1.
Downtown Jacksonville
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Downtown Jacksonville is the historic core and central business district of Jacksonville, Florida USA. It comprises the earliest area of the city to be developed and is located in its center along the narrowing point of the St. Johns River. The area features offices for major corporations such as CSX Corporation, Fidelity National Financial, EverBank, Bank of America, Prudential Financial, Wells Fargo, AT&T, histories of the city report that there was once an Indian village at the site called Ossachite. White settlement in the area began during Floridas British period, when the East Florida government built the Kings Road to connect St. Augustine with the British colonies to the north. A ferry and tavern were built, and when Spanish rule resumed in Florida, the settlement that became Jacksonville largely formed from two land grants issued in 1816, one to Maria Taylor, née Suarez, and one to Juan LeMaestre. Hart eventually convinced his neighbors to join him in donating land for the venture, the settlement was named Jacksonville after Andrew Jackson, who had become popular among many Floridians for his actions in the First Seminole War. The town grew in fits and starts, it saw disruption during the Second Seminole War, during the American Civil War, Jacksonville was home to many Union sympathizers, and was occupied for most of the war by Union troops who took the city four separate times. The war devastated Jacksonville and caused half the population to flee. On May 3,1901, downtown Jacksonville was ravaged by a fire started at a fiber factory. Known as the Great Fire of 1901, it was one of the worst disasters in Florida history, in just eight hours, it destroyed the business district and left approximately 10,000 residents homeless. Architect Henry John Klutho was a figure in the reconstruction of the city. Multiple definitions of Downtown Jacksonville are in common use, often, the name Downtown is used exclusively for the historical core. This is bounded roughly by State Street to the north, Hogans Creek to the east, the St. Johns River to the south, and this definition is used, for example, by the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission and their book, Jacksonvilles Architectural Heritage. However, the City of Jacksonville and other use a wider definition that includes not only the Downtown Core. In this definition, the boundaries are State Street to the north, the St. Johns River to the east, under the broader definition, Downtown Jacksonville is divided into several districts or neighborhood. In addition to the historical Downtown Core, the most commonly used districts are, the Southbank, also known as the Northbank, is Jacksonvilles traditional city center and what most people associate with Downtown and Jacksonville in general. The Downtown Core is sometimes divided into additional, smaller districts. Downtown Vision, Inc. refers to the blocks to north of Church Street, the City of Jacksonvilles Downtown Master Plan further restricts the Central Civic Core to south of Church Street and east of Main Street, separating the rest of the area into other districts
2.
Jacksonville, Florida
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Jacksonville is a seaport city and the seat of Duval County, Florida, United States. With an estimated 868,031 residents as of 2015, Jacksonville is the most populous city in both the state of Florida and the southeastern United States. It is estimated to be the 12th most populous city in the United States and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. The Jacksonville metropolitan area has a population of 1,603,497 and is the 34th largest in the United States and fourth largest in the state of Florida. The city is situated on the banks of the St. Johns River, in the First Coast region of North Florida, prior to European settlement, the Jacksonville area was inhabited by Native American people known as the Timucua. In 1564, the French established the colony of Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River. In 1822, a year after the United States gained Florida from Spain, Jacksonville is the cultural, commercial and financial center of North Florida. A major military and civilian deep-water port, the citys riverine location supports two United States Navy bases and the Port of Jacksonville, Floridas third largest seaport. The two US Navy bases, Blount Island Command and the nearby Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Jacksonville is also home to several colleges and universities, including University of North Florida, Jacksonville University and Florida State College at Jacksonville. The area of the city of Jacksonville has been inhabited for thousands of years. In the 16th century, the beginning of the era, the region was inhabited by the Mocama. At the time of contact with Europeans, all Mocama villages in present-day Jacksonville were part of the powerful chiefdom known as the Saturiwa, centered around the mouth of the St. Johns River. One early map shows a village called Ossachite at the site of what is now downtown Jacksonville, French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault charted the St. Johns River in 1562 calling it the River of May because he discovered it in May. Ribault erected a column near present-day Jacksonville claiming the newly discovered land for France. In 1564, René Goulaine de Laudonnière established the first European settlement, Fort Caroline, philip II of Spain ordered Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to protect the interest of Spain by attacking the French presence at Fort Caroline. On September 20,1565, a Spanish force from the nearby Spanish settlement of St. Augustine attacked Fort Caroline, the Spanish renamed the fort San Mateo, and following the ejection of the French, St. Augustines position as the most important settlement in Florida was solidified. The location of Fort Caroline is subject to debate but a reconstruction of the fort was established on the St. Johns River in 1964. Spain ceded Florida to the British in 1763 after the French and Indian War, the British introduced the cultivation of sugar cane, indigo and fruits as well the export of lumber
3.
