The Bronx

===Early names===
[[File:Bronx1867.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|Map of southern Westchester County in 1867. This, along with the southern part of the former Town of [[Yonkers, New York|Yonkers]], became the Bronx.]]
The Bronx was called ''{{lang|umu|Rananchqua}}''<ref name="NYPL">{{cite web |url=http://www.nypl.org/branch/bronx/index2.cfm?Trg=1&d1=765&template=brnxnm |title=Bronx History: What's in a Name? |publisher=[[New York Public Library]] |access-date=March 15, 2008 |quote=The Native Americans called the land ''Rananchqua'', but the Dutch and English began to refer to it as ''Broncksland''.}}</ref> by the native [[Siwanoy]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=13121 |publisher=[[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]] |title=Harding Park |access-date=March 15, 2008}}</ref> band of [[Lenape]] (also known historically as ''the Delawares''), while other [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] knew the Bronx as ''Keskeskeck''.<ref name="ellis-p55">{{cite book |title=The Epic of New York City |author=Ellis, Edward Robb |publisher=Old Town Books |year=1966 |page=55 |isbn=0-7867-1436-0}}</ref> It was divided by the Aquahung River (now known in English as the [[Bronx River]]).

The Bronx was named after [[Jonas Bronck]] ({{Circa|1600–1643}}), a European settler whose precise origins are disputed. Documents indicate he was a Swedish-born immigrant from [[Komstad|Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish]], in [[Småland]], Sweden, who arrived in [[New Netherland]] during the spring of 1639.<ref name="Van Rensselaer 1909 161" /><ref name="Hansen 1950">{{cite book |title=North of Manhattan |first=Harry |last=Hansen |publisher=Hastings House |year=1950 |oclc=542679}}, excerpted at [http://www.bronxmall.com/cult/series/2.html The Bronx ... Its History & Perspective]</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=van Laer |first=A. J. F. |title=Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630–1674 |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |location=Chicago |publisher=The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the American Historical Association |year=1916 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=164–166 |jstor=1836219 |quote=... Jonas Bronck was a Swede ... |doi=10.2307/1836219}}</ref><ref name=Burrows>{{cite book |last1=Burrows |first1=Edwin G. |last2=Wallace |first2=Mike (Michael L.) |title=Gotham, A History of New York City to 1898 |location=Oxford, New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |volume=1 |pages=30–37 |isbn=0-19-511634-8 |quote=…many of these colonists, perhaps as many as half of them, represented the same broad mixture of nationalities as New Amsterdam itself. Among them were Swedes, Germans, French, Belgians, Africans, and Danes (such as a certain Jonas Bronck)...}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The first Bronxite |journal=The Advocate |publisher=Bronx County Bar Association |year=1977 |quote=It is widely accepted that Bronck came from Sweden, but claims have also been made by the Frisian Islands on the North Sea coast and by a small town in Germany. |page=59 |volume=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qo6mAAAAIAAJ&q=Jonas+Bronck+Frisia}}</ref><ref>Karl Ritter, "Swedish town celebrates link to the Bronx" Associated Press, August 21, 2014. which also refers to a claim by the Faeroe Islands.</ref> Bronck became the first recorded European settler in the present-day Bronx and built a farm named "Emmaus" close to what today is the corner of Willis Avenue and 132nd Street in [[Mott Haven, Bronx|Mott Haven]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bronxmall.com/cult/series/2.html|title=The Bronx Mall – Cultural Mosaic – The Bronx... Its History & Perspective|website=Bronxmall.com|access-date=July 12, 2016}}</ref> He leased land from the [[Dutch West India Company]] on the neck of the mainland immediately north of the Dutch settlement of [[History of Harlem#1637–1866|New Haarlem]] (on [[Manhattan Island]]), and bought additional tracts from the local tribes. He eventually accumulated {{convert|500|acre|ha}} between the [[Harlem River]] and the Aquahung, which became known as ''Bronck's River'' or ''the [[Bronx River|Bronx]] [River]''. Dutch and English settlers referred to the area as ''Bronck's Land''.<ref name="Hansen 1950"/> The American poet [[William Bronk]] was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, either Jonas Bronck's son or his younger brother, but most probably a nephew or cousin, as there was an age difference of 16 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/bronk/katzman.htm |title=Excerpts from an Interview with William Bronk by Mark Katzman |work=uiuc.edu |access-date=February 1, 2009 |archive-date=July 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705052453/http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/bronk/katzman.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Much work on the Swedish claim has been undertaken by Brian G. Andersson, former Commissioner of New York City's Department of Records, who helped organize a 375th Anniversary celebration in Bronck's hometown in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/nyregion/from-bronck-to-the-bronx-a-name-and-a-swedish-heritage-to-celebrate.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/nyregion/from-bronck-to-the-bronx-a-name-and-a-swedish-heritage-to-celebrate.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited|title=A Bronck in the Bronx Gives a Swedish Town a Reason to Cheer|first=Sam|last=Roberts|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 19, 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>