Happy Birthday Brooklyn! On November 27th, 1646, the Dutch West India Company

granted the village of Brooklyn a municipal form of government. The area now known as Brooklyn is named for Breuklen, now spelled Breukelen,

or "broken land," a village in Holland with similar hilly terrain.

In 1646 the inhabitants of Brooklyn were invested with a grant of municipal privileges. They had the privilege of electing two magistrates, in addition to the two they already had, called "schepens," and to appoint a "scout," subordinate to the "schout fiscal" at New Amsterdam. At this time the village proper of Breuckelen was nearly a mile inland; the hamlet on the shore opposite Manhattan was known as the ferry.