The Dongan Charter was three years after New York County was formed, as given by the previous links. The grid lines were laid down in 1807 or 125 years later. The planning commissions that considered trash pickups and fire controls were decades later than that. You’re confusing and conflating hundreds of years of history to make statements that are wrong by every historical measure. Annexation in New York never worked the way you said, ever, at any time. Are we clear about that yet?
Seneca Village, of course. As a single famous instance. There were many more.
Pfft - if you knew what you were talking about then you would have simply answered the question, The Dongan Charter gave all control over the Island of New York (aka Manhattan) to the City of New York.
Period. “Annexation” didn’t happen because you do not annex what you already control.
Don’t go getting pissy with me just because you couldn’t manage to answer a simple and straightforward question.
I think Sam made hi case As a matter of legal authority New York City was coterminous with New York County and Manhattan Island (ignoring ?City Island and other such grace notes) from 1686. Like a number of other cities elsewhere3 in the US later, it annexed (or was given by charter) municipal authority over all land within its county. Development and public services came much later, advancing up the island and incorporating settlements such as Harlem. ?The City of Rome, upstate, has a similar division between legal boundaries and developed area, as does the Village of Speculator.