1.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
–
Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. The city proper has a population of 304,391. The metropolitan population of 2,353,045 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U. S. The city features 30 skyscrapers, two inclines, a fortification and the Point State Park at the confluence of the rivers. Aside from steel, Pittsburgh has led in manufacturing of aluminum, glass, shipbuilding, petroleum, foods, sports, transportation, computing, autos, and electronics. For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment, Americas 1980s deindustrialization laid off area blue-collar workers and thousands of downtown white-collar workers when the longtime Pittsburgh-based world headquarters moved out. The area has served also as the federal agency headquarters for cyber defense, software engineering, robotics, energy research. The area is home to 68 colleges and universities, including research and development leaders Carnegie Mellon University, the region is a hub for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, sustainable energy, and energy extraction. Pittsburgh was named in 1758 by General John Forbes, in honor of British statesman William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. The current pronunciation, which is unusual in English speaking countries, is almost certainly a result of a printing error in some copies of the City Charter of March 18,1816. The error was repeated commonly enough throughout the rest of the 19th century that the pronunciation was lost. After a public campaign the original spelling was restored by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1911. The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee, the first known European to enter the region was the French explorer/trader Robert de La Salle from Quebec during his 1669 expedition down the Ohio River. European pioneers, primarily Dutch, followed in the early 18th century, Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a 1717 manuscript, and later that year European fur traders established area posts and settlements. In 1749, French soldiers from Quebec launched an expedition to the forks to unite Canada with French Louisiana via the rivers, during 1753–54, the British hastily built Fort Prince George before a larger French force drove them off. The French built Fort Duquesne based on LaSalles 1669 claims, the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years War, began with the future Pittsburgh as its center. British General Edward Braddock was dispatched with Major George Washington as his aide to take Fort Duquesne, the British and colonial force were defeated at Braddocks Field. General John Forbes finally took the forks in 1758, Forbes began construction on Fort Pitt, named after William Pitt the Elder while the settlement was named Pittsborough
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
–
Clockwise:
Cathedral of Learning at the
University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh skyline;
Carnegie Mellon University;
PNC Park;
Duquesne Incline
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
–
This article is about the Pennsylvania city. For other uses, see
Pittsburgh (disambiguation).
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
–
Monongahela River scene, 1857
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
–
Downtown facade memorializing Pittsburgh's
industrial heritage with an image of legendary steelworker
Joe Magarac
2.
New France
–
The territory was divided into five colonies, each with its own administration, Canada, Hudsons Bay, Acadia, Newfoundland, and Louisiana. Acadia had a history, with the Great Upheaval, remembered on July 28 each year since 2003. The descendants are dispersed in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, in Maine and Louisiana in the United States, with populations in Chéticamp, Nova Scotia. In the sixteenth century, the lands were used primarily to draw from the wealth of natural resources, in the seventeenth century, successful settlements began in Acadia, and in Quebec by the efforts of Champlain. By 1765, the population of the new Province of Quebec reached approximately 70,000 settlers. In 1763 France had ceded the rest of New France, except the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, to Great Britain and Spain at the Treaty of Paris, in 1800, Spain returned its portion of Louisiana to France under the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso. However, French leader Napoleon Bonaparte in turn sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, New France eventually became part of the United States and Canada, with the only vestige remaining under French rule being the tiny islands Saint Pierre and Miquelon. In the United States, the legacy of New France includes numerous placenames as well as pockets of French-speaking communities. In Canada, institutional bilingualism and strong Francophone identities are arguably the most enduring legacy of New France, the Conquest is viewed differently among Francophone Canadians, and between Anglophone and Francophone Canadians. Around 1523, the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano convinced King Francis I, late that year, Verrazzano set sail in Dieppe, crossing the Atlantic on a small caravel with 50 men. After exploring the coast of the present-day Carolinas early the year, he headed north along the coast. The first European to discover the site of present-day New York, he named it Nouvelle-Angoulême in honour of the king, verrazzanos voyage convinced the king to seek to establish a colony in the newly discovered land. Verrazzano gave the names Francesca and Nova Gallia to that land between New Spain and English Newfoundland, in 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land in the name of King Francis I. It was the first province of New France, however, initial French attempts at settling the region met with failure. French fishing fleets continued to sail to the Atlantic coast and into the St. Lawrence River, French merchants soon realized the St. Lawrence region was full of valuable fur-bearing animals, especially the beaver, which were becoming rare in Europe. Eventually, the French crown decided to colonize the territory to secure, another early French attempt at settlement in North America took place in 1564 at Fort Caroline, now Jacksonville, Florida. Intended as a haven for Huguenots, Caroline was founded under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière and it was sacked by the Spanish led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés who then established the settlement of St. Augustine on 20 September 1565. Acadia and Canada were inhabited by indigenous nomadic Algonquian peoples and sedentary Iroquoian peoples and these lands were full of unexploited and valuable natural riches, which attracted all of Europe
New France
–
A map of New France made by Samuel de Champlain in 1612.
New France
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Flag
New France
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Champlain's Habitation c. 1608
New France
–
A map of western New France, including the
Illinois Country, by
Vincenzo Coronelli, 1688.
3.
Kingdom of Great Britain
–
The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. It did not include Ireland, which remained a separate realm, the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. On 1 January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom, the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Edward IV of Englands daughter Cecily and James III of Scotlands son James. The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be United into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. However, both the Acts and the Treaty also refer numerous times to the United Kingdom and the longer form, other publications refer to the country as the United Kingdom after 1707 as well. The websites of the UK parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, additionally, the term United Kingdom was found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the state. The new state created in 1707 included the island of Great Britain, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a union in 1603. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws and this disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800, legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the location in Westminster. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws. As a result of Poynings Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, the Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782. The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom, the 18th century saw England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rise to become the worlds dominant colonial power, with France its main rival on the imperial stage
Kingdom of Great Britain
–
Lord Clive meeting
Mir Jafar after the
Battle of Plassey, by
Francis Hayman (c. 1762)
Kingdom of Great Britain
–
Flag
Kingdom of Great Britain
–
Pitt addressing the
Commons in 1793
4.
French and Indian War
–
The French and Indian War comprised the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years War of 1754–1763. At the start of the war, the French North American colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 European settlers, the outnumbered French particularly depended on the Indians. Following months of localised conflict, the nations declared war on each other in 1756. The name French and Indian War, used mainly in the United States, British and European historians use the term the Seven Years War, as do English speaking Canadians. French Canadians call it La guerre de la Conquête or the Fourth Intercolonial War, fighting took place primarily along the frontiers between New France and the British colonies, from Virginia in the south to Newfoundland in the north. It began with a dispute over control of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, called the Forks of the Ohio, and the site of the French Fort Duquesne. The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in May 1754, in 1755, six colonial governors in North America met with General Edward Braddock, the newly arrived British Army commander, and planned a four-way attack on the French. None succeeded, and the effort by Braddock proved a disaster, he lost the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9,1755. In 1755, the British captured Fort Beauséjour on the border separating Nova Scotia from Acadia, orders for the deportation were given by William Shirley, Commander-in-Chief, North America, without direction from Great Britain. The Acadians, both captured in arms and those who had sworn the loyalty oath to His Britannic Majesty, were expelled. Native Americans were likewise driven off their land to make way for settlers from New England, after the disastrous 1757 British campaigns, the British government fell. France concentrated its forces against Prussia and its allies in the European theatre of the war, between 1758 and 1760, the British military launched a campaign to capture the Colony of Canada. They succeeded in capturing territory in surrounding colonies and ultimately the city of Quebec, though the British later lost the Battle of Sainte-Foy west of Quebec, the French ceded Canada in accordance with the Treaty of Paris. The outcome was one of the most significant developments in a century of Anglo-French conflict, France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. It ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to its ally Spain, in compensation for Spains loss to Britain of Florida. Frances colonial presence north of the Caribbean was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the conflict is known by multiple names. In British America, wars were often named after the sitting British monarch, such as King Williams War or Queen Annes War. As there had already been a King Georges War in the 1740s, British colonists named the war in King Georges reign after their opponents
French and Indian War
–
Iroquois engaging in trade with Europeans, 1722
French and Indian War
–
French and Indian War
French and Indian War
–
Robert Dinwiddie, British lieutenant governor of Virginia
French and Indian War
–
Washington's map of the
Ohio River and surrounding region containing notes on French intentions, 1753 or 1754
5.
