MLB[edit] Touki Toussaint, member of the Arizona Diamondbacks NBA/WNBA[edit] Blake Griffin, member of the Los Angeles Clippers after being drafted 1st in the 2009 NBA draft[14][15] Jeff Adrien, undrafted NBA free agent[16] Marie Ferdinand-Harris, first Haitian-American WNBA player drafted; former Phoenix Mercury guard Mario Elie, former Houston Rockets guard Nerlens Noel, member of the Philadelphia Sixers after being drafted 6th in the 2013 NBA draft Olden Polynice, former Utah Jazz player Quincy Douby, former Sacramento Kings guard and current Zhejiang Golden Bulls player[17] Taylor Griffin, drafted by the Phoenix Suns. Samuel Dalembert, current center for the New York Knicks NCAA[edit] Zach Auguste, current Notre Dame basketball player NFL[edit] Antonio Cromartie, current cornerback for the New York Jets[18] Carlos Joseph, former offensive tackle for the San Diego Chargers Cliff Avril, current defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks[19] Corey Lemonier, offensive linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers Corey Liuget, defensive end for the San Diego Chargers D'Anthony Batiste, current offensive tackle for the Arizona Cardinals[20] Da'Mon Cromartie-Smith, current safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers Davin Joseph, current offensive guard for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers [20] Dominique Easley, Defensive tackle for the New England Patriots Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, current corner back for the Denver Broncos[20] Elvis Dumervil, current defensive end for the Baltimore Ravens[18] Emmanuel Lamur, current linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals[21] Giovani Bernard, current running back for Cincinnati Bengals Gosder Cherilus, current offensive tackle for the Indianapolis Colts[19] Jacques Cesaire, former defensive end for the San Diego Chargers Jason Pierre-Paul, current defensive end for the New York Giants

Jayson DiManche, current outside linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals Jonal Saint-Dic, former defensive end Kansas City Chiefs (2008)[18] Jonathan Vilma, current linebacker for the New Orleans Saints[20] Josh Gordon, wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns Junior Galette, current Linebacker for the New Orleans Saints[22] Kevin Pierre-Louis, linebacker for the Seattle Seahawks[23] Leger Douzable, defensive end for the New York Jets Lemuel Jeanpierre, guard and center for the Seattle Seahawks Louis Delmas, current safety for the Detroit Lions[19] Mackenzy Bernadeau, guard for the Dallas Cowboys Marc Dile, former guard/tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Max Jean-Gilles, former offensive guard for the Philadelphia Eagles[18] Pierre Desir, current cornerback the Cleveland Browns Pierre Garçon, current wide receiver for the Washington Redskins[19] Pierre Thomas, current running back for the New Orleans Saints[18] Rashad Jeanty, former linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals and current defensive lineman for the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL [20] Ricky Jean-Francois, current defensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers[19] Rodman Noel, current linebacker for the Cleveland Browns Stalin Colinet, former defensive end/tackle[24][25] Stanley Arnoux, former linebacker for the New Orleans Saints Stanley Jean-Baptiste, current cornerback for the New Orleans Saints Steve Josue, former linebacker Steve Octavien, former linebacker for the Cleveland Browns and current linebacker for the Omaha Nighthawks of the UFL[18] Terrence Fede, defensive end for the Miami Dolphins Vernand Morency, former running back for the Houston Texans (2005–2006) & Green Bay Packers (2006–2007)[18] Vladimir Ducasse, current offensive tackle for the New York Jets Whitney Mercilus, current linebacker for the Houston Texans William Joseph, former defensive tackle for the New York Giants[18] Yvenson Bernard, former running back for the St. Louis Rams, and Seattle Seahawks NHL[edit] Francis Bouillon. professional hockey player Soccer/MLS[edit] Andrew Jean-Baptiste, soccer player Brian Sylvestre, soccer player Derrick Etienne, soccer player Fafà Picault, soccer player Gilbert Bayonne, soccer player Jacques LaDouceur, retired soccer player Jerrod Laventure, soccer player, forward (striker) for Red Bull New York Joenal Castma, retired soccer player; played in the U.S. and Poland John Boulos, soccer player and is in the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame Jozy Altidore, soccer player for Toronto FC Pat Fidelia, retired soccer player Ronil Dufrene, retired soccer player Sébastien Thurière, soccer player Stefan Jerome, soccer player Steward Ceus, soccer player Haitian diaspora From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2011) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (September 2008) Most Haitians live abroad, chiefly in the Dominican Republic, United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Canada (primarily Montreal) and Bahamas. They also live in other countries like France, Jamaica, the French Antilles, the Turks and Caicos, Mexico, Virgin Islands, Brazil, and French Guiana, among others. In the United States alone there are an estimated 975,000 people of Haitian ancestry, according to the 2010 Census; there is a Haitian community of about 200,000 in Canada[1] and an estimated 500,000-800,000 in the Dominican Republic (Baez Evertsz and Lozano 2008). The Haitian community in France numbers about 90,000,[2] and up to 80,000 Haitians now live in the Bahamas.[3] Contents [hide] 1 Dominican Republic 2 North America 2.1 Particulars 2.2 Present status in the U.S.A. 2.3 New York City 2.3.1 Brooklyn 2.3.2 Queens 2.3.3 Manhattan 2.3.4 Metropolitan area 2.3.5 Ethnic visibility 2.4 Miami 2.4.1 Little Haiti 2.4.2 Delray 2.4.3 Ethnic visibility 2.5 Boston 2.5.1 Ethnic visibility 2.6 New Jersey 2.6.1 Ethnic visibility 2.7 Philadelphia 2.8 Chicago 2.9 Atlanta 2.9.1 Ethnic visibility 2.10 Detroit 2.11 Washington, D.C. 2.12 Deaths 2.13 Canada 2.14 Quebec 2.15 Ottawa, Ontario 3 Cuba 4 References Dominican Republic[edit] Main article: Haitians in the Dominican Republic [icon] This section requires expansion. (May 2014) North America[edit] Particulars[edit] Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, an immigrant from Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), founded the first nonindigenous settlement in what is now Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. The State of Illinois and City of Chicago declared du Sable the Founder of Chicago on October 26, 1968. In January 2010, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada will consider fast-tracking immigration to help Haitian earthquake refugees.[4] US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that the estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Haitians "not legally in the United States" as of January 12, 2010, would be granted a form of asylum called temporary protected status (TPS).[5] Thousands of Haiti earthquake survivors, including Haitian children left orphaned in the aftermath of earthquake, could be relocated to the US.[6] Senegal is offering parcels of land – even an entire region if they come en masse – to people affected by the earthquake in Haiti.[7] There is a significant Haitian population in South Florida, specifically the Miami enclave of Little Haiti. New Orleans, Louisiana has many historic ties to Haiti that date back to the Haitian Revolution. New York City, especially in Flatbush, East Flatbush and Springfield Gardens, has a thriving émigré community with the second largest population of Haitians of any state in the nation. There are large and active Haitian communities in Boston, Spring Valley (New York), New Jersey, Washington D.C., Providence, Rhode Island, Georgia, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. There are also large Haitian communities in Montreal, Canada, Paris, France, Havana, Cuba, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Kingston, Jamaica.[8] Anténor Firmin was a 19th-century Haitian anthropologist, perhaps the first black anthropologist and an early writer of négritude, who influenced 20th century American anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits.[9] Michaëlle Jean, the former Governor General of Canada and now Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, was a refugee from Haiti who came to Canada in 1968 at age 11. Haitian immigrants have constituted a very visible segment of American and Canadian society, dating back to before the independence of Haiti from France in 1804. Haiti's proximity to the United States, and its status as a free black republic in the years before the American Civil War, have contributed to this relationship. Many influential early American settlers and black freemen, including Jean Baptiste Point du Sable and W. E. B. Du Bois, were of Haitian origin. In modern times, large-scale emigration from Haiti is mostly because they have been steadily migrating in significant numbers to the United States since the late 1950s–early 1960s, soon after François Duvalier (“Papa Doc”) became the strongman of Haiti. The political repression that characterized Duvalier's regime forced large numbers of Haitians to seek safer harbor in the United States. Sustained political oppression, economic hardship, and lack of opportunity continued to drive contingents of Haitian immigrants out of their homeland throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s[10] Present status in the U.S.A.[edit] Haitian immigration persists to the present day, as evidenced in the numerous reports of major news networks, such as those of CNN or the New York Times, about the boat people disembarking on the Florida shores as recently as October 2002. One The combination of push and pull factors led Haitians to cross the Caribbean Sea, by plane or by boat, legally or illegally, in order to reach the shores of America, the perceived land of opportunity, to begin new lives. An examination of the records of the Census Bureau as well as those of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) allows for reasonable inferences about the size of the legal Haitian population currently residing in the United States. However, estimates provided by community leaders who offer assistance to the illegal population as well suggest that the actual number of the Haitian diaspora is higher than that recorded in government documents. In short, there is good reason to believe that the Haitian diaspora in the United States exceeds 850,000, and according to community leaders may be close to 1 million. That the Haitian community in the U.S. is one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups is reflected in its political gains. Florida boasts two Haitian-American state lawmakers, and another recently served as secretary of health under former Gov. Jeb Bush, who actively courted the community's votes. In Chicago, Kwame Raoul, the son of Haitian émigrés, now fills Sen. Barack Obama's former state Senate seat. Pierre-Richard Prosper, the son of Haitian doctors, served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes after he was nominated by President Bush in January 2001. He ended his term in 2005. Under heavy lobbying by the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus and some Republicans, Congress enacted the HOPE Act, and President Bush signed it. The act provides duty-free imports for some Haitian textiles. The Bush administration also spared Haiti some of the deep aid cuts that hit other Latin American nations. The Congressional Black Caucus has urged more economic aid for Haiti and criticized the lack of U.S. support for former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted in 2004 amid a violent uprising[citation needed]. New York City[edit] New York City has the largest concentration of Haitians in the United States as well as the oldest established Haitian communities of the country. The conservative estimate of the legal Haitian population in the New York City Metropolitan Area, as recorded by INS is approximately 156,000. However, community leaders and directors of community centers, who come in constant contact with the illegal population, strongly believe that the actual number is closer to 400,000. This number includes the non-immigrant (temporary visitors, students, temporary workers and trainees) and undocumented entrants, as well as the legal population who does not bother to fill out the census forms for a variety of reasons. Moreover, the New York City Haitian population represents a very heterogeneous group, reflecting the various strata of Haitian society. Members of the middle class started migrating during the U.S. occupation in the 1920s and 1930s; at the time they established their enclaves in Harlem, where they mingled with African Americans and other Caribbean immigrants who were contributing to the Harlem Renaissance. Significant waves followed exponentially during the Duvalier era that started in 1957 and ended in 1986 with the ousting of Baby Doc. These waves were more heterogeneous than previous ones, as no single class of Haitians was immune from the Duvaliers’ dictatorship. To date, cohorts of Haitians continue to come to New York, many being sent for by relatives already established in the city. Haitians reside in all the boroughs. Brooklyn[edit] The largest communities are found in Brooklyn where the legal population is placed at approximately 88,763, and in Queens where the number of Haitians is believed to be around 40,000. Members of the community who are of working-class background tend to establish their residence in Brooklyn, primarily in the neighborhoods of Flatbush, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, and Canarsie; many are apartment dwellers many homes in the area are duplexes and triplexes. Middle-class Haitians who choose to stay in Brooklyn own brownstone homes in the Park Slope area and single family homes in the Midwood section. Queens[edit] Generally speaking, Haitians themselves consider the majority of their compatriots living in Queens to be mostly middle class. Members of this group enjoy ownership of their homes or cooperative apartments in the neighborhoods of Cambria Heights, Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, and Jamaica. Less privileged Haitians settle in the working-class neighborhoods of Rosedale; generally members of the professional community live in the more affluent section of Holliswood, and some move to the adjacent counties of Nassau and Suffolk which are parts of Long Island. Manhattan[edit] In Manhattan, a small concentration of working-class Haitians (7%) congregates on the Upper West Side and Harlem. Some reside along Cathedral Parkway and in Washington Heights. Very few Haitians (less than 1%) establish their niches in the Bronx. Metropolitan area[edit] In this discussion, it is also important to recall that Haitians have established communities in the neighboring counties of Westchester and Rockland that are included in the Greater New York Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as in the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut. In fact, Spring Valley in Rockland County has a relatively large segment of Haitian residents, estimated at 23% of the population. In Westchester County the city of Mt. Vernon has a small but significant Haitian community. Ethnic visibility[edit] The sheer number of Haitians in New York makes them a highly visible ethnic community. In their ethnic neighborhoods, Haitians have managed to visibly recreate the cultural habits of their homeland with the establishment of many ethnic businesses, such as music shops, grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, bars, beauty and barber shops, travel agencies, shipping companies, money transfer companies, and a hodgepodge of other businesses, which prominently display their allegiances to their native country. Those are found all along Flatbush, Church, and Nostrand Avenues, as well as along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn; on Linden, Farmers and Francis Lewis Boulevards, and Jamaica and Hillside Avenues in Queens. They are easily recognizable since many display signs written both in English and Haitian Creole (sometimes in French), such as Yoyo Fritaille, Le Manoir, Le Viconte, Haiti Parcel & Cargo Inc., and Bakery Creole. On intensely hot days, passersby strolling along these avenues and boulevards have their nostrils filled with the aromas of fried meats and plantains, and their ears with rhythms of Sweet Micky, Kompa, Zin, T-Vice, CaRiMi, Tabou Combo, and Boukman Eksperyans, to name some of the most celebrated musical groups and bands. Animated conversations in Haitian Creole can be heard, as members of the community “hang out” in those shops and businesses to discuss home politics and news, exchange gossip, find out what goes on in the community, and keep alive their various traditions, be they culinary, intellectual, literary, or artistic. During the summer, some musicians perform a parading musical form called Rara in Central Park and Prospect Park.[11] Miami[edit] The legal Haitian-American population of Miami-Dade County, Florida, based on government records, is approximately 100,000. However, when one factors in the attested underrepresentation of the Census data, as well as the number of illegal immigrants, there is good reason to believe that community leaders and technocrats who work with the Haitian community are not wrong to place Haitian population at over 200,000. A large contingent of Haitians may have arrived illegally to Miami. Haitian people seeking political asylum and/or economic opportunity have been steadily pouring onto the southern Florida shores since the early 1970s. Little Haiti[edit] Haitians have established themselves in the Edison/Little River area of Miami, which eventually came to be referred to as Little Haiti. Once they are able, some end up moving out of Little Haiti to the neighboring municipality of North Miami, where a relatively large segment of Haitian immigrants of lower-middle-class background relocates. On the other hand, Miami is also experiencing another wave of Haitian immigration, this time coming from the Northeast United States (New York and Boston), the Midwest (Chicago), and Montreal, Canada. This particular group of Haitians is composed mostly of middle-class individuals who, having worked assiduously for many years, have been able to save money and profit from the sale of their homes in order to relocate to Miami, where the cost of living is not lower than that of Boston and New York, but the tropical weather and lifestyle are reminiscent of those of their native Haiti. This class of Haitians live in the middle-class sections of Miami Shores, North Miami Beach, El Portal, and Miami Gardens. Irrespective of the presence of middle-class Haitians, Miami is considered the city that received (and continues to receive) the largest segment of lower-class Haitians, consisting of poor peasants from andeyò (countryside) and urban dwellers. Many of these Haitians found new lives in the Edison/Little River section of Miami, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. Soon after, this area became known as Little Haiti, and is now one of the most recognizable Haitian communities in the United States. From north to south, Little Haiti extends from 84th Street to 36th Street; from west to east, it is ten blocks wide, stretching from 6th Ave, NW to 4th Ave, NE. It is crossed by two major north-south axes: Miami Avenue, and Second Avenue NE renamed Avenue Morrisseau-Leroy after the revered Haitian writer who championed the cause of Haitian Creole in literature, and who spent the later years of his life in Miami until his death in the late summer of 1998. The main thoroughfares that cross east/west are 36th, 54th, 62nd, and 79th Streets. Estimates of the population of Little Haiti vary from 40,000 to 55,000. Little Haiti is also considered one of the poorest areas of Miami-Dade County. The following figures were released by the Edison/Little River Neighborhood Planning Program (1994–96): The per capita income is $5,693, the median household income is $14,142, and close to half the population lives below poverty level. City government efforts are currently underway to revitalize the neighborhood, by creating long-term economic development, and improving housing and infrastructure. The City of Miami has established in Little Haiti a neighborhood service center (along with others throughout the metropolitan area), known as Neighborhood Enhancement Teams (NET) to address the social problems of the community. Delray[edit] Delray Beach, Florida, has become the US town with the largest percentage Haitian population in the United States. More than just sheer numbers, the Haitian community also grew geographically, economically, and socially; extending itself while maintaining a relatively low profile in the community it has adopted as its own. This growth has paralleled the incredible economic turnaround of Delray Beach as a municipality. It represents the awakening of a community which for a long time has lived in the shadow of its larger neighbor in Miami. The impressive growth has also brought about some strains within the Haitian community and in the community’s interactions with the other residents of Delray Beach. Ethnic visibility[edit] Most of the Haitian businesses in Little Haiti are found along the major arterials mentioned above; like those of New York, they are unmistakably Haitian with names such as Bèl Fouchèt, Piman Bouk, Les Cousins, Libreri Mapou, and Cayard Market. They include restaurants, grocery stores, dry cleaning establishments, tailor and shoe repair shops, shipping and money transfer companies, botanicas (shops that sell mostly religious/spiritual objects, including Vodou artifacts), among others. Little Haiti is the heart of the Haitian community of Miami. Boston[edit] Boston has attracted significant numbers of immigrants from Haiti for over 40 years. This arrival over time of Haitians in Boston corresponded to several waves of migration that have come to the United States from the Caribbean country since the 1950s. The largest of these migratory waves in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s flowed into the metropolitan New York area. Since the late 1970s, the largest destination has expanded to include South Florida. Haitians have settled in sections within the Boston city limits and its surrounding area. The location and diffusion of the population has mirrored the growth of the community. Highly concentrated in the city at first, Boston’s Haitians slowly expanded to neighboring municipalities and, most recently, to far-flung suburbs. There are, for example, significant numbers of the population in Brockton, Randolph, and Malden. The area of greatest Haitian concentration in Boston proper is in Mattapan, followed by Dorchester, Hyde Park and Roxbury. Blue Hill Avenue is an important Haitian thoroughfare. The street runs through Roxbury and Dorchester. Its last section, in Mattapan, is Boston's Haitian ‘downtown.’ There, the street is dotted with several Haitian businesses. Many Haitian churches and organizations have their headquarters along Blue Hill Avenue also. On the north bank of the Charles River, Haitians settled in Cambridge in the 1950s and 60s. The population in this area now numbers approximately 7,500. Interestingly, although Haitians did not arrive in nearby Somerville until the early 1990s, the community there today is almost as large as the one in Cambridge. Currently, however, increasing costs of living in Cambridge and Somerville are beginning to drive out people of modest means. The result has been the relocation of many of these area’s Haitians to the more affordable neighboring towns of Revere, Everett, and Lynn. Ethnic visibility[edit] In the mind of most Americans,[citation needed] Boston is a city of politics, and politics in Boston is dominated by its Irish population, particularly the legendary Kennedy family. In today’s city, however, where the traditionally powerful white population has recently become a minority, another immigrant group — Haitians — has found itself in a position to play an important role in building institutions, starting enterprises and building broad political coalitions with other groups. The strong organizational basis of the community is evident from the broad array of public and private entities that serve it. To those who have followed the community’s evolution, it unsurprising that Haitians in Boston are beginning to develop themselves into an emerging, local political force. A variety of entrepreneurial activities established in the Haitian population have been highly successful in the Boston area. Activities focusing on food services (catering and restaurants), money transfer, tax preparation, and financial management are among the most common, attracting interest and sustaining success. These enterprises cater to the needs of any recently arrived and rapidly growing population. Haitian entrepreneurs have established businesses through the Boston metro region. Mattapan to Dorchester, on both sides of Blue Hill Avenue, they are in greatest profusion. Many of the area’s earliest immigrants from Haiti were skilled professionals who went on to become locally prominent lawyers, doctors, and educators. In increasing numbers, Haitian immigrants are working in the region’s health care system, particularly as nurses. One community leader[who?] suggests that a visit to any nursing home in the Boston area would uncover the fact that 75% of those working there are Haitian.[citation needed] Other common areas of employment include office positions with the high-tech companies along Route 128, as well as positions as teachers in elementary and high schools. The Haitian community in Boston, now almost 50 years old, has adjusted to several waves of immigration, each bringing people with different socio-economic backgrounds, interests, and needs. Members of today’s community include a variety of generations and individuals that have had radically different life experiences, ranging from a 70-year-old man who arrived in the late 1950s to a 10-year-old, third generation child who has never been to Haiti. Finding the common ground among such diverse members of the population is one issue in the community as is another one, dictated at least in part by geography. As Haitians spread throughout the metropolitan area, they are becoming somewhat economically segmented, with the blue-collar, lower-middle-class population in places like Mattapan or Somerville confronting quite different issues and challenges than the more white-collar, upper-middle-class families in places like Randolph on the outer fringes of the metropolitan area. New Jersey[edit] New Jersey is also home to the fourth largest population of Haitians in the United States after Florida, New York and the Boston area. There are several areas of New Jersey which the communities of Haitians live. The largest is in North Jersey where the population is visible around the Essex County cities of Irvington, Orange, East Orange, Newark concentrated in the area of Vailsburg. Other areas of North Jersey where a Haitian presence is visible are in Elizabeth, Bayonne, and Jersey City. There is also a growing population in the suburbs of Essex and Union County in West Orange, Maplewood, Roselle and Union. Other growing populations of the Haitian community can be seen in Central and South Jersey specifically in Asbury Park, Trenton, Willingboro and the Pleasantville/Atlantic City area. Ethnic visibility[edit] The visibility of Haitians living in New Jersey especially in North Jersey can be seen in the different businesses such as music shops, grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, bars, beauty and barber shops, travel agencies, tax companies, shipping companies, money transfer companies, and a hodgepodge of other businesses, which display their allegiances to their native country. Those are found all along Main Street and Central Avenue in Orange and East Orange, along Springfield, Stuyvesant and Clinton Avenues in Irvington and along South Orange Avenue in Newark and East Orange. Haitian-American youth are especially visible at collegiate institutions, such as Rutgers University, Kean University and Montclair State University where a very active Haitian student organization is present on campus. Philadelphia[edit] Next to the NYC/New Jersey/Connecticut/Massachusetts area, Philadelphia has also become home to a growing number of Haitians. Like many other groups, the lower cost of living in Philadelphia has attracted many immigrants who entered the US through New York. Unlike New York, the community is not centralized. There are large numbers of Haitians in North Philadelphia, Northeast, and some in other areas like Olney, East Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill, and West Philadelphia. The conservative number of Haitians in Philadelphia is 30,000. Chicago[edit] There are two elected Haitian-American official in the Chicago area, an alderman in Evanston, a suburb that straddles the city’s north side where many Haitian immigrants have settled and state senator Kwame Raoul. Lionel Jean-Baptiste, an attorney in private practice, was elected alderman in Evanston on April 3, 2001 becoming the first Haitian-American in the state to hold public office. Of the 8,000 residents in his ward, only about a hundred are Haitian and only about 30 of them registered voters, but that hasn’t stopped Haitians throughout the region from claiming him as their own. Eighty percent of the financing for his campaign came from Haitian donors. Still, the community has had difficulty asserting itself. Indeed, Illinois’ Haitian population of about 15,000 is much smaller than that of Haitian communities on the East Coast. There are about half a million Haitians in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut region, about 250,000 in Florida and about 70,000 in Massachusetts[citation needed]. Unlike those states, Illinois’ Haitian community is widely dispersed, with small enclaves of Haitian professionals, middle and working-class people and poor, undocumented refugees scattered in small clusters in and around Chicago. There is not a Little Haiti neighborhood here, like in Miami, to act as a voting block. Atlanta[edit] Presently, there is already a sizable Haitian community in Atlanta. And it is, indeed, growing at a rapid pace. Unlike most other Haitian-American centers, though, Atlanta does not have a central neighborhood where it is located. The community, like the city, is spread out considerably over a large area. To a certain extent this diffusion of the Haitian population has been a hindrance to the community’s ability to organize itself. At this moment, however, the tide seems to be turning, as a number of issues are galvanizing the community and bringing it closer together. Changes in the migration flows of Haitians to Atlanta, awareness of national-scale Haitian-American issues and the approaching bicentennial of Haiti’s independence are all factors contributing toward the solidification of Atlanta’s spread out Haitian population. Ethnic visibility[edit] The Haitian community is spread out over the large, greater metropolitan area of Atlanta. Because there is no single area within the metropolitan vastness where Haitians have settled, there is no specific Haitian commercial area. Haitians live, work and shop throughout the greater Atlanta area which now includes the surrounding Gwinnett, Cobb, Douglas, Dekalb, and Clayton counties. Within those counties, they live, work, and shop in such towns as Lawrenceville, Smyrna, Marietta, Decatur, Stone Mountain and Austell. One of the areas of Haitian businesses within this great urban sprawl is on Moreland Avenue in Atlanta proper, where two Haitian-owned businesses face each other in a small shopping center. A number of Haitian businesses are located in Marietta, but not within a close range of each other. In addition, many new Haitians from the Northeast and Florida are relocating to the middle-class area of Gwinnett County in Lawrenceville. This area is establishing itself as the center of Haitian economic development in the Atlanta metropolitan area with a family friendly culture and atmosphere with great schools, parks, and shops. Detroit[edit] Haitians in the Detroit area are not located in any single neighborhood or part of the city. The greatest concentration of Haitian families, however, is in Northwest Detroit, within an area bounded by Telegraph Road, the Southfield Freeway, 5 Mile Road and 8 Mile Road. Located within this general area is St. Gerard’s, one of two Roman Catholic churches attended by Detroit’s Haitians. Sacred Heart, the other, is located closer to downtown Detroit. Also not far from downtown, on Ferry Street in Detroit’s museum district near Wayne State University, is another key institution of the Haitian community, the Espoir Center for Caribbean Arts and Culture. Washington, D.C.[edit] Haitians in the metropolitan Washington area are found in the city and in outlying areas in Virginia and Maryland. Although Washington’s Haitians are scattered within the region, the single location with the heaviest concentration of Haitian-Americans is the suburban area of Silver Spring, Langley Park and Hyattsville, Maryland, home of the future ISU president Sebi. As evidence of this fact, not only are such Haitian institutions as Yon-Yon’s catering business, but also one can occasional hear spoken Creole in shops and stores in this part of Montgomery County and in nearby Prince George's County. Deaths[edit] See also: 2009 Turks and Caicos Islands migrant shipwreck In the spring of 2007 a sloop overcrowded with at least 160 passengers left 82 dead. Some of the deceased were eaten by sharks say the survivors. In May 2009, similarly, nine Haitian migrants were killed when a boat loaded with approximately 30 passengers capsized.[12] 124 Haitian migrants were repatriated to Haiti after attempting to reach the United States. The U.S. coast guard reported that a 60 meters (200 ft) boat was intercepted at the end of July 2009.[13] Approximately 200 Haitian migrants were on board a ship which capsized on Tuesday July 28, 2009 killing at least 11. The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 113 survivors in the shallow waters off the Turks and Caicos Islands coastline. Reports say that migrants may pay up to $500 to brokers for an opportunity to travel in these boats.[12] The vessel had launched about three days ago. The ship hit a reef as they steered away from a police vessel in an attempt to hide.[14] The injured are being cared for in an Caribbean Islands hospital. Lt-Cdr Matthew Moorlag of the US Coast Guard reported that approximately over 100 are illegal immigrants.[15] Canada[edit] Brooklyn From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). Coordinates: 40°41'34?N 73°59'25?W Brooklyn Brooklyn, New York Borough of New York City Kings County Clockwise from top left: Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn brownstones, Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch, Brooklyn Borough Hall, Coney Island Clockwise from top left: Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn brownstones, Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch, Brooklyn Borough Hall, Coney Island Flag of Brooklyn Flag Official seal of Brooklyn Seal Motto: Eendraght Maeckt Maght ("Unity makes strength") Location of Brooklyn, shown in red, in New York City Location of Brooklyn, shown in red, in New York City Coordinates: 40°37'29?N 73°57'8?W Country United States of America State New York County Kings City New York City Settled 1634 Named for Breukelen, Netherlands Government • Type Borough (New York City) • Borough President Eric Adams (D) — (Borough of Brooklyn) • District Attorney Kenneth P. Thompson — (Kings County) Area • Total 97 sq mi (250 km2) • Land 71 sq mi (180 km2) • Water 26 sq mi (70 km2) Population (2015) • Total 2,621,793[1] • Density 36,732/sq mi (14,182/km2) • Demonym Brooklynite ZIP Code prefix 112 Area code(s) 347, 718, 917, 929 Website www.Brooklyn-USA.org Brooklyn (/'br?kl?n/) is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with a Census-estimated 2,621,793 people in 2014.[1] It is geographically adjacent to the borough of Queens at the western end of Long Island. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, the most populous county in the State of New York and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, after New York County (Manhattan).[2] With a land area of 71 square miles (180 km2) and water area of 26 square miles (67 km2), Kings County is the fourth-smallest county in New York State by land area and third-smallest by total area, though it is the second-largest among New York City's five boroughs.[3] Today, if it were an independent city, Brooklyn would rank as the fourth most populous city in the U.S., behind only the other boroughs of New York City combined, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Brooklyn was an independent incorporated city (and previously an authorized village and town within the provisions of the New York State Constitution), until January 1, 1898, when, after a long political campaign and public relations battle during the 1890s, according to the new Municipal Charter of "Greater New York", Brooklyn was consolidated with the other cities, boroughs and counties to form the modern "City of New York" surrounding the Upper New York Bay with five constituent boroughs. It continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture, as befitting the former second or third largest city in America during the later 19th century. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves where particular ethnic and nationality groups and cultures predominate. Brooklyn's official motto is Eendraght Maeckt Maght, which translates from early modern Dutch to "In unity, there is strength". The motto is displayed on the Borough seal and flag, which also feature a young robed woman bearing a bundle of bound rods known as a "fasces", a traditional emblem of Republicanism.[4] Brooklyn's official colors are blue and gold.[5] New York City's five boroughs Jurisdiction Population Land area Density Borough County Estimate (2014) square miles square km persons / sq. mi persons / sq. km Manhattan New York 1,636,268 23 59 71,672 27,673 The Bronx Bronx 1,438,159 42 109 34,242 13,221 Brooklyn Kings 2,621,793 71 183 36,732 14,182 Queens Queens 2,321,580 109 283 21,333 8,237 Staten Island Richmond 473,279 58 151 8,160 3,151 City of New York 8,491,079 303 786 27,858 10,756 State of New York 19,746,227 47,214 122,284 416 159 Sources: see individual articles Part of a series of articles on Long Island—Title.svg Topics Geography History Economy Transportation Politics Music People Popular culture Recreation Law enforcement Regions Brooklyn Queens Nassau County Suffolk County Municipalities North Shore South Shore North Fork South Fork Long Island Sound Barrier islands v t e Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 Colonial era 1.1.1 Six Dutch towns 1.1.2 Six townships in an English province 1.1.3 Revolutionary War 1.2 Post-colonial era 1.2.1 Urbanization 1.2.2 Civil War 1.2.3 Twin city 1.2.3.1 Mayors of the City of Brooklyn 1.3 New York City borough 2 Government and politics 3 Economy 4 Demographics 4.1 2010 4.2 2009 and 2012 estimates 4.3 Languages 5 Neighborhoods 6 Culture 6.1 Cultural attractions 6.2 Media 6.2.1 Local periodicals 6.2.2 Ethnic press 6.2.3 Television 6.3 Events 7 Parks and other attractions 7.1 Sports 8 Transportation 8.1 Public transport 8.2 Roadways 8.3 Waterways 9 Education 9.1 Higher education 9.1.1 Public colleges 9.1.2 Private colleges 9.1.3 Community colleges 10 Brooklyn Public Library 11 Partnerships with districts of foreign cities 12 Hospitals and healthcare 13 See also 14 References 14.1 Notes 15 Further reading 15.1 Published 1950–present 15.2 Published until 1949 16 External links History[edit] See also: Timeline of Brooklyn Currier and Ives print of Brooklyn, 1886. Brooklyn Museum - Hooker's Map of the Village of Brooklyn The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years. The settlement began in the 17th century as the small Dutch-founded town of "Breuckelen" on the East River shore of Long Island, grew to be a sizable city in the 19th century, and was consolidated in 1898 with New York City (then confined to Manhattan and part of the Bronx), the remaining rural areas of Kings County, and the largely rural areas of Queens and Staten Island, to form the modern City of New York. Colonial era[edit] Six Dutch towns[edit] [show]New Netherland series A typical dining table in the Dutch village of Brooklyn, c. 1664, from The Brooklyn Museum. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle the area on the western edge of Long Island, which was then largely inhabited by the Lenape, a Native American people who are often referred to in contemporary colonial documents by a variation of the place name "Canarsie". The "Breuckelen" settlement, named after Breukelen in the Netherlands, was part of New Netherland, and the Dutch West India Company lost little time in chartering the six original parishes (listed here first by their later, more common English names):[6] Gravesend: in 1645, settled under Dutch patent by English followers of the Anabaptist, Lady Deborah Moody, possibly after Gravesend, England, or 's-Gravenzande, Netherlands Brooklyn: as "Breuckelen" in 1646, after the town now spelled "Breukelen", Netherlands Flatlands: as "New Amersfoort" in 1647 Flatbush: as "Midwout" in 1652 New Utrecht: in 1657, after the city of Utrecht, Netherlands Bushwick: as "Boswijck" in 1661 Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furman's early (1824) compilation.[7] The capital of the colony, New Amsterdam across the East River, obtained its charter later than the village of Brooklyn did, in 1653. The neighborhood of Marine Park was home to the first tidal mill in North America. This mill was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today. However, the area was not formally settled as a town. Six townships in an English province[edit] Village of Brooklyn and environs, 1766 What is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, in a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. New Netherland was taken in a naval action, and the conquerors renamed their prize in honor of the overall English naval commander, James, Duke of York, brother of the Monarch, King Charles II of England and future king himself as King James II of England and James VII of Scotland; Brooklyn became a part of the new English and later British colony, the Province of New York. