History of Bronx

On 1 Jan 1898, the Annexed district of New York City became the Borough of the Bronx. Paleo-Indian arrived in the area about 12,000 years ago. At the time of European contact, there were several settlements of Algonquin speaking bands in the area of what become Bronx.

The Bronx acquired its name only after the present borough became part of New York in 1895. Although technically named after the river, the name indirectly honors the first recorded European settler, Jonas Bronck.

In 1639 Jonas Bronck, a sea captain born in Sweden and rising in the Netherlands, was the first European settler, along with his Dutch, German and Danish. He arrived in New Netherland in 1639, farmed some six hundred acres in what is the Mott Haven section, and his tract was known as Bronck’s Land.

By 1846, population in the western Bronx had increased so much that the Town of West Farms was created. West Farms, originally a village on the Bronx River, had become an important manufacturing center due to its water-powered mills.
History of Bronx