1.
Amsterdam (city), New York
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Amsterdam is a city in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 18,620, the name is derived from the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam is surrounded on the north, east, the city developed on both sides of the Mohawk River, with the majority located on the north bank. The Port Jackson area on the side is also part of the city. The city is within the original, now town of Caughnawaga. The first Europeans to settle here were Dutch immigrants about 1710 and they called the community Veeders Mills and Veedersburgh after Albert Veeder, an early mill owner. After the American Revolutionary War, many came from New England. Anglo-American residents changed the name to Amsterdam in 1803, in 1773, Guy Johnson built Guy Park, a stone Georgian mansion. A Loyalist, he fled to Canada during the Revolution, the mansion has been preserved and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was incorporated as a village on April 20,1830 from a section of the Town of Amsterdam, New charters in 1854,1865, and 1875 increased the size of the village. In 1885, Amsterdam became a city, which increased in size by annexation of the former village of Port Jackson on the south side of the Mohawk River. The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 was a boom to the city. It was known for its carpets, in 1865, the population of Amsterdam was 5,135. Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was a destination for immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, Amsterdam experienced serious flooding damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in late August 2011. This flooding threatened properties at the edge due to erosion. Chalmers Knitting Mills was added in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.3 square miles, of which,5.9 square miles of it is land and 0.3 square miles of it is water. The total area is 5. 41% water, the city developed on both sides of the Mohawk River and Erie Canal. The Chuctanunda River flows into the Mohawk from the north at Amsterdam, New York State Route 30, a north-south highway called Market Street in part, crosses the Mohawk River to link the main part of Amsterdam to the New York State Thruway
2.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Richard Montgomery
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Richard Montgomery was an Irish-born soldier who first served in the British Army. He later became a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Montgomery was born and raised in Ireland, in 1754, he enrolled at Trinity College, Dublin, and two years later joined the British Army to fight in the French and Indian War. He steadily rose through the ranks, serving in North America, after the war he was stationed at Fort Detroit during Pontiacs War, following which he returned to Britain for health reasons. In 1773, Montgomery returned to the Thirteen Colonies, married Janet Livingston, when the American Revolutionary War broke out, Montgomery took up the Patriot cause, and was elected to the New York Provincial Congress in May 1775. In June 1775, he was commissioned as a general in the Continental Army. After Phillip Schuyler became too ill to lead the invasion of Canada and he captured Fort St. Johns and then Montreal in November 1775, and then advanced to Quebec City, where he joined another force under the command of Benedict Arnold. On December 31, he led an attack on the city, the British found his body and gave it an honorable burial. It was moved to New York City in 1818, Montgomery was born near Swords in the north of County Dublin in Ireland. He was born into an Ulster Scots gentry family from County Donegal and he was a brother of Colonel Alexander Montgomery and a cousin of Colonel Alexander Montgomery, both Members of Parliament for County Donegal. Another first cousin was an M. P. for County Monaghan, the Montgomerys were the East Donegal branch of the Clan Montgomery. Richard Montgomery spent most of his childhood at Abbeville House in Kinsealy, near Swords, in County Dublin, where he learned to hunt, ride, shoot, and fence. Thomas Montgomery made sure that his sons received an education, Richard attended the school of the Rev. Saumarez Dubourdieu in Leixlip, and learned French, Latin. Richard Montgomery entered Trinity College in 1754, despite his great love of knowledge, Montgomery did not receive a degree. He was urged by his father and his oldest brother Alexander to join the military and his father purchased an ensigns commission for Montgomery, who joined the 17th Regiment of Foot. On February 3,1757, the 17th Foot was ordered to march from its garrison at Galway, on May 5, Montgomery and the 17th Foot sailed from Cork for Halifax, Nova Scotia, arriving in July. The British had planned an attempt on Louisbourg but the operation was called off, in 1758, the 17th Foot was sent back to Halifax, once again with the goal of taking Louisbourg. The British commanders, Jeffery Amherst and James Abercromby drew up a plan to assault the French at Louisbourg, the French garrison consisted of only 800 men, while the British force had 13,142 troops supported by 23 ships of the line and 13 frigates
5.