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1, 1683,[8] one of "Original Twelve Counties" then established in New York Province. This tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. Lacking the patroon and tenant farmer system established along the Hudson River Valley, this agricultural county unusually came to have one of the highest percentages of slavery among the population in the "Original Thirteen Colonies" along the Atlantic Ocean eastern coast of North America.[citation needed] Revolutionary War[edit] Further information: Battle of Long Island and New York and New Jersey campaign The Battle of Long Island was fought across Kings County. On August 27, 1776, the Battle of Long Island (also known as the Battle of Brooklyn) was the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the modern sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park, and Grand Army Plaza.[9] Washington, viewing particularly fierce fighting at the Gowanus Creek from his vantage point atop a hill near the west end of present-day Atlantic Avenue, was famously reported to have emotionally exclaimed: "What brave men I must this day lose!".[10] The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, leaving the British in control of New York Harbor. While Washington's defeat on the battlefield cast early doubts on his ability as the commander, the subsequent tactical withdrawal of all his troops and supplies across the East River in a single night is seen by historians as one of his most brilliant triumphs.[10] The surrounding region was controlled by the British for the duration of the war, as New York City was soon occupied and became their military and political base of operations in North America for the remainder of the conflict. The British generally enjoyed a dominant Loyalist sentiment from the remaining residents in Kings County who did not evacuate, though the region was also the center of the fledgling — and largely successful — American intelligence network, headed by Washington himself. The British set up a system of notorious prison ships off the coast of Brooklyn in Wallabout Bay, where more American patriots died of intentional neglect than died in combat on all the battlefields of the American Revolutionary War, combined. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 resulted, in part, in the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. Post-colonial era[edit] Urbanization[edit] A preindustrial Winter Scene in Brooklyn, c. 1819–20, by Francis Guy (Brooklyn Museum). The first half of the 19th century saw the beginning of the development of urban areas on the economically strategic East River shore of Kings County, facing the adolescent City of New York confined to Manhattan Island. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay (border between Brooklyn and Williamsburgh) for the entire 19th century and two thirds of the 20th century. The first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1816. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a commuter town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York. Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. In parallel development, the Town of Bushwick, a little farther up the river, saw the incorporation of the Village of Williamsburgh in 1827, which separated as the Town of Williamsburgh in 1840, only to form the short-lived City of Williamsburgh in 1851. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the northern part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems. But the East River shore was growing too fast for the three-year-old infant City of Williamsburgh, which, along with its Town of Bushwick hinterland, was subsumed within a greater City of Brooklyn in 1854. By 1841, the growing city across the East River from Manhattan, boasted its own highly regarded newspaper with the appearance of the The Brooklyn Eagle, and Kings County Democrat published by Alfred G. Stevens.[11] It later became the most popular and Orhan Dogan Orhan Miroglu Osman Baydemir Osman Öcalan Özlem Cekic Pervin Buldan Qazi Muhammad Rassul Mamand Rowsch Shaways Riya Qahtan Roya Toloui Sadegh Sharafkandi Sadet Karabulut Saladin Saleh Yousefi Salih Muslim Muhammad Sedigh Kamangar Selim Sadak Sevahir Bayindir Shahab Sheikh Nuri Sharaf Khan Bidlisi Shaikh Mahmood Barzenji Sheikh Ubeydullah Shibal Ibrahim Shirkuh Simko Shikak Soraya Serajeddini Sulaiman Shah Tamar Fattah Ramadhan Kuchar Taha Muhie eldin Marouf Taha Yassin Ramadan Theophobos Walid Jumblatt Widad Akrawi Yitzhak Mordechai Zübeyir Aydar Film directors and actors edit Bahman Ghobadi Behrouz Gharibpour Dilsa Demirbag Sten Dilshad Meriwani Ghotbeddin Sadeghi Hisham Zaman Huner Saleem Jamil Rostami Jano Rosebiani Kadir Talabani Mahmoud el Meliguy Mano Khalil Nisti Stêrk Shahram Alidi Shero Rauf Yilmaz Güney Yilmaz Erdogan Yüksel Yavuz Zeynel Dogan Hulya Avsar Rojda Demirer Belçim Bilgin Sport edit Aziz Yildirim Ahmad Al Salih Ahmad Karzan Amar Suloev Aram Khalili Avar Raza Aziz Shavershian Bovar Karim Celal Ibrahim Dara Mohammed Deniz Naki Ahmad Meshari Al Adwani Dr Abdul Razzak Al Adwani Thuraya Al Baqsami Abdullah Al Buloushi Jaber Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Abdulaziz Al Anberi Fahad AlSharekh Abdul Rahman Al Sumait Faisal Al Dakhil Fehaid Al Deehani Mohammed al Ghareeb Wael Sulaiman Al Habashi Zaid Al Harb Jassem Al Houwaidi Ibrahim Khraibut Faiza Al Kharafi Jassem Al Kharafi Nasser Al Kharafi Abdullah III Al Salim Al Sabah Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Nasser Al Mohammed Al Ahmed Al Sabah Bader Al Nashi Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Saad Al Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Abdallah Saleh Ali Al Ajmi Jamal Mubarak Ibrahim Al Mudhaf Bader Al Mutwa Abu Obeida Tawari al Obeidi Abdullah Abdul Latif Al Othman Abdullah Al Refai Ahmed al Rubei Sabah III Al Salim Al Sabah Salem Al Ali A Sabah Salem Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah Salim Al Mubarak Al Sabah Nawaf Al Mutairi Fahad Al Rashidi Ahmed Al Sadoun Fawzi Al Shammari Anouvong Boua Bounkhong Bouasone Bouphavanh Laasaenthai Bouvanaat General Cheng Fa Khai Fa Ngum Fay Na Huy of Champasak Sisavath Keobounphanh Kham Nai Kham Souk of Champasak Kham Oun I Khamphoui Khamtum Khun Lo Lan Kham Deng Somsavat Lengsavad Manoi Meunsai Nang Keo Phimpha Nark of Champasak No Muong Nokasad Ong Keo Ong Kommandam Chamleunesouk Ao Oudomphonh Boun Oum Oun Kham Mam Manivan Phanivong Phia Sing Phommathat Kaysone Phomvihane Photisarath Souvanna Phouma Nouhak Phoumsavanh Phetsarath Rattanavongsa Ouane Rattikone Ratsadanay Samsenethai Thayavong Savang Vong Savang A edit Augusts Vilis Abakuks – – a leader of the British Latvian community in exile Valerians Abakovskis – – inventor of a propeller powered railcar the aerowagon Rutanya Alda Rutanya Alda Skrastina born – actress Mommy Dearest Deer Hunter Viktors Alksnis born – Soviet military officer and Russian communist politician known as "the Black Colonel" Juris Alunans writer and philologist Ingrida Andrina – actress Iveta Apkalna born – organist Fricis Apšenieks – – chess player Vija Artmane – – actress Aspazija pen name of Elza Pliekšane poet and playwright Gunars Astra – – dissident fighter for human rights Auseklis see Mikelis Krogzems B edit Ainars Bagatskis born – basketball player Helmuts Balderis born – ice hockey player forward Janis Balodis – – army officer and politician Janis Balodis born – Latvian Australian playwright Karlis Balodis – – notable economist financist statistician and demographist Krišjanis Barons – – "the father of Latvian folk songs" who compiled and edited the first publication of Latvian folk song texts "Latvju Dainas" – Mihails Barišnikovs born – ballet dancer Karlis Baumanis – – composer author of the national anthem of the Republic of Latvia "Dievs sveti Latviju " God bless Latvia Vizma Belševica – – author candidate for Nobel Prize in Literature Eduards Berklavs – – politician leader of Latvian national communists Krišjanis Berkis – – general Dairis Bertans born – basketball player Isaiah Berlin Jesaja Berlins – – philosopher Eduards Berzinš – – soldier in the Red Army later Head of Dalstroy the Kolyma forced labour camps in North Eastern Siberia Kaspars Berzinš born – basketball player Karlis Betinš – – chess player Andris Biedrinš born – basketball player Gunars Birkerts born – architect Miervaldis Birze – – writer Ernests Blanks – – Latvian publicist writer historian the first to publicly advocate for Latvia s independence Rudolfs Blaumanis – – writer and playwright Himans Blums – – painter Janis Blums born – basketball player Arons Bogolubovs born – Olympic medalist judoka Baiba Broka born – actress Inguna Butane – fashion model C edit Valters Caps – – designed first Minox x photocameras Aleksandrs Cauna born – footballer Gustavs Celminš – – fascist politician leader of Perkonkrusts movement Vija Celmins born – American painter born in Latvia C edit Maris Caklais – poet Aleksandrs Caks – – poet Janis Cakste – – first Latvian president Tanhum Cohen Mintz Latvian born Israeli basketball player D edit Roberts Dambitis – – general and politician Janis Dalinš – – athlete race walker Emils Darzinš – – composer Kaspars Daugavinš born – ice hockey player Jacob Davis – – inventor of denim Johans Aleksandrs Heinrihs Klapje de Kolongs – – naval engineer Eliass Eliezers Desslers – – Orthodox rabbi Talmudic scholar and Jewish philosopher Leor Dimant born – the DJ for the rap metal group Limp Bizkit Anatols Dinbergs – – diplomat Aleksis Dreimanis born – geologist Inga Drozdova born – model and actress Olgerts Dunkers – – actor and film director E edit Mihails Eizenšteins – – architect Sergejs Eizenšteins – – film director Modris Eksteins born – Canadian historian and writer Andrievs Ezergailis born – historian of the Holocaust F edit Movša Feigins – – chess player Gregors Fitelbergs – – conductor composer and violinist Vesels fon Freitags Loringhofens – – colonel and member of the German resistance against German dictator Adolf Hitler Laila Freivalds born – former Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs G edit Inese Galante born – opera singer soprano Gints Gabrans born – artist Elina Garanca born – opera singer mezzo soprano Karlis Goppers – – general founder of Latvian Boy Scouts Andrejs Grants born – photographer Ernests Gulbis born – tennis player Natalija Gulbis born – Latvian descent LPGA golfer G edit Uldis Germanis – – historian under the alias of Ulafs Jansons a social commentator Aivars Gipslis – – chess player H edit Moriss Halle born – linguist Filips Halsmans – – Latvian American photographer Juris Hartmanis born – computer scientist Turing Award winner Uvis Helmanis – basketball player I edit Arturs Irbe born – ice hockey player goalkeeper Karlis Irbitis – – aviation inventor engineer designer J edit Gatis Jahovics – basketball player Mariss Jansons born – conductor Inese Jaunzeme born – athlete Rashida Jones born Latvian American actress K edit Aivars Kalejs born organist composer Sandra Kalniete born – politician diplomat former Latvia s EU commissioner Bruno Kalninš – – Saeima member Red Army General Imants Kalninš born – composer politician Oskars Kalpaks – – colonel first Commander of Latvian National Armed Forces Kaspars Kambala born – basketball player Martinš Karsums born – ice hockey player Reinis Kaudzite writer and journalist Renars Kaupers – musician Jekabs Ketlers – – Duke of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia Gustavs Klucis – – painter and graphic designer Aleksandrs Koblencs – – chess player Abrams Izaks Kuks – – chief rabbi Jewish thinker statesman diplomat mediator and a renowned scholar Aleksandrs Kovalevskis – – zoologist Gidons Kremers born – violinist and conductor Mikelis Krogzems – – poet author and translator of German poets Juris Kronbergs born – poet writer free lance journalist translator Atis Kronvalds – – teacher and journalist reformed the Latvian language organized the first Latvian Song and Dance Festival Dainis Kula born – athlete Olympic gold medal in javelin Alberts Kviesis – – president of Latvia L edit Aleksandrs Laime – – explorer Vilis Lacis – – author and politician Ginta Lapina born – fashion model Natalija Lašenova – gymnastics Olympic champion team Ed Leedskalnin Edvards Liedskalninš – – builder of Coral Castle in Florida claimed to have discovered the ancient magnetic levitation secrets used to construct the Egyptian pyramids Jekabs Mihaels Reinholds Lencs – – author Marija Leiko – – actress Aleksandrs Liepa – – inventor artist Maris Liepa – – ballet dancer Maksims Lihacovs born – professional football player Peggy Lipton born Latvian American actress Nikolajs Loskis – – philosopher Janis Lusis born – athlete Olympic champion L edit Jevgenija Lisicina born – organist M edit Maris Martinsons born film director producer screenwriter and film editor Hermanis Matisons – – chess player Zenta Maurina – – writer literary scholar culture philosopher Juris Maters – – author lawyer and journalist translated laws to Latvian and created the foundation for Latvian law Janis Medenis poet Arnis Mednis singer Zigfrids Anna Meierovics – – first Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Leo Mihelsons – – artist Arnolds Mikelsons – – artist Jevgenijs Millers – – czarist Russian general Karlis Milenbahs – – linguist N edit Arkadijs Naidics born – chess player now resident in Germany Andris Nelsons born – conductor of The Boston Symphony Orchestra Andrievs Niedra – – pastor writer prime minister of German puppet government Arons Nimcovics – – influential chess player Reinis Nitišs born World Rallycross driver Fred Norris born – Radio personality The Howard Stern Show O edit Stanislavs Olijars born – athlete European champion in m Hurdles Vilhelms Ostvalds – – received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in for his work on catalysis chemical equilibria and reaction velocities Elvira Ozolina born – athlete Olympic gold medal in javelin Sandis Ozolinš born – ice hockey player defense Valdemars Ozolinš – – composer conductor P edit Artis Pabriks born – Minister of Foreign Affairs – Karlis Padegs – – Graphic artist painter Marians Pahars born – soccer player Raimonds Pauls born – popular composer widely known in Russia Lucija Peka – – Artist of the Latvian Diaspora Jekabs Peterss – – revolutionary and Soviet Cheka leader Brita Petersone – American model Kaspars Petrovs born – serial killer Vladimirs Petrovs – – chess player Oskars Perro – Latvian soldier and writer Andris Piebalgs born – politician diplomat European Commissioner for Energy Janis Pliekšans – – distinguished Latvian writer author of a number of poetry collections Juris Podnieks – – film director producer Nikolajs Polakovs – – Coco the Clown Janis Poruks writer Rosa von Praunheim born – film director author painter and gay rights activist Sandis Prusis born – athlete bobsleigh Uldis Pucitis actor director Janis Pujats born – Roman Catholic cardinal Andrejs Pumpurs – – poet author of Latvian national epic Lacplesis R edit Rainis pseudonym of Janis Pliekšans poet and playwright Dans Rapoports American financier and philanthropist Lauris Reiniks – singer songwriter actor and TV personality Einars Repše born – politician Lolita Ritmanis born – orchestrator composer Ilja Ripss born inventor of the Bible Code Fricis Rokpelnis – – author Marks Rotko – – abstract expressionist painter Elza Rozenberga – – poet playwright married to Janis Pliekšans Juris Rubenis born – famous Lutheran pastor Martinš Rubenis born – athlete bronze medalist at the Winter Olympics in Turin Brunis Rubess born – businessman Inta Ruka born – photographer Tana Rusova born – pornographic actress S edit Rudolfs Saule born ballet master performer with the Latvian National Ballet Uljana Semjonova born – basketball player Haralds Silovs – short track and long track speed skater Karlis Skalbe – – poet Karlis Skrastinš – – ice hockey player Baiba Skride born – violinist Konstantins Sokolskis – – romance and tango singer Ksenia Solo born Latvian Canadian actress Serge Sorokko born art dealer and publisher Raimonds Staprans born – Latvian American painter Janis Šteinhauers – – Latvian industrialist entrepreneur and civil rights activist Gotthard Friedrich Stender – the first Latvian grammarian Lina Šterna – – biologist and social activist Roze Stiebra born animator Henrijs Stolovs – – stamp dealer Janis Streics born – film director screenwriter actor Janis Strelnieks born – basketball player Peteris Stucka – – author translator editor jurist and educator Janis Sudrabkalns poet and journalist Jevgenijs Svešnikovs born – prominent chess player Stanislavs Svjanevics – – economist and historian Š edit Viktors Šcerbatihs born – athlete weightlifter Pauls Šimanis – – Baltic German journalist politician activist defending and preserving European minority cultures Vestards Šimkus born – pianist Aleksejs Širovs born – chess player Andris Škele born – politician Prime Minister of Latvia Armands Škele – basketball player Ksenia Solo born – actress Ernests Štalbergs – – architect ensemble of the Freedom Monument Izaks Nahmans Šteinbergs – – politician lawyer and author Maris Štrombergs – BMX cyclist gold medal winner at and Olympics T edit Esther Takeuchi born – materials scientist and chemical engineer Mihails Tals – – the th World Chess Champion Janis Roberts Tilbergs – – painter sculptor U edit Guntis Ulmanis born – president of Latvia Karlis Ulmanis – – prime minister and president of Latvia


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carmel-nougat carmen-blonde carmen-de-la-torre carmen-moore carmen-rose carol-connors carol-cross carol-cummings carole-dubois carole-gire carole-pierac carol-titian carolyn-connoly carolyn-monroe carrie-cruise cassandra-leigh cassidy cassie-courtland cataline-bullock catherine-count catherine-crystal catherine-ringer catherine-tailleferre cathy-delorme cathy-menard cathy-stewart celeste-fox celine-gallone chanel-preston chanel-price chantal-virapin chanta-rose chantelle-stevens charisma charisma-cole charlie-latour charlie-waters charlotte-de-castille charmane-star chasey-lain chayse-manhattan chaz-vincent chelsea-sinclaire chennin-blanc cheri-janvier cheri-taylor cherry-hill chessie-moore cheyenne-hunter cheyenne-silver china-lee china-leigh china-moon chloe-cruize chloe-dior chloe-kez chloe-stevens chris-collins chris-jordan chris-petersen chrissie-beauchamp christa-abel christa-ludwig christie-ford christi-lake christina-berg christina-blond christina-evol christina-skye christine-black christine-chavert christine-neona christine-rigoler christy-canyon cicciolina cindi-stephens cindy-carver cindy-crawford cindy-more cindy-shepard cindy-wong cinthya-marinho clair-dia claire-robbins claude-janna claudia-jackson claudia-jamsson claudia-mehringer claudia-nero claudia-van-statt claudia-zante claudine-beccarie clea-carson cleo-nichole cleo-patra cody-lane cody-love cody-nicole coffee-brown colleen-brennan connie-bennett connie-peterson constance-money copper-penny coreena corey-everson corinne-lemoine corneliah cory-everson cory-wolf courtney courtney-cummz courtney-james cris-cassidy crissy-moran cris-taliana crystal-breeze crystal-dawn crystal-holland crystal-knight crystal-lake crystal-lovin crystal-sync csilla-kalnay cuban-bee cynara-fox cyndee-summers cynthia-black cynthia-brooks cynthia-hammers cynthia-lavigne dagmar-lost daisy-layne dallas-miko dana-dylan dana-lynn danica-rhea daniela-nanou daniela-schiffer daniele-troeger daniella daniella-schiffer danielle danielle-foxxx danielle-rodgers danny-ricci danyel-cheeks daphne daphne-rosen darby-lloyd-rains darla-crane darla-delovely davia-ardell dayton-rain debbie-northrup debbie-revenge debbie-van-gils debi-diamond debi-jointed debra-lynn deidra-hopkins deidre-holland delania-raffino delia-moore delphine-thail delta-force delta-white demi-moor denice-klarskov denise-derringer denise-dior denise-sloan desiree-cousteau desiree-foxx desiree-lane desiree-west deva-station devin-devasquez devinn-lane devon-shire dia diana-holt diana-kisabonyi diana-siefert diana-stevenson diane-dubois diane-richards diane-sloan diane-suresne dido-angel dillan-lauren dina-deville dina-jewel dina-pearl ditty-blue diva divinity-love djiana dolly-darkley dominique dominique-dewitt dominique-saint-claire donna-hart donna-marie dorle-buchner dorothy-lemay dorothy-onan drea drimla dru-berrymore dusty-rose dyanna-lauren ebony-ayes edina-blond edita-ungerova edwige-faillel eileen-wells elaine-southern elena-berkova elena-maria-ricci eleonore-melzer elisabeth-bure elis-black elise elise-di-medici elle-devyne elle-rio elodie-delage elsa-maroussia elza-brown emili-doll emily-evermoore emily-george emily-jewel emmanuelle-pareze envy-mi erica-boyer erica-eaton erica-havens erica-idol erica-lauren erika-bella erika-cool erika-heaven erika-lockett esme-monroe eva-allen eva-angel