The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The Bronx has a land area of and a population of 1,472,654 at the 2020 census. It has the fourth largest area, fourth largest population, and third highest population density of the boroughs.New York State Department of Health, Population, Land Area, and Population Density by County, New York State – 2010 , retrieved on August 8, 2015. The Bronx is the only borough located primarily on the U.S. mainland, bordering Westchester County to its north; the Hudson River and the borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River, to its west; the borough of Queens, across the East River, to its south; and Long Island Sound to its east. The borough is coextensive with Bronx County, one of the 62 counties of New York State.
The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a hillier section in the west and a flatter eastern section. East and west street names are divided by Jerome Avenue. The west was annexed to New York City in 1874, and the areas east of the Bronx River in 1895. Bronx County was separated from New York County (which had included the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx) in 1914.On the start of business for Bronx County: Bronx County In Motion. New Officials All Find Work to Do on Their First Day. The New York Times, January 3, 1914 (PDF retrieved on June 26, 2008):
"Despite the fact that the new Bronx County Court House is not completed there was no delay yesterday in getting the court machinery in motion. All the new county officials were on hand and the County Clerk, the District Attorney, the Surrogate, and the County Judge soon had things in working order. The seal to be used by the new county was selected by County Judge Louis D. Gibbs. It is circular. In the center is a seated figure of Justice. To her right is an American shield and over the figure is written 'Populi Suprema.' ..." "Surrogate George M. S. Schulz, with his office force, was busy at the stroke of 9 o'clock. Two wills were filed in the early morning, but owing to the absence of a safe they were recorded and then returned to the attorneys for safe keeping. ..." "There was a rush of business to the new County Clerk's office. Between seventy-five and a hundred men applied for first naturalization papers. Two certificates of incorporation were issued, and seventeen judgments, seven lis pendens, three mechanics' liens and one suit for negligence were filed." "Sheriff O'Brien announced several additional appointments." About a quarter of the Bronx's area is open space, including Woodlawn Cemetery, Van Cortlandt Park, Pelham Bay Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bronx Zoo in the borough's north and center. The Thain Family Forest at the New York Botanical Garden is thousands of years old and is New York City's largest remaining tract of the original forest that once covered the city. These open spaces are primarily on land reserved in the late 19th century as urban development progressed north and east from Manhattan. The Bronx is also home to Yankee Stadium of Major League Baseball.
The word Bronx originated with Jonas Bronck, who established the first European settlement in the area as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639.*
European settlers displaced the native Lenape after 1643. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bronx received many immigrant and migrant groups as it was transformed into an urban community, first from European countries (especially Ireland, Germany, Italy, and Eastern Europe) and later from the Caribbean region (particularly Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Haiti, Guyana, Jamaica, Barbados, and the Dominican Republic) and West Africa (mainly Ghana and Nigeria). African American migrants from the Southern United States as well as Panamanians, Hondurans, and South Asians also established themselves in the borough in large numbers.Braver (1998)
The Bronx contains what had been the poorest of all 435 U.S. congressional districts, New York's 15th, until redistricting following the 2020 census.Santiago, Amana Luz Henning. "NY has the richest, poorest, smallest, most unequal congressional districts" , City & State, December 5, 2019. Accessed October 9, 2025. "Poorest: District 15 Since 2010, the 15th Congressional District has been the poorest – as well as the most Democratic – House district in the country. As of 2017, the median household income in the district was estimated to be $28,042, according to 24/7 Wall St.’s analysis of 2017 census data – well below the city’s $33,562 poverty threshold at that time. The local congressman, Rep. José E. Serrano, is retiring. Most people of color: District 15 has the highest number of people of color, at 97%, compared with the rest of the country, as of 2017, according to the APM Research Lab." The borough also features upper- and middle-income neighborhoods, such as Riverdale, Fieldston, Spuyten Duyvil, Schuylerville, Pelham Bay, Pelham Gardens, Morris Park, and Country Club.The Almanac of American Politics 2008, edited by Michael Barone with Richard E. Cohen and Grant Ujifusa, National Journal Group, Washington, D.C., 2008 (paperback) or (hardback), chapter on New York stateU.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2003, Section 31, Table 1384. Congressional District Profiles – 108th Congress: 2000 Parts of the Bronx saw a steep decline in population, livable housing, and quality of life starting from the mid-to-late 1960s and lasting well into the 1980s, including a wave of arson in the late 1970s.Gonzalez, David. "How Fire Defined the Bronx, and Us", The New York Times, January 20, 2022, updated June 22, 2023. Accessed October 9, 2025. "Those of us who grew up in the South Bronx during the 1970s and ’80s have been defined by the fires that incinerated our neighborhoods, which had already been set up to fail by disinvestment, redlining and eminent domain — which resulted in a trench gouged through the community by Robert Moses’ Cross Bronx Expressway." The South Bronx, in particular, experienced severe urban decay. The borough began experiencing new population growth starting in the late 1990s and continuing to the present day.See the "Historical Populations" table in History above and its sources.
