History of Brooklyn

Brooklyn may have gotten its name from the Dutch word for broken land, Breukelen, but since it was first settled in the 1620s it has become an international symbol for unity among people from all over the world. From the 1630s to the 1660s, the Dutch established five settlements here - Breukelen, Nieuw Amersfort, Midwout, Nieuw Utretcht and Boswyck - and the British established a sixth in Gravesend, which marked the only colonial American town founded by a woman, Lady Deborah Moody. (Brooklyn has been blazing the trail of gender, racial and ethnic equality ever since.) By 1860, Brooklyn had become the third largest city in America, as well as an international industrial center and port. As bridges and trains facilitated transportation, the five boroughs merged in 1898 to become part of New York City, and today Brooklyn remains the largest borough, with 2.6 million residents, and the icon of the American city.

The history of Brooklyn is visible in every corner of the borough. The restored Weeksville Society in Crown Heights commemorates one of America's first free black communities. Hundreds of beautiful houses of worship have garnered Brooklyn a reputation as the "borough of churches." From brownstones to Italianate mansions to federal brick row-houses to turn-of-the-century limestones, Brooklyn homes are the finest display of classic American architecture. And there's no better way to experience Brooklyn history than through its limitless variety of ethnic foods and eateries in the borough's diverse neighborhoods, including Dumbo, Flatbush, and Redhook, all of which provide a unique slice of the story of the American Dream, Brooklyn-style.

Learn more about the History of Brooklyn