BROOKLYN, a city at the w. end of Long Island, in the United States, belonging to New York state, in lat. 40° 42' n., 73° 59' west. It stands at the s.w. extremity of Long Island sound, which is here appropriately known as East river, partly in allusion to the narrowness of its channel and the rapidity of its tide, and partly in contradistinction to North river as a second name of the Hudson. Between B. and New York there are numerous ferries of about three-quarters of a tn. iu width, on which ply steam-boats every few minutes by day, and every half-hour by night. B. is connected with New York by a suspension bridge nearly half a m. long and 125 ft. above the water. In 1850, the pop. was 96,838; in 1870, 396.099; and in 1875, 482,687. B. was founded by the Dutch in 1625, and in 1776 its neighborhood was one of the principal seats of the revolutionary war. Occupying comparatively elevated ground, B. commands a complete
view of the adjacent waters and their shores, while, notwithstanding its inequalities of surface, it consists chiefly of straight streets, crossing each other at right angles. It is divided into wards, and governed by a mayor and aboard of aldermen. B. has a very large number of churches (whence it is often called the " city of churches"), several flourishing banks, various literary institutions, and numerous seminaries of education— an ample share, in short, of all that characterizes a wealthy, populous, and intelligent community. It has an immense trade in grain, the warehouses being capable of holding about 12,000,000 bushels. It possesses also a national navy-yard, which embraces 45 acres of land, and magnificent docks, including a wet-dock for the largest vessels, the most extensive in the union.