History of Florida
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The history of Florida can be traced back to when the first Native Americans began to inhabit the peninsula as early as 14,000 years ago. They left behind artifacts and archeological evidence, written history begins with the arrival of Europeans to Florida, the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León in 1513 made the first textual records. The state was the first mainland realm of the United States to be settled by Europeans, thus,1513 marked the beginning of the American Frontier. Florida was under rule by Spain, France, and Great Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries before becoming a territory of the United States in 1821. Two decades later, in 1845, Florida was admitted to the union as the 27th US state, since the 19th century, immigrants have arrived from Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Florida is nicknamed the Sunshine State due to its climate and days of sunshine. A diverse population and urbanized economy have developed, in 2011 Florida, with over 19 million people, surpassed New York and became the third largest state in population. The economy has developed over time, starting with natural resource exploitation in logging, mining, fishing, and sponge diving, as well as ranching, farming. The tourism, real estate, trade, banking, and retirement destination businesses followed, the foundation of Florida was located in the continent of Gondwana at the South Pole 650 Mya. When Gondwana collided with the continent of Laurentia 300 Mya, it had moved further north,200 Mya, the merged continents containing what would be Florida, had moved north of the equator. By then, Florida was surrounded by desert, in the middle of a new continent, when Pangaea broke up 115 mya, Florida assumed a shape as a peninsula. The emergent landmass of Florida was Orange Island, a low-relief island sitting atop the carbonate Florida Platform which emerged about 34 to 28 million years ago, when glaciation locked up the worlds water, starting 2.58 million years ago, the sea level dropped precipitously. It was approximately 100 metres lower than present levels, as a result, the Florida peninsula not only emerged, but had a land area about twice what it is today. Florida also had a drier and cooler climate than in recent times. There were few flowing rivers or wetlands, paleo-Indians entered what is now Florida at least 14,000 years ago. Across large areas of Florida, fresh water was only in sinkholes. As a result, most paleo-Indian activity was around the watering holes, sinkholes and basins in the beds of modern rivers have yielded a rich trove of paleo-Indian artifacts, including Clovis points. Excavations at an ancient stone quarry yielded crude stone implements showing signs of wear from deposits below those holding Paleo-Indian artifacts
4.
Great Chicago Fire
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The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10,1871. The fire killed up to 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles of Chicago, Illinois, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless. The fire started at about 9,00 p. m. on October 8, the shed next to the barn was the first building to be consumed by the fire, but city officials never determined the exact cause of the blaze. There has, however, been much speculation over the years, the most popular tale blames Mrs. OLearys cow, who allegedly knocked over a lantern, others state that a group of men were gambling inside the barn and knocked over a lantern. Still other speculation suggests that the blaze was related to fires in the Midwest that day. The fires spread was aided by the use of wood as the predominant building material in a style called balloon frame. More than two thirds of the structures in Chicago at the time of the fire were made entirely of wood, with most of the houses, all of the citys sidewalks and many roads were also made of wood. In 1871, the Chicago Fire Department had 185 firefighters with just 17 horse-drawn steam engines to protect the entire city. The initial response by the department was quick, but due to an error by the watchman, Matthias Schaffer. These factors combined to turn a small barn fire into a conflagration, when firefighters finally arrived at DeKoven Street, the fire had grown and spread to neighboring buildings and was progressing towards the central business district. Firefighters had hoped that the South Branch of the Chicago River, all along the river, however, were lumber yards, warehouses, and coal yards, and barges and numerous bridges across the river. As the fire grew, the southwest wind intensified and became superheated, causing structures to catch fire from the heat, around 11,30 p. m. flaming debris blew across the river and landed on roofs and the South Side Gas Works. With the fire across the river and moving rapidly towards the heart of the city, about this time, Mayor Roswell B. Mason sent messages to nearby towns asking for help. When the courthouse caught fire, he ordered the building to be evacuated, at 2,30 a. m. on the 9th, the cupola of the courthouse collapsed, sending the great bell crashing down. Some witnesses reported hearing the sound from a mile away, as more buildings succumbed to the flames, a major contributing factor to the fire’s spread was a meteorological phenomenon known as a fire whirl. As overheated air rises, it comes into contact with cooler air and these fire whirls are likely what drove flaming debris so high and so far. Such debris was blown across the branch of the Chicago River to a railroad car carrying kerosene. The fire had jumped the river a second time and was now raging across the north side
5.
