Population 2,475,290 (2004).

Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City in southeastern New York State, coextensive with Kings County, and situated at the southwestern end of Long Island. It is bounded on the north and east by the borough of Queens, on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by Upper and Lower New York bays and the East River. Brooklyn is both an important industrial center, with extensive deepwater harbor facilities, and a densely populated residential area, the most populous borough of New York City. Brooklyn is linked to Manhattan across the East River by the Brooklyn Bridge (1883), the Manhattan Bridge (1909), the Williamsburg Bridge (1903), and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (1950), as well as by several subway tunnels. It is linked to Staten Island across the Narrows of New York Bay by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (1964).

Easy maritime access to the fine, sheltered New York Harbor has been instrumental in making Brooklyn one of the busiest ports in the United States, especially for international trade. The borough has a total water frontage of some 320 km (about 200 mi); developed facilities are concentrated in the northwest and handle large amounts of both foreign and domestic trade. Among the major imports are raw sugar, coffee, cacao, and spices, most of which are processed here before being transported elsewhere. Manufactures are diversified and include metal products, machinery, textiles, clothing, paper products, and electrical goods. Other important industrial activities include construction, transportation, and finance. During World War II (1939-1945), more than 70,000 men and women worked day and night building battleships at the Brooklyn Naval Yard. Closed in 1966, the former shipyard has been converted into an industrial park.

Brooklyn occupies a generally low and flat terrain. It has at least 28 geographical neighborhoods, many of which grew around early villages of the same name. Among the residential areas are the attractive Brooklyn Heights on a bluff overlooking the East River; Park Slope; Flatbush; Crown Heights; Bedford-Stuyvesant; and the seaside community of Coney Island. The principal business district is located in the western part of the borough between Brooklyn Heights and Flatbush Avenue Borough Hall (built 1846-1848) is the nucleus of this area, which is also the site of many of the borough's other major public buildings.

The borough has an extensive system of parks and recreational areas totaling some 1689 hectares (about 4170 acres). Most notable is Prospect Park; a landscaped area of broad drives and wooded hills, it contains a restored (1912) carousel and the Lefferts Homestead (1783), a Dutch colonial farmhouse. Part of the Gateway National Recreation Area is located along the Atlantic coast here; it includes Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Other major parks are Brooklyn Marine Park on Jamaica Bay and Dyker Beach Park, which adjoins Fort Hamilton, a United States Army reservation. The beaches and amusement area of Coney Island are also well known. Among the borough's many churches are the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims (1846) in Brooklyn Heights, of which the American clergyman Henry Ward Beecher was pastor and which was the center of activities of Abolitionists before the Civil War (1861-1865), and Brooklyn's oldest church, the Flatbush Reformed Protestant Church (built in 1654, rebuilt 1796).

Brooklyn has numerous institutions of higher education, including the Polytechnic University (1854), Pratt Institute (1887), Brooklyn College (1930) of the City University of New York, Long Island University (1926), Brooklyn Law School (1901), Saint Francis College (1884), and State University of New York Health Science Center (1858). The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences includes in its facilities the Brooklyn Museum (1897), with excellent African, Oceanic, and Native American collections; the Brooklyn Children's Museum (1899); the Brooklyn Academy of Music (1908), featuring innovative programming in dance, music, and theater; and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (1910), which includes a fragrance garden for the visually impaired. The Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation (1898), which maintains exhibition areas and research facilities, is located in Coney Island. The Brooklyn Historical Society (1863) also maintains a research library and sponsors permanent and changing exhibits.

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 (see Long Island, Battle of). 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.

Brooklyn New York