text: is new york city on long island? if not then where is manhattan island (if there is such a thing)?   yes, part of nyc is on long island. new york city is made up of 5 different 'boroughs' or neighborhoods - manhatten, queens, the bronx, brooklyn & staten island. manhatten is an island in itself, as is staten island. the bronx is north of manhatten and is considered to be 'mainland'. the last two, queens and brooklyn are east of manhatten on the farthest west tip of long island.  long island is enormous compared to the the other two islands and it take hours (not sure exactly how long) to drive from end to end. the farthest east point on long island features montauk - a real husker du town.