eva-dionisio eva-gross eva-kleber eva-lux eva-uettori eve-laurence evelyne-lang evie-delatosso fabiana-venturi faith-stevens fallon fanny-garreau fanny-steel faye-runaway flame flick-shagwell flore-soller flower france-lomay france-quenie francoise frankie-leigh gabriella gabriella-mirelba gabriella-vincze gail-force gail-palmer gail-sterling georgette-saunders georgia-peach georgina-spelvin gia-givanna gianna-lynn gili-sky gina-carrera gina-gianetti gina-janssen gina-lee gina-martell gina-valentino ginger-jay ginger-lee ginger-lynn ginny-noack giovanna gisela-schwarz giselle-monet gladys-laroche gloria-leonard gloria-todd golden-jade greta-carlson greta-milos guia-lauri-filzi gwenda-farnel hare-krane harley-raine hayley-jade hazel-young heather-deeley heather-ellis heather-hart heather-lere heather-lyn heather-manfield heather-thomas heather-torrance heather-wayne heather-young helen-madigan helen-thomas helga-sven helga-wild hillary-summers holly-hollywood holly-joy holly-page holly-ryder honey-winter hottie-hollie hyapatia-lee ida-fabry ildiko-smits illana-moor ines-ridere ingrid-choray isabella-dior isabella-soprano isabelle-allay isabelle-brell isabelle-marchall isobel-wren iveta ivette-blanche jackie-right jacqueline-lorians jacy-allen jada-stevens jade-east jade-hsu jade-marcela jade-summers jade-wong jahn-gold jamie-brooks jamie-james jamie-summers jana-irrova jana-mrazkova jane-baker jane-darling jane-iwanoff jane-lindsay jane-lixx janet-jacme janey-robbins jasmine-delatori jayden-simone jaylyn-rose jayna-woods jazella-moore jazmin-luna-gold jean-afrique jeanette-littledove jeanie-marie-sullivan jean-jennings jeanna-fine jeannie-pepper jenna-jameson jenna-jane jenna-presley jenna-wells jennifer-haussmann jennifer-janes jennifer-jordan jennifer-morante jennifer-noxt jennifer-stewart jennifer-welles jennifer-west jenny jenny-feeling jenny-fields jenny-wings jersey-jaxin jesie-st-james jesse-capelli jessica-bangkok jessica-bogart jessica-darlin jessica-fiorentino jessica-gabriel jessica-laine jessica-may jessica-road jessica-wylde jessi-foster jill-ferari jill-kelly joana-redgrave joan-devlon joanna-storm joanna-sweet jody-maxwell joelle-lequement joelle-petinot johnni-black jordana-james jordan-green jordan-nevaeh jordan-star josephine-carrington joslyn-james julia-chanel julia-dal-fuoco juliana-grandi julia-paes julia-parton julia-perrin julia-swen julia-thomas julie-meadows julie-rage julie-simone juliet-anderson juliet-graham juliette-carelton kacey-jordan kagney-linn-karter kaitlyn-ashley kalena-rios kami-andrews kamila-smith kandee-licks kandi-barbour kapri-styles kara-nox karen-summer kari-foxx karine-gambier karin-schubert karli-sweet karmen-kennedy karol-castro kascha kassi-nova kat kate-frost kate-jones kathia-nobili kathleen-gentry kathleen-white kathy-divan kathy-harcourt kathy-heart kathy-kash katie-cummings katja-love kat-langer katrina-isis katrina-kraven katy-borman katy-caro kaycee-dean kayla-kupcakes kay-parker k-c-valentine keama-kim keira-moon keisha keli-richards kelli-tyler kelly-adams kelly-blue kelly-broox kelly-hearn kelly-kay kelly-kline kelly-nichols kelly-royce kelly-skyline kendra-kay kenzi-marie keri-windsor ketthy-divan kianna-dior kiley-heart kim-alexis kimber-blake kimberly-carson kimberly-kane kimberly-kyle kim-de-place kim-holland kimi-gee kimkim-de kim-kitaine kimmie-lee kimmy-nipples kina-kara kira-eggers kira-red kirsty-waay kitty-langdon kitty-lynxxx kitty-marie kitty-shayne kitty-yung kora-cummings kris-lara krista-lane krista-maze kristara-barrington kristarah-knight kristi-klenot kristina-blonde kristina-king kristina-klevits kristina-soderszk kristine-heller kristin-steen krisztina-ventura krystal-de-boor krystal-steal kylee-karr kylee-nash kylie-brooks kylie-channel kylie-haze kylie-wylde kym-wilde kyoto-sun lachelle-marie lacy-rose lady-amanda-wyldefyre lady-stephanie laetitia-bisset lana-burner lana-cox lana-wood lara-amour lara-roxx lara-stevens lataya-roxx latoya laura-clair laura-lazare laura-lion laura-may laura-orsolya laura-paouck laura-zanzibar lauren-black laurence-boutin lauren-montgomery laurien-dominique laurien-wilde laurie-smith lauryl-canyon lauryn-may leah-wilde lea-magic lea-martini leanna-foxxx lee-caroll leigh-livingston leilani lenora-bruce leslie-winston lesllie-bovee letizia-bruni lexi-lane lexi-matthews lezley-zen lia-fire liliane-gray liliane-lemieuvre lili-marlene lily-gilder lily-labeau lily-rodgers lily-valentine linda-shaw linda-vale linda-wong linnea-quigley lisa-bright lisa-de-leeuw lisa-k-loring lisa-lake lisa-melendez lisa-sue-corey lise-pinson little-oral-annie liza-dwyer liza-harper lizzy-borden logan-labrent lois-ayres lola-cait long-jean-silver loni-bunny loni-sanders loona-luxx lorelei-lee lorelei-rand lorena-sanchez lori-alexia lori-blue lorrie-lovett luci-diamond lucie-doll lucie-theodorova lucy-van-dam lydia-baum lynn-franciss lynn-lemay lynn-ray lynn-stevens lynx-canon lysa-thatcher madelina-ray madison-parker magdalena-lynn maggie-randall mai-lin mandi-wine mandy-bright mandy-malone mandy-may mandy-mistery mandy-starr marcia-minor maren margit-ojetz margitta-hofer margo-stevens margot-mahler mariah-cherry marianne-aubert maria-tortuga marie-anne marie-christine-chireix marie-christine-veroda marie-claude-moreau marie-dominique-cabannes marie-france-morel marie-luise-lusewitz marie-sharp marilyn-chambers marilyne-leroy marilyn-gee marilyn-jess marilyn-martyn marilyn-star marina-hedman marion-webb marita-ekberg marita-kemper marlena marlene-willoughby marry-queen martine-grimaud martine-schultz maryanne-fisher mary-hubay mary-ramunno mary-stuart mascha-mouton maud-kennedy mauvais-denoir maxine-tyler maya-black maya-france megan-leigh megan-martinez megan-reece mei-ling melanie-hotlips melanie-scott melba-cruz melinda-russell melissa-bonsardo melissa-del-prado melissa-golden melissa-martinez melissa-melendez melissa-monet mercedes-dragon mercedes-lynn merle-michaels mesha-lynn mia-beck mia-lina mia-smiles michele-raven michelle-aston michelle-ferrari michelle-greco michelle-maren michelle-maylene michelle-monroe micki-lynn mika-barthel mika-tan mikki-taylor mimi-morgan mindy-rae ming-toy miranda-stevens miss-bunny miss-meadow miss-pomodoro missy missy-graham missy-stone missy-vega misti-jane mistress-candice misty-anderson misty-dawn misty-rain misty-regan mona-lisa mona-page moni monica-baal monica-swinn monika-peta monika-sandmayr monika-unco monique-bruno monique-cardin monique-charell monique-demoan monique-gabrielle monique-la-belle morgan-fairlane morrigan-hel moxxie-maddron mulani-rivera mysti-may nadege-arnaud nadia-styles nadine-bronx nadine-proutnal nadine-roussial nadi-phuket nanci-suiter nancy-hoffman nancy-vee natacha-delyro natalia-wood natalli-diangelo natascha-throat natasha-skyler naudia-nyce nessa-devil nessy-grant nesty nicki-hunter nicky-reed nicole-berg nicole-bernard nicole-black nicole-grey nicole-london nicole-parks nicole-scott nicole-taylor nicolette-fauludi nicole-west nika-blond nika-mamic niki-cole nikita-love nikita-rush nikki-charm nikki-grand nikki-king nikki-knight nikki-randall nikki-rhodes nikki-santana nikki-steele nikki-wilde niko nina-cherry nina-deponca nina-hartley nina-preta oana-efria obaya-roberts olesja-derevko olga-cabaeva olga-conti olga-pechova olga-petrova olivia-alize olivia-del-rio olivia-flores olivia-la-roche olivia-outre ophelia-tozzi orchidea-keresztes orsolya-blonde paige-turner paisley-hunter pamela-bocchi pamela-jennings pamela-mann pamela-stanford pamela-stealt pandora paola-albini pascale-vital pat-manning pat-rhea patricia-dale patricia-diamond patricia-kennedy patricia-rhomberg patrizia-predan patti-cakes patti-petite paula-brasile paula-harlow paula-morton paula-price paula-winters pauline-teutscher penelope-pumpkins penelope-valentin petra-hermanova petra-lamas peyton-lafferty phaedra-grant pia-snow piper-fawn pipi-anderson porsche-lynn porsha-carrera precious-silver priscillia-lenn purple-passion queeny-love rachel-ashley rachel-love rachel-luv rachel-roxxx rachel-ryan rachel-ryder racquel-darrian rane-revere raven reagan-maddux rebecca-bardoux regan-anthony regine-bardot regula-mertens reina-leone reka-gabor renae-cruz renee-foxx renee-lovins renee-morgan renee-perez renee-summers renee-tiffany rhonda-jo-petty rikki-blake riley-ray rio-mariah rita-ricardo roberta-gemma roberta-pedon robin-byrd robin-cannes robin-everett robin-sane rochell-starr rosa-lee-kimball rosemarie roxanne-blaze roxanne-hall roxanne-rollan ruby-richards sabina-k sabre sabrina-chimaera sabrina-dawn sabrina-jade sabrina-johnson sabrina-love-cox sabrina-mastrolorenzi sabrina-rose sabrina-scott sabrina-summers sacha-davril sahara sahara-sands sai-tai-tiger samantha-fox samantha-ryan samantha-sterlyng samantha-strong samueline-de-la-rosa sandra-cardinale sandra-de-marco sandra-kalermen sandra-russo sandy-lee sandy-pinney sandy-reed sandy-samuel sandy-style sandy-summers sara-brandy-canyon sara-faye sarah-bernard sarah-cabrera sarah-hevyn sarah-mills sarah-shine sara-sloane sasha sasha-hollander sasha-ligaya sasha-rose satine-phoenix satin-summer savannah-stern savanna-jane scarlet-scarleau scarlet-windsor seka selena serena serena-south severine-amoux shana-evans shanna-mccullough shannon-kelly shannon-rush shantell-day sharon-da-vale sharon-kane sharon-mitchell shaun-michelle shawna-sexton shawnee-cates shay-hendrix shayne-ryder sheena-horne sheer-delight shelby-star shelby-stevens shelly-berlin shelly-lyons sheri-st-clair sheyla-cats shonna-lynn shyla-foxxx shy-love sierra-sinn sierra-skye sigrun-theil silver-starr silvia-bella silvia-saint silvie-de-lux silvy-taylor simone-west sindee-coxx sindy-lange sindy-shy siobhan-hunter skylar-knight skylar-price skyler-dupree smokie-flame smoking-mary-jane solange-shannon sonya-summers sophia-santi sophie-call sophie-duflot sophie-evans sophie-guers stacey-donovan stacy-lords stacy-moran stacy-nichols stacy-silver stacy-thorn starla-fox starr-wood stefania-bruni stella-virgin stephanie-duvalle stephanie-rage stephanie-renee stevie-taylor summer-knight summer-rose sunny-day sunset-thomas sunshine-seiber susan-hart susanne-brend susan-nero susi-hotkiss suzanne-mcbain suzan-nielsen suzie-bartlett suzie-carina suzi-sparks sweet-nice sweety-pie sybille-rossani sylvia-benedict sylvia-bourdon sylvia-brand sylvia-engelmann syreeta-taylor syren-de-mer syvette szabina-black szilvia-lauren tai-ellis taija-rae taisa-banx talia-james tamara-lee tamara-longley tamara-n-joy tamara-west tami-white tammy tammy-lee tammy-reynolds tania-lorenzo tantala-ray tanya-danielle tanya-fox tanya-foxx tanya-lawson tanya-valis tara-aire tasha-voux tatjana-belousova tatjana-skomorokhova tawnee-lee tawny-pearl tayla-rox taylor-wane teddi-austin teddi-barrett tera-bond tera-heart tera-joy teresa-may teresa-orlowski teri-diver teri-weigel terri-dolan terri-hall tess-ferre tess-newheart thais-vieira tia-cherry tianna tiara tiffany-blake tiffany-clark tiffany-duponte tiffany-rayne tiffany-rousso tiffany-storm tiffany-towers tiffany-tyler tiger-lily tigr timea-vagvoelgyi tina-blair tina-burner tina-evil tina-gabriel tina-loren tina-marie tina-russell tish-ambrose tommi-rose tonisha-mills topsy-curvey tori-secrets tori-sinclair tori-welles tracey-adams traci-lords traci-topps traci-winn tracy-duzit tracy-love tracy-williams tricia-devereaux tricia-yen trinity-loren trisha-rey trista-post trixie-tyler ultramax ursula-gaussmann ursula-moore uschi-karnat valentina valerie-leveau valery-hilton vanessa-chase vanessa-del-rio vanessa-michaels vanessa-ozdanic vanilla-deville velvet-summers veri-knotty veronica-dol veronica-hart veronica-hill veronica-rayne veronica-sage veronika-vanoza via-paxton vicky-lindsay vicky-vicci victoria-evans victoria-gold victoria-knight victoria-luna victoria-paris victoria-slick victoria-zdrok viper virginie-caprice vivian-valentine vivien-martines wendi-white wendy-divine whitney-banks whitney-fears whitney-wonders wonder-tracey wow-nikki xanthia-berstein yasmine-fitzgerald yelena-shieffer yvonne-green zara-whites zsanett-egerhazi zuzie-boobies

highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19, 1842,[12] and the paper was renamed The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and Kings County Democrat on June 1, 1846.[13] On May 14, 1849, the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.[14] On September 5, 1938, the name was further shortened, to Brooklyn Eagle.[15] The establishment of the paper in the 1800s set a tone for the developing separate identity for Brooklynites in the next century along with its famous National League baseball team, the Brooklyn Dodgers. Both major institutions were lost in the 1950s, when the paper closed in 1955 after unsuccessful attempts at a sale following a reporters' strike and the baseball team decamped for Los Angeles in a realignment of major league baseball in 1957. Agitation against Southern slavery was stronger in Brooklyn than in New York, and under Republican leadership the city was fervent in the Union cause in the Civil War. After the war the Henry Ward Beecher Monument was built downtown to honor a famous local abolitionist. A great victory arch at what was then the south end of town celebrated the armed forces, the place now being called Grand Army Plaza. The city had a population of 25,000 in 1834, but the police department only comprised 12 men on the day shift and another 12 at night. Every time a rash of burglaries broke out, officials blamed burglars coming in from New York City. Finally in 1855, a modern police force was created, employing 150 men. Voters complained of inadequate protection and excessive costs. In 1857 the state legislature merged the Brooklyn force with that of New York City.[16] Civil War[edit] "Any Thing for Me, if You Please?" Post Office, 1864 Fervent in the Union cause, the city of Brooklyn played a major role in supplying troops and materiel for the American Civil War. The most well known regiment to be sent off to war from the city was the 14th Brooklyn "Red Legged Devils". They fought from 1861 to 1864 and wore red the entire war. They were the only Regiment named after a city, and President Lincoln called them into service personally, making them part of a handful of 3 year enlisted soldiers in April 1861. Unlike other regiments during the American Civil War, the 14th wore a uniform inspired by that of the French Chasseurs, a light infantry used for quick assaults on the enemy. As both a seaport and a manufacturing center, Brooklyn was well prepared to play to the Union's strengths in shipping and manufacturing. The two combined in shipbuilding; the ironclad Monitor was built in Brooklyn. Twin city[edit] The Twin cities of Brooklyn and New York in 1866, showing wards. Taking a thirty-year break from municipal expansionism, this well-situated coastal city established itself as the third-most-populous American city for much of the 19th century. Brooklyn is referred to as a twin city of New York in the 1883 poem, "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, which appears on a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty. The poem calls New York Harbor "the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame". As a twin city to New York, it played a role in national affairs that was later overshadowed by its century-old submergence into its old partner and rival. Economic growth continued, propelled by immigration and industrialization. The waterfront from Gowanus Bay to Greenpoint was developed with piers and factories. Industrial access to the waterfront was improved by the Gowanus Canal and the canalized Newtown Creek. The USS Monitor was only the most famous product of the large and growing shipbuilding industry of Williamsburg. After the Civil War, trolley lines and other transport brought urban sprawl beyond Prospect Park and into the center of the county. The rapidly growing population needed more water, so the City built centralized waterworks including the Ridgewood Reservoir. The municipal Police Department, however, was abolished in 1854 in favor of a Metropolitan force covering also New York and Westchester Counties. In 1865 the Brooklyn Fire Department (BFD) also gave way to the new Metropolitan Fire District. Throughout this period the peripheral towns of Kings County, far from Manhattan and even from urban Brooklyn, maintained their rustic independence. The only municipal change seen was the secession of the eastern section of the Town of Flatbush as the Town of New Lots in 1852. The building of rail links such as the Brighton Beach Line in 1878 heralded the end of this isolation. Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, by Currier and Ives Sports became big business, and the Brooklyn Bridegrooms played professional baseball at Washington Park in the convenient suburb of Park Slope and elsewhere. Early in the next Century they brought their new name of Brooklyn Dodgers to Ebbets Field, beyond Prospect Park. Racetracks, amusement parks and beach resorts opened in Brighton Beach, Coney Island and elsewhere in the southern part of the county. Toward the end of the 19th century, the City of Brooklyn experienced its final, explosive growth spurt. Railroads and industrialization spread to Bay Ridge and Sunset Park. In the space of a decade, the city annexed the Town of New Lots in 1886, the Town of Flatbush, the Town of Gravesend, the Town of New Utrecht in 1894, and the Town of Flatlands in 1896. Brooklyn had reached its natural municipal boundaries at the ends of Kings County. Mayors of the City of Brooklyn[edit] Brooklyn elected a mayor from 1834 until consolidation in 1898 into the City of Greater New York, whose own second mayor (1902–1903), Seth Low, had been Mayor of Brooklyn from 1882 to 1885. Since 1898, Brooklyn has, in place of a separate mayor, elected a Borough President. See the List of mayors of New York City and the list of Brooklyn Borough Presidents. Mayors of the City of Brooklyn[17] Mayor Party Start year End year George Hall Democratic-Republican 1834 Jonathan Trotter Democrat 1835 1836 Jeremiah Johnson Whig 1837 1838 Cyrus P. Smith 1839 1841 Henry C. Murphy Democrat 1842 Joseph Sprague 1843 1844 Thomas G. Talmage 1845 Francis B. Stryker Whig 1846 1848 Edward Copland 1849 Samuel Smith Democrat 1850 Conklin Brush Whig 1851 1852 Edward A. Lambert Democrat 1853 1854 George Hall 1855 1856 Samuel S. Powell Democrat 1857 1860 Martin Kalbfleisch 1861 1863 Alfred M. Wood Republican 1864 1865 Samuel Rooth 1866 1867 Martin Kalbfleisch Democrat 1868 1871 Samuel S. Powell 1872 1873 John W. Hunter 1874 1875 Frederick A. Schroeder Republican 1876 1877 James Howell Democrat 1878 1881 Seth Low Republican 1882 1885 Daniel D. Whitney Democrat 1886 1887 Alfred C. Chapin 1888 1891 David A. Boody 1892 1893 Charles A. Schieren Republican 1894 1895 Frederick W. Wurster 1896 1897 New York City borough[edit] Further information: History of New York City (1898–1945) Brooklyn in 1897 In 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was completed, transportation to Manhattan was no longer by water only, and the City of Brooklyn's ties to the City of New York were strengthened. The question became whether Brooklyn was prepared to engage in the still-grander process of consolidation then developing throughout the region, whether to join with the county of New York, the county of Richmond and the western portion of Queens County to form the five boroughs of a united City of New York. Andrew Haskell Green and other progressives said Yes, and eventually they prevailed against the Daily Eagle and other conservative forces. In 1894, residents of Brooklyn and the other counties voted by a slight majority to merge, effective in 1898.[18] Kings County retained its status as one of New York State's counties, but the loss of Brooklyn's separate identity as a city was met with consternation by some residents at the time. The merger was called the "Great Mistake of 1898" by many newspapers of the day, and the phrase still denotes Brooklyn pride among old-time Brooklynites.[citation needed] Government and politics[edit] See also: Government and politics in Brooklyn Brooklyn Borough Hall Since consolidation with New York City in 1898, Brooklyn has been governed by the New York City Charter that provides for a "strong" mayor-council system. The centralized New York City government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services. The office of Borough President was created in the consolidation of 1898 to balance centralization with local authority. Each borough president had a powerful administrative role derived from having a vote on the New York City Board of Estimate, which was responsible for creating and approving the city's budget and proposals for land use. In 1989, the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Board of Estimate unconstitutional because Brooklyn, the most populous borough, had no greater effective representation on the Board than Staten Island, the least populous borough; it was a violation of the high court's 1964 "one man, one vote" reading of the Fourteenth Amendment.