The history of
European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small
Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the
East River shore of
Long Island, grew to be a sizeable city in the 19th century and was consolidated in 1898 with New York City (then confined to
Manhattan and
the Bronx), the remaining rural areas of Kings County, and the largely rural areas of
Queens and
Staten Island, to form the modern City of New York.
