City of Greater New York towns and cities in Kings County. Only the western part of Queens County was part of the consolidation plan. In 1899, its three eastern towns separated to form the new Nassau County. While remaining a county in relation to the state, each county became a borough within the city, with the Bronx reunited to form a fifth borough that shared New York County with Manhattan. A separate Bronx County was established in 1914, making the present New York County co-extensive with the Borough of Manhattan. The term "City of Greater New York" was never a legal or official designation as
Western New York territory, as did New France until the Seven Years' War. Most of Western New York was officially off-limits to all of the colonies as a result of the establishment of an Indian Reserve over the area following the Seven Years' War. By the 1780s, only New York and Massachusetts still maintained their claims to the territory, which was separated from mainland New York by a Preemption Line. Under federal policy designed to extinguish the states' Revolutionary War debts, the states were required to extinguish their western land claims. Massachusetts extinguished its claim to the territory in exchange for receiving the