[19] Since 1990 the Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations. Brooklyn's current Borough President is Eric Adams, elected as a Democrat in November 2013 with 90.8% of the vote. Adams replaced popular Borough President Marty Markowitz, also a Democrat, who partially used his office to promote tourism and new development for Brooklyn. The Democratic Party holds the majority of public offices. As of 2005, 69.7% of registered voters in Brooklyn were Democrats. Party platforms center on affordable housing, education and economic development. The most controversial political issue is the proposed Atlantic Yards, a large housing and sports arena project. Pockets of majority Republican influence exist in Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Midwood by U.S. House Representative Michael Grimm & New York State Senator Marty Golden. Each of the city's five counties (coterminous with each borough) has its own criminal court system and District Attorney, the chief public prosecutor who is directly elected by popular vote. The current District Attorney of Kings County is Kenneth P. Thompson, a Democrat elected in 2013. Brooklyn has 16 City Council members, the largest number of any of the five boroughs. Brooklyn has 18 of the city's 59 community districts, each served by an unpaid Community Board with advisory powers under the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Each board has a paid district manager who acts as an interlocutor with city agencies. Economy[edit] See also: Economy of New York City The USS North Carolina, launched at Brooklyn Navy Yard, June 1940 Newer buildings near East River State Park Brooklyn's job market is driven by three main factors: the performance of the national and city economy, population flows and the borough's position as a convenient back office for New York's businesses.[20] Forty-four percent of Brooklyn's employed population, or 410,000 people, work in the borough; more than half of the borough's residents work outside its boundaries. As a result, economic conditions in Manhattan are important to the borough's jobseekers. Strong international immigration to Brooklyn generates jobs in services, retailing and construction.[20] Since the late 20th century, Brooklyn has benefited from a steady influx of financial back office operations from Manhattan, the rapid growth of a high-tech and entertainment economy in DUMBO, and strong growth in support services such as accounting, personal supply agencies, and computer services firms.[20] Jobs in the borough have traditionally been concentrated in manufacturing, but since 1975, Brooklyn has shifted from a manufacturing-based to a service-based economy. In 2004, 215,000 Brooklyn residents worked in the services sector, while 27,500 worked in manufacturing. Although manufacturing has declined, a substantial base has remained in apparel and niche manufacturing concerns such as furniture, fabricated metals, and food products.[21] The pharmaceutical company Pfizer was founded in Brooklyn in 1869 and had a manufacturing plant in the borough for many years that once employed thousands of workers, but the plant shut down in 2008. However, new light-manufacturing concerns packaging organic and high-end food have sprung up in the old plant.[22] First established as a shipbuilding facility in 1801, the Brooklyn Navy Yard employed 70,000 people at its peak during World War II and was then the largest employer in the borough. The Missouri, the ship on which the Japanese formally surrendered, was built there, as was the Maine, whose sinking off Havana led to the start of the Spanish–American War. The iron-sided Civil War vessel the Monitor was built in Greenpoint. From 1968–1979 Seatrain Shipbuilding was the major employer.[23] Later tenants include industrial design firms, food processing businesses, artisans, and the film and television production industry. About 230 private-sector firms providing 4,000 jobs are at the Yard. Construction and services are the fastest growing sectors.[24] Most employers in Brooklyn are small businesses. In 2000, 91% of the approximately 38,704 business establishments in Brooklyn had fewer than 20 employees.[25] As of August 2008, the borough's unemployment rate was 5.9%.[26] Brooklyn is also home to many banks and credit unions. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, there were 37 banks and 26 credit unions operating in the borough in 2010.[27][28] Demographics[edit] Main article: Demographics of Brooklyn Brooklyn has been New York City's most populous borough since the mid-1920s. (Key: Each borough's historical population in millions. The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island) Historical population Year Pop. ±% 1731 2,150 — 1756 2,707 +25.9% 1771 3,623 +33.8% 1786 3,966 +9.5% 1790 4,549 +14.7% 1800 5,740 +26.2% 1810 8,303 +44.7% 1820 11,187 +34.7% 1830 20,535 +83.6% 1840 47,613 +131.9% 1850 138,822 +191.6% 1860 279,122 +101.1% 1870 419,921 +50.4% 1880 599,495 +42.8% 1890 838,547 +39.9% 1900 1,166,582 +39.1% 1910 1,634,351 +40.1% 1920 2,018,356 +23.5% 1930 2,560,401 +26.9% 1940 2,698,285 +5.4% 1950 2,738,175 +1.5% 1960 2,627,319 -4.0% 1970 2,602,012 -1.0% 1980 2,230,936 -14.3% 1990 2,300,664 +3.1% 2000 2,465,326 +7.2% 2010 2,504,700 +1.6% 2014 2,621,793 +4.7% 1731–1786[29] U.S. Decennial Census[30] 1790–1960[31] 1900–1990[32] 1990–2000[33] 2010–2014[1][34] Since 2010, the population of Brooklyn was estimated by the Census Bureau to have increased 3.5% to 2,592,149 as of 2013, representing 30.8% of New York City's population, 33.5% of Long Island's population, and 13.2% of New York State's population.[35] 2010[edit] According to the United States Census 2010, the demography of Brooklyn was as follows: 49.5% White (35.8% non-Hispanic White) 35.8% African American 1.0% Native American 11.3% Asian 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 2.2% Two or more races 8.9% Other races 19.8% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 2009 and 2012 estimates[edit] According to the 2009 American Community Survey, Brooklyn's population was 46.6% white, of which 36.9% were non-Hispanic whites. Blacks made up 34.2% of the population, of which 32.9% were non-Hispanic blacks. Native Americans represented 0.3% of the population, while Asians made up 9.5% of the populace. Pacific Islanders comprised just 0.1% of the population, and Multiracial Americans made up 1.4% of the population. Hispanics and Latinos made up 19.6% of Brooklyn's population. According to the 2012 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, there are 2,565,635 people (up from 2.3 million in 1990), 880,727 households, and 583,922 families living in Brooklyn.[36][37] The population density was 34,920/square mile (13,480/km²). There were 930,866 housing units at an average density of 13,180/square mile (5,090/km²). Of the 880,727 households in Brooklyn, 38.6% were married couples living together, 22.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.7% were non-families. 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households 27.8% are made up of individuals and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.41. In Brooklyn the population was spread out with 26.9% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. Brooklyn has more women and girls, with 88.4 males for every 100 females. Brooklyn's lesbian community is the largest out of all the New York City boroughs.[38] The median income for households in Brooklyn was $32,135, and the median income for a family was $36,188. Males had a median income of $34,317, which was higher than females, whose median income was $30,516. The per capita income was $16,775. About 22% of families and 25.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34% of those under age 18 and 21.5% of those age 65 or over. [hide]Racial composition 2014[39] 2010[40] 1990[41] 1950[41] 1900[41] White 49.3% 49.5% 46.9% 92.2% 98.3% —Non-Hispanic 35.8% 35.8% 40.1% n/a n/a Black or African American 35.2% 35.8% 37.9% 7.6% 1.6% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 19.5% 19.8% 20.1% n/a n/a Asian 12.1% 11.3% 4.8% 0.1% 0.1% Languages[edit] Brooklyn has a high degree of linguistic diversity. As of 2010, 54.12% (1,240,416) of Brooklyn residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 17.16% (393,340) spoke Spanish, 6.46% (148,012) Chinese, 5.31% (121,607) Russian, 3.47% (79,469) Yiddish, 2.75% (63,019) French Creole, 1.35% (31,004) Italian, 1.20% (27,440) Hebrew, 1.01% (23,207) Polish, 0.99% (22,763) French, 0.95% (21,773) Arabic, 0.85% (19,388) various Indic languages, 0.70% (15,936) Urdu, and African languages were spoken as a main language by 0.54% (12,305) of the population over the age of five. In total, 45.88% (1,051,456) of Brooklyn's population age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English.[42][citation needed] Neighborhoods[edit] See also: List of Brooklyn neighborhoods and New York City ethnic enclaves Landmark 19th-century rowhouses on tree-lined Kent Street in Greenpoint Historic District Park Slope 150–159 Willow Street, three original red-brick early 19th-century Federal Style houses in Brooklyn Heights Middagh Street, Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn's neighborhoods are ever-changing as populations move in and out. For example, during the early to mid-20th century, Brownsville had a majority of Jewish residents; since the 1970s it has been majority African American. Midwood during the early 20th century was filled with ethnic Irish, then filled with Jewish residents for nearly 50 years, and is slowly becoming a Pakistani enclave. Brooklyn's most populous racial group, white, declined from 97.2% in 1930 to 46.9% by 1990.[41] With gentrification, many of Brooklyn's neighborhoods are becoming increasingly mixed, with an influx of immigrants integrating its neighborhoods. What started as a trend may now be the permanent equilibrium. Brooklyn and Queens have been a worldwide example of poor immigrants getting along most of the time, often with better results than in their home countries. Presently, they have substantial populations from many countries. The borough also attracts people previously living in other cities in the United States. Of these, most come from Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, and Seattle.[43][44][45][46][47][48][49] Brooklyn contains dozens of distinct neighborhoods, representing many of the major ethnic groups found within the New York City area. The borough is home to a large African American community. Bedford-Stuyvesant is home to one of the most famous African American communities in the city, along with Brownsville, East New York, and Coney Island. "Bed-Stuy" is a hub for African American culture, often referenced in hip hop and African American arts.[citation needed] Brooklyn's African American and Caribbean communities are spread throughout much of Brooklyn. Brooklyn is also home to many Russians and Ukrainians, who are mainly concentrated in the areas of Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay. Brighton Beach features many Russian and Ukrainian businesses. Because of the large Ukrainian community, it has been nicknamed "Little Odessa". However, recently, it has been renamed to "Little Russia" because of the overwhelming presence of the Russian population. Originally these were mostly Jews; however, it is now the non-Jewish Russian and Ukrainian communities of Brighton Beach that represent various aspects of Russian and Ukrainian culture. Bushwick is the largest hub of Brooklyn's Hispanic American community. Like other neighborhoods in New York City, Bushwick's Hispanic population is mainly Puerto Rican, with many Dominicans and peoples from several South American nations as well. As nearly 80% of Bushwick's population is Hispanic, its residents have created many businesses to support their various national and distinct traditions in food and other items. Sunset Park's population is 42% Hispanic, made up of these various ethnic groups. Brooklyn's main Hispanic groups are Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Dominicans, and Panamanians; they are spread out throughout the borough. Puerto Ricans and Dominicans are predominant in Bushwick, Williamsburg, and East New York, while Mexicans are predominant in Sunset Park and Panamanians in Crown Heights. Italian Americans are mainly concentrated in the neighborhoods of Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge, Bath Beach, Williamsburg, East Williamsburg, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Bergen Beach, and Mill Basin where there are many Italian restaurants, bakeries, deli's, and pizzerias Brooklyn is a major center for Orthodox Judaism and is about 23% Jewish overall.[50] The Brooklyn Chinatown (?????? ???) in Sunset Park. Orthodox Jews and Hasidic Jews have become concentrated in Borough Park, Williamsburg, and Flatbush, where there are many yeshivas, synagogues, and kosher delicatessens, as well as many other Jewish businesses. Kosher restaurants, synagogues, Jewish schools and yeshivas can be found all over New York City, and many parts as well as in Brooklyn. Other notable religious Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish neighborhoods are Kensington, Midwood, Canarsie, Sea Gate, and Crown Heights. Many hospitals in Brooklyn were started by Jewish charities, including Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park and Brookdale Hospital in Brownsville.[51][52] Many non-religious Jews are concentrated in Ditmas Park, Windsor Terrace and Park Slope. Brooklyn's Polish are largely concentrated in Greenpoint, which is home to Little Poland. They are also scattered throughout the southern parts of Brooklyn. Brooklyn's West Indian community is concentrated in the Crown Heights, Flatbush, East Flatbush, Kensington, and Canarsie neighborhoods in central Brooklyn. Brooklyn is home to one of the largest communities of West Indians outside of the Caribbean, being rivaled only by Toronto, Miami, Montreal,and London. Although the largest West Indian groups in Brooklyn are mostly Jamaicans, Guyanese and Haitians, there are West Indian immigrants from nearly every part of the Caribbean. Crown Heights and Flatbush are home to many of Brooklyn's West Indian restaurants and bakeries. Brooklyn has an annual, celebrated Carnival in the tradition of pre-Lenten celebrations in the islands. Started by Trinidadians, West Indian Labor Day Parade, takes place every Labor Day on Eastern Parkway. Brooklyn's Greek Americans live throughout the borough, but their businesses today are concentrated in Downtown Brooklyn near Atlantic Avenue. Greek-owned diners, like El-Greco on Sheepshead Bay, are also throughout the borough, but many Greeks have re-located off of Atlantic Avenue due to demographic shift. Chinese Americans live throughout the southern parts of Brooklyn, in Sunset Park, Gravesend, and Homecrest. The largest concentration is in Sunset Park along 8th Avenue, which is known for Chinese culture. It is called "Brooklyn's Chinatown". Many Chinese restaurants can be found throughout Sunset Park, and the area hosts a popular Chinese New Year celebration. Irish Americans can be found throughout Brooklyn, in low to moderate concentrations in the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, and Vinegar Hill. Many moved east on Long Island in the mid-twentieth century. Today, Arab Americans and Pakistanis along with other Muslim communities have moved into the southwest portion of Brooklyn, particularly to Bay Ridge, where there are many Middle Eastern restaurants, hookah lounges, halal shops, Islamic shops and mosques. Coney Island Avenue is home to Little Pakistan as Church Avenue is to Bangladeshis. Jay Street Borough Hall (Downtown Brooklyn) is little Arabia. Pakistani Independence Day is celebrated every year with parades and parties on Coney Island Avenue. Earlier, the area was known predominately for its Irish, Norwegian, and Scottish populations. There are also many Middle Eastern, particularly Yemeni, businesses, mosques, and restaurants on Atlantic Avenue west of Flatbush Avenue, near Brooklyn Heights. The Brooklyn Heights Promenade (lower center, above the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway) and Brooklyn Bridge Park (in front of the promenade) along the East River (foreground). Brooklyn Heights can be seen in the background. Culture[edit] See also: Culture of New York City and Media of New York City The Brooklyn Museum on Eastern Parkway Brooklyn Botanic Garden The Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch at Grand Army Plaza Cultural attractions[edit] Main article: Culture of Brooklyn Brooklyn has played a major role in various aspects of American culture including literature, cinema and theater. The Brooklyn accent is often portrayed as "typical New York" in American television and film.[citation needed] Brooklyn hosts the world-renowned Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the second largest public art collection in the United States, housed in the Brooklyn Museum. The Brooklyn Museum, opened in 1897, is New York City's second-largest public art museum. It has in its permanent collection more than 1.5 million objects, from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art. The Brooklyn Children's Museum, the world's first museum dedicated to children, opened in December 1899. The only such New York State institution accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, it is one of the few globally to have a permanent collection – over 30,000 cultural objects and natural history specimens. The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) includes a 2,109-seat opera house, an 874-seat theater, and the art house BAM Rose Cinemas. Bargemusic and St. Ann's Warehouse are located on the other side of Downtown Brooklyn in the DUMBO arts district. Brooklyn Technical High School has the second-largest auditorium in New York City (after Radio City Music Hall), with a seating capacity of over 3,000.[53] Media[edit] Local periodicals[edit] Brooklyn has several local newspapers: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Bay Currents (Oceanfront Brooklyn), Brooklyn View, The Brooklyn Paper, and Courier-Life Publications. Courier-Life Publications, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, is Brooklyn's largest chain of newspapers. Brooklyn is also served by the major New York dailies, including The New York Times, the New York Daily News, and the New York Post. The borough is home to the bi-weekly cultural guide The L Magazine and the arts and politics monthly Brooklyn Rail, as well as the arts and cultural quarterly Cabinet. Brooklyn Magazine is one of the few glossy magazines about Brooklyn. Several others, that are now defunct, include: BKLYN Magazine (a bimonthly lifestyle book owned by Joseph McCarthy, that saw itself as a vehicle for high-end advertisers in Manhattan and was mailed to 80,000 high-income households), Brooklyn Bridge Magazine, The Brooklynite (a free, glossy quarterly edited by Daniel Treiman), and NRG (edited by Gail Johnson and originally marketed as a local periodical for Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, but expanded in scope to become the self-proclaimed "Pulse of Brooklyn" and then the "Pulse of New York").[54] Ethnic press[edit] Brooklyn has a thriving ethnic press. El Diario La Prensa, the largest and oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States, maintains its corporate headquarters at 1 MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn.[55] Major ethnic publications include the Brooklyn-Queens Catholic paper The Tablet, Hamodia, an Orthodox Jewish daily and The Jewish Press, an Orthodox Jewish weekly. Many nationally distributed ethnic newspapers are based in Brooklyn. Over 60 ethnic groups, writing in 42 languages, publish some 300 non-English language magazines and newspapers in New York City. Among them the quarterly "L'Idea", a bilingual magazine printed in Italian and English since 1974. In addition, many newspapers published abroad, such as The Daily Gleaner and The Star of Jamaica, are available in Brooklyn.[citation needed] Our Time Press published weekly by DBG Media covers the Village of Brooklyn with a motto of "The Local paper with the Global View". Television[edit] The City of New York has an official television station, run by the NYC Media Group, which features programming based in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Community Access Television is the borough's public access channel.[citation needed] Events[edit] The annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade (mid-to-late June) is a costume-and-float parade.[56] Coney Island also hosts the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest (July 4).[56] The annual Labor Day Carnival (also known as the Labor Day Parade or West Indian Day Parade) takes place along Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights. Parks and other attractions[edit] See also: Tourism in New York City Kwanzan Cherries in bloom at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Astroland in Coney Island. Brooklyn Botanic Garden: located adjacent to Prospect Park is the 52-acre (21 ha) botanical garden, which includes a cherry tree esplanade, a one-acre (0.4 ha) rose garden, a Japanese hill and pond garden, a fragrance garden, a water lily pond esplanade, several conservatories, a rock garden, a native flora garden, a bonsai tree collection, and children's gardens and discovery exhibits. Coney Island developed as a playground for the rich in the early 1900s, but it grew as one of America's first amusement grounds and attracted crowds from all over New York. The Cyclone rollercoaster, built in 1927, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The 1920 Wonder Wheel and other rides are still operational. Coney Island went into decline in the 1970s, but has undergone a renaissance.