Brooklyn was once home to the Canarsie Native American tribe,
people who fished and farmed the land. In the early 1600s,
though, Dutch colonists moved in and took over the area. Over
the next 400 years, Brooklyn's forested, rural landscape gave
way to urbanization, and the area eventually became the Brooklyn
we know today -- one of the most populated regions in the United
States. Below is a brief history of the borough. Mid-1600s -
Dutch Colonies Form Originally, Brooklyn consists of six
separate Dutch towns, all chartered by the Dutch West India
Company. The colonies are known as: Gravesend, settled in 1645
Breuckelen, settled in 1646 New Amersfoort (present-day
Flatlands), settled in 1647 Midwout (present-day Flatbush),
settled in 1652 New Utrecht, settled in 1657 Boswijck (present-
day Bushwick), settled in 1661 1664 - The English Take Control
In 1664, the English conquer the Dutch and gain control of
Manhattan, along with Brooklyn, which then becomes a part of the
colony of New York. On November 1, 1683, t