The Narrows

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

The Narrows

The Narrows is the tidal strait

Strait

A strait or straits is a narrow, navigable channel of water that connects two larger navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not navigable, for example because it is too shallow, or...
separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'The Narrows'

Start a new discussion about 'The Narrows'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

The Narrows is the tidal strait

Strait

Upper New York Bay

Upper New York Bay, sometimes called Upper New York Harbor or the Upper Bay, is the northern area of New York Harbor inside The Narrows....
and lower

Lower New York Bay

Lower New York Bay is the section of New York Bay outside of The Narrows that flows directly into the Atlantic Ocean via Hudson Canyon, an underwater channel that flows southeast from Lower New York Bay for hundreds of miles into the Atlantic Ocean....
sections of New York Bay

New York Bay

New York Bay is the collective term for the marine areas surrounding the entrance of the Hudson River into the Atlantic Ocean. Its two largest components are Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay, which are connected by The Narrows....
and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson River

Hudson River

The Hudson River, called Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk , the Great Mohegan by the Iroquois, or as the Lenape Native Americans called it in Unami, Muhheakantuck, is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York....
empties into the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
. It has long been considered to be the maritime "gateway" to New York City

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
and historically has been the most important entrance into the harbor

New York Harbor

New York Harbor, a geographic term, refers collectively to the rivers, bays, and tidal estuaries near the mouth of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City....
.

The Narrows were most likely formed about 6,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age

Ice age

The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers....
. Previously Staten Island and Brooklyn were connected and the Hudson River emptied into the ocean through the present course of the Raritan River

Raritan River

The Raritan River is a major river of central New Jersey in the United States. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean....
, by taking a more westerly course through parts of present day northern New Jersey, along the eastern side of the Watchung Mountains

Watchung Mountains

The Watchung Mountains are a group of three long low ridges of volcano origin, between 400 ft. and 500 ft. high, lying parallel to each other in northern New Jersey in the United States....
to Bound Brook, New Jersey

Bound Brook, New Jersey

Bound Brook is a Borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 10,155....
and then on into the Atlantic Ocean via Raritan Bay

Raritan Bay

Raritan Bay is a bay located at the confluence of the Raritan River and the Arthur Kill between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey. The bay, which is just south of the important Geography of New York Harbor, is bounded on the north by New York's Staten Island and Lower New York Bay, on the west by Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the so...
. A build up of water in the Upper Bay allowed the river to break through to form the Narrows as it exists today (Waldman, 2000).

The first recorded Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an entrance into the Narrows was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, who set anchor in the strait and was greeted by a group of Lenape

Lenape

The Lenape are organized bands of Native Americans in the United States peoples with shared cultural and linguistic characteristics.These are the people who are living in what is now New Jersey and along the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, the northern shore of Delaware, and the lower Hudson Valley and New York Harbor in New York, at the t...
, who paddled out to meet him in the strait.

In August 1776, the British forces under William Howe

William Howe

William Howe may refer to:* William Howe , actor* William Howe , patented Howe Truss for covered bridges* William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe , British general during American Revolutionary War...
on Staten Island undertook an amphibious operation across the Narrows and landed in Brooklyn, where they routed Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the leader of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States of the United States of Americas ....
's Army at the Battle of Long Island

Battle of Long Island

}|-||-||}The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn or the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, fought on August 27, 1776, was the first major battle in the American Revolutionary War following the United States Declaration of Independence, the largest battle of the entire conflict, and the first battle in which...
.

In 1964, the Narrows were spanned by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge that connects the Political subdivisions of New York State#Borough of Staten Island and Brooklyn on Long Island in New York City at the Narrows, the reach connecting the relatively protected Upper New York Bay with the larger Lower New York Bay....
, the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time, and still the longest suspension bridge in the USA (by length of the main span). Because the hyphen in the name is often omitted, the strait itself is sometimes erroneously called the "Verrazano Narrows."

Bibliography

John Waldman; Heartbeats in the Muck; ISBN 1-55821-720-7 The Lyons Press; (2000).

The Narrows

See also

Bibliography