1.
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
2.
Pennsylvania
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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
3.
U.S. Route 6 in Pennsylvania
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It is the longest highway segment in the Commonwealth. Most of it is a rural highway, with some freeway bypasses around larger towns. Except east of Scranton, where it is paralleled by Interstate 84, what is now Interstate 80—the Keystone Shortway—was once planned along the US6 corridor as a western extension of I-84. The corridor was originally the Roosevelt Highway from Erie, Pennsylvania to Port Jervis, New York, the PA7 designation soon disappeared, but as US6 was extended and relocated, the Roosevelt Highway followed it. The Pennsylvania section of US6 was renamed the Grand Army of the Republic Highway in 1946, US6 meets with U. S. Route 19 near Meadville, where it turns north with US19 to a point east of Edinboro. There it turns east and passes through the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania, at Towanda it turns more southeasterly to reach Scranton, then turning back northeast out of Scranton to Carbondale and generally east and southeast to New York. As approved by the American Association of State Highway Officials on November 11,1926, the west end of US6 was at Kane, where U. S. Route 120 continued west to Erie. US6 also used present Pennsylvania Route 706, U. S. Route 11 and Pennsylvania Route 106 between Wyalusing and Carbondale, while U. S. Route 106 took the southerly route via Scranton. By the end of 1927, US6 had replaced US120 in running west from Kane to Erie, and had swapped places with US106 via Scranton, by 1930 its west end was at 26th Street and State Street in Erie. S. Route 15 Business west of Mansfield Pennsylvania Route 92 and Pennsylvania Route 307, Tunkhannock to Clarks Summit In 1931, US6 was extended west to Greeley, since then, only minor realignments and bypasses have been made to the route of US6. Roads portal Pennsylvania portal PA Route 6 Tourist Association
4.
Old-growth forest
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Old-growth features include diverse tree-related structures that provide diverse wildlife habitat that increases the biodiversity of the forested ecosystem. The concept of tree structure includes multi-layered canopies and canopy gaps, greatly varying tree heights and diameters. Old-growth forests are valuable, and logging of these forests has been a point of contention between the logging industry and environmentalists. Old-growth forests tend to have trees and standing dead trees, multi-layered canopies with gaps that result from the deaths of individual trees. Depending on the forest, this may take anywhere from a century to several millennia, hardwood forests of the eastern United States can develop old-growth characteristics in one or two generations of trees, or 150–500 years. In British Columbia, Canada, old growth is defined as 120 to 140 years of age in the interior of the province where fire is a frequent and natural occurrence. In British Columbia’s coastal rainforests, old growth is defined as more than 250 years. In Australia, eucalypt trees rarely exceed 350 years of age due to frequent fire disturbance, Forest types have very different development patterns, natural disturbances and appearances. Levels of biodiversity may be higher or lower in old-growth forests compared to that in second-growth forests, depending on circumstances, environmental variables. Logging in old-growth forests is an issue in many parts of the world. Excessive logging reduces biodiversity, affecting not only the old-growth forest itself, a forest in old-growth stage has a mix of tree ages, due to a distinct regeneration pattern for this stage. New trees regenerate at different times from other, because each one of them has different spatial location relative to the main canopy. The mixed age of the forest is an important criterion in ensuring that the forest is a stable ecosystem in the long term. A climax stand that is uniformly aged becomes senescent and degrades within a relatively short time-period to result in a new cycle of forest succession, thus, uniformly aged stands are a less stable ecosystem. Forest canopy gaps are essential in creating and maintaining mixed-age stands, also, some herbaceous plants only become established in canopy openings, but persist beneath an understory. Openings are a result of death due to small impact disturbances such as wind, low-intensity fires. Because old-growth forest is structurally diverse it provides higher-diversity habitat than forests in other stages, thus, sometimes higher biological diversity can be sustained in old-growth forest, or at least a biodiversity that is different from other forest stages. The characteristic topography of much old-growth forest consists of pits and mounds, mounds are caused by decaying fallen trees, and pits by the roots pulled out of the ground when trees fall due to natural causes, including being pushed over by animals
5.