Fort
–
Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
Fort
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Krak des Chevaliers is one of the best-preserved Crusader
castles.
Fort
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Bourtange star fort, restored to 1750 situation,
Groningen (province),
Netherlands.
Fort
–
The well preserved
Bulgarian medieval fort
Baba Vida.
Fort
–
Fortifications on the Iraq-Iran Border, viewed from the
ISS, 2014
6.
French colonization of the Americas
–
The French colonization of the Americas began in the 16th century, and continued on into the following centuries as France established a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere. France founded colonies in much of eastern North America, on a number of Caribbean islands, most colonies were developed to export products such as fish, sugar, and furs. The French first came to the New World as explorers, seeking a route to the Pacific Ocean, major French exploration of North America began under the rule of Francis I, King of France. In 1524, Francis sent Italian-born Giovanni da Verrazzano to explore the region between Florida and Newfoundland for a route to the Pacific Ocean, Verrazzano gave the names Francesca and Nova Gallia to that land between New Spain and English Newfoundland, thus promoting French interests. In 1534, Francis I of France sent Jacques Cartier on the first of three voyages to explore the coast of Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence River and he founded New France by planting a cross on the shore of the Gaspé Peninsula. The French subsequently tried to establish colonies throughout North America that failed, due to weather, disease. A small group of French troops were left on Parris Island, South Carolina in 1562 to build Charlesfort, Fort Caroline established in present-day Jacksonville, Florida, in 1564, lasted only a year before being destroyed by the Spanish from St. Augustine. An attempt to settle convicts on Sable Island off Nova Scotia in 1598 failed after a short time, in 1599, a sixteen-person trading post was established in Tadoussac, of which only five men survived the first winter. In 1604, Saint Croix Island in Acadia was the site of a short-lived French colony, much plagued by illness, the following year the settlement was moved to Port Royal. Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec and explored the Great Lakes, in 1634, Jean Nicolet founded La Baye des Puants, which is one of the oldest permanent European settlements in America. In 1634, Sieur de Laviolette founded Trois-Rivières, in 1642, Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, founded Ville-Marie which is now known as Montreal. Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette founded Sault Sainte Marie and Saint Ignace, at the end of the 17th century, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle established a network of forts going from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence River. Fort Saint Louis was established in Texas in 1685, but was gone by 1688, antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit in 1701 and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville founded La Nouvelle Orléans in 1718. Pierre Le Moyne dIberville founded Baton Rouge in 1719, the French were eager to explore North America but New France remained largely unpopulated. Due to the lack of women, intermarriages between French and Indians were frequent, giving rise to the Métis people, relations between the French and Indians were usually peaceful. Louis XIV also tried to increase the population by sending approximately 800 young women nicknamed the Kings Daughters, however, the low density of population in New France remained a very persistent problem. At the beginning of the French and Indian War, the British population in North America outnumbered the French 20 to 1, France fought a total of six colonial wars in North America. They discover the probe and Port Royal Island, which will be called by Parris Island in South Carolina, on which he built a fort named Charlesfort
French colonization of the Americas
–
Governor
Frontenac performing a tribal dance with Indian allies.
French colonization of the Americas
–
Map of
North America (1750) - France (blue), Britain (pink), and Spain (orange)
French colonization of the Americas
–
Political map of the Northeastern part of North America in 1664.
French colonization of the Americas
–
A new map of the north parts of America claimed by France in 1720, according to the London cartographer
Herman Moll.
7.
Allegheny River
–
The Allegheny River /ælᵻˈɡeɪni/ is a principal tributary of the Ohio River, it is located in the Eastern United States. The Allegheny River joins with the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River at the Point of Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh, the Allegheny River is, by volume, the main headstream of the Ohio River. The river is approximately 325 miles long, running through the U. S. states of New York and it drains a rural dissected plateau of 11,580 square miles in the northern Allegheny Plateau, providing the northeastern most drainage in the watershed of the Mississippi River. Its tributaries reach to within 8 miles of Lake Erie in southwestern New York, the Allegheny Valley has been one of the most productive areas of fossil fuel extraction in U. S. history, with its extensive deposits of coal, petroleum, and natural gas. The name Allegheny probably comes from Lenape welhik hane or oolikhanna, there is a Lenape legend of a tribe called Allegewi who used to live along the river. The river itself, however, is called Alligewi Sipo, the whites have made Alleghene out of this, the Six Nations calling the river the Ohio. The Geographic Names Information System lists O-hee-yo and O-hi-o as variant names, the river is called Ohi, i, o in the Seneca language. In New York, areas around the river are named with the alternate spelling Allegany in reference to the river, for example. Port Allegany, located along the river in Pennsylvania near the border with New York, the Allegheny River rises in north central Pennsylvania, on Cobb Hill in central Potter County, approximately 10 miles south of the New York border. South of Franklin it turns southeast across Clarion County in a course, then turns again southwest across Armstrong County, flowing past Kittanning, Ford City, Clinton. The river enters both Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, the Pittsburgh suburbs, and the City of Pittsburgh from the northeast, the Allegheny joins with the Monongahela River at the Point in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to form the Ohio River. Water from the Allegheny River eventually flows into the Gulf of Mexico via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. In its upper reaches, the Allegheny River is joined from the south by Potato Creek 1.7 miles downstream of Coryville, Pennsylvania and from the north by Olean Creek at Olean, many additional streams enter or join with the Allegheny River along its course. The Allegheny River has eight locks and dams, which form corresponding pools, the Seneca Pumped Storage Generating Station is associated with Kinzua Dam. Numerous bridges and tunnels span the river throughout its course, the Allegheny River Tunnel, utilized by Pittsburgh Light Rail, went into service in 2012. In the 16th century, control of the river valley passed back-and-forth between Algonquian-speaking Shawnee and the Iroquois, the conflict over the expansion of British settlement into the Allegheny Valley and the surrounding Ohio Country was a primary cause of the French and Indian War in the 1750s. During the war, the village of Kittanning – the principal Shawnee settlement on the river – was completely destroyed by British reprisal raids from Central Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, the British, after gaining control of the area in the 1763 Treaty of Paris, kept the area closed to settlement, in part to repair
Allegheny River
–
The Allegheny River, looking upstream at
Freeport,
Pennsylvania
Allegheny River
–
The Allegheny River is named as Ohio on a sketch by
George Washington.
Allegheny River
–
Much of the Allegheny River's course is through hilly woodlands.
Allegheny River
–
The
Highland Park Bridge crosses the Allegheny River at
Aspinwall,
Pennsylvania, just above
Allegheny River Lock and Dam Two.
8.
Monongahela River
–
The Monongahela joins the Allegheny River to form the Ohio River at Pittsburgh. The Native American word Monongahela means falling banks, in reference to the instability of the rivers banks. The Lenape Language Project renders the word as Mënaonkihëla, translated where banks cave in or erode, from the verbs mënaonkihële the dirt caves off and mënaonke, it has a loose bank. Monongalia County and the town of Monongah, both in West Virginia, are named for the river, as is Monongahela in Pennsylvania, the river is navigable its entire length with a series of locks and dams that maintain a minimum depth of 9 feet to accommodate coal-laden barges. In Pennsylvania, the Monongahela is met by two tributaries, the Cheat River, which joins at Point Marion, and the Youghiogheny River. The upper drainage area of the basin is renowned for its whitewater kayaking opportunities. The land here is of a rugged plateau type which allows streams to gather sufficient water volume before they fall off the plateau. An ice dam created a vast lake—known as Lake Monongahela—stretching from its outlet at present-day Beaver, Pennsylvania for 200 miles south to at least Weston, West Virginia. It was as much as 100 miles wide at its maximum, hundreds of feet deep in places, its western and southern overflow gradually created the present-day upper Ohio River Valley. The Monongahela River valley was the site of a famous, if small, battle that was one of the first in the French and it resulted in a sharp defeat for British and Colonial forces against those of the French and their Native American allies. Originally planned to run as far south as the Cheat River, the system was extended to Fairmont, in 1897, the federal government took possession of the Monongahela Navigation through condemnation proceedings. Later, the combinations were increased in size and reduced in number. In 2006, the system, operated by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, had nine dam-locks along 128.7 miles of waterway. The locks overcame a change in elevation of about 147 feet, briefly linked to the Monongahela Navigation was the Youghiogheny Navigation, a slack water system of 18.5 miles between McKeesport and West Newton. It had two dam-locks overcoming a change in elevation of about 27 feet, opening in 1850, it was destroyed by a flood in 1865. During the 19th century, the Monongahela was heavily used by industry, three ships in the United States Navy have been named Monongahela after the river. In the 1930s, severe drought caused the river to run dry, the river was the site of a famous airplane crash that has become the subject of numerous urban legends and conspiracy theories. All six crewmen survived the crash, but two later succumbed to exposure and drowned, despite the relative shallowness of the water, the aircraft was never recovered
Monongahela River
–
The Monongahela River in
Pittsburgh passing the
South Side on the right and
Uptown/The Bluff on the left just before entering
Downtown Pittsburgh
Monongahela River
–
The
South Tenth Street Bridge over the Monongahela River in
Pittsburgh in 2005
Monongahela River
–
The Monongahela River in
Fairmont, West Virginia in 2006
Monongahela River
–
Monongahela River Scene, 1857
9.
