Governors Island is a 217.65 acre (880,806 mē) island in Upper New York Bay, approximately one half mile from the southern tip of Manhattan, of which it is legally a part, in New York City.

It is separated from Brooklyn by the Buttermilk Channel.

First named by the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block, it was called Noten Eylant (and later in pidgin language Nutten Island) from 1611 to 1784. In 1624, Governors Island became the locus for the transformation of the New Netherland territory to a North American province of the Dutch Republic from having been a place for private commercial interests through patents issued by the States General since 1614.

From 1776 to 1966 the island was a United States Army post. From 1966 to 1996 the island served as a Coast Guard station. The island's current name stems from British colonial times when the colonial assembly reserved the island for the exclusive use of New York's royal governors.


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