Jamaica Bay

Jamaica Bay
Grassy Bay
Estuary
Name origin: Lenape
Country	United States
State	New York
Location	New York City and Nassau County
Mouth	Rockaway Inlet
Area	39 sq mi (101 km2)
Historic map of Jamaica Bay, with subway lines and major roads

Jamaica Bay is located on the southern side of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York, near the island's western end. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west through Rockaway Inlet and is the westernmost of the coastal lagoons on the south shore of Long Island. Politically, it is divided between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, with a small part touching Nassau County.

The bay contains numerous marshy islands. It was known as Grassy Bay as late as the 1940s. Jamaica Bay is located adjacent to the confluence of the New York Bight and New York Bay, and is at the turning point of the primarily east-west oriented coastline of southern New England and Long Island and the north-south oriented coastline of the mid-Atlantic coast. The name derives from the nearby town of Jamaica, which in turn derives from "Yameco", a corruption of a word in the Lenape language spoken by the Native Americans who lived in the area at the time of first European contact. The "y" sound in English is spelled with a "j" in Dutch, the first Europeans to write about the area. This resulted in the eventual English pronunciation of "Jamaica" when read and repeated orally.

The location of Jamaica Bay combined with the rich food resources found there make it a regionally important fish, wildlife, and plant habitat complex. This geographic location acts to concentrate marine and estuarine species migrating between the New York Bight portion of the North Atlantic, and the Hudson River and Raritan River estuary. Shorebirds, raptors, waterfowl, land birds, and various migratory insects are concentrated by the coastlines in both directions. These migratory species are further concentrated by the surrounding urban development into the remaining open space and open water of Jamaica Bay. Jamaica Bay and nearby Breezy Point support seasonal or year-round populations of over 330 species of special emphasis and listed species, incorporating 48 species of fish and 120 species of birds.