Downtown Pittsburgh
–
Downtown Pittsburgh, colloquially referred to as the Golden Triangle or Dahntahn in eye dialect, and officially the Central Business District, is the urban downtown center of Pittsburgh. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River whose joining forms the Ohio River, the triangle is bounded by the two rivers. The area features offices for major corporations such as PNC Bank, U. S. Steel, PPG, Bank of New York Mellon, Heinz, Federated Investors and Alcoa. It is where the fortunes of industrial barons as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, Henry J. Heinz, Andrew Mellon. It contains the site where the French fort, Fort Duquesne, in 2013, Pittsburgh had the second-lowest vacancy rate for Class A space among downtowns in the United States. The Central Business District is bounded by the Monongahela River to the south, the Allegheny River to the north, an expanded definition of Downtown may include the adjacent neighborhoods of Uptown/The Bluff, the Strip District, the North Shore, and the South Shore. Downtown is served by the Port Authoritys light rail system, an extensive bus network. Greyhounds Pittsburgh bus terminal is located across Liberty Avenue from the Amtrak Station, other important roadways are Pennsylvania Route 28, Pennsylvania Route 51, Pennsylvania Route 65, and U. S. Route 19. Three major entrances to the city are via tunnels, the Fort Pitt Tunnel and Squirrel Hill Tunnel on I-376 and the Liberty Tunnels. The New York Times once called Pittsburgh the only city with an entrance, also traveling I-279 south and I-376, the city explodes into view when coming around a turn in the highway. Downtown surface streets are based on two distinct grid systems that parallel the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers and these two grids intersect along Liberty Avenue, creating many unusual street intersections. Furthermore, the Allegheny grid contains numbered streets, while the Monongahela grid contains numbered avenues, and, in fact, there are cases where these numbered roadways intersect, creating some confusion. This unusual grid pattern leads to Pittsburghers giving directions in the terms of landmarks, Pittsburgh is nicknamed The City of Bridges. In Downtown, there are 10 bridges connecting to points north and south, the expanded definition of Downtown includes 18 bridges. In Allegheny County the number exceeds 2,200, while most people still consider the entire Downtown as one neighborhood, there are several significant subdistricts within the Golden Triangle. The Pittsburgh Central Downtown Historic District is a district in the central business district. It is bounded by Wood Street, Forbes Avenue, Grant Street and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 17,1985. Point State Park area, At the triangles tip is Point State Park with its giant fountain and this park was the original site of both Fort Duquesne by the French and the subsequent Fort Pitt by the British
Downtown Pittsburgh
–
From
Mt. Washington
Downtown Pittsburgh
–
The Smithfield Street Bridge
Downtown Pittsburgh
–
Famous mural on the 300 Sixth Street building
Downtown Pittsburgh
–
Wood Street.
10.
Pennsylvania
–
Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
Pennsylvania
–
World's End State Park, Sullivan County
Pennsylvania
–
Flag
Pennsylvania
–
Autumn in North Branch Township,
Wyoming County, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
–
Penn's Treaty with the Indians, by
Edward Hicks
11.
Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)
–
Fort Pitt was a fort built by British colonists during the Seven Years War at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, where the Ohio River is formed in western Pennsylvania. It replaced Fort Duquesne, a French colonial fort built in 1754 as tensions increased between Great Britain and France in both Europe and North America, protection of this area ultimately led to the development of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania by British-American colonists and immigrants. In April 1754, the French began building the fort, Fort Duquesne, on the site of the small British Fort Prince George at the beginning of the French. The Braddock expedition, a 1755 attempt to take Fort Duquesne, met with defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela at present-day Braddock, the French garrison defeated an attacking British regiment in September 1758 at the Battle of Fort Duquesne. French Colonel de Lignery ordered Fort Duquesne destroyed and abandoned at the approach of General John Forbes expedition in late November, the Forbes expedition was successful where the Braddock expedition had failed because the Treaty of Easton of 1758 reduced French alliances with Native American tribes. Chiefs of 13 American Indian nations agreed to peace with the colonial governments of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Indians wanted a trading post at Fort Duquesne, but they did not want a British army garrison or colonial settlement, the British colonists built a new fort and named it Fort Pitt, after William Pitt the Elder. The fort was built from 1759 to 1761 during the French and Indian War, the Indians siege of Fort Pitt began on June 22,1763, but they found it too well-fortified to be taken by force. In negotiations during the siege, Captain Simeon Ecuyer, the commander of Fort Pitt, the potential of this act to cause an epidemic among the Indians was clearly understood. Commander William Trent wrote that he hoped it will have the desired effect, Colonel Henry Bouquet, leading a relief force, would discuss similar tactics with Commander-in-Chief Jeffery Amherst. During and after Pontiacs War, epidemics of smallpox among Native Americans devastated the tribes of Ohio Valley, on August 1,1763, most of the Indians broke off the siege to intercept the approaching force under Colonel Bouquet. In the Battle of Bushy Run, Bouquet fought off the Indian attack, after Pontiacs War, the British Crown turned it over to the colonists in 1772. At that time, the Pittsburgh area was claimed by the colonies of both Virginia and Pennsylvania, which struggled for power over the region, after Virginians took control of Fort Pitt, they called it Fort Dunmore, in honour of Virginias Governor Lord Dunmore. The fort served as a ground in Dunmores War of 1774. During the American Revolutionary War, Fort Pitt served as a headquarters for the theatre of the war. In present-day Michigan, the British garrisoned Fort Detroit, only a redoubt, a small brick outbuilding called the Blockhouse, remains in Point State Park as the only intact remnant of Fort Pitt. Erected in 1764, it is believed to be the oldest building standing in Pittsburgh. Used for many years as a residence, the blockhouse was purchased and preserved for many years by the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)
–
"A Plan of the New Fort at Pitts-Burgh", drawn by cartographer
John Rocque and published in 1765.
Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)
–
Artist's interpretation of Fort Pitt in 1759, with
Allegheny (left) and
Monongahela rivers. At their confluence is the
Ohio River (bottom)
Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)
–
The
Fort Pitt Blockhouse, constructed in 1764
Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)
–
A view of the
Fort Pitt Museum from
Mount Washington; its structure is a recreation of a bastion of Ft. Pitt.
12.