1906 San Francisco earthquake
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The 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck the coast of Northern California at 5,12 a. m. on April 18 with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI. Severe shaking was felt from Eureka on the North Coast to the Salinas Valley, devastating fires soon broke out in the city and lasted for several days. As a result, about 3,000 people died and over 80% of the city of San Francisco was destroyed, the events are remembered as one of the worst and deadliest natural disasters in the history of the United States. The death toll remains the greatest loss of life from a disaster in Californias history. The San Andreas Fault is a transform fault that forms part of the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. The strike-slip fault is characterized by mainly lateral motion in a dextral sense, the 1906 rupture propagated both northward and southward for a total of 296 miles. This fault runs the length of California from the Salton Sea in the south to Cape Mendocino in the north, the maximum observed surface displacement was about 20 feet, geodetic measurements show displacements of up to 28 feet. The 1906 earthquake preceded the development of the Richter magnitude scale by three decades. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the quake on the moment magnitude scale is 7.8. According to findings published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, severe deformations in the earths crust took place both before and after the earthquakes impact. Accumulated strain on the faults in the system was relieved during the earthquake, the main shock epicenter occurred offshore about 2 miles from the city, near Mussel Rock. Shaking was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles, and inland as far as central Nevada, a strong foreshock preceded the main shock by about 20 to 25 seconds. The strong shaking of the main shock lasted about 42 seconds, there were decades of minor earthquakes – more than at any other time in the historical record for northern California – before the 1906 quake. For years, the epicenter of the quake was assumed to be near the town of Olema, in the Point Reyes area of Marin County, because of evidence of the degree of local earth displacement. In the 1960s, a seismologist at UC Berkeley proposed that the epicenter was more likely offshore of San Francisco, at the time,375 deaths were reported, partly because hundreds of fatalities in Chinatown went ignored and unrecorded. The total number of deaths is uncertain today, and is estimated to be roughly 3,000 at minimum. Most of the deaths occurred in San Francisco itself, but 189 were reported elsewhere in the Bay Area, nearby cities, such as Santa Rosa and San Jose, in Monterey County, the earthquake permanently shifted the course of the Salinas River near its mouth. Where previously the river emptied into Monterey Bay between Moss Landing and Watsonville, it was diverted 6 miles south to a new channel just north of Marina
6.
Spanish moss
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Instead, it is a flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae which grows hanging from tree branches in full sun through partial shade. Formerly this plant has been placed in the genera Anoplophytum, Caraguata, the northern limit of its natural range is Northampton County, Virginia, with unsubstantiated colonial-era reports in southern Maryland where no populations are now known to be extant. The primary range is in the southeastern United States, through Argentina and it has been introduced to similar locations around the world, including Hawaii and Australia. The plant has no roots and its brown, green, or yellow flowers are tiny. It propagates both by seed and vegetatively by fragments that blow on the wind and stick to tree limbs, Spanish-moss is an epiphyte which absorbs nutrients and water through its leaves from the air and rainfall. While it rarely kills the tree upon which it grows, it can become so thick that it shades the trees leaves. In the southern U. S. Spanish-moss shelters a number of creatures, including rat snakes, one species of jumping spider, Pelegrina tillandsiae, has been found only on Spanish-moss. Chiggers, though assumed to infest Spanish-moss, were not present among thousands of other arthropods identified in one study. It was introduced to Hawaii in the 19th century, and became a popular ornamental, on Hawaii it is often called Peles hair after Pele the Hawaiian goddess. The term Peles hair is used to refer to a type of filamentous volcanic glass. Spanish-moss has been used for various purposes, including building insulation, mulch, packing material, mattress stuffing, in the early 1900s it was used commercially in the padding of car seats. In 1939 over 10,000 tons of processed Spanish-moss was produced and it is still collected today in smaller quantities for use in arts and crafts, or for beddings for flower gardens, and as an ingredient in the traditional wall covering material bousillage. In some parts of Latin America, Spanish moss is used in Nativity scenes, in the desert regions of the southwestern United States, dried Spanish-moss plants are used in the manufacture of evaporative coolers, colloquially known as swamp coolers. These are used to cool homes and offices much less expensively than using air conditioners, a pump squirts water onto a pad made of Spanish-moss plants. A fan then pulls air through the pad and into the building, evaporation of the water on the pads serves to reduce the air temperature, thus cooling the building. J. A Portable Dictionary of the Higher Plants
7.
