Staten Island (Richmond County) is one of the 5 Boroughs of New York City.
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Beginnings [1]
Richmond County was organized November 1, 1683. It includes Staten Island, Shooters Island, and the islands of the meadow in Staten Island Sound. It is separated from Long Island by New York bay, the Narrows, and New York Harbor; from Bergen New Jersey by the Kil Van Kull; and from New Jersey by the Arthur Kil, or Staten Island Sound.
Staten Island was visited in Henry Hudson's celebrated voyage of discovery in 1609. It was purchased from the Indians, August 10, 1630, by Michael Pauw, one of the 4 Patroons of New Nettherlands, and formed part of the tract known as Pavonia in the early Dutch records. It soon reverted however to the West India Company, and in 1636 a part of the island was granted to D.P. De Veries, by whom a colony was planted upon it in January, 1639. The remaining part of the island was granted by the directors of the West India Company to Cornelius Melyn in July, 1640.