Point State Park
–
Built on land acquired via eminent domain from industrial enterprises in the 1950s, the park opened in August 1974 when construction was completed on its iconic fountain. Pittsburgh settled on the current design after rejecting a plan for a Point Park Civic Center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The park also includes the outlines and remains of two of the oldest structures in Pittsburgh, Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne. The Fort Pitt Museum, housed in the Monongahela Bastion of Fort Pitt, commemorates the French and Indian War, the park is operated by the Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks. The location of the fountain at the tip of the Point previously served as a connector for two old bridges, the Manchester Bridge and Point Bridge, both were removed in 1970 to make way for the fountain. In April 2009, the fountain was turned off for a $9.6 million upgrade and refurbishment, the fountain also serves as the western terminus for the Great Allegheny Passage, a 150-mile hiker-biker trail beginning at the 184. Michael DeBerardinis, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the project was scheduled to be completed within four years, with the majority of the work to be completed in time for Pittsburghs 250th anniversary celebration in 2008. Sections of the park have fallen into disuse since it was established in the summer of 1974, the homeless have used the trenches surrounding the foundations of the remains of Fort Pitt as a temporary shelter for years. Graffiti on the structures of the park had become a major problem, sections of the park were littered with fence posts, cut logs, plastic drums, and rolled up snow drift fencing. The walkways were cracked and beginning to fall apart, the restoration project aimed to reestablish the park as a recreational destination. These plans were not put into place without some controversy, on January 25,2007,13 members of two local labor unions were arrested for blocking access by contractors to the work sites at the remnants of Fort Pitt. The unions were protesting the use of four nonrepresented workers by the contractor, in addition, advocates for historical preservation disagreed with the decision to bury the remnants of the forts walls, which could damage the bricks and remove the walls from public access. Point State Park was reopened to the public in the spring of 2008, the renovation process took a year and a half to complete. The confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, creating the Ohio River, has impacted the history of Point State Park. This confluence was referred to as the Forks of the Ohio and it was once at the center of river travel, trade, and even wars throughout the pioneer history of Western Pennsylvania. During the mid-18th century, the armies of France and the Great Britain carved paths through the wilderness to control the point area, the French built Fort Duquesne in 1754 on foundations of Fort Prince George, which had been built by the colonial forces of Virginia. The French held Fort Duquesne during the French and Indian War, the French held the fort successfully early in the war, turning back the 1755 expedition led by General Edward Braddock. A smaller attack by James Grant in September 1758 was repulsed, two months later, on November 25, the Forbes Expedition, under General John Forbes, captured the site after the French destroyed Fort Duquesne the day before
Point State Park
–
Point State Park in Fall
Point State Park
–
Point State Park
Point State Park
–
This map from 1900 demonstrates how densely developed the site became.
Point State Park
–
Brick pavers mark the outline of where Fort Duquesne was located.
13.
Ohio River
–
The Ohio River, which streams westward from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River in the United States. The 981-mile river flows through or along the border of six states, through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes many of the states of the southeastern U. S. It is the source of drinking water for three million people and it is named in Iroquoian or Seneca, Ohi, yó, lit. Good River or Shawnee, Pelewathiipi and Spelewathiipi, the river had great significance in the history of the Native Americans, as numerous civilizations formed along its valley. For thousands of years, Native Americans used the river as a major transportation, in 1669, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle led a French expedition to the Ohio River, becoming the first Europeans to see it. After European-American settlement, the served as a border between present-day Kentucky and Indian Territories. It was a transportation route for pioneers during the westward expansion of the early U. S. In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson stated and its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted. During the 19th century, the river was the boundary of the Northwest Territory. Where the river was narrow, it was the way to freedom for thousands of slaves escaping to the North, many helped by free blacks and whites of the Underground Railroad resistance movement. The Ohio River is a transition area, as its water runs along the periphery of the humid subtropical. It is inhabited by fauna and flora of both climates, in winter, it regularly freezes over at Pittsburgh but rarely further south toward Cincinnati and Louisville. At Paducah, Kentucky, in the south, near the Ohios confluence with the Mississippi, Paducah was founded there because it is the northernmost ice-free reach of the Ohio. The Ohio River is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, from there, it flows northwest through Allegheny and Beaver counties, before making an abrupt turn to the south-southwest at the West Virginia–Ohio–Pennsylvania triple-state line. From there, it forms the border between West Virginia and Ohio, upstream of Wheeling, West Virginia, the river then follows a roughly southwest and then west-northwest course until Cincinnati, before bending to a west-southwest course for most of its length. The course forms the borders of West Virginia and Kentucky. The Ohio drains parts of 15 states in four regions, northeast New York, a small area of the southern border along the headwaters of the Allegheny. Pennsylvania, a corridor from the corner to north central border
Ohio River
–
The widest point on the Ohio River is just west of
Downtown Louisville, where it is one mile (1.6 km) wide
Ohio River
–
Ohio River basin
Ohio River
–
The
Allegheny River, left, and
Monongahela River join to form the Ohio River at
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the largest metropolitan area on the river.
Ohio River
–
The 1849
Wheeling Suspension Bridge was the first bridge across the river.
14.
Ohio Country
–
The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie. This area was disputed in the century by France and Great Britain. One of the first frontier regions of the United States, the area encompassed roughly all of present-day Ohio, northwestern West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, and eastern Indiana. After the Revolution and resolution of claims to the territory, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 established the boundaries of the Northwest Territory. The territory included all the land of the United States west of Pennsylvania and it covered all of the modern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the northeastern part of Minnesota. The area covered more than 260,000 square miles, in the 17th century, the area north of the Ohio River had been occupied by the Algonquian-speaking Shawnee and some Siouan language-speaking tribes. The Iroquois conquered and absorbed the Erie tribe, who were one of the Iroquoian language family, the Ohio Country remained largely uninhabited for decades, and was used primarily as a hunting ground by the Iroquois. In the 1720s, a number of Native American groups began to migrate to the Ohio Country from the East, by 1724, Delaware Indians had established the village of Kittanning on the Allegheny River in present-day western Pennsylvania. With them came those Shawnee who had settled in the east. Other bands of the scattered Shawnee tribe began to return to the Ohio Country in the decades that followed, a number of Seneca and other Iroquois also migrated to the Ohio Country, moving away from the French and British imperial rivalries south of Lake Ontario. The Seneca were the westernmost of the Iroquois nations based in New York, in the late 1740s and the second half of the 18th century, the British angled for control of the territory. In 1749, the British Crown, via the colonial government of Virginia, with the arrival of the Europeans, both Great Britain and France claimed the area and both sent fur traders into the area to do business with the Ohio Country Indians. The Iroquois League claimed the region by right of conquest, the rivalry between the two European nations, the Iroquois, and the Ohio natives for control of the region played an important part in the French and Indian War from 1754 through 1760. After initially remaining neutral, the Ohio Country Indians largely sided with the French, armed with supplies and guns from the French, they raided via the Kittanning Path against British settlers east of the Alleghenies. After they destroyed Fort Granville in the summer of 1756, the colonial governor John Penn ordered Lt. Colonel John Armstrong to destroy the Shawnee villages west of the Alleghenies, the British defeated the French and their allies. Meanwhile, other British and colonial forces drove the French from Fort Duquesne and building Fort Pitt, in the 1763 Treaty of Paris, France ceded control of the entire Ohio region to Great Britain, without consulting its native allies, who still believed they had territorial claims. Colonies such as Pennsylvania and Virginia claimed some of the lands by their original charters. The British ordered the settlers to leave or get special permission to stay
Ohio Country
Ohio Country
–
The Ohio Country with battles and massacres between 1775 and 1794
15.
Fur trade
–
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the modern period, furs of boreal, polar. Historically the trade stimulated the exploration and colonization of Siberia, northern North America, today the importance of the fur trade has diminished, it is based on pelts produced at fur farms and regulated fur-bearer trapping, but has become controversial. Animal rights organizations oppose the fur trade, citing that animals are brutally killed, Fur has been replaced in some clothing by synthetic imitations, for example, as in ruffs on hoods of parkas. Before the European colonization of the Americas, Russia was a supplier of fur pelts to Western Europe. Its trade developed in the Early Middle Ages, first through exchanges at posts around the Baltic, the main trading market destination was the German city of Leipzig. Originally, Russia exported raw furs, consisting in most cases of the pelts of martens, beavers, wolves, foxes, squirrels and hares. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Russians began to settle in Siberia, in a search for the prized sea otter pelts, first used in China, and later for the northern fur seal, the Russian Empire expanded into North America, notably Alaska. From the 17th through the half of the 19th century. The fur trade played a role in the development of Siberia, the Russian Far East. As recognition of the importance of the trade to the Siberian economy, the sable is a symbol of the Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast. Fur was relied on to make clothing, a critical consideration prior to the organization of coal distribution for heating. Portugal and Spain played major roles in fur trading after the 15th century with their business in fur hats and they began by establishing trading posts along the Volga and Vychegda river networks and requiring the Komi people to give them furs as tribute. Novgorod, the chief fur-trade center prospered as the easternmost trading post of the Hanseatic League, Novgorodians expanded farther east and north, coming into contact with the Pechora people of the Pechora River valley and the Yugra people residing near the Urals. Both of these native tribes offered more resistance than the Komi, as Muscovy gained more power in the 15th century and proceeded in the gathering of the Russian lands, the Muscovite state began to rival the Novgorodians in the North. During the 15th century Moscow began subjugating many native tribes, one strategy involved exploiting antagonisms between tribes, notably the Komi and Yugra, by recruiting men of one tribe to fight in an army against the other tribe. Campaigns against native tribes in Siberia remained insignificant until they began on a larger scale in 1483 and 1499. Besides the Novgorodians and the indigenes, Muscovites also had to contend with the various Muslim Tatar khanates to the east of Muscovy, at this point the phrase ruler of Obdor, Konda, and all Siberian lands became part of the title of the Tsar in Moscow
Fur trade
–
Fur trade in
Nizhny Novgorod (before 1906)
Fur trade
–
A fur trader in
Fort Chipewyan,
Northwest Territories in the 1890s
Fur trade
–
Fur
muff manufacturer's 1949 advertisement
Fur trade
–
Cossacks collecting yasak in Siberia
16.