Pine
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A pine is any conifer in the genus Pinus, /ˈpiːnuːs/, of the family Pinaceae. Pinus is the genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The Plant List compiled by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts 126 species names of pines as current, together with 35 unresolved species, the modern English name pine derives from Latin pinus, which some have traced to the Indo-European base *pīt- ‘resin’. Before the 19th century, pines were often referred to as firs, the genus is divided into three subgenera, which can be distinguished by cone, seed, and leaf characters, Pinus subg. Pinus, the yellow, or hard pine group, generally harder wood. Ducampopinus, the foxtail or pinyon group Pinus subg, strobus, the white, or soft pine group, generally with softer wood and five needles per fascicle Most regions of the Northern Hemisphere host some native species of pines. One species crosses the equator in Sumatra to 2°S, in North America, various species occur in regions at latitudes from as far north as 66°N to as far south as 12°N. Various species have been introduced to temperate and subtropical regions of both hemispheres, where they are grown as timber or cultivated as ornamental plants in parks, a number of such introduced species have become invasive and threaten native ecosystems. Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous trees growing 3–80 m tall. The smallest are Siberian dwarf pine and Potosi pinyon, and the tallest is a 81.79 m tall ponderosa pine located in southern Oregons Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, the bark of most pines is thick and scaly, but some species have thin, flaky bark. The branches are produced in regular pseudo whorls, actually a very tight spiral, the spiral growth of branches, needles, and cone scales are arranged in Fibonacci number ratios. The new spring shoots are sometimes called candles, they are covered in brown or whitish bud scales and point upward at first, then turn green. These candles offer foresters a means to evaluate fertility of the soil, pines are long-lived, and typically reach ages of 100–1,000 years, some even more. The longest-lived is the Great Basin bristlecone pine, Pinus longaeva, one individual of this species, dubbed Methuselah, is one of the worlds oldest living organisms at around 4,600 years old. This tree can be found in the White Mountains of California, an older tree, now cut down, was dated at 4,900 years old. It was discovered in a grove beneath Wheeler Peak and it is now known as Prometheus after the Greek immortal, pines have four types of leaf, Seed leaves on seedlings, born in a whorl of 4–24. Juvenile leaves, which follow immediately on seedlings and young plants, 2–6 cm long, single, green or often blue-green and these are produced for six months to five years, rarely longer. Scale leaves, similar to bud scales, small, brown and non-photosynthetic, needles, the adult leaves, are green and bundled in clusters called fascicles
6.
Agriculture
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Agriculture is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of human civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science, the history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural methodology, genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture, although they are banned in several countries. Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts, the major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, oils, meats, fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo, other useful materials are also produced by plants, such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes, biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants. The word agriculture is a late Middle English adaptation of Latin agricultūra, from ager, field, Agriculture usually refers to human activities, although it is also observed in certain species of ant, termite and ambrosia beetle. To practice agriculture means to use resources to produce commodities which maintain life, including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops. This definition includes arable farming or agronomy, and horticulture, all terms for the growing of plants, even then, it is acknowledged that there is a large amount of knowledge transfer and overlap between silviculture and agriculture. In traditional farming, the two are often combined even on small landholdings, leading to the term agroforestry, Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa. At least 11 separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin, wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago. Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 15,000 years ago, rice was domesticated in China between 13,500 and 8,200 years ago, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. From around 11,500 years ago, the eight Neolithic founder crops, emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax were cultivated in the Levant. Cattle were domesticated from the aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago, cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago, and was independently domesticated in Eurasia at an unknown time
7.
