The Great Gatsby

New York and Long Island Geography

New York

New York 1928

New York 21st Century

Long Island: Geography

• Long Island is an island located in South Eastern New York, USA, its western shores directly across from Manhattan.

• It contains four counties, two of which (Queens and Kings) are boroughs (Queens and Brooklyn) of New York City, and two of which (Nassau and Suffolk) are suburbs of that city.

• Population: 7,559,372 making it the most populated island in any U.S. state or territory.

Long Island: History• Initially the island was inhabited by aboriginal people.

• The western portion of Long Island was later settled by the Dutch, while the eastern region was settled by English Puritans

• African Americans have been an integral part of Long Island history, most arriving first as slaves before the Revolution and working both at domestic and rural trades. New York and Long Island kept slavery until it was outlawed in 1799. Most freed people settled near where they had been living.

• 19th century Long Island was rural and agricultural, except in parts of Kings (Brooklyn) and Queens counties

• In the 1920s and 1930s, Long Island began the transformation from backwoods and farms to the paradigm of the American suburb. Railroads made possible commuting suburbs before construction of the Long Island Expressway and other major roadways.