East New York

District in the far east of the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It lies on the border with Queens, east of Brownsville and next to Woodhaven and Ozone Park. Today, East New York is one of the city's poorest neighbourhoods, suffering from drug trafficking and a high incidence of fatal shootings.

Part of the 1670s community of New Lots, which was founded by Dutch settlers moving east from Flatbush, the village of East New York was first systematically developed in 1835-37 by John Pitkin. In 1852 New Lots separated from Flatbush, and in 1886 it was absorbed by the city of Brooklyn. The population of East New York expanded after the Williamsburg Bridge (1903) opened up the east of Brooklyn to migrants from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and the area became markedly Jewish and Italian. Parts of the district remained semi-rural until the 1950s, when the continuing influx of people from older Brooklyn neighbourhoods brought Black and Hispanic migrants, and White residents began to abandon the area. In the south, the self-contained, government-sponsored Starett City estate houses some 15,000 tenants in large 1970s apartment blocks; but most of East New York consists of dilapidated tenement and factory buildings. The northeastern section, which is known as either Cypress Hills or Highland Park, is predominantly Hispanic.