Native Americans in the United States
–
In the United States, Native Americans are people descended from the Pre-Columbian indigenous population of the land within the countrys modern boundaries. These peoples were composed of distinct tribes, bands, and ethnic groups. Most Native American groups had historically preserved their histories by oral traditions and artwork, at the time of first contact, the indigenous cultures were quite different from those of the proto-industrial and mostly Christian immigrants. Some of the Northeastern and Southwestern cultures in particular were matrilineal, the majority of Indigenous American tribes maintained their hunting grounds and agricultural lands for use of the entire tribe. Europeans at that time had patriarchal cultures and had developed concepts of property rights with respect to land that were extremely different. Assimilation became a consistent policy through American administrations, during the 19th century, the ideology of manifest destiny became integral to the American nationalist movement. Expansion of European-American populations to the west after the American Revolution resulted in increasing pressure on Native American lands and this resulted in the ethnic cleansing of many tribes, with the brutal, forced marches coming to be known as The Trail of Tears. As American expansion reached into the West, settler and miner migrants came into increasing conflict with the Great Basin, Great Plains and these were complex nomadic cultures based on horse culture and seasonal bison hunting. Over time, the United States forced a series of treaties and land cessions by the tribes, in 1924, Native Americans who were not already U. S. citizens were granted citizenship by Congress. Contemporary Native Americans have a relationship with the United States because they may be members of nations, tribes. The terms used to refer to Native Americans have at times been controversial, by comparison, the indigenous peoples of Canada are generally known as First Nations. It is not definitively known how or when the Native Americans first settled the Americas and these early inhabitants, called Paleoamericans, soon diversified into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes. The archaeological periods used are the classifications of archaeological periods and cultures established in Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips 1958 book Method and they divided the archaeological record in the Americas into five phases, see Archaeology of the Americas. The Clovis culture, a hunting culture, is primarily identified by use of fluted spear points. Artifacts from this culture were first excavated in 1932 near Clovis, the Clovis culture ranged over much of North America and also appeared in South America. The culture is identified by the distinctive Clovis point, a flaked flint spear-point with a notched flute, dating of Clovis materials has been by association with animal bones and by the use of carbon dating methods. Recent reexaminations of Clovis materials using improved carbon-dating methods produced results of 11,050 and 10,800 radiocarbon years B. P, other tribes have stories that recount migrations across long tracts of land and a great river, believed to be the Mississippi River. Genetic and linguistic data connect the people of this continent with ancient northeast Asians
Native Americans in the United States
–
Pushmataha
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States
–
Charles Eastman
Native Americans in the United States
–
Wilma Mankiller
17.
British colonization of the Americas
–
British colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas. The British were among the most important colonizers of the Americas, three types of colonies existed in the British Empire in America during the height of its power in the 18th Century. These were charter colonies, proprietary colonies and royal colonies, a group of 13 British American colonies collectively broke from the British Empire in the 1770s through a successful revolution, establishing the modern United States. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, British territories in the Americas were slowly granted more responsible government, in 1838 the Durham Report recommended full responsible government for Canada, but this was not fully implemented for another decade. Eventually, with the Confederation of Canada, the Canadian colonies were granted significant autonomy, other colonies in the Americas followed at a much slower pace. In this way, two countries in North America, ten in the Caribbean, and one in South America have received their independence from the United Kingdom, all of these are members of the Commonwealth of Nations and nine are Commonwealth realms. The eight current British overseas territories in the Americas have varying degrees of self-government, a number of English colonies were established under a system of Proprietary Governors, who were appointed under mercantile charters to English joint stock companies to found and run settlements. In 1607, Jamestown, Virginia was founded by the London Company, in Newfoundland, a chartered company known as the Society of Merchant Venturers established a permanent settlement at Cupers Cove, from 1610. St. Georges, Bermuda was founded by the Virginia Company, in 1664, England took over the Dutch colony of New Netherland which England renamed the Province of New York. With New Netherland, the English also came to control the former New Sweden and this later became part of Pennsylvania after that was established in 1680. The Kingdom of Scotland tried unsuccessfully to establish a colony at Darién, thousands of Scotsmen also participated in English colonization before the two countries were united in 1707. The Kingdom of Great Britain acquired the French colony of Acadia in 1713 and then Canada, in the north, the Hudsons Bay Company actively traded for fur with the indigenous peoples, and had competed with French, Aboriginal, and Metis fur traders. The company came to control the entire basin of Hudson Bay. The small part of the Hudson Bay drainage south of the 49th parallel went to the United States in the Anglo-American Convention of 1818. Great Britain also colonised the west coast of North America, indirectly via the Hudsons Bay Company licenses west of the Rocky Mountains, the Columbia District and New Caledonia fur district. British Columbia was expanded with the inclusion of the Stikine Territory in 1863, in 1867, the colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada combined to form a self-governing dominion, named Canada, within the British Empire. Quebec and Nova Scotia had been ceded to Britain by the French, the colonies of Prince Edward Island and British Columbia joined over the next six years, and Newfoundland joined in 1949. Ruperts Land and the North-Western Territory were ceded to Canada in 1870 and this area now consists of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, as well as the Northwest Territories, the Yukon Territory, and Nunavut
British colonization of the Americas
–
Plaque in
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, commemorating Gilbert's founding of the British overseas Empire
British colonization of the Americas
–
The
massacre of Jamestown settlers in 1622. Soon the colonists in the South feared all natives as enemies.
British colonization of the Americas
–
The Treaty of
William Penn with the Indians.
Penn's Treaty was never violated.
18.
Mississippi River
–
The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
Mississippi River
–
Mississippi River near Fire Point in
Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa
Mississippi River
–
Detailed map of Mississippi River tributary structure
Mississippi River
–
The beginning of the Mississippi River at
Lake Itasca (2004)
Mississippi River
–
Mississippi head of navigation, Coon Rapids Dam
19.
Fort Presque Isle
–
Fort Presque Isle was a fort built by French soldiers in summer 1753 along Presque Isle Bay at present-day Erie, Pennsylvania, to protect the northern terminus of the Venango Path. It was the first of the French posts built in the Ohio Country, and was part of a line that included Fort Le Boeuf, Fort Machault, and Fort Duquesne. The fort was built as part of the French military occupation of the Ohio Country, rival claims to the area by the British led to the French, after the 1759 British victory at the Battle of Fort Niagara, the French burned the fort and retreated from the area. The British built a new Fort Presque Isle, which was captured by American Indians during Pontiacs Rebellion, on June 19,1763, the fort was surrounded by about 250 Ottawas, Ojibwas, Wyandots, and Senecas. After holding out for two days, the garrison of sixty men surrendered on the condition that they could return to Fort Pitt. Most were instead killed after emerging from the fort, General Anthony Wayne first arrived in the area of Presque Isle in 1786. In 1795,200 Federal troops from Waynes army, under the direction of Captain John Grubb, built a blockhouse on Garrison Hill, in present-day Erie, also named Fort Presque Isle, the blockhouse was used as part of a defense against Native American uprisings. It was also used during the War of 1812, General Wayne was stricken ill at Fort Presque Isle and died there in 1796. At his request, his body was buried under the flagpole of the northwest blockhouse of the fort, in 1880, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania reconstructed the blockhouse at Second and Ash Streets, Erie, as a memorial to General Wayne. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has recognized the reconstructed blockhouse as eligible for placement on the National Register of Historic Places, the blockhouse is located at N 42°08.400, W 80°04.463. References The Frontier Forts of Western Pennsylvania, Albert, George Dallas, C. M. Busch, state printer, Harrisburg, tracing of plan of Erie, on pg. 536b, shows the old French fort between Front Street and Second Street, on the northeast side of Parade Street
Fort Presque Isle
–
Commemorative plaque of Fort Presque Isle location
Fort Presque Isle
20.