New York's 19th congressional district
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United States House of Representatives, New York District 19 is located in New Yorks Hudson Valley and Catskills regions. District 19 lies north of the New York City metropolitan area and it is currently represented by Republican John Faso. President Obama won the new district by 6. 2% in 2012, the current 19th District is largely a merger between the former 20th and 22nd Congressional Districts. From 2003 to 2013, the 19th was composed of parts of Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, in 2012, sitting 19th district representative Nan Hayworth ran in the new 18th district against Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney, a former advisor to President Bill Clinton. Maloney defeated Hayworth and was seated in the new 18th, most of the old 19th district is now part of the 18th district. Meanwhile, sitting 20th district representative Chris Gibson ran for re-election in the new 19th, on January 5,2015, per his pledge when first elected not to serve more than four terms, Gibson announced that he would not run for re-election in 2016. In 2016, Democrat Zephyr Teachout was defeated by Republican John Faso in the November 8th election, the 19th District was a Manhattan-based district until 1980. It then was the Bronx-Westchester seat now numbered the 17th District, the present 19th District was the 21st District prior to the 1990s, and prior to that was the 25th District. Note that in New York State electoral politics there are numerous parties at various points on the political spectrum. Certain parties will endorse either the Republican or Democratic candidate for office, hence the state electoral results contain both the party votes, and the final candidate votes. List of United States congressional districts New Yorks congressional districts United States congressional delegations from New York Martis, the Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts
6.
New York's 20th congressional district
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The 20th Congressional District of New York is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in New Yorks Capital District. It includes all of Albany and Schenectady counties, and portions of Montgomery, Rensselaer, from 2003 to 2013, the 20th district surrounded the Capital District, which had been part of the 21st district. This district included all or parts of Columbia, Dutchess, Delaware, Essex, Greene, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren and it included the cities of Glens Falls and Saratoga Springs. This largely rural district stretched to include parts of the Adirondacks, Catskills, on Nov 2,2010, Republican Chris Gibson defeated first term incumbent Democrat Scott Murphy, and took office on January 3,2011. In 2013, Gibson was redistricted to the 19th, paul Tonko now represents the district after redistricting. From the creation of the district in 1813 to 1833, two seats were apportioned, elected at-large on a general ticket, note that in New York State electoral politics there are numerous minor parties at various points on the political spectrum. Certain parties will endorse either the Republican or Democratic candidate for every office, hence the state electoral results contain both the party votes, and the final candidate votes. List of United States congressional districts New Yorks congressional districts United States congressional delegations from New York Martis, the Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts
7.
American Revolutionary War
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From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
8.
Mohawk people
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The Mohawk people are the most easterly tribe of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian-speaking indigenous people of North America, the Mohawk were historically based in the Mohawk Valley in present-day upstate New York west of the Hudson River, their territory ranged north to the St. As one of the five members of the Iroquois League. For hundreds of years, they guarded the Iroquois Confederation against invasion from that direction by tribes from the New England and their current major settlements include areas around Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River in Canada and New York. In the Mohawk language, the say that they are from Kanienkehá. The Mohawk became wealthy traders as other nations in their confederacy needed their flint for tool making and their Algonquian-speaking neighbors, the people of Muh-heck Haeek Ing, a name transliterated by the Dutch as Mohican or Mahican, referred to the People of Ka-nee-en Ka as Maw Unk Lin. The Dutch heard and wrote this term as Mohawk, and also referred to the Mohawk as Egil or Maqua, the French colonists adapted these latter terms as Aignier and Maqui, respectively. They also referred to the people by the generic Iroquois, a French derivation of the Algonquian term for the Five Nations, the Algonquians and Iroquois were traditional competitors and enemies. The Mohawk had extended their own influence into the St. Lawrence River Valley and they are believed to have defeated the St. Lawrence Iroquoians in the 16th century, and kept control of their territory. In addition to hunting and fishing, for centuries the Mohawk cultivated productive maize fields on the floodplains along the Mohawk River. The Dutch were primarily merchants and the French also conducted fur trading and their Jesuit missionaries were active among First Nations and Native Americans, seeking converts to Catholicism. In 1614, the Dutch opened a trading post at Fort Nassau, the Dutch initially traded for furs with the local Mahican, who occupied the territory along the Hudson River. European contact resulted in a smallpox epidemic among the Mohawk in 1635. For instance, Johannes Megapolensis, a Dutch minister, recorded the spelling of the three villages as Asserué, Banagiro, and Thenondiogo. While the Dutch later established settlements in present-day Schenectady and Schoharie, further west in the Mohawk Valley, Schenectady was established essentially as a farming settlement, where Dutch took over some of the former Mohawk maize fields in the floodplain along the river. Through trading, the Mohawk and Dutch became allies of a kind, during their alliance, the Mohawks allowed Dutch Protestant missionary Johannes Megapolensis to come into their tribe and teach the Christian message. He operated from the Fort Nassau area about six years, writing a record in 1644 of his observations of the Mohawk, their language, and their culture. While he noted their ritual of torture of captives, he recognized that their society had few other killings, especially compared to the Netherlands of that period
9.
