Current Time in The Bronx, United States

The Bronx is the northernmost borough of New York City, located north of Manhattan and connected to it by several bridges and subway lines. With a population of approximately 1.4 million people, it is the fourth most populous of New York's five boroughs and the only one situated entirely on the North American mainland, as Manhattan and Staten Island are islands and Brooklyn and Queens are on Long Island. The Bronx is a borough of extraordinary cultural significance, remarkable natural assets, and powerful community resilience.

The area was originally inhabited by the Lenape people and was named after Jonas Bronck, a Swedish settler who established a farm here in 1639. The region was incorporated into New York City during the consolidation of 1898 and grew rapidly with the expansion of elevated and subway rail lines in the early 20th century, which brought waves of immigrants from Italy, Ireland, and Jewish communities fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe. Successive generations of Puerto Rican, African American, Dominican, and other immigrant communities transformed the Bronx's demographic and cultural character through the 20th century.

The Bronx is internationally recognized as the birthplace of hip-hop. In the summer of 1973, DJ Kool Herc's now-legendary back-to-school party in a recreation room on Sedgwick Avenue is widely credited as the founding event of what became the global cultural phenomenon of hip-hop, encompassing music, dance, visual art, and fashion. The Bronx has been celebrated and commemorated for this contribution with murals, cultural centers, and annual events honoring the culture that emerged from its streets and community centers.

Culturally, the Bronx is home to the Bronx Zoo, one of the largest metropolitan zoos in the world, and the New York Botanical Garden, a 250-acre masterpiece of horticultural science and beauty, both located in the beautiful Bronx Park. Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees baseball dynasty, is one of the most famous sports venues in the world and a source of enormous local pride.

The Grand Concourse, a magnificent Beaux-Arts and Art Deco boulevard modeled on the Champs-Elysees of Paris, remains an architectural treasure lined with apartment buildings representing some of the finest residential Art Deco architecture in America. The Bronx Museum of the Arts presents exhibitions focused on the borough's culturally diverse communities.

Transportation is provided by multiple New York City Subway lines and the Metro-North Railroad commuter rail service connecting the Bronx to Manhattan and Westchester County.

The Bronx's extraordinary combination of natural beauty, cultural creativity, sporting legacy, architectural heritage, and community spirit make it one of New York City's most dynamic and genuinely original boroughs, a place whose contributions to global culture are incalculable.