Long Island

Long Island, largest island of the continental United States, south-eastern New York State. The island is 190 km (118 mi) long and ranges in width from 19 to about 32 km (12 to 20 mi), with an area of 4,356 sq km (1,682 sq mi). It is bounded on the north by Long Island Sound, on the east and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by the Narrows and New York Bay, and on the north-west by the East River. Two major airports, John F. Kennedy International Airport and La Guardia Airport, are situated here. A number of bridges and tunnels connect western Long Island with the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx; the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, a long suspension bridge, connects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island.

About one-eighth of Long Island comprises Kings and Queens counties, which are coextensive with the New York boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. More than half the population of Long Island lives in these boroughs. The other two divisions of Long Island are Nassau and Suffolk counties, the latter occupying the eastern portion of the island. The total population of the island (1990) is 6,861,474. The northern shore of the island is hilly and deeply indented; the southern shore is flat and protected from the ocean by numerous long, narrow strips of land. Peconic Bay, 48 km (30 mi) long, divides the eastern end of the island into two peninsulas: The northern peninsula terminates in Orient Point, and the south in Montauk Point. The island is a noted resort region, with numerous bathing beaches and other recreational facilities.

Extensive manufacturing of great diversity is carried on primarily in Brooklyn and Queens. Nassau and Suffolk counties constitute one of the most important market-gardening regions in the United States; poultry raising is also an important industry. Oyster farming and deep-sea fishing are major industries in Suffolk County.

The English navigator Henry Hudson sighted Long Island in 1609, when it was inhabited by Algonquian peoples. The early Dutch and English colonists quarrelled over possession of the island, and by a treaty concluded in 1650 the Dutch received the western end of the island and the English the eastern end. In 1664 the whole island became part of the English colony of New York, a status interrupted (1673-1674) briefly by Dutch intervention. In the American War of Independence, the British defeated the Americans in a battle on Long Island in 1776.