Island in New York Harbor, a borough (pop., 2000: 443,728) of New York , New York, U.S. It has an area of almost 60 sq mi (155 sq km) and is connected to Brooklyn by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and to New Jersey by several bridges; it is accessible to Manhattan by the Staten Island Ferry.
The Dutch attempted to colonize the island in 1630 but were thwarted by the Delaware Indian inhabitants until 1661, when the Dutch West India Co. granted the island to the French and settlements were established. Following the acquisition of New Netherland in 1664 by Great Britain, English and Welsh farmers established homes and farms on the island. As Richmond, it became a borough of New York City in 1898; Staten Island was made the official name in 1975. Mostly residential, the island has some industry, including shipbuilding yards, printing plants, and oil-storage tanks and refineries. It is the seat of Wagner College (1883, moved from Rochester in 1918).