[57] Floyd Bennett Field: the first municipal airport in New York City and long closed for operations, is now part of the National Park System. Many of the historic hangars and runways are still extant. Nature trails and diverse habitats are found within the park, including salt marsh and a restored area of shortgrass prairie that was once widespread on the Hempstead Plains. Green-Wood Cemetery, founded by the social reformer Henry Evelyn Pierrepont[58] in 1838, is an early Rural cemetery. It is the burial ground of many notable New Yorkers. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge: a unique Federal wildlife refuge straddling the Brooklyn-Queens border, part of Gateway National Recreation Area New York Transit Museum displays historical artifacts of Greater New York's subway, commuter rail, and bus systems; it is located at Court Street, a former Independent Subway System station in Brooklyn Heights on the Fulton Street Line. Prospect Park is a public park in central Brooklyn encompassing 585 acres (2.37 km2).[59] The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who created Manhattan's Central Park. Attractions include the Long Meadow, a 90-acre (36 ha) meadow, the Picnic House, which houses offices and a hall that can accommodate parties with up to 175 guests; Litchfield Villa, Prospect Park Zoo, the Boathouse, housing a visitors center and the first urban Audubon Center;[60] Brooklyn's only lake, covering 60 acres (24 ha); the Prospect Park Bandshell that hosts free outdoor concerts in the summertime; and various sports and fitness activities including seven baseball fields. Prospect Park hosts a popular annual Halloween Parade. Sports[edit] Main article: Sports in Brooklyn Barclays Center, located in Pacific Park within Prospect Heights, is Brooklyn's major league sports venue. Brooklyn's major professional sports teams are the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and the NHL's New York Islanders. The Nets and Islanders moved into the borough in 2012 and 2015, respectively, and both play their home games at Barclays Center in Prospect Heights. Previously, the Nets had played on Long Island and in New Jersey, while the Islanders had played on Long Island since their inception. Brooklyn also has a storied sports history. It has been home to many famous sports figures such as Joe Paterno, Vince Lombardi, Mike Tyson, Joe Torre, and Vitas Gerulaitis. Basketball legend Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn though he grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina. In the earliest days of organized baseball, Brooklyn teams dominated the new game. The second recorded game of baseball was played near what is today Fort Greene Park on October 24, 1845. Brooklyn’s Excelsiors, Atlantics and Eckfords were the leading teams from the mid-1850s through the Civil War, and there were dozens of local teams with neighborhood league play, such as at Mapleton Oval.[61] During this "Brooklyn era", baseball evolved into the modern game: the first fastball, first changeup, first batting average, first triple play, first pro baseball player, first enclosed ballpark, first scorecard, first known African-American team, first black championship game, first road trip, first gambling scandal, and first eight pennant winners were all in or from Brooklyn.[62] Brooklyn's most famous historical team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, named for "trolley dodgers" played at Ebbets Field.[63] In 1947 Jackie Robinson was hired by the Dodgers as the first African-American player in Major League Baseball in the modern era. In 1955, the Dodgers, perennial National League pennant winners, won the only World Series for Brooklyn against their rival New York Yankees. The event was marked by mass euphoria and celebrations. Just two years later, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles. Walter O'Malley, the team's owner at the time, is still vilified, even by Brooklynites too young to remember the Dodgers as Brooklyn's ball club. After a 43-year hiatus, professional baseball returned to the borough in 2001 with the Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor league team that plays in MCU Park in Coney Island. They are an affiliate of the New York Mets. Transportation[edit] See also: Transportation in New York City About 57 percent of all households in Brooklyn were households without automobiles. The citywide rate is 55 percent in New York City.[64] Public transport[edit] Coney Island – Stillwell Avenue subway station Brooklyn features extensive public transit. Eighteen New York City Subway services, including the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, traverse the borough. Approximately 92.8% of Brooklyn residents traveling to Manhattan use the subway, despite the fact that some neighborhoods like Flatlands and Marine Park are poorly served by subway service. Major stations, out of the 170 currently in Brooklyn, include: Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center Broadway Junction DeKalb Avenue Jay Street – MetroTech Coney Island – Stillwell Avenue[65] Proposed New York City Subway lines never built include a line along Nostrand or Utica Avenues to Marine Park,[66] as well as a subway line to Spring Creek.[67][68] Brooklyn was once served by an extensive network of streetcars, many of which were replaced by the public bus network that covers the entire borough. There is also daily express bus service into Manhattan. New York's famous yellow cabs also provide transportation in Brooklyn, although they are less numerous in the borough. There are three commuter rail stations in Brooklyn: East New York, Nostrand Avenue, and Atlantic Terminal, the terminus of the Atlantic Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The terminal is located near the Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center subway station, with ten connecting subway services. Roadways[edit] See also: Brooklyn streets and List of lettered Brooklyn avenues The Marine Parkway Bridge Williamsburg Bridge, as seen from Wallabout Bay with Greenpoint and Long Island City in background The great majority of limited-access expressways and parkways are located in the western and southern sections of Brooklyn. These include the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the Gowanus Expressway (which is part of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway), the Prospect Expressway (New York State Route 27), the Belt Parkway, and the Jackie Robinson Parkway (formerly the Interborough Parkway). Planned expressways that were never built include the Bushwick Expressway, an extension of I-78[69] and the Cross-Brooklyn Expressway, I-878.[70] Major thoroughfares include Atlantic Avenue, Fourth Avenue, 86th Street, Kings Highway, Bay Parkway, Ocean Parkway, Eastern Parkway, Linden Boulevard, McGuinness Boulevard, Flatbush Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, and Nostrand Avenue. Much of Brooklyn has only named streets, but Park Slope, Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, and Borough Park and the other western sections have numbered streets running approximately northwest to southeast, and numbered avenues going approximately northeast to southwest. East of Dahill Road, lettered avenues (like Avenue M) run east and west, and numbered streets have the prefix "East". South of Avenue O, related numbered streets west of Dahill Road use the "West" designation. This set of numbered streets ranges from West 37th Street to East 108 Street, and the avenues range from A-Z with names substituted for some of them in some neighborhoods (notably Albemarle, Beverley, Cortelyou, Dorchester, Ditmas, Foster, Farragut, Glenwood, Quentin). Numbered streets prefixed by "North" and "South" in Williamsburg, and "Bay", "Beach", "Brighton", "Plumb", "Paerdegat" or "Flatlands" along the southern and southwestern waterfront are loosely based on the old grids of the original towns of Kings County that eventually consolidated to form Brooklyn. These names often reflect the bodies of water or beaches around them, such as Plumb Beach or Paerdegat Basin. Brooklyn is connected to Manhattan by three bridges, the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges; a vehicular tunnel, the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (formerly the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel); and several subway tunnels. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge links Brooklyn with the more suburban borough of Staten Island. Though much of its border is on land, Brooklyn shares several water crossings with Queens, including the Kosciuszko Bridge (part of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway), the Pulaski Bridge, and the JJ Byrne Memorial Bridge, all of which carry traffic over Newtown Creek, and the Marine Parkway Bridge connecting Brooklyn to the Rockaway Peninsula. Waterways[edit] Brooklyn was long a major shipping port, especially at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park. Most container ship cargo operations have shifted to the New Jersey side of New York Harbor, while the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook is a focal point for New York's growing cruise industry. The Queen Mary 2, one of the world's largest ocean liners, was designed specifically to fit under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the United States. She makes regular ports of call at the Red Hook terminal on her transatlantic crossings from Southampton, England. NY Waterway offers commuter services from the western shore of Brooklyn to points in Lower Manhattan, Midtown, and Long Island City, as well as tours and charters. SeaStreak also offers weekday ferry service between the Brooklyn Army Terminal and the Manhattan ferry slips at Pier 11 downtown and East 34th Street in midtown. A Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel, originally proposed in the 1920s as a core project for the then new Port Authority of New York is again being studied and discussed as a way to ease freight movements across a large swath of the metropolitan area. Manhattan Bridge Manhattan Bridge seen from the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Education[edit] See also: Education in New York City and List of high schools in New York City Education in Brooklyn is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. Public schools in the borough are managed by the New York City Department of Education, the largest public school system. Brooklyn Technical High School (commonly called Brooklyn Tech), a New York City public high school, is the largest specialized high school for science, mathematics, and technology in the United States.[71] Brooklyn Tech opened in 1922. Brooklyn Tech is located across the street from Fort Greene Park. This high school was built from 1930 to 1933 at a cost of about $6,000,000 and is 12 stories high. It covers about half of a city block.[72] Brooklyn Tech is noted for its famous alumni[73] (including two Nobel Laureates), its academics, and the large number of graduates attending prestigious universities. Kazys Šimonis – painter Algimantas Švegžda – lt Algimantas Švegžda painter Otis Tamašauskas Lithographer Print Maker Graphic Artist Adolfas Valeška – painter and graphic artist Adomas Varnas – painter Kazys Varnelis – artist Vladas Vildžiunas lt Vladas Vildžiunas sculptor Mikalojus Povilas Vilutis lt Mikalojus Povilas Vilutis graphic artist Viktoras Vizgirda – painter William Zorach – Modern artist who died in Bath Maine Antanas Žmuidzinavicius – painter Kazimieras Leonardas Žoromskis – painter Politics edit President Valdas Adamkus right chatting with Vice President Dick Cheney left See also List of Lithuanian rulers Mindaugas – the first and only King of Lithuania – Gediminas – the ruler of Lithuania – Algirdas – the ruler together with Kestutis of Lithuania – Kestutis – the ruler together with Algirdas of Lithuania – Vytautas – the ruler of Lithuania – together with Jogaila Jogaila – the ruler of Lithuania – from to together with Vytautas the king of Poland – Jonušas Radvila – the field hetman of Grand Duchy of Lithuania – Dalia Grybauskaite – current President of Lithuania since Valdas Adamkus – President of Lithuania till Jonas Basanavicius – "father" of the Act of Independence of Algirdas Brazauskas – the former First secretary of Central Committee of Communist Party of Lithuanian SSR the former president of Lithuania after and former Prime Minister of Lithuania Joe Fine – mayor of Marquette Michigan – Kazys Grinius – politician third President of Lithuania Mykolas Krupavicius – priest behind the land reform in interwar Lithuania Vytautas Landsbergis – politician professor leader of Sajudis the independence movement former speaker of Seimas member of European Parliament Stasys Lozoraitis – diplomat and leader of Lithuanian government in exile – Stasys Lozoraitis junior – politician diplomat succeeded his father as leader of Lithuanian government in exile – Antanas Merkys – the last Prime Minister of interwar Lithuania Rolandas Paksas – former President removed from the office after impeachment Justas Paleckis – journalist and politician puppet Prime Minister after Soviet occupation Kazimiera Prunskiene – the first female Prime Minister Mykolas Sleževicius – three times Prime Minister organized

Higher education[edit] Public colleges[edit] Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, and was the first public coeducational liberal arts college in New York City. The College ranked in the top 10 nationally for the second consecutive year in Princeton Review’s 2006 guidebook, America’s Best Value Colleges. Many of its students are first and second generation Americans. Founded in 1970, Medgar Evers College is a senior college of the City University of New York, with a mission to develop and maintain high quality, professional, career-oriented undergraduate degree programs in the context of a liberal arts education. The College offers programs both at the baccalaureate and associate degree levels, as well as Adult and Continuing Education classes for Central Brooklyn residents, corporations, government agencies, and community organizations. Medgar Evers College is a few blocks east of Prospect Park in Crown Heights. CUNY's New York City College of Technology (City Tech) of The City University of New York (CUNY) (Downtown Brooklyn/Brooklyn Heights) is the largest public college of technology in New York State and a national model for technological education. Established in 1946, City Tech can trace its roots to 1881 when the Technical Schools of the Metropolitan Museum of Art were renamed the New York Trade School. That institution—which became the Voorhees Technical Institute many decades later—was soon a model for the development of technical and vocational schools worldwide. In 1971, Voorhees was incorporated into City Tech. SUNY Downstate Medical Center, originally founded as the Long Island College Hospital in 1860, is the oldest hospital-based medical school in the United States. The Medical Center comprises the College of Medicine, College of Health Related Professions, College of Nursing, School of Public Health, School of Graduate Studies, and University Hospital of Brooklyn. The Nobel Prize winner Robert F. Furchgott was a member of its faculty. Half of the Medical Center's students are minorities or immigrants. The College of Medicine has the highest percentage of minority students of any medical school in New York State. Private colleges[edit] Brooklyn Law School's 1994 new classical "Fell Hall" tower, by architect Robert A. M. Stern Brooklyn Law School was founded in 1901 and is notable for its diverse student body. Women and African Americans were enrolled in 1909. According to the Leiter Report, a compendium of law school rankings published by Brian Leiter, Brooklyn Law School places 31st nationally for quality of students.[74] Long Island University is a private university headquartered in Brookville on Long Island, with a campus in Downtown Brooklyn with 6,417 undergraduate students. The Brooklyn campus has strong science and medical technology programs, at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Higgins Hall at the Pratt Institute Pratt Institute, in Clinton Hill, is a private college founded in 1887 with programs in engineering, architecture, and the arts. Some buildings in the school's Brooklyn campus are official landmarks. Pratt has over 4700 students, with most at its Brooklyn campus. Graduate programs include library and information science, architecture, and urban planning. Undergraduate programs include architecture, construction management, writing, critical and visual studies, the arts, over 25 programs in all. NYU Tandon Wunsch Building The New York University Tandon School of Engineering, the United States' second oldest private institute of technology, founded in 1854, has its main campus in Downtown's MetroTech Center, a commercial, civic and educational redevelopment project of which it was a key sponsor. NYU-Tandon is one of the 18 schools and colleges that comprise New York University (NYU).[75][76][77][78] St. Francis College is a Catholic college located in Brooklyn Heights and was founded in 1859 by Franciscan friars. Today, there are over 2,400 students attending the small liberal arts college. St. Francis is considered by the New York Times as one of the more diverse colleges, and was ranked one of the best baccalaureate colleges by both Forbes magazine and U.S. News & World Report.[79][80][81] Brooklyn also has smaller liberal arts institutions, such as Saint Joseph's College in Clinton Hill and Boricua College in Williamsburg. Community colleges[edit] Kingsborough Community College is a junior college in the City University of New York system, located in Manhattan Beach. Coney Island From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Coney Island (disambiguation). Coney Island Neighborhood of Brooklyn The Riegelmann Boardwalk The Riegelmann Boardwalk Coney Island is located in New York City Coney IslandConey Island Location in Brooklyn, New York Coordinates: 40°34'27.9?N 73°58'42.9?WCoordinates: 40°34'27.9?N 73°58'42.9?W Country United States State New York City New York City Borough Brooklyn Settled 17th century Founded by Dutch settlers Area • Total 0.6910000 sq mi (1.7896818 km2) Population (2010) • Total 24,711 • Density 36,000/sq mi (14,000/km2) Time zone Eastern Time Zone (UTC-05:00) ZIP code 11224 Telephone area code 718, 347, 929, and 917 Coney Island is a peninsular residential neighborhood, beach, and leisure/entertainment destination on the Atlantic Ocean in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by land fill. The residential portion of the peninsula is a community of 60,000 people in its western part, with Sea Gate to its west, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and Gravesend to the north. Coney Island is well known as the site of amusement parks and a seaside resort. The attractions reached a historical peak during the first half of the 20th century, declining in popularity after World War II and years of neglect. In recent years, the area has seen the opening of MCU Park stadium and has become home to the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team, as well as the opening of a new amusement park among several adjacent ones. Contents [hide] 1 Geography 2 History 2.1 Etymology 2.2 Development 2.2.1 Robert Moses 2.2.2 Fred Trump 2.2.3 Bullard deal and demolition of Thunderbolt 2.2.4 Thor Equities 2.2.5 Hurricane Sandy 3 Theme parks and attractions 3.1 Theme park history 3.2 Attractions 3.2.1 Rides 3.2.2 Beach 3.2.3 Other attractions 3.3 Events 4 Demographics 5 Education 5.1 Primary and secondary schools 5.2 Public libraries 6 Transportation 7 In popular culture 8 References 8.1 Notes 8.2 Sources 8.3 Further reading 9 External links Geography[edit] The Coney Island peninsula from the air Coney Island is the westernmost part of the barrier islands of Long Island, and is about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide. It was formerly an island that was separated from the main part of Brooklyn by Coney Island Creek, a partial tidal mudflats, but it has since been developed into a peninsula. There were plans early in the 20th century to dredge and straighten the creek as a ship canal, but they were abandoned, and the center of the creek was filled in completely to allow construction of the Belt Parkway before World War II, and it was filled in again in 1962 with the construction of the Verrazano–Narrows Bridge.