The Financial District (Manhattan)
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The Financial District is the neighborhood in New York City on the southernmost section of the island of Manhattan which comprises the offices and headquarters of many of the city's major financial institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange.
As a district, it encompasses roughly the area south of City Hall Park but excluding Battery Park and Battery Park City. The heart of the Financial District is often considered to be the corner of Wall Street and Broad Street, both of which are contained entirely within the district.
Federal Hall National Memorial, on the site of the first US Capitol and the inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States, is located at the corner of Wall Street and Nassau Street.
Although becoming more residential, as evidenced by more apartments within the district itself, as well as several hotels, the neighborhood is considered to be primarily a destination for daytime traders and office workers from around New York City and the surrounding areas.[1] (http://www.nyc-apartments-exchange.com/Financial_District3.html)
Although the term is sometimes considered to be synomomous with "Wall Street", the latter term is usually taken to imply the financial markets as a whole, whereas the Financial District implies an actual geographical location.
The neighborhood is roughly coterminous with the boundaries of the New Amsterdam settlement in the late 17th century. A few surviving examples of Dutch colonial architecture amidst the skyscrapers can be found along southern Pearl Street.
Other financial districts in the world include the Bahrain Financial Harbor located in the Kingdom of Bahrain, an international financial hub, designed to cluster the financial services industry into a specific geographic location.