Z7, 21mm, 1/8s, f/2.8, ISO 1000

Christiaan is one of the world’s leading aviation photographers and more of his work can be found here.

You can follow Christiaan on Instagram here: @jpcvanheijst