The Bronx lies at the northernmost point of the five New York boroughs. The area was named after the Swede Jonas Bronck, who established the first farm there. The earliest settlement in The Bronx took place along the Harlem River in 1639, in what is now Mott Haven. In the 1840s, German and Irish railroad workers arrived. In 1841, the New York and Harlem Railroad began regular commuter service between The Bronx and Manhattan. This aided the area in its rapid growth and by 1895 the area had become a part of New York City. Up to this point the area had remained a settlement characterised by farms and small villages. Elevated subway and trolley lines were extended into the area and it began its rapid growth as a suburban community. Eventually settled immigrants were displaced by newer immigrants: Italians, Poles, Jews and Greeks.

By 1920 the population of the Bronx was more than 700,000. After the Second World War new housing was built and the makeup of the population changed. Construction ranged from luxury apartment buildings in Riverdale to public housing in the southern Bronx. Long-time residents and former servicemen moved from older housing in the southern neighbourhoods of Hunts Point, Morrisania, and Mott Haven into privately built housing in the northern Bronx and to the other boroughs. Mostly Black and Puerto Rican populations displaced the middle-class white people. They moved into the areas of Hunts Point and Morrisania, as well as to Melrose, Tremont, and Highbridge. The borough remains one of the most densely populated and ethnically diverse areas in the United States. At the 1990 census this included Hispanics (43.5%), Blacks (37.3%), Whites (16.25%), Asian (2.9%) and Native Americans (0.05%).

The Bronx is primarily a residential area dominated by apartments. Industrial activity is concentrated in the southern section, and includes food processing, garment making, and other diversified manufacturing. Shipping concerns, warehouses, and the largest produce market in the north-east line the waterfront. The Bronx typifies uneven urban development at a borough level. While some parts, especially those in the south-east, are characterised by urban decay, other areas such as Riverdale are home to large family houses and landscaped estates. The borough has many well-defined old neighbourhoods, including Mott Haven, Morrisania, Kingsbridge, and Westchester Square. A network of subways and elevated systems provides rapid transport to all parts of New York City. More then one fifth of the land area is in public parks. These include Bronx Park, which contains the New York Botanical Garden (1891), the world renowned Bronx Zoo and Yankee Stadium.