Queens is connected physically to Long Island. The Bronx is the home of New York's two greatest landmarks, the Bronx Zoo and Yankee Stadium. The area was named after the Dutch settler Jonas Bronck, who had claimed the area as his farm back in 1636. The Bronx is the only borough of New York that is physically connected to the mainland of the United States. The borough was largely undeveloped and consisted mostly of cottages, farmlands, and wild marshes until a large swell of Irish and Italian immigrants inhabited the area.
Immigrants still come to the Bronx, but today they are Russian and Hispanic.
The 16th century Florentine explorer Giovanni Da Verrazano is commonly considered to be father of Staten Island because he sailed into New York Harbor in 1524 and landed on the Island. In 1687 the Duke of York offered the island as a prize in a sailing competition which the team from Manhattan won. Since that time, Manhattan has claimed the island as its own. Until 1713, when the first public ferry was started to the island, there was no way to get back and forth unless you had a boat. Finally, in 1964 the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was built by Othmar Amman.