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The Bronx,
New York has many distinctions: it is the only borough of New York City
on the mainland; 24% of its landmass of 42 square miles is parkland; it
has more institutions of higher education than most foreign countries,
making it the Borough of Universities; it is the home of Yankee Stadium,
the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Garden and the Hall of Fame for
Great Americans, among many other cultural institutions and tourist attractions.
History
of the Bronx: In 1639, the first European settler came to establish
himself on the mainland north and east of the Harlem River. His name
was Jonas Bronck. Born in Sweden, he had made a living as a commercial
seacaptain sailing out of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. He, his wife
and his indentured servants from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands
gradually cleared the woods and cultivated the lands between today's
Bronx and Harlem Rivers, mostly south of modern 150th Street. When Bronck
died in 1643, the only thing that was named after him that remained
over the years was the Bronck's (or, abbreviated, Bronx) River. In 1683,
the colonial government established counties, and all of the modern
Bronx was the southernmost portion of Westchester County. In 1874, a
dynamic and growing New York City annexed the part of today's Bronx
west of the Bronx River. That territory became part of New York City
and New York County. In 1895, the lands east of the Bronx River were
taken by the city as well. In 1898, the city took over Brooklyn, Queens
and Staten Island. Along with Manhattan, they all became subdivisions
of the city called boroughs. It was decided that the two areas previously
annexed should also become a borough, but those lands never really had
a name before. Looking at a map, the city fathers saw that the Bronx
River ran through the middle of the territory. For this reason, they
named it the Borough of The Bronx, after the river.
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