[1] The western and eastern ends of the island are now peninsulas. History[edit] This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2007) Etymology[edit] The Native American inhabitants of the region, the Lenape, called the island Narrioch. This name has been attributed the meaning of "land without shadows"[2] or "always in light"[3] describing how its south facing beaches always remained in sunlight. A second meaning attributed to Narrioch is "point" or "corner of land".[4] There is no clear historical consensus on how the island got the name "Coney Island".[5] The Dutch established the colony of Nieuw Amsterdam in that area in the early 17th century. A Robert Morden map from 1690 has the label "Conney I?le"[6] and the name apears in an 1733 map ("Coney I?land")[7] and an 1811 map ("Coney I").[8] The most popular theory is the name came from the Dutch word for rabbit, "konijn", derived from a purported large population of wild rabbits, giving it the name "Konijn Eiland" ("Rabbit Island") with the name being anglicized to "Coney Island" after the English took over the colony in 1664, "coney" being the English version of the word rabbit. Other origins of the name include that it came from the name of the native american tribe, the Konoh, who supposedly once inhabited it, or the name "Conyn" which appears in a 1816 work on New York place names, believed to be the surname of a family of Dutch settlers who lived there.[5] Some of the alternative theories on how the island got its name include the Irish Gaelic name for rabbit which is Coinín, which is also anglicized to Coney. Ireland has many islands named Coney Island, all of which predate this one. Another theory has an Irish captain named Peter O'Connor naming Coney Island in the 18th century, after an island in Sligo Bay known as both Coney Island and Inishmulclohy. Another purported origin is that the island is named after Henry Hudson's right-hand-man, John Coleman, supposed to have been slain by Indians.[5] Map of Coney Island in 1879 Development[edit] Railroad station in Coney Island, Brooklyn, ca. 1872-1887 Development on Coney Island has always been controversial. When the first structures were built around the 1840s, there was an outcry to prevent any development on the island and preserve it as a natural park. Starting in the early 1900s, the City of New York made efforts to condemn all buildings and piers built south of Surf Avenue. It was an effort to reclaim the beach which by then had almost completely been built over with bath houses, clam bars, amusements, and other structures. The local amusement community opposed the city. Eventually a settlement was reached where the beach did not begin until 1,000 feet (300 m) south of Surf Avenue, the territory marked by a city-owned boardwalk, while the city would demolish any structures that had been built over public streets, to reclaim beach access. Robert Moses[edit] Photograph of bathers in Coney Island by Irving Underhill, in the Brooklyn Museum collection Since the 1920s, all property north of the boardwalk and south of Surf Avenue was zoned for amusement and recreational use only, with some large lots of property north of Surf also zoned for amusements only. In 1944, Luna Park was damaged by fire, and sold to a company who announced they were going to tear down what was left of Luna Park and build apartments. Robert Moses had the land rezoned for residential use with the proviso that the apartment complex include low-income housing. In 1949, Moses moved the boardwalk back from the beach several yards, demolishing many structures, including the city's municipal bath house. He would later demolish several blocks of amusements to clear land for both the New York Aquarium and the Abe Stark ice skating rink. Critics complained that Moses took three times more land than each structure needed, surrounding each with vacant lots that were of no use to the city. In 1953, Moses had the entire peninsula rezoned for residential use only and announced plans to demolish the amusements to make room for public housing. After many public complaints, the Estimate Board reinstated the area between West 22nd Street and The Cyclone as amusement only and threw in 100 feet (30 m) of property north of Surf Av. between these streets. It has since then been protected for amusement use only, which has led to many public land battles. Fred Trump[edit] Dreamland tower and lagoon in 1907 Surf Avenue in 1908 In 1964, Coney Island's last remaining large theme park, Steeplechase Park, closed. The rides were auctioned off, and the property was sold to developer Fred Trump, the father of Donald Trump. Trump, convinced that the amusement area would die off once the large theme parks were gone, wanted to build luxury apartments on the old Steeplechase property. He spent ten years battling in court to get the property rezoned. At one point Trump organized a funeral for amusement parks in Coney Island. Trump invited the press to the funeral where bikini-clad girls first handed out hot dogs, then handed out stones which Fred invited all to cast through the stained-glass windows of the pavilion. Then, pronouncing the amusement park dead, he had the pavilion bulldozed. After a decade of court battles, Trump exhausted all his legal options and the property was still zoned only for amusements. He eventually leased the property to Norman Kaufman, who ran a small collection of fairground amusements on a corner of the site, calling his amusement park "Steeplechase Park". But between the loss of both Luna Park and the original Steeplechase Park, as well as an urban-renewal plan that took place in the surrounding neighborhood where middle class houses were replaced with housing projects, fewer people visited Coney Island. With attendance dropping, many amusement owners abandoned their properties. In the late 1970s, the city came up with a plan to revitalize Coney Island by bringing in gambling casinos, as had been done in Atlantic City. The city's plans backfired when the prospect of selling property to rich casino owners created a land boom where property was bought up and the rides cleared in preparation of reselling to developers. Gambling was never legalized for Coney, and the area ended up with vacant lots. In 1979, the city purchased Steeplechase Park from Fred Trump and proceeded to evict Norman Kaufman's amusements. By this time, Kaufman had expanded his park and had plans to eventually rebuild the historic Steeplechase Park. He had even bought back the original Steeplechase horse ride with plans to install it the following season. But the city decided it did not want to wait decades for Steeplechase park to be rebuilt and believed it could attract a developer to build a large combination theme park and casino on the site. The property remained vacant for another five years. Bullard deal and demolition of Thunderbolt[edit] In the mid-1980s, businessman Horace Bullard approached the city to allow him to rebuild Steeplechase Park. He had already bought several acres of property just East of the Steeplechase Park site, including the property with a large coaster called Thunderbolt and property west of Abe Stark rink. His plans called for the combination of his property as well as the Steeplechase property and the unused property on the Abe Stark site as a multimillion-dollar theme park based on the original. The city agreed and in 1986 the state legislature approved the project. However, several bureaucrats held up the project for another two years while the NYC Planning Commission compiled an environmental impact report. In 1987, state senator Thomas Bartosiewics attempted to block Bullard from building on the Steeplechase site. Bartosiewics was part of a group called The Brooklyn Sports Foundation which had promised another theme park developer, Sportsplex, the right to build on the site. Construction was held up for another four years as Bullard and Sportsplex fought over the site. In 1994, Rudy Giuliani took office as mayor of New York and killed the Bullard deal. Giuliani claimed he wanted to build Sportsplex, provided it include a stadium for a minor-league team owned by the Mets. But when Giuliani ordered the stadium to be built first, Sportsplex accused the city of planning to build a parking lot on the property earmarked for the Sportsplex construction. Giuliani publicly denied this and promised Sportsplex could begin construction the moment the stadium was finished. As soon as the stadium was completed, Giuliani killed the Sportsplex deal and had the parking lot built. The Mets decided the minor league team would be called the Brooklyn Cyclones and sold the naming rights to the stadium to Keyspan Energy. Executives from Keyspan complained that the stadium's line of view from the rest of Coney Island amusement area was blocked by the now derelict Thunderbolt coaster and considered not going through with the deal. Bullard, now no longer rebuilding Steeplechase Park, had wanted to restore the coaster as part of a scaled-down amusement park. The following month, Giuliani ordered an early-morning raid on the Thunderbolt, claiming that the coaster was in immediate danger of collapse and ordering it bulldozed. The structure that was supposed to be near collapse took many days to be torn down. No connection between the Mets organization and the demolition has ever been proven, but Giuliani was later accused of tearing it down at the Mets' request.[citation needed] Thor Equities[edit] Coney Island snack shops along the boardwalk Co-ops on Coney Island The Wonder Wheel and Astroland Park from Coney Island beach Senior housing on Coney Island In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took an interest in revitalizing Coney Island as a possible site for the New York City bid of the 2012 Summer Olympics. A plan was developed by the Astella Development Corporation. When the city lost the bid for the Olympics, revitalization plans were passed on to the Coney Island Development Corporation (CIDC), which came up with a plan to restore the resort. Many amusement owners worried that because one of the report's goals to develop the area as a year-round destination, they could be forced out as their businesses are only seasonal and did not meet the CIDC's year-round goal. The CIDC also suggested that property north of Surf Avenue and west of Abe Stark should be rezoned for other uses including residential to lure developers into the area. Shortly before the CIDC's plans were publicly released, a development company, Thor Equities, purchased all of Bullard's western property, worth $2.2 million, for $16 million. Now owning property that was earmarked for rezoning to residential, they sold the property to Taconic for a $72 million profit. Thor then went about using much of the $72 million to purchase property well over market value lining Stillwell Avenue and offered to buy out every piece of property inside the traditional amusement area. Quickly, rumors started that Thor was interested in building a retail mall in the heart of the amusement area. In September 2005, Thor's founder, Joe Sitt, went public with his new plans, which he claimed was going to be a large Bellagio-style hotel resort surrounded by rides and amusements. He also claimed that the interior of the resort would have an indoor mall that would allow local amusement owners to relocate their rides and operate them indoors year round and made promises that he had no intention of driving out any local amusement owners and wanted them all to be part of his new resort. Sitt released renderings of a hotel that would take up the entire amusement area from the Aquarium to beyond Keyspan Park and would most likely need to involve the demolition of The Wonder Wheel, Cyclone, and Nathan's original hot dog stand, as well as the new Keyspan Park. At the same time, the borough of Brooklyn was involved with two other major development projects: the Atlantic Yards project, which involved eminent domain; and the Brooklyn Bridge Park project, which involved the demolition of a building with landmark status. Many feared that the city had already backed Thor's plans and that the entire amusement district would be demolished to make way for the new multimillion dollar resort. In June 2006 Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn (EEK), an architectural design firm working for Thor, released detailed renderings of Thor's planned resort area showing luxury high rise condo towers in place of the hotel with retail on the ground floor. Since the area has both zoning restrictions only allowing amusements and no buildings taller than 260 feet (79 m). Thor initially denied any inclusion of condo towers in its plans and Eek quickly removed the renderings from its site, but not before blogs everywhere published copies of the renderings. Thor quickly released renderings of rides, including a steel coaster that would run above the boardwalk, a two tiered carousel, and a fountain at the foot of Stillwell Av. that would project images of whales and mermaids. Thor admitted that condos would be part of its resort and said that the resort was not economically feasible without the addition of condos. At a public meeting Thor representatives continued to downplay the condos by claiming that the company only wanted to build hundreds of condo units, not thousands. While Thor initially said it only wanted to build 575 condos the number crept up to 975. Late in 2006 Thor announced that it had just purchased Coney Island's last remaining amusement park, Astroland, and would be closing it after the 2007 season. Immediately Thor announced plans to build a Nickelodeon-themed hotel on the site. In January 2007, Thor released renderings for a new amusement park to be built on the Astroland site called Coney Island Park.[9] Critics pointed out that even though Thor claimed its project would expand the amusement area, the company had already evicted several acres of amusements from the property it bought and planned to evict the rest of the amusements on the property after the 2007 season, as well as close Astroland. Meanwhile, the city brought up its own concerns about Thor's plans based on history with the developer. In 2001 Thor purchased the Albee Square Mall for $25 million claiming it wanted to revitalize it. Thor said it wanted to give the mall a Vegas-style makeover and bring in more name brand retail while maintaining the original vendors occupying the mall. The city complied and rezoned the property to permit the building of an office tower above the mall. Soon after, Thor sold the property to Arcadia Reality Trust for $125 million. Arcadia plans to demolish the mall and build the tower only with a possible box store on the ground level. City officials questioned Thor's motives for wanting the zoning changes inside the amusement zone and feared that once Thor gets those changes, it will flip the property to the highest bidder who will have no obligation to build any amusements. In the winter of 2007, Thor began to evict businesses from the buildings it owned along the boardwalk. But when one of the business owners went to the press with a statement that Thor was requiring its tenants to sign a confidentiality clause that lasted three years and prevented them from publicly commenting on Thor redeveloping the area, Thor quickly reinstated their leases. Low tide on the beach west of the pier, October 2010 Astroland owner Carol Hill Albert, whose husband's family had owned the park since 1962, sold the site to developer Thor Equities in November 2006 for an undisclosed amount. Thor proposed a $1.5 billion renovation and expansion of the Coney Island amusement area to include hotels, shopping, movies, an indoor water park and the city's first new roller coaster since the Cyclone. The Municipal Art Society launched the initiative ImagineConey,[10] in early 2007, as discussion of a rezoning plan that highly favored housing and hotels began circulating from the Department of City Planning.[11] MAS held several public workshops, a call for ideas, and a charrette to garner attention to the issue. City Planning certified the rezoning plan in January 2009 to negative responses from all amusement advocates and Coney Island enthusiasts. In 2012 the plan was working through the ULURP process.[12] Thor Equities said it hoped to complete the project by 2011.[13] Thor Equities plan to demolish most of the iconic, early 20th-century buildings along Surf Avenue. In their place, Sitt plans to build cheap, one-story retail, and his recently released rendering clearly shows Burger King and Taco Bell-like buildings.[14] The Aquarium is also planning a renovation.[15] In June 2009, the city's planning commission unanimously approved the construction of 4,500 units of housing and 900 affordable units and vowed to "preserve, in perpetuity, the open amusement area rides that everyone knows and loves," while protesters argued that "20 percent affordable-housing component is unreasonably low."[16] Hurricane Sandy[edit] In 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused major damage to the Coney Island amusement parks, the Aquarium, and businesses. Nathan's, however, reported that the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest would be held the following summer, as usual.[17] Luna Park at Coney Island reopened on March 24, 2013.[18] Theme parks and attractions[edit] See also: Luna Park, Coney Island (1903), Dreamland (amusement park) and Steeplechase Park Currently, Coney Island has two amusement parks – Luna Park and Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park – as well as several rides that are not incorporated into either theme park. Coney Island also has several other visitor attractions, and hosts renowned events as well. Theme park history[edit] The Coney Island "Funny Face" logo (seen here under the new Luna Park Tickler ride) dates back 100 years to the early days of George C. Tilyou's Steeplechase Park.[19] Coney Island, c. 1914, by Edward Henry Potthast Between about 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the United States, attracting several million visitors per year. At its height it contained three competing major amusement parks, Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park, as well as many independent amusements. Due to Coney Island's being easily reached from Manhattan and other boroughs yet distant enough from the city of Brooklyn to provide the illusion of a proper vacation, it began attracting vacationers in the 1830s and 1840s, assisted by carriage roads and steamship service that reduced travel time from a formerly half-day journey to two hours.[20] The construction of the Coney Island Hotel in 1829. The Brighton, Manhattan Beach, and Oriental Hotels would open shortly afterward. Coney Island became a major resort destination after the Civil War as excursion railroads and the Coney Island & Brooklyn Railroad streetcar line reached the area in the 1860s, and the Iron steamboat company in 1881. 1876 The first Coney Island Charles Looff carousel Charles I. D. Looff, a Danish woodcarver, built the first carousel (and amusement ride) at Coney Island in 1876. It was installed at Vandeveer's bath-house complex at West 6th Street and Surf Avenue. The complex was later called Balmer's Pavilion. The carousel consisted of hand-carved horses and animals standing two abreast. Two musicians, a drummer and a flute player, provided the music. A metal ring-arm hung on a pole outside the ride, feeding small, iron rings for eager riders to grab. A tent-top protected the riders from the weather. The fare was five cents. From 1885 to 1896, the Coney Island Elephant was the first sight to greet immigrants arriving in New York, who would see it before they saw the Statue of Liberty. When the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company electrified the steam railroads and connected Brooklyn to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge at the beginning of the 20th century, Coney Island turned rapidly from a resort to an accessible location for day-trippers seeking to escape the summer heat in New York City's tenements.[21] In 1915 the Sea Beach Line was upgraded to a subway line, followed by the other former excursion roads, and the opening of the New West End Terminal in 1919 ushered in Coney Island's busiest era.[21] File:Coney Island (ca. 1940s).ogv Coney Island footage from the 1940s After World War II, contraction began seriously from a series of pressures. Air conditioning in movie theaters and then in homes, along with the advent of automobiles, which provided access to the less crowded and more appealing Long Island state parks, especially Jones Beach, lessened the attractions of Coney's beaches. Luna Park closed in 1946 after a series of fires and the street gang problems of the 1950s spilled into Coney Island. The presence of threatening youths did not impact the beachgoing but discouraged visitors to the rides and concessions, staples of the Coney Island economy. The local economy was particularly impacted by the 1964 closing of Steeplechase Park. Astroland served as a major amusement park from 1962 to 2008,[22] and was replaced by a new incarnation of Dreamland in 2009 and of Luna Park in 2010. The other parks and attractions include Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, 12th Street Amusements, and Kiddie Park, while the Eldorado Arcade has an indoor bumper car ride. The Zipper and Spider on 12th Street were closed permanently on September 4, 2007, and dismantling began after its owner lost his lease. They are to be reassembled at an amusement park in Honduras.