Savannah, Georgia
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Savannah is the oldest city in the U. S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia, a strategic port city in the American Revolution and during the American Civil War, Savannah is today an industrial center and an important Atlantic seaport. It is Georgias fifth-largest city and third-largest metropolitan area, Downtown Savannah largely retains the original town plan prescribed by founder James Oglethorpe. Savannah was the host city for the sailing competitions during the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta. On February 12,1733, General James Oglethorpe and settlers from the ship Anne landed at Yamacraw Bluff and were greeted by Tomochichi, the Yamacraws, Mary Musgrove often served as an interpreter. The city of Savannah was founded on that date, along with the colony of Georgia, in 1751, Savannah and the rest of Georgia became a Royal Colony and Savannah was made the colonial capital of Georgia. By the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Savannah had become the southernmost commercial port of the Thirteen Colonies, British troops took the city in 1778, and the following year a combined force of American and French soldiers failed to rout the British at the Siege of Savannah. The British did not leave the city until July 1782, Savannah, a prosperous seaport throughout the nineteenth century, was the Confederacys sixth most populous city and the prime objective of General William T. Shermans March to the Sea. Early on December 21,1864, local authorities negotiated a surrender to save Savannah from destruction. Savannah was named for the Savannah River, which derives from variant names for the Shawnee. The Shawnee destroyed another Native people, the Westo, and occupied their lands at the head of the Savannah Rivers navigation on the fall line and these Shawnee, whose Native name was Ša·wano·ki, were known by several local variants, including Shawano, Savano, Savana and Savannah. Still other theories suggest that the name Savannah originates from Algonquian terms meaning not only southerners, Savannah lies on the Savannah River, approximately 20 mi upriver from the Atlantic Ocean. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 108.7 square miles. Savannah is the port on the Savannah River and the largest port in the state of Georgia. It is also located near the U. S. Intracoastal Waterway, Georgias Ogeechee River flows toward the Atlantic Ocean some 16 miles south of downtown Savannah. Savannahs climate is classified as humid subtropical, in the Deep South, this is characterized by long and almost tropical summers and short, mild winters. Savannah records few days of freezing temperatures each year, due to its proximity to the Atlantic coast, Savannah rarely experiences temperatures as extreme as those in Georgias interior. Nevertheless, the temperatures have officially ranged from 105 °F, on July 20,1986, down to 3 °F
8.
Raleigh, North Carolina
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Raleigh is the capital of the state of North Carolina, the seat of Wake County in the United States. Raleigh is known as the City of Oaks for its oak trees. The city covers a area of 142.8 square miles. The U. S. Census Bureau estimated the population as 451,066 as of July 1,2015. It is also one of the cities in the country. The city of Raleigh is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, who established the lost Roanoke Colony in present-day Dare County, Raleigh is home to North Carolina State University and is part of the Research Triangle area, together with Durham and Chapel Hill. The Triangle nickname originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located in Durham and Wake Counties, partway between the three cities and their universities. The Research Triangle region encompasses the U. S. Census Bureaus Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Combined Statistical Area, the Raleigh Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated population of 1,214,516 in 2013. Most of Raleigh is located within Wake County, with a small portion extending into Durham County. Raleigh is an example in the United States of a planned city. It was chosen as the site of the capital in 1788. The city was laid out in a grid pattern with the North Carolina State Capitol in Union Square at the center. Raleigh is home to cultural, educational, and historic sites. The Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Raleigh features three venues and serves as the home for the North Carolina Symphony and the Carolina Ballet. Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek is a large music amphitheater located in southeast Raleigh, one U. S. president, Andrew Johnson, was born in Raleigh. Bath, the oldest town in North Carolina, was the first nominal capital from 1705 until 1722, the colony had no permanent institutions of government until the establishment at the new capital New Bern in 1743. In December 1770, Joel Lane successfully petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly to create a new county, on January 5,1771, the bill creating Wake County was passed in the General Assembly. The county was formed from portions of Cumberland, Orange, the county gets its name from Margaret Wake Tryon, the wife of Governor William Tryon
9.
