At the time of early European exploration the site of present-day Brooklyn was occupied by the Canarsie people, an Algonquian-speaking group. The first European settlement of the area took place in 1636, when Dutch farmers purchased tracts of land near Gowanus Bay and founded the community of Amersfort (present-day Flatlands). In 1637 a group of Walloons settled in the vicinity of Wallabout Bay. In 1646 a settlement not far from the site of Borough Hall was patented and named Breucklen (Dutch for “marshland”) after a town in Holland. Other settlements followed, including Gravesend (1643), Flatbush (originally Midwout, 1651), New Utrecht (1657), and Bushwick (originally Boswyck, 1660). In 1667, three years after the British had seized New Netherland, Breucklen was united with several adjoining villages. Early growth was slow, however. During the American Revolution in 1776, American troops were decisively defeated by the British in a battle fought in and around the present location of Prospect Park. The British occupied the entire Brooklyn area until 1783. After the Revolution the community grew steadily, and its name finally became Anglicized as Brooklyn. In 1801 the New York Naval Shipyard was established on Wallabout Bay. Ferry service across the East River to Manhattan began in 1814, and the population began to increase rapidly. In 1834 the village of Brooklyn and several surrounding communities were incorporated as a city. The opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 further stimulated residential and industrial development. Other towns and cities were annexed gradually, until the addition of Flatbush in 1896 established the current boundaries. The city became a borough of New York City in 1898. In the 1980s and 1990s, racial tensions erupted in violence and demonstrations, particularly in the Bensonhurst and Crown Heights neighborhoods. Population 2,230,936 (1980); 2,300,664 (1990); 2,300,664 (1990).Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Brooklyn borough Information info
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