Lake Erie
–
Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth-largest globally if measured in terms of surface area. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes, at its deepest point Lake Erie is 210 feet deep. Lake Eries northern shore is bounded by the Canadian province of Ontario, with the U. S. states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and these jurisdictions divide the surface area of the lake by water boundaries. The lake was named by the Erie people, a Native Americans people who lived along its southern shore and that Iroquoian tribe called it Erige because of its unpredictable and sometimes violently dangerous nature. It is a matter of whether the lake was named after the tribe. Situated below Lake Huron, Eries primary inlet is the Detroit River, Lake Erie has a mean elevation of 571 feet above sea level. It has an area of 9,990 square miles with a length of 241 statute miles. The warm summer of 1999 caused lake temperatures to come close to the 85 °F limit necessary to keep the plants cool, also because of its shallowness, and in spite of being the warmest lake in the summer, it is also the first to freeze in the winter. The waves build very quickly, according to other accounts, after being trapped for an hour-and-a-half, Baker was back on dry land, exhausted and battered but alive. This area is known as the thunderstorm capital of Canada with breathtaking lightning displays. Lake Erie is primarily fed by the Detroit River and drains via the Niagara River, navigation downstream is provided by the Welland Canal, part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Other major contributors to Lake Erie include the Grand River, the Huron River, the Maumee River, the Sandusky River, the Buffalo River, the drainage basin covers 30,140 square miles. Point Pelee National Park, the southernmost point of the Canadian mainland, is located on a peninsula extending into the lake. Several islands are found in the end of the lake, these belong to Ohio except for Pelee Island and eight neighboring islands. Major cities along Lake Erie include Buffalo, Erie, Pennsylvania, Toledo, Ohio, Islands tend to be located in the western side of the lake and total 31 in number. The island-village of Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island attracts young crowds who sometimes wear red hats and are prone to break off cartwheels in the park. Pelee Island is the largest of Eries islands, accessible by ferry from Leamington, Ontario and Sandusky, songbirds migrate to Pelee in spring, and monarch butterflies stop over during the fall. Lake Erie has a retention time of 2.6 years
Lake Erie
–
Lake Erie on January 9, 2014
Lake Erie
–
From a high bluff near
Leamington, Ontario
Lake Erie
–
False-color satellite image of Lake Erie in 2007
Lake Erie
–
Lake Erie: North Shore
21.
Erie, Pennsylvania
–
Erie /ˈɪəri/ is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its shore, Erie is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania. With a population of 101,786 at the 2010 census, the estimated population in 2016 had decreased to 100,055. The Erie metropolitan area, equivalent to all of Erie County, Erie is situated between Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. Eries manufacturing sector remains prominent in the economy, though health care, higher education, technology, service industries. Erie is known as the Flagship City because of its status as the port of Oliver Hazard Perrys flagship Niagara. The city has also called the Gem City because of the sparkling lake. Cultures of indigenous peoples occupied the shoreline and bluffs in this area for thousands of years, the historic Iroquoian-speaking Erie Nation occupied this area before being defeated by the five nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in the 17th century during the Beaver Wars. The Iroquois tribes had developed and five nations formed a league in the 1500s. The Erie area became controlled by the Seneca, keeper of the door of the Iroquois. The name of the fort refers to the peninsula that juts into Lake Erie, the French term presque-isle means peninsula. When the fort was abandoned by the French in 1760 during the French and Indian War, the British established a garrison at the fort at Presque Isle that same year, three years before the end of the French and Indian War.25 in Continental currency. The Iroquois released the land to Pennsylvania in January 1789 for payments of $2,000 from Pennsylvania, the Seneca Nation separately settled land claims against Pennsylvania in February 1791 for the sum of $800. The General Assembly of Pennsylvania commissioned the surveying of land near Presque Isle through an act passed on April 18,1795, initial settlement of the area began that year. Lt. Colonel Seth Reed and his moved to the Erie area from Geneva, New York, they were Yankees from Uxbridge. They became the first European-American settlers of Erie, settling at what became known as Presque Isle, president James Madison began the construction of a naval fleet during the War of 1812 to gain control of the Great Lakes from the British. Daniel Dobbins of Erie and Noah Brown of Boston were notable shipbuilders who led construction of four schooner−rigged gunboats, commodore Oliver Hazard Perry arrived from Rhode Island and led the squadron to success in the historic Battle of Lake Erie. Erie was an important shipbuilding, fishing, and railroad hub during the mid-19th century, the city was the site where three sets of track gauges met
Erie, Pennsylvania
–
The
downtown Erie skyline, facing south from
Presque Isle State Park across
Presque Isle Bay
Erie, Pennsylvania
–
Flag
Erie, Pennsylvania
–
The Battle of Lake Erie played a role in the history of Erie.
Erie, Pennsylvania
–
State and 9th Streets in downtown Erie during the early 1920s
22.
Fort Le Boeuf
–
Fort Le Boeuf, was a fort established by the French in 1753 on a fork of French Creek, in present-day Waterford, in northwest Pennsylvania. The fort was part of a line that included Fort Presque Isle, Fort Machault, the fort was located about 15 miles from the shores of Lake Erie, on the banks of LeBoeuf Creek, which the fort was named for. The French portaged trade goods, materiel, and supplies from Lake Erie overland to Fort Le Boeuf, from there they traveled by raft and canoe down French Creek to the Allegheny River, the Ohio and the Mississippi. Captain Francois Le Mercier began construction on 11 July 1753, Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre took command of the fort on 3 December 1753. This fort was the second in a series of posts that the French built between spring 1753 and summer 1754 to assert their possession of the Ohio Country. The English trading post of John Frazier, at Venango at the junction of French Creek, leaving a force to garrison the new posts, the French command returned to Canada for the winter. Fort LeBoeuf guarded the end of the portage road between Lake Erie and French Creek, which ran to the Allegheny River. It served as a French trading post and garrison until 1759, dinwiddies initiative was in response to the French building forts in the Ohio Country. Washington took Christopher Gist along as his guide, during the trip, Washington and Gist arrived at Fort Le Boeuf on 11 December 1753. Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, commandant at Fort Le Boeuf, a veteran of the west, received Washington politely. Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre gave Washington three days hospitality at the fort, and then gave Washington a letter for him to deliver to Dinwiddie, the letter ordered the Governor of Virginia to deliver his demand to the Major General of New France in the capital, Quebec City. During his stay, Washington noted that the fort had one hundred men and he described the fort as on a south or west fork of French creek, near the water, and almost surrounded by it. The bastions were made of piles driven into the ground, standing more than 12 feet high, port holes for cannon and loop-holes for small-arms were cut into the bastions. Each bastion mounted eight six-pound cannon and one four-pound cannon guarded the gate, inside the bastions stood a guard-house, chapel, doctors lodging and the commanders private stores. Outside the fort were several log barracks, some covered with bark, in addition, there were stables, a smithy and other buildings. The French and Indian War began on 28 May 1754 with the Battle of Great Meadows, some four years later, on 25 July 1759, the French surrendered Fort Niagara. In August 1759, the commander of Fort Presque Isle sent word to Fort Machault, after the French had complied, the British took possession of their sites. It is unclear whether the French burned down Fort Le Boeuf when they abandoned it, if so, the British rebuilt it
Fort Le Boeuf
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Fort Le Boeuf in 1754
Fort Le Boeuf
23.
