Shellfish was a staple of their diet, including the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) abundant in the waterways throughout the present-day New York City region.

The first recorded European contact on the island was in 1524 by Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano who sailed through The Narrows on the ship La Dauphine and anchored for one night.

From 1639 to 1655, Cornelis Melyn and David de Vries made three separate attempts to establish one there, but each time the settlement was destroyed in conflicts between the Dutch and the local tribe.

In 1671, in order to encourage an expansion of the Dutch settlements, the English resurveyed Oude Dorp (which became known as 'Old Town') and expanded the lots along the shore to the south.

Three weeks later, on September 11, 1776, Sir William's brother, Lord Howe, received a delegation of Americans consisting of Benjamin Franklin, Edward Rutledge, and John Adams at the Conference House on the southwestern tip of the island on the former estate of Christopher Billopp.

In early 1780, while the Kill Van Kull was frozen over, Lord Stirling led an unsuccessful Patriot raid from New Jersey on the western shore of Staten Island.

In June 1780, Wilhelm von Knyphausen, commander of Britain's Hessian auxiliaries, led many raids and a full assault into New Jersey from Staten Island with the aim of defeating George Washington and the Continental Army.

After their departure, many Loyalist landowners, such as Christopher Billop, the family of Canadian historian Peter Fisher, John Dunn, who founded St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and Abraham Jones, fled to Canada, and their estates were subdivided and sold.

Vice President Martin Van Buren negotiated a compromise that established the maritime boundary in the middle of the Hudson River and gave Staten Island to New York.

[38] Throughout the 1980s, a movement to secede from the city steadily grew in popularity, notably championed by longtime New York state senator and former Republican Party mayoral nominee John J. Marchi.

The campaign reached its peak during the mayoral term of David Dinkins (1990–1993), after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the New York City Board of Estimate, which had given equal representation to the five boroughs.

[44] Today, freshwater and tidal wetlands, fields, birch thickets, and a coastal oak maritime forest, as well as areas dominated by non-native plant species, are all within the boundaries of Fresh Kills.

This strata of the Lower Paleozoic (approximately 430 million years old) consists predominantly of the serpentine minerals, antigorite, chrysotile, and lizardite; it also contains asbestos and talc.

[89] In 2018, Matthew Titone, a Democrat who at the time was a member of the New York State Assembly for the 61st District, was elected Surrogate Judge for Richmond County, which covers all of Staten Island.

Each of the city's five counties (coterminous with each borough) has its own criminal court system and District Attorney, the chief public prosecutor who is directly elected by popular vote.

Staten Island's high Republican turnout is considered one of the major factors that helped Rudy Giuliani win in 1993 against incumbent Democratic mayor David Dinkins, and also Michael Bloomberg in 2001 against Mark Green.

[citation needed] Artists and musicians have been moving to Staten Island's North Shore so they can be in close proximity to Manhattan while having an affordable space to live and work.

[100] World War One poet Alan Seeger, who fought with the French Foreign Legion and was killed in the Battle of the Somme and author of "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" grew up at St. Marks Place above the ferry stop on Staten Island in the last decade of the 19th century.

A documentary series, A Walk Around Staten Island with David Hartman and Barry Lewis, premiered on public television station WNET on December 3, 2007.

Joe Gatto, James "Murr" Murray, Brian "Q" Quinn, and Sal Vulcano are four friends who originally met while attending Monsignor Farrell High School, where they formed the improv comedy troupe The Tenderloins.

[107] The fact that they live on Staten Island and not more centrally in New York City is a common joke within the series, and their attempts to take over the entire borough have resulted in control of only five houses, according to the group.

[119] In 2015, the New York Post listed Staten Island's all-time basketball team as: Warren Fenley, Kyle McAlarney, Bill Murtha, Kevin O'Connor, Kenny Page.

[121] Staten Island has been home to a number of national champions and world-class bowlers, including Mark Roth, Johnny Petraglia, Mary Ontek,[122] Ben McNevich, Dom LaBargo, and Joseph Berardi.

It is believed that Eppie Alonzo, who lived and trained at the Mount Loretto Home for Boys, is the first Staten Islander to win a Daily News Golden Gloves championship.

Other Staten Islanders who have won a Daily News Golden Gloves championship include: Gabe Perillo Jr. (1974), Kevin Rooney (1975), Al Tobe (1975), Johnny Verderosa (1975, 1976), Gary Stark Jr. (2000, 2001, 2002), Amanda Walsh (2008), Nafisa Umarova (2012), Chad Trabuscio (2012), Anthony Caramanno (2008, 2010, 2012).

He wrote for the Staten Island Advance as a golf columnist and was influential in bringing the US Open to Shinnecock Hills and Bethpage State Park, and promoted the creation of the New York City Amateur.

[153] The following National Hockey League (NHL) players were born on Staten Island: Nick Fotiu, Kevin Labanc, Zach Aston-Reese, Joe Gambardella.

[162] The project, launched in 2007, encountered several delays, including a four-month setback due to Hurricane Sandy that exposed the vulnerability of generators, transformers, and electronic control rooms all of which had to be raised to avoid storm-surge flooding.

In addition to the island's highways (I-278, NY 440, Korean War Veterans Parkway), the borough's neighborhoods are connected by a number of heavily trafficked roads including Hylan Boulevard, the longest street in New York City.

The Staten Island Railway opened in 1860[178][179][180] and was owned and operated by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) until July 1, 1971, when the line was bought by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.