Etymology and naming
Early names
The Bronx was called by the native Siwanoy band of Lenape, also known historically as the Delawares. Other Native Americans knew the Bronx as Keskeskeck. It was divided by the Aquahung River (now known in English as the Bronx River).
The "Bronx" name derives from Jonas Bronck (), a European settler whose precise origins are disputed. Documents indicate he was a Swedish-born immigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish in Småland, Sweden, who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639., excerpted at The Bronx ... Its History & Perspective Karl Ritter, "Swedish town celebrates link to the Bronx" Associated Press, August 21, 2014. which also refers to a claim by the Faeroe Islands. Bronck became the first recorded European settler in the present-day Bronx and built a farm named "Emmaus" close to what today is the corner of Willis Avenue and 132nd Street in Mott Haven.
He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of the mainland immediately north of the Dutch settlement of New Haarlem (on Manhattan Island), and bought additional tracts from the local tribes. He eventually accumulated between the Harlem River and the Aquahung, which became known as Bronck's River or the Bronx River. Dutch and English settlers referred to the area as Bronck's Land.
The American poet William Bronk was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, probably Jonas Bronck's nephew or cousin, as there was an age difference of 16 years. Much work on the Swedish claim has been undertaken by Brian G. Andersson, former Commissioner of New York City's Department of Records, who helped organize a 375th Anniversary celebration in Bronck's hometown in 2014.
Use of definite article The Bronx is referred to with the definite article as "the Bronx" or "The Bronx", both legally and colloquially.See, for example, New York City Administrative Code §2–202 See, for example, references on the New York City website The "County of the Bronx" also takes "the" immediately before "Bronx" in formal references, like the coextensive "Borough of the Bronx". The United States Postal Service uses "Bronx, NY" for mailing addresses. The definite article comes from the Bronx River and first appeared in the "Annexed District of The Bronx", created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County.Clarke, Erin "What's in a Name: How 'The' Bronx Got the 'The'" , NY1, June 7, 2015, Retrieved on February 6, 2016.Steven Hess, "From The Hague to the Bronx: Definite Articles in Place Names", Journal of the North Central Name Society, Fall 1987.
It was continued in the "Borough of The Bronx", created in 1898, which included a larger annexation from Westchester County in 1895.Genealogical Information about the Bronx , Westchester County, New York. Accessed October 9, 2025. "A number of towns which were at one time part of Westchester County now form the Bronx.The towns were annexed by New York City over a period of many years and finally combined to form the Bronx Borough in 1898." The use of the definite article is attributed to the style of referring to rivers. A time-worn story purportedly explaining the use of the definite article in the borough's name says it stems from the phrase "visiting the Broncks", referring to the settler's family.
The capitalization of the borough's name is sometimes disputed. Generally, the definite article is lowercase in place names ("the Bronx") except in some official references. The definite article is capitalized ("The Bronx") at the beginning of a sentence or in any other situation when a normally lowercase word would be capitalized. Some people and groups refer to the borough with a capital letter at all times, such as Bronx Borough Historian Lloyd Ultan, The Bronx County Historical Society, and the Bronx-based organization Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx, arguing the definite article is part of the proper name. In particular, the Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx is leading efforts to make the city refer to the borough with an uppercase definite article in all uses, comparing the lowercase article in the Bronx's name to "not capitalizing the 's' in 'Staten Island.
History
Originally, the area was part of the Lenape's Lenapehoking territory inhabited by Siwanoy of the Wappinger Confederacy.Levine, David. "A Native History of the Hudson Valley", Westchester magazine, June 4, 2021. Accessed October 9, 2025. "The Lenape (sometimes Lenni-Lenapi, meaning, roughly, “the real or original people”) first populated the Delaware River Valley, particularly around Minisink (“the place where stones are”) where New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania meet....Colonization took out the rest. By 1639, the Dutch West India Company, under the colony’s director, Willem Kieft, had begun a land grab in present-day Westchester and the Bronx." European colonization of the Bronx began in 1639.Hartman, David; and Lewis, Barry. "A Walk Through The Bronx: Early European Residents" , WNET. Accessed October 9, 2025. "Thirty years later in 1639, the mainland was settled by Jonas Bronck, a Swedish sea captain from the Netherlands who eventually built a farmstead at what became 132nd Street and Lincoln Avenue; a small group of Dutch, German, and Danish servants settled with him." Over time, European colonists converted the area into farmlands. The Bronx was originally part of Westchester County, but it was ceded to New York City in two major parts (the West Bronx in 1874 and the East Bronx in 1895), subsequently becoming Bronx County.
Before 1914