Staten Island.

Staten Island. (1) a beautiful and picturesque island, 5 miles SW. of New York, washed by both the Upper and Lower Bay, and separated from Long Island by the Narrows and from New Jersey by the Kill van Kull and Staten Island Sound. Area, 55 sq. m.; pop. (1880) 38,991; (1890) 51,693. Its shores are dotted with villages, and its heights crowned with villas. At its eastern point Forts Richmond and Wadsworth guard the entrance to the Narrows. The island constitutes the southernmost county (Richmond) of New York, and on the north shore possesses a home for old sailors.—(2) An Argentinian island separated from the south-east point of Tierra del Fuego by Le Maire Strait (40 miles). It is long (45 miles) and narrow in shape, with steep coasts penetrated by deep fiords, and rises to nearly 3000 feet. Snow covers it almost all the year. The island received its name in 1616 from Cornelius Schouten in honour of the 'Staaten' or States-general of Holland.