5 Boroughs
New York City is made up of five governmental districts named boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York state: The Bronx is Bronx County; Brooklyn is Kings County; Manhattan is New York County; Queens is Queens County; and Staten Island is Richmond County.
All five boroughs came into existence with the creation of modern New York City in 1898, when New York County (then including the Bronx), Kings County, Richmond County, and part of Queens County were consolidated within one municipal government under a new city charter. All former municipalities within the newly consolidated city were dissolved.
The City of New York began in lower Manhattan and grew to encompass Manhattan Island and the smaller surrounding islands that formed New York County. The city and county continued to grow northward, annexing areas on the mainland, absorbing territory from Westchester County in 1874 (West Bronx) and in 1895 (East Bronx). During the 1898 consolidation, this mainland territory was organized as the Borough of the Bronx, though still part of New York County. In 1914, Bronx County was separated from New York County so that each borough was then coterminous with a county.
When the western part of Queens County was consolidated with New York City in 1898, that area became the Borough of Queens. In 1899, the eastern section of Queens County was separated to form Nassau County, making the borough and county of Queens coextensive.
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