What Staten Island is known for

The Staten Island Region is made up of multiple cities, the main one being New York City. New York City has a population of 18.9 million people, and 170 different languages are spoken within the city. Around 50 million tourists come to the city each year, and around 4.3 million of them visit the Empire State Building during their stay in the city.[8] The metropolis is known for being near the Statue of Liberty. It is also known for housing the Empire State Building and Central Park, in addition to being the location where the Twin Towers were located. Within Brooklyn—a separate city located near New York City—there are a variety of activities that visitors can immerse themselves in, including the walking Brooklyn Bridge, playing in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, visiting the Brooklyn Museum, observing the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Prospect Park, the New York Transit Museum, and the Green-Wood Cemetery.[4]

Staten Island, the island the region is named after, is the least populated out of the five boroughs but also the second wealthiest of the boroughs. Staten Island has 170 parks and is home to some of the oldest buildings in the area. Staten Island is in New York, though it is located extremely close to New Jersey.[1] The island is 13.9 miles long and 7.3 miles wide and is generally shaped like a triangle. It has a total of 60.9 square miles, making it the third-largest borough.[2] On the island, there is an assortment of activities that visitors can participate in, such as the Staten Island Museum, the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, the National Lighthouse Museum, Seaside Wildlife Nature Park, the Alice Austen House, the Conference House, Fort Wadsworth, the New York Harbor, the Seguine Mansion, and the Staten Island Children's Museum.[3]

Geography

The Staten Island Region is located in southern New York. It is mostly made up of islands and boroughs, including Staten Island. The west side of the region follows along the state line of New York and New Jersey. The rest of the region wraps around Greenport, Montauk, East Hampton, South Hampton, and the Great South Bay. The north end of the destination continues through the small section of land between New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and ends before it reaches the city of White Plains. Other cities within the region are Brooklyn, Queens, Garden City, Farmingdale, Long Island, Bay Shore, Riverhead, and Sag Harbor. The district is mostly flat and made up of cities. There are also a few forested areas, along with bays and harbors. 

Because of the weather, the most popular time to visit Staten Island is from the middle of April to the middle of June. On Staten Island, there is an average high temperature of around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, while the average low temperature is around 32 degrees. The island gets rain throughout the year, though the highest chances of rainfall are in December and June, with other chances of rain being in February and March. The island does not get snow but is relatively humid. The average humidity is the highest during December. Most of the tourists that come to the area come in July, August, and September, though there are visitors throughout the entire year.[7]

Animals that live on Staten Island consist of reptiles, mammals, amphibians, fish, and fungi. Mammals that live on the island include Virginia opossums, eastern cottontails, eastern gray squirrels, groundhogs, Easter chipmunks, American beavers, muskrats, white-tailed deer, harbor seals, bottlenose dolphins, cetaceans, skunks, and raccoons. There are eight different types of tortoises that live in the area and four species of snakes.[5] Plants that grow well on the island are mostly plantain lilies, Japanese knotweeds, winter squash, Franklin trees, pink azaleas, English lavender, handkerchief trees, and ghost trees.[6]

History

Staten Island, which is located in the Staten Island Region, was inhabited by the Raritan and Unami Indians until the Dutch attempted to establish settlements in the area around 1630. The island was first sighted in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazano. The island was called Staaten Eylandt by the Dutch when they first tried to establish cities. However, the Indians living on the land were unfriendly to the Dutch and drove the attempts of settlements from the island. Eventually, three wars were fought over the island. These wars were the Pig War, which happened in 1641, the Whiskey War (1642), and the Peach War, which ended in 1655. After the wars, the disputes were settled, and the Dutch were able to build a colony called Old Town or Oude Dorp that was located near South Beach (the colony was built in 1661). In 1664 the English took over the colony and renamed it after the Duke of Richmond, who was the son of King Charles II. By the end of the seventeenth century, the island's population was at 1,063 residents.[2] 

New Jersey was given control over Staten Island when it was given the original land grant, which extended to the middle of the Narrows. When New York was formed, it gained control over the waters as far as the low watermark on the Jersey shore. A dispute between the two states lasted for about 200 years until 1833, when both states finally agreed on their borders. New York gained ownership over Staten Island, while New Jersey was given the rights over the water on the west side of the island.[2]

Staten Island, which is what the Staten Island Region is named after, played an important role in the Revolutionary War. Before the British arrived in New York, George Washington spent some time surveying Staten Island. He established a look-out at the Narrows that gave him a warning of the British's arrival. In 1776 General Howe arrived in New York after evacuating Boston with his troops. On July 2nd of the same year, he began landing his troops near the watering-place to make preparations for the approaching army. Eventually, 30,000 troops occupied Staten Island. On July 12th General Howe's brother, Admiral Lord Howe, arrived with his fleet, followed by Generals Henry Clinton and Lord Cornwallis on August 14th. A battle broke out between the English and the British on the island, and the battle was called the Battle of Long Island. In 1776 Admiral Lord Howe attempted to end the war by separating the provisional government from George Washington. He met secretly with Benjamin Franklin, Edward Rutledge, and John Adams; however, the meeting failed to bring an end to the war. When the war finally ended, much of the island's more wealthy inhabitants moved to Canada, and their houses were confiscated by New York State and sold.[2]

In 1788 the New York State Legislature divided the island into four towns, which consisted of Castleton, Northfield, Southfield, and Westfield. Middletown was added as a city in 1860. Each town has its own appointed and elected officials. The island's population grew slowly over time, but not well enough. Some of the inhabitants believed that consolidation could be the answer to the problem, but others disagreed. Consolidation was approved by the Legislature in 1897 despite the objections of New York's mayor. Since consolidation, the roads and sewer systems have improved, but the island is still not as advanced as the other nearby boroughs.[2]