Queens is the largest borough in terms of territory (280 km²)
and the second largest borough in New York after Brooklyn. It is
located on Long Island and is washed by the Atlantic Ocean. This
is the most ethnically heterogeneous part of the city.
Queens is home to John F. Kennedy International Airport and
LaGuardia Airport. The New York Mets baseball team is based in
Queens and hosts the US Open.
Since 2005, immigrants have
made up 47.6% of Queens residents, according to surveys by the
American Society. With a population of 2.3 million, it is the
second most populous county in New York (after Brooklyn) and the
10th most densely populated county in the United States. If
every borough of New York became an independent city, then
Brooklyn and Queens would become the third and fourth most
populous cities in the US, behind Los Angeles and Chicago.
The area has traditionally been considered one of the more
"suburban" areas of New York City, neighborhoods in eastern
Queens more closely resemble those of Nassau County in the state
of New York in its northwestern part. The borough has several
business districts, such as Long Island City on the Queens
coastline across from Manhattan. Here is the skyscraper "One
Court Square" - the tallest skyscraper in New York outside of
Manhattan, which is also the tallest building on the entire
island of Long Island.
By plane
Both New York city airports, John F. Kennedy
International (IATA: JFK) as well as LaGuardia (IATA: LGA) are on the
Queenser corridor.
Detailed information on onward travel from the
airport can be found in the airport articles.
By train
The
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) regional transit company
serves the following Queens terminals on its Long Island Rail Road
(LIRR) trains:
Long Island City
Hunter's Point Avenue
Jamaica
While some LIRR trains terminate at the Long Island City terminus,
most trains to Manhattan (Penn Station or Grand Central) pass through.
Penn Station is also the nearest long-distance train station.
By
car
The following highways lead to Queens:
Interstate Highway 495
(from Union City, NJ via Lincoln Tunnel, Manhattan, Queens-Midtown
Tunnel and Queens to Riverhead, Long Island)
Grand Central
Parkway/Jackie Robinson Parkway (from North Hills, Long Island via
Jamaica to Queens and Brooklyn)
Southern State Parkway/Belt Parkway
(from Islip, Long Island via Hempstead to Queens and Brooklyn)
The oldest residential neighborhoods in Queens - Flushing and Jamaica
- arose 300 years ago. The first settlers of Queens were British and
Dutch colonists. They came to this land in 1635. It was they who founded
the villages of Maspeth in 1642 and Flushing in 1643.
Other early
settlements included Newtown (now Elmhurst) and Jamaica. However, these
towns were inhabited by settlers from New England across the eastern
part of Long Island (Suffolk County). All this part of the land was
subject to Dutch laws. After the whole of this land was conquered by the
English along with all of Long Island in 1664, it was renamed New York
as part of Yorkshire.
Before Queens became part of New York City
in 1898, it consisted of a number of small towns separated by extensive
forested areas and beaches.
Since the 1920s, urbanization has
been rapid in Queens, although some neighborhoods still retain their
original appearance. Long Island City near the East River is the center
of light industry. Forest Hills is a fashionable residential area.
Bronx (New York)
Nassau County (New York State)
Brooklyn (New
York)
Manhattan (New York)
Staten Island (New York)
The United States Postal Service divides the area into five "cities", similar to how New York itself is divided into 5 districts: Long Island City, Jamaica, Flushing, Far Rockaway; in addition, part of Queens is served by the Floral Park Post Office located in Nassau County.
The economy of the district is based on industry, tourism and trade.
On the shores of Jamaica Bay is the John F. Kennedy International
Airport, which is a leader in international traffic. The airport
occupies a leading position in terms of passenger and cargo flow from
abroad to the territory of the United States[2]. LaGuardia Airport is
located on the East River, providing flights to the east of North
America. Filmmaking is making a comeback in Queens, with Kaufman Studios
in Astoria and Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, where TV shows
like Sesame Street are produced.
The Queens Museum of Art and the
New York Hall of Science are located to the west. Flushing
Meadows–Corona Park was home to the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs and is
home to the USTA National Tennis Center, which hosts the annual US Open.
City Field, owned by the New York Mets baseball team, is located to the
north of the USTA National Tennis Center. The amusement park is the
third largest in New York, covering an area of 5 km², which is one third
more than the area of Central Park in Manhattan.
Several major
companies have a presence in Queens, such as the Bulova watch
corporation based in East Elmhurst; Long Island City's Steinway & Sons
musical instrument corporation, JetBlue Airways is an airline based at
Kennedy International Airport in Forest Hills.
Long Island City
is the area's premier manufacturing and distribution center. There is a
representative office of Chinese-American, Korean-American firms.
