Suffolk County City Map Poster

About Suffolk County

Suffolk County was an original county of the Province of New York, one of twelve created in 1683. Prior to English colonization, the area today known as Suffolk County was inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Native Americans, including members of the Mattabesic and Lenape nations. The first European settlers arrived around 1640 (after a shipwreck killed all but one member of a previous expedition). Among them were Pieter Praalder who leased from James Farretta on Long Island; Jan Peeck who settled at Coney Island; Johannes De La Montagne who bought from Thomas Powell on eastern Long Island after he had already established himself at Oyster Bay; and Volkert Evertsen Bout (or "But"), whose name is reflected in both nearby Vlissingen Road ("Flatlands") and Flatbush Avenue ("Flatbush"). The colony's capital was established at Fort Amsterdam under Governor Peter Stuyvesant shortly after his arrival.