Named for Swedish sea captain Jonas Bronck, the Bronx is one of the five boroughs of New York City. However, the original name for the area was Keskeskeck: so named by the Siwanoy tribe, the indigenous inhabitants who lived there before the Europeans settled the territory in 1639.
The Bronx is the city’s northernmost borough with a population of 1.35 million. The Harlem River separates the Bronx from Manhattan Island and the East River separates it from Queens. There are many bridges and tunnels that connect the Bronx to Manhattan and Queens. And two of the city’s largest parks are to be found in the Bronx: Van Cortlandt Park and Pelham Bay Park.
According to an analysis of census data by Dr. Andrew Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College, “There is a significant immigrant presence in the borough. [I]n the Williamsbridge and Wakefield neighborhoods, more than 70 percent of all immigrants are from the island of Jamaica.” There tends to be high home ownership among Jamaicans in the Bronx. “The Bronx plays the same role for Jamaicans as it once did for Jews,” says Philip Kasinitz, an expert on Caribbean immigration at Hunter College. “It’s basically stable, middle-class neighborhoods.”
According to experts like Kasinitz, there were three waves of migration from Jamaica. The first occurred in the early decades of the 20th century when nationals like Marcus Garvey made their sojourn to the North. The second wave took place in the late 1930s through 1965, when Jamaicans established themselves as solid citizens, securing jobs within the service industries, buying homes and establishing strong family ties. These were the upwardly mobile. In those days, only middle class people were able to travel. The 1980s brought a new wave of migrants and since then Jamaicans have been steadily trekking to the United States, prompted by economic and other push factors at home.
Social impact
Thanks to the innovations of a young Jamaican deejay, Kool Herc, the popular art form known as Hip Hop emerged in the South Bronx in the early 1970s. Along with Afrika Bambaataa, also of Caribbean heritage and Grandmaster Flash, hip hop grew in popularity establishing the “boogie down Bronx,” or simply the “boogie down,” as the “place to be.” Nowadays, Jamaican restaurants and bakeries, hair dressing salons and barber shops are ubiquitous throughout the Bronx. Walking along major thoroughfares such as Fordham Road, White Plains Road, Dyre Avenue or Gunhill Road, it’s easy to see the transformation of the once Polish, Irish, Italian and Jewish neighborhoods. The music and culture of the Caribbean, especially Jamaica, permeate the soundtrack of everyday life.
Some places of interest in the Bronx are the Bronx Museum, New York Botanical Garden, the Bronx Zoo and Yankee Stadium. There are many prestigious high schools and universities in the borough, among them are some of New York’s most elite. They include private schools like Riverdale Country School and Horace Mann; high schools like Bronx School of Science, Walton and the High School of American Studies. Fordham University, the main campus of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Monroe College, and the State University of New York Maritime College are among the many institutions of higher learning located there. Three campuses of the City University of New York are located in the Bronx – Hostos Community College, Lehman College and New York University. The Bronx is the fourth most populous of New York City’s five boroughs.