Jamaica is more of the main transport center of the region.
According to the 2009 American Society Survey, Queens was home to:
46.1% are white Americans (among which 30.2% are non-Hispanic)
26.9%
Hispanic and Latino
18.8% African American (of which 17.6% are
non-Hispanic)
22.0% Asian American
2.4% are multiethnic Americans
0.5% - Native Americans
Approximately 46.6% of the population is
of foreign origin. Approximately 2.1% of the population was born in
Puerto Rico, on US soil, or overseas to American parents. In addition,
51.2% of the population was born in the United States. Approximately
44.2% of the population speaks English for over 5 years; 23.8% speak
Spanish as their native language. In addition, 16.8% of the population
speaks other Indo-European languages. Another 13.5% speak Asian
languages.
According to the 2000 census, 2,229,379 people
(537,690 families), 782,664 households live in Queens. The population
density is 7,879.6/km² (20,409.0/sq. mi). There were 817,250 housing
units at an average density of 2,888.5/km² (7,481.6/sq mi). The racial
makeup of the county is:
44.08% white
24.97% Hispanic and
Latino
20.01% - African Americans and Africans
17.56% Asian
6.11% - representatives of two different races
0.50% Native American
0.06% - Hawaiians or representatives from the islands of Oceania
11.68% - various other races
Queens is densely populated by several ethnic communities. Greeks settled in Astoria, Latin Americans in Jackson Heights and Corona, African Americans in Jamaica, Bukharan Jews in Rigago Park. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, immigrants from India, Pakistan, the Caribbean and Korea settled in Queens. Many Queens residents live in private one- or two-family homes, mostly built after the First World War. However, in recent decades, due to population growth, the number of multi-storey residential buildings has increased. Most Queens residents are white-collar workers, with a significant proportion working in Manhattan.
Catholics - 644,066 and 106 religious communities
Jews - 238,000
and 159 religious communities
Muslims - 52,038 and 31
religious communities
Greek Orthodox - 16,959 and 8 religious
communities
Baptists - 14,695 and 33 religious communities
All
religious - 1,072,693 and 882 religious communities
Total population
1,411,006
The area is of great importance in the transport infrastructure of
the city. Two of the three airports in the New York metropolitan area
are located here: LaGuardia is located in the north of Queens, and John
F. Kennedy International Airport is located in the south of Jamaica Bay.
A dedicated railroad provides service between Kennedy Airport and the
New York City Subway.
The Long Island Commuter Rail operates 20
stations in Queens, with service in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island.
All tracks connect at Jamaica Station, this station is the busiest
station in the US.
Twelve New York City Subway routes traverse
Queens, with 81 stations on seven main lines. A, G, J/Z lines connect
Queens and Brooklyn without a primary call to Manhattan; F, N, Q and R
connect Queens and Brooklyn via Manhattan; E, 7 only connects Queens and
Manhattan.
Approximately 100 local bus routes move people within
Queens, and another 15 special express routes run between Queens and
Manhattan. Served by New York City Transit buses and MTA Bus Company.
Queens is traversed by three major highways from east to west. The
Long Island Expressway originates from the Queens Midtown Tunnel in the
west and exits through Neso County to the east. Central Boulevard, whose
western terminus is the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge, runs east to
the Queens/Neso border, where it is replaced by Northern Boulevard. Belt
Parkway begins at the Gowonus Expressway in Brooklyn and widens east
into Queens, passing Aqueduct Track and Kennedy Airport. At its eastern
end, at the Queens/Neso border, it splits into South Boulevard, which
runs east, and Crossing Island Boulevard, which runs north.
There
are also several major north-south highways: the Brooklyn-Queens
Expressway (Interstate 278), the Van Wyck Expressway (Interstate 678),
the Clearview Expressway (Interstate 295), and an intersecting island
parkway.
Queens was home to the Shay Stadium, home of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball and the New York Jets of the National Football League, and was the temporary stadium for the New York Yankees and the New York Giants. The Shay Stadium was demolished in 2008 to provide additional parking for the new City Field stadium, which is currently the home of the New York Mets. US Open tennis games are played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, located south of City Field, in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Queens also has the Aqueduct cycle track, located in Ozone Park.
Queens is connected to the Bronx by the White Stone Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge, and the Hell Gate Bridge. Queens is connected to Manhattan by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge, and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel; with Roosevelt Island - Roosevelt Island Bridge.
The Queens Public Library is one of three New York City library systems. Its inception dates back to 1858 and is now one of the largest library systems in the United States. Derived from the New York Public Library, it has 63 branches throughout the city. In 2008, there were 6.6 million items in the library's archives.