Waterford, Pennsylvania
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Waterford is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,517 at the 2010 census and it is part of the Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area. Waterford is an independent municipality located entirely within Waterford Township and is located near the center of the township. Waterford is located southeast of the center of Erie County at 41°56′37″N 79°59′2″W, U. S. Route 19 and Pennsylvania Route 97 pass through the borough center as High Street. US19 leads north 15 miles to downtown Erie and south 25 miles to Meadville, while PA97 leads north 14.5 miles to Erie by an easterly route. According to the United States Census Bureau, Waterford borough has an area of 1.2 square miles, of which 0.02 square miles. Lake LeBoeuf lies immediately south of the borough and is part of the French Creek watershed, as of the census of 2000, there were 1,449 people,558 households, and 409 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,189.3 people per square mile, there were 590 housing units at an average density of 484.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the borough was 98. 76% White,0. 28% African American,0. 21% Native American,0. 07% Asian,0. 14% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 48% of the population. 21. 7% of all households were made up of individuals, the average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.01. In the borough the population was out, with 27. 1% under the age of 18,8. 6% from 18 to 24,27. 9% from 25 to 44,23. 0% from 45 to 64. The median age was 36 years, for every 100 females there were 91.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males, the median income for a household in the borough was $37,875, and the median income for a family was $40,368. Males had an income of $32,946 versus $21,202 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $17,135, about 4. 5% of families and 7. 2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8. 2% of those under age 18 and 4. 0% of those age 65 or over. In December 1753, at age 21, Washington was asked by Governor Dinwiddie to carry a British ultimatum to the French on the Ohio frontier, Washington delivered the message at Fort Le Boeuf in present-day Waterford. The message, which went unheeded because he delivered it to the wrong person, the two colonial powers were heading toward worldwide conflict, the Seven Years War, known as the French and Indian War in North America. The area roughly bounded by North Park Row, High Street, West First Street, the Eagle Hotel and Waterford Covered Bridge, along with the Waterford Borough Historic District are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Waterford, Pennsylvania
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Downtown Waterford
Waterford, Pennsylvania
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A statue of
George Washington wearing the uniform of the
Virginia militia.
24.
Fort Machault
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Fort Machault was a fort built by the French in 1754 near the confluence of French Creek with the Allegheny River, at present-day Franklin, in northwest Pennsylvania. The fort was part of a line that included Fort Presque Isle, Fort Le Boeuf, the fort was built on a hill,60 yards west of the Allegheny River. The fort was in the form of a parallelogram, about 75 by 105 feet, the curtain was made of hewed timber, stacked lengthwise. The four corners had bastions in the form of polygons, the bastions were built of saplings, eight inches thick, and 13 feet in height. Inside the fort were a magazine, several barracks, with two stories and stone chimneys. The soldiers barracks consisted of 45 buildings outside the fort, Fort Machault was the last stop on the supply route from Canada to Fort Duquesne. His business was an example of the expansion of Pennsylvanias fur trade that prompted the French to fortify the Ohio Country, for fear of losing trade. Captain Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire finished building Fort Machault in April 1754 and it was named in honor of prominent financier, Jean-Baptiste Machault dArnouville, the French Minister of the Marine at the time of its construction. It was also known as Venango, the name of the nearby Delaware Indian village, in December 1753, George Washington used the Venango Path to reach Fort Machault during his first expedition into the Ohio Country. The French officer at the fort said he did not have the power to negotiate with the British, therefore, he told Washington to go to Fort Le Boeuf instead to meet with a higher-ranking officer. The French and Indian War began on May 28,1754 with the Battle of Jumonville Glen. In 1756, William Johnson, who had escaped from Native Americans, described the fort as a Captains command of about 50 men, the Fort of Stockades, very weak, and scarce of provisions. After abandoning Fort Duquesne in November 1758, the French fell back to Fort Machault, in July 1759, the French began a campaign to capture Fort Pitt. Nearly a thousand French and Canadiens and a thousand Native Americans mustered at Fort Machault, the British, however, began a siege of Fort Niagara. The fall of Fort Niagara in summer 1759, however, made the French presence in the Ohio Country untenable, the assault on Fort Pitt was abandoned, and available forces were sent to relieve Fort Niagara. On July 25,1759, the French surrendered Fort Niagara, in August 1759, the commander of Fort Presque Isle sent word to Fort Le Boeuf and Fort Machault to abandon their forts. The French burned Fort Machault to the ground and retreated to Canada in anticipation of a British expedition north from the Forks of the Ohio, in 1760, the British built Fort Venango near this site. The Frontier Forts of Western Pennsylvania, Albert, George Dallas, C. M. Busch, state printer, Harrisburg,1896
Fort Machault
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This map, from 1879 History of Venango County Pennsylvania, depicts the area where the fort was stationed. This is current-day
Franklin, Pennsylvania.
Fort Machault
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French Forts, 1753 and 1754
Fort Machault
25.
Venango County, Pennsylvania
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Venango County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 54,984, the county was created in 1800 and later organized in 1805. Venango County comprises the Oil City, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area and it is defined as part of the Pittsburgh media market. Venango County was created on March 12,1800 from parts of Allegheny, the name Venango comes from the Native American name of the region, Onenge, meaning Otter. This was corrupted in English as the Venango River, the settlement at its mouth was likewise called Venango, and is the site of present-day South Side of Oil City, Pennsylvania. Venango County was home to an oil boom in the years following discovery of oil in the mid-1850s. This single well soon exceeded the entire cumulative oil output of Europe since the 1650s, within weeks oil derricks were erected all over the area. Other oil boom towns located in Venango County included Franklin, Oil City, the principal product of the oil was kerosene. McClintocksville was a community in Cornplanter Township in Venango County. Rogers and his young wife Abbie Palmer Gifford Rogers lived in a one-room shack there along Oil Creek for several years beginning in 1862, shortly later, Rogers met oil pioneer Charles Pratt who purchased the entire output of the tiny Wamsutta Oil Refinery. In 1867, Rogers joined Pratt in forming Charles Pratt and Company, Rogers became one of the key men in John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust. After joining Standard Oil, Rogers invested heavily in various industries, including copper, steel, mining, the Virginian Railway is widely considered his final lifes achievement. Rogers amassed a fortune, estimated at over $100 million. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 683 square miles. French Creek is formed near French Creek, New York and extends for a length of 117 miles with an area of 1,270 square miles. It joins the Allegheny River near Franklin, Pennsylvania, the watershed area includes parts of Erie, Crawford, Venango, and Mercer Counties in Pennsylvania as well as Chautauqua County, New York. The population density was 85 people per square mile, there were 26,904 housing units at an average density of 40 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 97. 64% White,1. 09% Black or African American,0. 18% Native American,0. 23% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,0. 17% from other races, and 0. 67% from two or more races
Venango County, Pennsylvania
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Venango County Courthouse
Venango County, Pennsylvania
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Seal
Venango County, Pennsylvania
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Drake Well Museum in Cherrytree Township
Venango County, Pennsylvania
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Wells along Benninghoff Run in 1866
26.
Franklin, Pennsylvania
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Franklin is a city in Venango County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was estimated 6,545 in the 2010 census and it is the county seat of Venango County. Franklin is part of the Oil City, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area, the citys namesake is Benjamin Franklin. The Samuel F. Dale House and Franklin Historic District are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Plumer Block was listed from 1978 to 1986. Franklin is located at 41°23′52″N 79°49′53″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.7 square miles, of which 4.6 square miles is land and 0.1 square miles is water. As of the census of 2000, there were 7,212 people,3,030 households, the population density was 1,560.2 people per square mile. There were 3,281 housing units at a density of 709.8 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 94. 77% White,3. 12% African American,0. 08% Native American,0. 33% Asian,0. 01% Pacific Islander,0. 31% from other races, and 1. 37% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 67% of the population,35. 5% of all households were made up of individuals and 17. 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the family size was 2.94. In the city, the population was out with 23. 8% under the age of 18,8. 8% from 18 to 24,25. 9% from 25 to 44,23. 1% from 45 to 64. The median age was 40 years, for every 100 females there were 86.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males, the median income for a household in the city was $27,063, and the median income for a family was $37,433. Males had an income of $35,088 versus $22,475 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,414, about 13. 6% of families and 17. 3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25. 4% of those under age 18 and 14. 4% of those age 65 or over. The Franklin Area School District currently has one school, one middle school. The Valley Grove School District currently has one school and one elementary school located in the Franklin area with an estimated 1026 students. Saint Patrick Roman Catholic Church operates a school in the city
Franklin, Pennsylvania
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Downtown Franklin
Franklin, Pennsylvania
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View of the confluence of
French Creek (left) with the
Allegheny River at Riverfront Park in Franklin
27.
