Brooklyn

:For other senses, see Brooklyn (disambiguation).

History

Six Dutch towns

The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in the area that is today Brooklyn, a western part of Long Island then largely inhabited by the Canarsee Native American tribe. The area was considered a part of New Netherland, and the Dutch West India Company lost little time in chartering the six original towns (listed here first by their later, more common English names):

Related Topics:
Dutch - Europeans - Long Island - Canarsee - Native American - Tribe - New Netherland - Dutch West India Company

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• Gravesend: in 1645, settled under Dutch patent by English followers of Anabaptist Lady Deborah Moody
• Brooklyn: as "Breuckelen" in 1646, after the town now spelled Breukelen, Netherlands
• Flatlands: as "New Amersfoort" in 1647
• Flatbush: as "Midwout" in 1652
• New Utrecht: in 1657, after the city of Utrecht, Netherlands
• Bushwick: as "Boswijck" in 1661

Toward a united City of Brooklyn

What is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, to become a part of the colony of New York.

Related Topics:
English - 1664 - Colony of New York

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The English organized the six old Dutch towns of southwestern Long Island as Kings County in 1683, one of twelve counties then established in New York. This tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity.

Related Topics:
1683 - Counties

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On August 27, 1776, the Battle of Long Island (also known as the Battle of Brooklyn) was the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War. British troops forced Continental troops off the heights near the modern site of Grand Army Plaza. The American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, leaving the British in control of New York Harbor.

Related Topics:
August 27 - 1776 - Battle of Long Island - American Revolutionary War - Grand Army Plaza - Brooklyn Heights - New York Harbor

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The surrounding region was controlled by the British for the duration of the war, and the British military was largely supported by a dominant Loyalist sentiment in Kings County. New York only changed from a British colony to an American state with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Related Topics:
Loyalist - Treaty of Paris - 1783

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The first half of the 19th century saw the beginning of the development of urban areas on the economically strategic East River shore of Kings County, facing the adolescent City of New York confined to Manhattan Island.

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The first center of urbanization sprung up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1816. Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834.

Related Topics:
Urbanization - Lower Manhattan - 1816 - 1834

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In parallel development, the Town of Bushwick, a little farther up the river, saw the incorporation of the Village of Williamsburgh in 1827, which separated as the Town of Williamsburgh in 1840, only to form the short-lived City of Williamsburgh in 1851.

Related Topics:
Williamsburgh - 1827 - 1840 - 1851

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But the East River shore was growing too fast for the three-year-old infant City of Williamsburgh, which, along with its Town of Bushwick hinterland, was subsumed within a greater City of Brooklyn in 1854.

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Taking a thirty-year break from municipal expansionism, this well-situated coastal city established itself as the third-most-populous American city for much of the 19th century. As 'Twin City' to New York, it played a role in national affairs that is only now shadowed by its modern submergence into its old partner/rival.

Related Topics:
19th century - 'Twin City'

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Throughout this period the peripheral towns of Kings County, far from Manhattan and even urban Brooklyn, maintained their rustic independence. The only municipal change seen was the secession of the eastern section of the Town of Flatbush as the Town of New Lots in 1852. The building of rail links like the Brighton Beach Line in 1878 heralded the end of this isolation.

Related Topics:
1852 - Rail links - Brighton Beach Line - 1878

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Toward the end of the 19th century, the City of Brooklyn experienced its final, explosive growth spurt. In the space of a decade, it annexed the Town of New Lots in 1886, the Town of Flatbush, the Town of Gravesend, and the Town of New Utrecht in 1894, and the Town of Flatlands in 1896.

Related Topics:
19th century - 1886 - 1894 - 1896

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Brooklyn had reached its natural municipal boundaries at the ends of Kings County. The question was now whether it was prepared to engage in the still-grander process of consolidation now developing throughout the region.

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Brooklyn as New York borough

In 1898, Brooklyn residents voted by a slight majority to join with Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Richmond (later Staten Island) as the five boroughs to form the modern City of Greater New York. Kings County retained its status as one of New York State's counties. The loss of Brooklyn's separate identity as a city was met with some consternation by some residents at the time, and later; the merger has been known as the "Great Mistake of 1898", as it was called by many newspapers of the day, and the phrase still denotes Brooklyn pride among old-time Brooklynites.

Related Topics:
1898 - Manhattan - The Bronx - Queens - Richmond - Borough - City of Greater New York

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