Iroquois
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The Iroquois or Haudenosaunee are a historically powerful northeast Native American confederacy. The Iroquois have absorbed many other peoples into their cultures as a result of warfare, adoption of captives, the historic Erie, Susquehannock, Wyandot, and St. Lawrence Iroquoians, all independent peoples, spoke Iroquoian languages. In 2010, more than 45,000 enrolled Six Nations people lived in Canada, the most common name for the confederacy, Iroquois, is of somewhat obscure origin. The first time it appears in writing is in the account of Samuel de Champlain of his journey to Tadoussac in 1603, other spellings occurring in the earliest sources include Erocoise, Hiroquois, Hyroquoise, Irecoies, Iriquois, Iroquaes, Irroquois, and Yroquois. In the French spoken at the time, this would have been pronounced as or. In 1883, Horatio Hale wrote that the Charlevoix etymology was dubious, Hale suggested instead that the term came from Huron, and was cognate with Mohawk ierokwa they who smoke or Cayuga iakwai a bear. Hewitt responded to Hales etymology in 1888 by expressing doubt that either of those words even exist in the respective languages, a more modern etymology is that advocated by Gordon M. Day in 1968, who elaborates upon an earlier etymology given by Charles Arnaud in 1880. Arnaud had claimed that the word came from Montagnais irnokué, meaning terrible man, Day proposes a hypothetical Montagnais phrase irno kwédač, meaning a man, an Iroquois, as the origin of this term. More recently, Peter Bakker has proposed a Basque origin for Iroquois. g and he proposes instead that the word derives from hilokoa, from the Basque roots hil to kill, ko, and a. He also argues that the /l/ was rendered as /r/ since the former is not attested in the inventory of any language in the region. Thus the word according to Bakker is translatable as the killer people, a different term, Haudenosaunee, is the designation more commonly used by the Iroquois to refer to themselves. It is also preferred by scholars of Native American history who consider the name Iroquois to be derogatory in origin. An alternate designation, Ganonsyoni, is encountered as well. More transparently, the Iroquois confederacy is also referred to simply as the Six Nations. The history of the Iroquois Confederacy goes back to its formation by the Peacemaker in 1142, each nation within the Iroquoian family had a distinct language, territory and function in the League. Iroquois influence extended into present-day Canada, westward along the Great Lakes, the League is governed by a Grand Council, an assembly of fifty chiefs or sachems, each representing one of the clans of one of the nations. The original Iroquois League or Five Nations, occupied areas of present-day New York State up to the St. Lawrence River, west of the Hudson River. The League was composed of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, in or close to 1722, the Tuscarora tribe joined the League, having migrated from the Carolinas after being displaced by Anglo-European settlement
10.
Major general
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Major general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the rank of sergeant major general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral. In some countries, including much of Eastern Europe, major general is the lowest of the officer ranks. In the old Austro-Hungarian Army, the general was called a Generalmajor. Todays Austrian Federal Army still uses the same term, see also Rank insignias of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces General de Brigade is the lowest rank amongst general officers in the Brazilian Army. AGeneral de Brigada wears two-stars as this is the level for general officers in the Brazilian Army. In tha Brazilian Air Force, the two-star, three-star and four-star rank are known as Brigadeiro, Major-Brigadeiro, see Military ranks of Brazil and Brigadier for more information. In the Canadian Armed Forces, the rank of major-general is both a Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force rank equivalent to the Royal Canadian Navys rank of rear-admiral, a major-general is a general officer, the equivalent of a naval flag officer. The major-general rank is senior to the ranks of brigadier-general and commodore, prior to 1968, the Air Force used the rank of air vice-marshal, instead. In the Canadian Army, the insignia is a wide braid on the cuff. It is worn on the straps of the service dress tunic. On the visor of the cap are two rows of gold oak leaves. Major-generals are initially addressed as general and name, as are all general officers, major-generals are normally entitled to staff cars. In the Estonian military, the general rank is called kindralmajor. The Finnish military equivalent is kenraalimajuri in Finnish, and generalmajor in Swedish and Danish, the French equivalent to the rank of major general is général de division. In the French military, major général is not a rank but an appointment conferred on some generals, usually of général de corps darmée rank, the position of major général can be considered the equivalent of a deputy chief of staff. In the French Army, Major General is a position and the general is normally of the rank of corps general
Montgomery County, New York
