Guide to Brooklyn, NYC guide
NYC - Brooklyn guide - Travel, accommodation and sites
Brooklyn, named by the Dutch as Breukelen after the town in Holland, was bought from the Native Americans who were living there at the time in the 17th century. Later, the English kicked out the Dutch and renamed New Amsterdam, New York.
Today, Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs that makes up New York City and is located on Long Island at the western end of the island. For many years, Brooklyn was a city in its own right until the late 1890s when it was 
subsumed with New York. At the current count, Brooklyn is the most densely populated area of New York with about 2.5 million citizens. rooklyn is also the second largest area in terms of square miles at 71, with only Queens being larger at 109 square miles.
Residents in Brooklyn consider themselves to have a distinct character separate from the residents of Manhattan Island and other districts that make up New York City. Arts and culture both play important roles within Brooklyn and the area has architecture that is entirely its own. In many ways, Brooklyn is the original melting pot although the varying ethnic communities stick in the most part to their own particular districts.
Brooklyn has been made famous in books and movies for:
- its Nobel prize winners;
- its widely ranging ethnic groups;
- the Brooklyn Bridge;
- the food stores on Franklin Avenue;
- the Brooklyn Museum; and
- Brooklyn’s Botanic Gardens.
In the southern part of Brooklyn is Coney Island, which was originally a holiday resort for the New York rich. People would come from Manhattan to the race tracks to bet on horses and to stay in the luxury seaside hotels. Later, thanks to the development of mass transport, Coney Island became popular with the masses and gradually declined over the decades.
Today, Coney Island is back on the up with many fine restaurants and historical sites that are being preserved for future generations including the wooden Cyclone rollercoaster that was constructed in 1927.
Other areas of New York City
