Canarsie

The area near Canarsie was originally settled by the Canarse Native Americans. The community's name is adapted from a Lenape word meaning "fenced area". After European settlement, Canarsie was initially a fishing community, but became a popular summer resort in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the late 1930s and early 1940, the resorts had been destroyed, and Canarsie was developed as a largely Italian American and Jewish suburb. In the 1970s, racial tensions developed around an argument over the zoning of the area's schools, and in the aftermath, Canarsie became a mainly black neighborhood with a high West Indian population in the late 1990s.

Canarsie is part of Brooklyn Community District 18 and its primary ZIP Code is 11236. It is patrolled by the 69th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.