Virginia Colony
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The Colony of Virginia was the first permanently settled English colony in North America. Newfoundland, with settlements, had been established as a colony by Royal Charter in 1583. American archaeologist William Kelso says Virginia is where the British Empire began and this was the first colony in the British Empire. The colony existed briefly during the 16th century, and then continuously from 1607 until the American Revolution, the name Virginia was first applied by Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I in 1584. In 1607, members of a joint venture called the Virginia Company founded Jamestown, tobacco became Virginias first profitable export, the production of which had a significant impact on the society and settlement patterns. In 1624, the Virginia Companys charter was revoked by King James I, from 1619 to 1776, the legislature of the Virginia was the House of Burgesses, which governed in conjunction with a colonial governor. Jamestown remained the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699, from 1699 until its dissolution the capital was in Williamsburg and it experienced its first major political turmoil with Bacons Rebellion of 1676. The name Virginia is the oldest designation for English claims in North America, the latter word may have inspired the Queen to name the colony Virginia, noting her status as the Virgin Queen. in Carolina Algonquian, and was not the name of the country as previously misunderstood. Virginia was originally a term used to refer to North Americas entire eastern coast from the 34th parallel north to 48th parallel and this area included a large section of Canada and the shores of Acadia. In gratitude for Virginians loyalty to the crown during the English Civil War, Charles II gave it the title of Old Dominion, Virginia maintains Old Dominion as its state nickname. Accordingly, the University of Virginias athletic teams use Cavaliers as one of their nicknames, earlier attempts had been made by the Spanish in what is now Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, and by the French in South Carolina. Farther south, the Spanish colony of Spanish Florida, centered on St. Augustine, was established in 1565, while to the north, in 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sent his first colonization mission to the island of Roanoke. This was the first English settlement, although it did not survive and it was a military research expedition with a very narrow focus. In 1587, Raleigh sent another group to attempt to establish a permanent settlement. The first English child born in the New World was named Virginia Dare, the expedition leader, John White returned to England for supplies that same year, but was unable to return to the colony due to war between England and Spain. When he finally did return in 1590, he found the colony abandoned, the houses were intact, but the colonists had completely disappeared. Although there are a number of theories about the fate of the colony, Dare County was named in honor of the baby Virginia Dare, who was among those whose fate is unknown. The word Croatoan was found carved into a tree, the name of a tribe on a nearby island, following the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, King James I ascended to the throne
Virginia Colony
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"
The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles ", by
Capt. John Smith
Virginia Colony
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Flag
Virginia Colony
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Lines show legal treaty frontiers between Virginia Colony and Indian Nations in various years, as well as today's state boundaries. Red: Treaty of 1646. Green: Treaty of Albany (1684). Blue: Treaty of Albany (1722). Orange:
Proclamation of 1763. Black: Treaty of Camp Charlotte (1774). Area west of this line in present-day Southwest VA was ceded by the Cherokee in 1775.
Virginia Colony
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Indian massacre of 1622, depicted in a 1628 woodcut by
Matthäus Merian out of
Theodore de Bry 's workshop.
28.
Robert Dinwiddie
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Since the governors at that time were largely absentee, he was the de facto head of the colony for much of the time. Dinwiddie was born at Glasgow before 2 October 1692, the son of Robert Dinwiddie of Germiston and he matriculated at the University in 1707 before starting work as a merchant. Joining the British colonial service in 1727, Dinwiddie was appointed collector of the customs for Bermuda, Dinwiddies actions as lieutenant governor are cited by one historian as precipitating the French and Indian War, commonly held to have begun in 1754. In 1753, Dinwiddie learned the French had built Fort Presque Isle near Lake Erie and Fort Le Boeuf, in fact, he considered Winchester, Virginia, to be exposed to the enemy, Cumberland, Maryland, was only to be fortified the next year. Dinwiddie sent an expedition under George Washington to warn the French to withdraw. Washington, then only 21 years old, made the journey in midwinter of 1753–54, Washington arrived at Fort Le Boeuf on 11 December 1753. Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, commandant at Fort Le Boeuf, a veteran of the west, received Washington politely. Jacques Saint-Pierre gave Washington three days hospitality at the fort, and then gave Washington a letter for him to deliver to Dinwiddie. The letter conveyed to Dinwiddie that he would send Dinwiddies on to Marquis de Duquesne in Quebec and would meantime maintain his post while he awaited the latters orders. The French quickly drove off the Virginians and built a fort on the site, calling it Fort Duquesne, in honour of the Marquis de Duquesne. Dinwiddie named Joshua Fry to the position of Commander-in-Chief of colonial forces, Fry was given command of the Virginia Regiment and was ordered to take Fort Duquesne, then held by the French. During the advance into the Ohio Country, Fry suddenly fell off his horse and died from his injuries on 31 May 1754 at Fort Cumberland, in early spring 1754, Dinwiddie sent Washington to build a road to the Monongahela. Here he encountered the French in a skirmish on 3 July 1754 and was forced to surrender, in fact, the friction between the government and the Burgesses would eventually develop into the American Revolution. In January 1758 he left Virginia, to be replaced by Francis Fauquier, Dinwiddie County, Virginia, which lies 30 miles south of Richmond, is named in honor of Robert Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie Hall, since 1972 a dormitory at the College of William & Mary, is named in honor of Robert Dinwiddie. Robert Dinwiddie died on 27 July 1770 and he married some time before 1738 Rebecca Auchinleck, together they had two children Rebecca Dinwiddie and Elizabeth Dinwiddie. His official records, which were compiled by the Virginia Historical Society in 1883, are left in five volumes and they cover the years of his administration of the Virginia colony, from 1751 to 1758. His archival material resides at several places, and some related to the French and he was the subject of the book Robert Dinwiddie, Servant of the Crown
Robert Dinwiddie
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Portrait by an unknown artist, c. 1760-1765
Robert Dinwiddie
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Topographic map of Virginia detailing, inter alia, the path of the
Braddock Expedition.
29.
Ohio Company
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The Ohio Company, formally known as the Ohio Company of Virginia, was a land speculation company organized for the settlement by Virginians of the Ohio Country and to trade with the Native Americans. The company had a grant from Britain and a treaty with Indians, but France also claimed the area. Virginian explorers recognized the potential of the Ohio region for colonization and moved to capitalize on it, in 1748, Thomas Lee and brothers Lawrence and Augustine Washington organized the Ohio Company to represent the prospecting and trading interests of Virginian investors. The grant was in two parts, the first 200,000 acres were promised, and the following 300,000 acres were to be granted if the Ohio Company successfully settled one hundred families within seven years. Furthermore, the Ohio Company was required to construct a fort, but the land grant was rent and tax free for ten years to facilitate settlement. The organizers signed a treaty of friendship and permission at Logstown with the tribes in the region in 1752. A rival group of land speculators from Virginia, the Loyal Company of Virginia, was organized about the same time, and included influential Virginians such as Thomas Walker and Peter Jefferson. In 1752 George Mason, later to become a founding father, became treasurer of the Ohio Company. Cresap was given a contract to blaze a small road over the mountains to the Monongahela River, in 1750, the Ohio Company hired Christopher Gist, a skillful woodsman and surveyor, to explore the Ohio Valley in order to identify lands for potential settlement. He surveyed by estimating the Kanawhan Region and the Ohio Valley tributaries beginning in 1750,1751 and 1753 and his journals provide valuable insights of the greater Ohio Valley and the Alleghenies. Gist travelled as far west as the Miami Indian village of Pickawillany, the settlement efforts were complicated by the conflicting land claims of the time. The Ohio Country ceded by the King through Governor Dinwiddie included, in Dinwiddies opinion, in addition to the Pennsylvania colonial government claims of this territory, the French were fighting for and occupying much of the Ohio Valley, most notably at Fort Duquesne. Dinwiddie responded by sending a unit under the command of George Washington to the region. In 1763, the Ohio Company sent a representative to petition the British Crown for a grant renewal, the plans for settlement and military development continued, with Henry Bouquets 1764 plans to construct military posts around prospective western settlements. In 1768, the British government authorized Sir William Johnson to make the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, purchasing land rights from the Iroquois, the goal was acquiring 2.5 million acres of Ohio Country land. Benjamin Franklin was one of the shareholders, as well as included George Croghan. The Walpole Company, Indiana Company, and members of the Ohio Company reorganized, in 1772, the Grand Ohio Company received from the British government a grant of a large tract lying along the southern bank of the Ohio as far west as the mouth of the Scioto River. A colony to be called Vandalia was planned, however, the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War interrupted colonization and nothing was accomplished
Ohio Company
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Thomas Lee, president of the Virginia Council of State, organized the Ohio Company of Virginia in 1748.
Ohio Company
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The Ohio Country, showing present-day U.S. state boundaries
Ohio Company
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1755
Fry-Jefferson map showing earlier established colonial borders before the
French and Indian War.
Ohio Company
New France
Great Britain