[23] On April 20, 2011, the first new roller coasters to be built at Coney Island in eighty years were opened as part of efforts to reverse the decline of the amusement area.[24] Attractions[edit] Rides[edit] Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster The Wonder Wheel The current amusement park contains various rides, games such as skeeball and ball tossing, and a sideshow including games of shooting, throwing, and tossing skills. The rides and other amusements at Coney Island are owned and managed by several different companies, and operate independently of each other. It is not possible to purchase season tickets to the attractions in the area. Three rides at Coney Island are protected as designated New York City landmarks and are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. These three rides are: Wonder Wheel – built in 1918 and opened in 1920, this steel Ferris wheel has both stationary cars and rocking cars that slide along a track. It holds 144 riders, stands 150 ft (46 m) tall, and weighs over 200 tons. At night the Wonder Wheel's steel frame is outlined and illuminated by neon tubes.[25] It is located at Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park. The Cyclone roller coaster – built in 1927, it is one of the United States's oldest wooden coasters still in operation. Popular with roller coaster aficionados, the Cyclone includes an 85 ft (26 m), sixty degree drop. It is owned by the City of New York, and was operated by Astroland, under a franchise agreement. It is now located in and operated by Luna Park. Parachute Jump – originally built as the Life Savers Parachute Jump at the 1939 New York World's Fair, this was the first ride of its kind. Patrons were hoisted 190 ft (58 m) in the air before being allowed to drop using guy-wired parachutes. Although the ride has been closed since 1968, it remains a Coney Island landmark, and is sometimes referred to as Brooklyn's Eiffel Tower. Between 2002 and 2004, it was completely dismantled, cleaned, painted and restored, but remains inactive. After an official lighting ceremony in July 2006, the Parachute Jump was slated to be lit year round using different color motifs to represent the seasons. However, this idea was scrapped when New York City started conserving electricity in the summer months, and it has not been lit regularly since. Other notable, currently operating attractions include: The new Thunderbolt roller coaster, opened in 2014 B&B Carousell Thunderbolt – In March 2014, construction started on the new Thunderbolt coaster at Coney Island, the Thunderbolt will be manufactured by Zamperla at a cost of US$10 million and will have a 90-degree vertical drop, followed by a 100-foot loop and a zero-gravity roll, along with dives, hills and a corkscrew — all within two minutes. The ride will feature 2,000 feet (610 m) of track, a height of 125 feet (38 m), and a top speed of 65 miles per hour (105 km/h).[26] Thunderbolt will feature three inversions including a vertical loop, corkscrew, and an Immelmann loop.[27][28][29][30] The Thunderbolt, will be located near Surf Avenue and West 15th Street in Coney Island will be constructed with 2,233 feet of track that will stretch to a height of 115 feet and will be built next to the B&B Carousell, an antique merry-go-round that underwent an extensive restoration and reopened last summer. The opening of the Thunderbolt, expected to be by Memorial Day 2014,[31][32] was pushed back to June 6, 2014,[33][34][35] and in early June, it was delayed once again to later in summer 2014.[36] Finally, on June 14, the Thunderbolt was opened.[37] B&B Carousell [sic] (as spelled by the frame's builder, William F. Mangels) – this is Coney Island's last traditional carousel, near the old entrance to Luna Park, but now surrounded by furniture stores. The carousel is faster than usual, with a traditional roll-operated fairground organ. When the long-term operator died unexpectedly, the carousel was put up for auction, with fears that it would leave Coney Island or be broken up for sale to collectors. However, the City of New York bought the B&B Carousell a few days before the auction; it has since been dismantled, with plans to operate it again in Coney Island in 2013 in a newly constructed carousel pavilion that will be built in Steeplechase Plaza, a 2.2-acre public plaza that is also scheduled to be open for the 2013 season. All the other carousels on Coney Island are kiddie park-style.[38][39] For the restoration, Theresa Rollison, a painter with Carousels and Carvings, custom-mixed more than 80 colors to replicate the original hues. She then applied salmon pink, lemon yellow, metallic silver and maroon, using natural brushes made from badger, squirrel and hog bristle. “I wouldn’t have chosen to put some of the colors together, but overall it works,” she said.[40] The final part of the restoration was new horsehair tails for the 50 horses and with that the New York City Economic Development Corp paid $1,700,000 for the restoration.[41] For decades, Coney Island was something of a carousel headquarters. In the late 1800s, carousel makers set up shops there and by the turn of the century two dozen merry-go-rounds were operating on the island. There even evolved a Coney Island school of carousel design, distinct from the more staid Philadelphia and County Fair styles. The Coney Island style was characterized by a flamboyant, aggressive-looking horse — neck straining, nostrils flaring and tongue lolling. The B&B was built in Coney Island, with a frame dating to 1906, and at some point it operated in New Jersey, although it is unclear for how long. In the early 1920s it received a new set of horses that were carved by Charles Carmel, one of Coney Island’s celebrated carousel makers. It had returned to Brooklyn by 1935.[42][43][44][45] Bumper cars – there are three separate bumper car rides on Coney Island, located on 12th street, Deno's Wonder Wheel Park, and Eldorado's Arcade on Surf Avenue. Haunted houses – two traditional dark ride haunted houses operate at Coney Island, Spook-a-Rama at Deno's, and Ghost Hole on 12th street. The original Thunderbolt in 1995 Former rides include: Thunderbolt – this roller coaster across the street from Steeplechase Park was constructed in 1925 and closed in 1983. It was torn down by the city "to protect public safety" in 2000 during the construction of nearby Keyspan Park. In the Woody Allen movie Annie Hall, Allen's character's family lives in the small house-like structure under the rear of the roller coaster track. Tornado – this roller coaster was constructed in 1926. It suffered a series of small fires which made the structure unstable, and was torn down in 1977. Steeplechase Park Horse Race – created by a Coney Island resident George C. Tilyou in 1897, this ride consisted of people riding wooden horses around the park on a steel track.[46] Beach[edit] The beach at Coney Island in 2007, with the west end of the Rockaway Peninsula (Breezy Point tip) visible on the horizon. Coney Island maintains a broad sandy beach from West 37th Street at Sea Gate, through the central Coney Island area and Brighton Beach, to the beginning of the community of Manhattan Beach, a distance of approximately 2.5 mi (4.0 km). The beach is continuous, and is served for its entire length by the broad Riegelmann Boardwalk. A number of amusements are directly accessible from the land-side of the boardwalk, as is the aquarium, and a variety of food shops and arcades. The beach is groomed and replenished on a regular basis by the city. The position of the beach and lack of significant obstructions means virtually the entire beach is in sunlight all day. The beach is open to all without restriction, and there is no charge for use. The beach area is divided into "bays", areas of beach delineated by rock jetties, which moderate erosion and the force of ocean waves.[citation needed] The Coney Island Polar Bear Club consists of a group of people who swim at Coney Island throughout the winter months, most notably on New Year's Day, when additional participants join them to swim in the frigid waters. The beach serves as the training grounds for the Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers (CIBBOWS),[47] a group dedicated to promoting open water swimming for individuals of all levels. CIBBOWS hosts several open water swim races each year, such as Grimaldo's Mile and the New York Aquarium 5k, as well as regular weekend training swims.[47] Other attractions[edit] Nearby, the New York Aquarium, which opened in 1957 on the former site of the Dreamland amusement park, is another attraction on Coney Island. In 2001, KeySpan Park opened on the former site of Steeplechase Park to host the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team. Events[edit] Nathan's Famous at Coney Island The Coney Island Mermaid Parade takes place on Surf Avenue and the boardwalk, and features floats and various acts. It has been produced annually by Coney Island USA, a non-profit arts organization established in 1979, dedicated to preserving the dignity of American popular culture. Coney Island USA has also sponsored the Coney Island Film Festival every October since 2000, as well as Burlesque At The Beach, and Creepshow at the Freakshow (an interactive Halloween-themed event). It also houses the Coney Island Museum. The annual Cosme 5K Charity Run/Walk, supported by the Coney Island Sports Foundation (CISF), takes place on the last Sunday of June on the Riegelmann Boardwalk. In August 2006, Coney Island hosted a major national volleyball tournament sponsored by the Association of Volleyball Professionals. The tournament, usually held on the west coast of the United States, was televised live on NBC. The league built a 4,000-seat stadium and twelve outer courts next to the boardwalk for the event.[citation needed] The tournament returned to Coney Island in 2007 and 2008. Goce Delcev ???? ????? Petar Pop Arsov ????? ??? ????? Dame Gruev ???? ????? Jane Sandanski ???? ????????? Dimitar Pop Georgiev Berovski ??????? ??? ???????? ???????? Ilyo Voyvoda ???? ??? ?????????? Pere Tošev ???? ????? Pitu Guli ???? ???? Dimo Hadži Dimov ???? ???? ????? Hristo Uzunov ?????? ?????? Literature edit Gjorgji Abadžiev ????? ??????? Petre M Andreevski ????? ? ?????????? Maja Apostoloska ???? ??????????? Dimitrija Cupovski ????????? ???????? Jordan Hadži Konstantinov Džinot ?????? ???? ???????????? ????? Vasil Iljoski ????? ?????? Slavko Janevski ?????? ???????? Blaže Koneski ????? ??????? Risto Krle ????? ???? Vlado Maleski ????? ??????? Mateja Matevski ?????? ???????? Krste Misirkov ????? ????????? Kole Nedelkovski ???? ??????????? Olivera Nikolova Anton Panov ????? ????? Gjorche Petrov ????? ?????? Vidoe Podgorec ????? ???????? Aleksandar Prokopiev ?????????? ????????? Koco Racin ???? ????? Jovica Tasevski Eternijan ?????? ???????? ????????? Gane Todorovski ???? ?????????? Stevan Ognenovski ?????? ?????????? Music edit Classical music edit Composers edit Atanas Badev ?????? ????? Dimitrije Bužarovski ????????? ?????????? Kiril Makedonski ????? ?????????? Toma Prošev ???? ?????? Todor Skalovski ????? ????????? Stojan Stojkov ?????? ??????? Aleksandar Džambazov ?????????? ???????? Conductors edit Borjan Canev ?????? ????? Instrumentalists edit Pianists Simon Trpceski ????? ???????? Opera singers edit Blagoj Nacoski ?????? ??????? Boris Trajanov ????? ???????? Popular and folk music edit Composers edit Darko Dimitrov ????? ???????? Slave Dimitrov ????? ???????? Jovan Jovanov ????? ??????? Ilija Pejovski ????? ???????? Musicians edit Bodan Arsovski ????? ???????? Goran Trajkoski ????? ????????? Ratko Dautovski ????? ????????? Kiril Džajkovski ????? ????????? Tale Ognenovski ???? ?????????? Vlatko Stefanovski ?????? ??????????? Stevo Teodosievski ????? ???????????? Aleksandra Popovska ?????????? ???????? Singers and Bands edit Lambe Alabakoski ????? ?????????? Anastasia ????????? Arhangel ???????? Kristina Arnaudova ???????? ????????? Kaliopi Bukle ??????? Dani Dimitrovska ???? ??????????? Riste Tevdoski ????? ???????? Karolina Goceva ???????? ?????? Vaska Ilieva ????? ?????? Andrijana Janevska ????????? ???????? Vlado Janevski ????? ???????? Jovan Jovanov ????? ??????? Leb i sol ??? ? ??? Aleksandar Makedonski ?????????? ?????????? Elvir Mekic ????? ????? Mizar ????? Jasmina Mukaetova ??????? ????e???? The Malagasy French Malgache are the ethnic group that forms nearly the entire population of Madagascar They are divided into two subgroups the "Highlander" Merina Sihanaka and Betsileo of the central plateau around Antananarivo Alaotra Ambatondrazaka and Fianarantsoa and the "coastal dwellers" elsewhere in the country This division has its roots in historical patterns of settlement The original Austronesian settlers from Borneo arrived between the third and tenth centuries and established a network of principalities in the Central Highlands region conducive to growing the rice they had carried with them on their outrigger canoes Sometime later a large number of settlers arrived from East Africa and established kingdoms along the relatively unpopulated coastlines The difference in ethnic origins remains somewhat evident between the highland and coastal regions In addition to the ethnic distinction between highland and coastal Malagasy one may speak of a political distinction as well Merina monarchs in the late th and early th century united the Merina principalities and brought the neighboring Betsileo people under their administration first They later extended Merina control over the majority of the coastal areas as well The military resistance and eventual defeat of most of the coastal communities assured their subordinate position vis à vis the Merina Betsileo alliance During the th and th centuries the French colonial administration capitalized on and further exacerbated these political inequities by appropriating existing Merina governmental infrastructure to run their colony This legacy of political inequity dogged the people of Madagascar after gaining independence in candidates ethnic and regional identities have often served to help or hinder their success in democratic elections Within these two broad ethnic and political groupings the Malagasy were historically subdivided into specifically named ethnic groups who were primarily distinguished from one another on the basis of cultural practices These were namely agricultural hunting or fishing practices construction style of dwellings music hair and clothing styles and local customs or taboos the latter known in the Malagasy language as fady citation needed The number of such ethnic groups in Madagascar has been debated The practices that distinguished many of these groups are less prevalent in the st century than they were in the past But many Malagasy are proud to proclaim their association with one or several of these groups as part of their own cultural identity "Highlander" ethnic groups Merina Sihanaka Betsileo Zafimaniry Coastal ethnic groups Antaifasy or Antefasy Antaimoro or Temoro or Antemoro Antaisaka or Antesaka Antambahoaka Antandroy or Tandroy Antankarana Antanosy or Tanosy Academia edit Afifi al Akiti Khasnor Johan historian Khoo Kay Kim Jomo Kwame Sundaram Danny Quah Harith Ahmad Architects edit Main article List of Malaysian architects Artists edit Main article List of Malaysian artists Business edit Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary born Tan Sri Dato Loh Boon Siew – Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Tan Sri William Cheng Dato Choong Chin Liang born Tan Sri Dato Tony Fernandes born Lim Goh Tong – Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow born Chung Keng Quee – Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan born Robert Kuok born Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan born Shoba Purushothaman Shah Hakim Zain Halim Saad Tan Sri Mohd Saleh Sulong Tan Sri Vincent Tan born Lillian Too born Tan Sri Dr Francis Yeoh Tun Daim Zainuddin born Tan Sri Kong Hon Kong Designers edit Bernard Chandran fashion designer Jimmy Choo born shoe designer Poesy Liang born artist writer philanthropist jewellery designer industrial designer interior architect music composer Inventors edit Yi Ren Ng inventor of the Lytro Entertainers edit Yasmin Ahmad – film director Stacy Angie Francissca Peter born Jamal Abdillah born Sudirman Arshad – Loganathan Arumugam died Datuk David Arumugam Alleycats Awal Ashaari Alvin Anthons born Asmawi bin Ani born Ahmad Azhar born Ning Baizura born Kasma Booty died Marion Caunter host of One In A Million and the TV Quickie Ella born Erra Fazira born Sean Ghazi born Fauziah Latiff born Angelica Lee born Daniel Lee Chee Hun born Fish Leong born Sheila Majid born Amy Mastura born Mohamad Nasir Mohamad born Shathiyah Kristian born Meor Aziddin Yusof born Ah Niu born Dayang Nurfaizah born Shanon Shah born Siti Nurhaliza born Misha Omar born Hani Mohsin – Aziz M Osman born Azmyl Yunor born P Ramlee born Aziz Sattar born Fasha Sandha born Ku Nazhatul Shima Ku Kamarazzaman born Nicholas Teo born Pete Teo Penny Tai born Hannah Tan born Jaclyn Victor born Chef Wan Adira Suhaimi Michael Wong born Victor Wong born Dato Michelle Yeoh Hollywood actress born James Wan director of Hollywood films like several Saw films Insidious The Conjuring Fast and Furious born Ziana Zain born Zee Avi Shila Amzah Yunalis Zarai Zamil Idris born Military edit Leftenan Adnan – Warrior from mainland Malaya Antanum Warrior from Sabah Borneo Rentap Warrior from Sarawak Syarif Masahor Warrior from Sarawak Monsopiad Warrior from Sabah Borneo Haji Abdul Rahman Limbong Warrior from Telemong Terengganu Mat Salleh Warrior from Sabah Borneo Rosli Dhobi Warrior from Sarawak Politicians edit Parameswara founder of Sultanate of Malacca Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj st Prime Minister of independent Malaya Tun Abdul Razak nd Prime Minister V T Sambanthan Founding Fathers of Malaysia along with Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tan Cheng Lock Tun Dato Sir Tan Cheng Lock Founder of MCA Tun Hussein Onn rd Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad th Prime Minister Father of Modernisation Abdullah Ahmad Badawi th Prime Minister since Najib Tun Razak Current Prime Minister since Dato Seri Ong Ka Ting Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim Dato Wan Hisham Wan Salleh Nik Aziz Nik Mat Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin Federal Territory and Urban Wellbeing Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail Karpal Singh Lim Kit Siang Lim Guan Eng Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah Religious edit Antony Selvanayagam Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Penang Anthony Soter Fernandez Archbishop Emeritus of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur and Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Penang Gregory Yong – Second Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore Tan Sri Datuk Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam Metropolitan archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia Singapore and Brunei and publisher of the Catholic weekly newspaper The Herald Datuk Ng Moon Hing the fourth and current Anglican Bishop of West Malaysia Sportspeople edit Squash edit Datuk Nicol Ann David Ong Beng Hee Azlan Iskandar Low Wee Wern Badminton edit Chan Chong Ming men s doubles Dato Lee Chong Wei Chew Choon Eng men s doubles Wong Choong Hann Chin Eei Hui women s doubles Hafiz Hashim Roslin Hashim Wong Pei Tty women s doubles Choong Tan Fook men s doubles Lee Wan Wah men s doubles Koo Kien Keat men s doubles Tan Boon Heong men s doubles Retired edit Tan Aik Huang Eddy Choong Punch Gunalan Yap Kim Hock Foo Kok Keong Jalani Sidek Misbun Sidek Rashid Sidek Razif Sidek Cheah Soon Kit Lee Wan Wah Football soccer edit Brendan Gan Sydney FC Shaun Maloney Wigan Athletic Akmal Rizal Perak FA Kedah FA RC Strasbourg FCSR Haguenau Norshahrul Idlan Talaha Kelantan FA Khairul Fahmi Che Mat Kelantan FA Mohd Safiq Rahim Selangor FA Mohd Fadzli Saari Selangor FA PBDKT T Team FC SV Wehen Rudie Ramli Selangor FA PKNS F C SV Wehen Mohd Safee Mohd Sali Selangor FA Pelita Jaya Baddrol Bakhtiar Kedah FA Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri Kedah FA Mohd Azmi Muslim Kedah FA Mohd Fadhli Mohd Shas Harimau Muda A FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce Mohd Irfan Fazail Harimau Muda A FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce Wan Zack Haikal Wan Noor Harimau Muda A FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce F C Ryukyu Nazirul Naim Che Hashim Harimau Muda A F C Ryukyu Khairul Izuan Abdullah Sarawak FA Persibo Bojonegoro PDRM FA Stanley Bernard Stephen Samuel Sabah FA Sporting Clube de Goa Nazmi Faiz Harimau Muda A SC Beira Mar Ahmad Fakri Saarani Perlis FA Atlético S C Chun Keng Hong Penang FA Chanthaburi F C Retired edit Serbegeth Singh owner founder of MyTeam Blackburn Rovers F C Global dvisor Mokhtar Dahari former Selangor FA and Malaysian player Lim Teong Kim former Hertha BSC player