History of New York City (prehistory–1664) with the ethnic and racial balance of the community. The economic activity brought in a wide variety of ethnic groups to the fledgling city during the 17th century, including Spanish, Jews, and Africans, some of them as slaves. The Dutch origins can still be seen in many names in New York City, such as Coney Island (from "Konijnen Eiland" – Dutch for "Rabbit Island"), Bowery from "bouwerij" (modern Dutch "boerderij" = "farm"), Brooklyn (from Breukelen), Harlem from Haarlem (formalized in 1658 as "Nieuw Haarlem"), Greenwich Village (from Greenwijck, meaning "pine wood quarter"), Flushing (from Vlissingen) and Staten Island (from "Staaten
York Shire (Province of New York) Manhattan Island, and the east side of the Hudson River coterminous with Westchester Like the original Yorkshire in England for which it was named, Yorkshire, New York was divided into three ridings: "East", "West" and "North". New York's East Riding consisted of modern Suffolk County, its West Riding Staten Island, modern Brooklyn and modern Elmhurst, Queens (also known as Newtown) and its North Riding the rest of modern Queens, Nassau County, Westchester County and the Bronx. On July 21, 1667, the Peace of Breda between England, France and the Netherlands confirmed the English conquest of New York from the Dutch