William Sherman Jennings
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William Sherman Jennings was an American politician. He served as the 18th Governor of Florida after being a lawyer, county judge and he was born near Walnut Hill, Illinois, and attended public schools in Marion County. Jennings graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1883, then studied law at the Union College of Law in Chicago, and finished his law studies in Chicago under the supervision of his brother, Charles E. Jennings, who was the States Attorney for Marion County. He came to Florida in 1885 and settled in Brooksville, Florida, in 1887, he was appointed circuit court commissioner, and became county judge of Hernando County, Florida in 1888. Jennings resigned his office as county judge in 1893 to serve in the Florida House of Representatives, after his term ended, he served as a Colonel in the Florida militia, was president of the Brooksville town council and chairman of the Democratic committee. Jennings campaigned for and was elected governor in 1900, taking the oath of office on January 8,1901, during his term in office, he introduced the statewide primary election system, replacing the previous method of nominating candidates for political office at a convention. The first statewide election was conducted in 1902. It was also Jennings idea to drain and develop the Everglades by cutting the natural rock dams in the rivers of south Florida and his term ended on January 3,1905. He moved to Jacksonville, then Florida’s largest city, where he established a law practice. He divided his time between a home in Jacksonville and a farm and timber holdings in Clay County near Middleburg, in 1905, he was appointed by Governor Napoleon B. Broward as General Counsel for the Internal Improvement Fund, the agency responsible for administering public lands. The new governor also favored the development of the Everglades, so in this position, Jennings met May Mann at her father’s home near Brooksville, and began a courtship. Mays father, Austin Mann, had been a Florida Senator and had just won election to the house of representatives. When the legislative session began in January,1891, May went to Tallahassee to serve as her fathers aide, with responsibility for her fathers appointments, correspondence, Jennings went to Tallahassee to continue his courtship. He married May Mann on May 12,1891 and they were escorted down the aisle by the full legislative membership, the newlyweds lived in Brooksville in the William Sherman Jennings House. The couple had one child, a son, Sherman Bryan Jennings, politics and the law were prominent in his family. In addition to his brother, who was a lawyer and state attorney, he was a first cousin to William Jennings Bryan, congressman and three-time Democratic presidential nominee. At one point, the controversy became so heated that Jennings and Lincoln Hulley, Jennings died on February 27,1920 in St. Augustine, Florida and was buried in Jacksonville, Florida
10.
Martial law
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It is usually imposed temporarily when the government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively. Martial law can be used by governments to enforce their rule over the public, such incidents may occur after a coup détat, when threatened by popular protest, to suppress political opposition, or to stabilize insurrections or perceived insurrections. Martial law may be declared in cases of natural disasters, however, most countries use a different legal construct. Martial law has also been imposed during conflicts, and in cases of occupations, examples of this form of military rule include post World War II reconstruction in Germany and Japan as well as the Southern Reconstruction following the U. S. Civil War. Civilians defying martial law may be subjected to military tribunal, the Black War was a period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832. With an escalation of violence in the late 1820s, Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur declared martial law in November 1828—effectively providing legal immunity for killing Aboriginal people and it would remain in force for more than three years, the longest period of martial law in Australian history. Brunei has been under a law since a rebellion occurred on 8 December 1962 known as the Brunei Revolt and was put down by British troops from Singapore. e. The military does not administer justice, which remains in the hands of the courts, the Act has been invoked three times, During World War I, World War II, and the October Crisis of 1970. In 1988, the War Measures Act was replaced by the Emergencies Act, during the colonial era, martial law was proclaimed and applied in the territory of the Province of Quebec during the invasion of Canada by the army of the American Continental Congress in 1775–1776. It was also applied twice in the territory of Lower Canada during the 1837–1838 insurrections and it was imposed until April 27,1838. Martial law was proclaimed a second time on November 4,1838, this time by acting Governor John Colborne, in Egypt, a State of Emergency has been in effect almost continuously since 1967. Following the assassination of President Anwar el-Sadat in 1981, state of emergency was declared, Egypt has been under state of emergency ever since, the Parliament has renewed the emergency laws every three years since they were imposed. The legislation was extended in 2003 and were due to expire at the end of May 2006, but after the Dahab bombings in April of that year, state of emergency was renewed for another two years. In May 2008 there was an extension to June 2010. In May 2010, the state of emergency was extended, albeit with a promise from the government to be applied only to Terrorism. Public demonstrations are banned under the legislation, under martial law the source of power is not the people, not the parliament, not the constitution, not a Holy Text, but solely the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. The military issued in its announcement the end of the State of Emergency as soon as order is restored in Egypt. Before martial law, the Egyptian parliament under the constitution had the power to declare a State of Emergency
