Memory layout

The NumPy documentation defines the ndarray class very clearly:

An instance of class ndarray consists of a contiguous one-dimensional segment of computer memory (owned by the array, or by some other object), combined with an indexing scheme that maps N integers into the location of an item in the block.

Said differently, an array is mostly a contiguous block of memory whose parts can be accessed using an indexing scheme. Such indexing scheme is in turn defined by a shape and a data type and this is precisely what is needed when you define a new array: