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| Capital | Riverhead | |||||||
| Largest City | Montauk | |||||||
| Other Cities | East Hampton | |||||||
| Language Official |
English | |||||||
| Others | Hebrew, Irish, Italian | |||||||
| Religion Main |
Catholicism and Protestantism | |||||||
| Others | Judaism | |||||||
| Demonym | Long Islander | |||||||
| Area | 1,842 sq mi (1st) | |||||||
| Population | 38,822 (1st) | |||||||
| Established | October 2, 1983 | |||||||
| Admission | March 1984 | |||||||
| Abbreviations | LI | |||||||
Long Island, officially the Borough of Long Island, is one of the five boroughs of the Association of the Outer Lands. Prior to Doomsday, Long Island was part of New York State, making up the greater New York City metropolitan area. The western-portions of Long Island were hit on Doomsday, leaving the eastern-half untouched but covered in radioactive clouds for years. Long Island became one of the founding members of the Outer Lands in 1984. Since the late 1990s, Long Island has come out of the disaster as a major economic center for the Outer Lands, with a gradually growing population.
History[]
Pre-Doomsday[]
At the time of European contact, the Lenape people (named the Delaware by Europeans) inhabited the western end of the Island, and spoke the Munsee dialect of the Algonquian language family. Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to record an encounter with these people when he entered what is now New York Bay in 1524. The eastern portion of the island was inhabited by speakers of the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language group of the same language family, indicative of their ties to the aboriginal peoples inhabiting what is now Connecticut and Rhode Island.
The western portion of Long Island was later settled by the Dutch, while the eastern region was settled by English Puritans from New Haven, Connecticut, settling in Southold on October 21, 1640.
The entirety of Long Island came under English dominion in 1664 when the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam was taken over by the English and renamed New York. In 1683, the English established the three original counties on Long Island: Kings, Queens, and Suffolk.
During the American Revolutionary War, the island was captured from General George Washington early by the British in the Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the entire war. The island remained a British stronghold until the end of the war, and was the center of much of General Washington's espionage activities due to the proximity to the British North American military headquarters in New York City. After the British victory on Long Island many Patriots fled, leaving mostly Loyalists behind.
In the 19th century, Long Island was still mainly rural and agricultural. The predecessor to the Long Island Rail Road began service in 1836 from the ferry terminal (to Manhattan) through Brooklyn to Jamaica in Queens, and completed the line to the east end of Long Island in 1844. From 1830 until 1930, population roughly doubled every twenty years, and several cities were incorporated, such as the City of Brooklyn in Kings County, and Long Island City in Queens.
Until the 1883 completion of the Brooklyn Bridge, the only connection between Long Island and the rest of the United States was by boat. Other bridges and tunnels followed, and a suburban character spread as population increased. On January 1, 1898, Kings County and portions of Queens were consolidated into The City of Greater New York, abolishing all cities and towns within them. The easternmost 280 sq mi (730 sq km) of Queens County, which were not part of the consolidation plan, separated from Queens in 1899 to form Nassau County.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Long Island began the transformation from backwoods and farms to the paradigm of the American suburb. Railroads made possible commuting suburbs before construction of the Long Island Expressway and other major roadways. Robert Moses created various parkway projects to span the island, along with state parks for the enjoyment of many. Gradually, development started to follow the parkways, with various communities springing up along the more traveled routes.
After World War II, Long Island's population skyrocketed, mostly in Nassau County and western Suffolk County. People who worked and lived in New York City moved out to Long Island in new developments built during the post-war boom. The most famous post-war development was the town of Levittown: the area became the first place to massively reproduce houses on a grand scale - providing opportunities for GI's returning home to start a family. The immigration waves of southern and eastern Europe, followed by more recent ones from Latin America, have been pivotal in creating the diversity on Long Island that many other American regions lack. These immigrations are reflected in the large Italian American, Irish American and Jewish American populations.
Doomsday[]
An artist's rendering of New York City being attacked.
The first attacks on the five boroughs of New York City happened around 8:00 PM on the evening of September 25, 1983.
Prior to the first attacks, New Yorkers and Long Islanders were settling down for the night. On confirmation that Soviet missiles were heading for New York, riots and mass panic struck the New York metropolitan area. Though it was not confirmed where a nuclear attack would specifically attack, or how many were heading for New York City, a mass, unorganized evacuation took place. But due to the limited time, it became a fruitless venture for many. For those who were lucky enough to get out headed east, away from the city along Long Island.
Brooklyn and Queens would be hit almost simultaneously, followed by rogue missiles hitting Nassau and the western portions of Suffolk County. All regions were destroyed instantly, killing those who couldn't get out in time. Several residents of the Hamptons claimed to have witnessed the mushroom clouds, and rumored to see mushroom clouds over Connecticut and Rhode Island, though no proof has confirmed these claims.
Though all areas east of Stony Brook would be spared direct hits, the radiation and shock waves from the west would make miles east a deathtrap, with the radiation fallout covering the remaining portions of Long Island. Many Long Islanders would attempt to avoid radiation and any possible attacks by going off shore and out to a safe distance. Several fisherman and many locals (including musician Billy Joel) offered their personal boats to evacuate the Islanders. Other would bunker down in basements and schools to avoid the immediate radiation.
By midnight of September 26, no more survivors were entering the "safety zone." It was predicted that half the population of Long Island and New York combined were dead. Because limited health care was available in the "safety zone," many died after suffering radiation sickness. Those who died at sea were dropped overboard, and rumors spread that some dying people were thrown into the ocean to die.
Post-doomsday and provisional government[]
By September 30, those who evacuated the island by boat would find themselves returning to the island from lack of food and water. By that time, the radiation levels had dropped enough that allowed the survivors to travel outside. Despite the fact that the eastern towns looked undamaged from the attacks, it still felt like an alien world for many.
On October 2, 1983, the leaders of the surviving townships of Long Island met in Montauk to talk about their current situation. No contact has been made by either the United States or any government, leaving many to believe that it no longer existed, or that help was a long way away. The need to also keep law and order on the islands was becoming a major concern. That same day, the Provisional Government of Long Island (PGLI).
Despite the formation of the PGLI, the New Yorker hospitality of the Long Islanders showed itself in its darkest hour. Doctors offered their time to assist in the injured and sick. Fisherman and those with boats traveled out to sea to bring food back to the hungry. Police officers walked the streets to keep order. By November, the gas supply was depleted, leaving many Long Islanders in the dark, and many without cars. The PGLI declared all area areas west of Exit 72 of the Long Island Expressway off limits to civilians, and posted officers around the exit to protect the border from any dangers from the west. By January of 1984, Long Island was considered to be as "calm as it can get."
Formation of the Outer Lands[]
After months of no contact, many Long Islanders (primarily fishermen with the means to travel farther) began to explore their surroundings. Fishermen began to travel across the Long Island Sound to explore Connecticut and Rhode Island on their own lives, many of which would be able to get a close enough look at the coasts to see no life. The provisional government proposed plans for government backed expeditions westward towards New York City, as well as nearby areas such as Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Jersey.
The first external contact of the PGLI was made in March 1984 by Block Islanders fleeing their island due to lack of food and water. Additional contact would be made with Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, and Plymouth.
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