Stephen Foster
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Stephen Collins Foster, known as the father of American music, was an American songwriter primarily known for his parlor and minstrel music. Foster wrote over 200 songs, among his best-known are Oh, Susanna, Hard Times Come Again No More, Camptown Races, Old Folks at Home, My Old Kentucky Home, Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, Old Black Joe, and Beautiful Dreamer. Many of his compositions remain popular more than 150 years after he wrote them and his compositions are thought to be autobiographical. He has been identified as the most famous songwriter of the nineteenth century and his compositions are sometimes referred to as childhood songs because they have been included in the music curriculum of early education. Most of his music manuscripts are lost, but copies printed by publishers of his day can be found in various collections. There are many biographers who have published works on the life of Stephen Collins Foster, in addition, Foster wrote very little biographical information himself. His brother Morrison Foster destroyed much of the information about Stephen that he judged to reflect negatively upon the family, Stephen Foster was born on July 4,1826. His parents were William Barclay Foster and Eliza Clayland Tomlinson and he was the youngest of three sisters and six brothers. Foster attended private academies in Allegheny, Athens, and Towanda and he received an education in English grammar, diction, the classics, penmanship, Latin, Greek, and mathematics. Though they lived in a northern city, his family did not support the abolition of slavery. His older brother Morrison was an influence throughout Stephens life. Foster was able to teach himself to play the clarinet, violin, guitar, flute and he did not have formal instruction in composition but he was helped by Henry Kleber, a German-born music dealer in Pittsburgh. Kleber was a songwriter, impresario, accompanist, and conductor, in 1839, his elder brother William was serving his apprenticeship as an engineer at nearby Towanda and thought Stephen would benefit from being under his supervision. The site of the Camptown Races is 30 miles from Athens, PA, Stephen attended Athens Academy from 1839 to 1841. He wrote his first composition, Tioga Waltz while attending Athens Academy and performed it during the 1841 commencement exercises and it was not published during the composers lifetime, but it is included in the collection of published works by Morrison Foster. Fosters education included a period at Jefferson College in Washington. His tuition was paid, but he had little spending money and he left Canonsburg to visit Pittsburgh with another student and did not return. During his teenage years, Foster was influenced by two men, Henry Kleber, one of Fosters few formal music instructors, was a classically trained musician who emigrated from Darmstadt, Germany, to Pittsburgh and opened a music store. Dan Rice was an entertainer, a clown, and blackface singer, in 1846, Foster moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and became a bookkeeper with his brothers steamship company
8.
Composer
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A composer is a person who creates or writes music, which can be vocal music, instrumental music or music which combines both instruments and voices. The core meaning of the term refers to individuals who have contributed to the tradition of Western classical music through creation of works expressed in written musical notation, many composers are also skilled performers, either as singers, instrumentalists, and/or conductors. Examples of composers who are well known for their ability as performers include J. S. Bach, Mozart. In many popular genres, such as rock and country. For a singer or instrumental performer, the process of deciding how to perform music that has previously composed and notated is termed interpretation. Different performers interpretations of the work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen. Composers and songwriters who present their own music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others, although a musical composition often has a single author, this is not always the case. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or, in the 20th and 21st century, a culture eventually developed whereby faithfulness to the composers written intention came to be highly valued. This musical culture is almost certainly related to the esteem in which the leading classical composers are often held by performers. The movement might be considered a way of creating greater faithfulness to the original in works composed at a time that expected performers to improvise. In Classical music, the composer typically orchestrates her own compositions, in some cases, a pop songwriter may not use notation at all, and instead compose the song in her mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music. In the development of European classical music, the function of composing music initially did not have greater importance than that of performing it. The preservation of individual compositions did not receive attention and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. In as much as the role of the composer in western art music has seen continued solidification, for instance, in certain contexts the line between composer and performer, sound designer, arranger, producer, and other roles, can be quite blurred. The term composer is often used to refer to composers of music, such as those found in classical, jazz or other forms of art. In popular and folk music, the composer is usually called a songwriter and this is distinct from a 19th-century conception of instrumental composition, where the work was represented solely by a musical score to be interpreted by performers
9.
Boating
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It is a popular activity, and there are millions of boaters worldwide. Recreational boats fall into broad categories, and additional subcategories. Broad categories include dinghies, paddlesports boats, runabouts, daysailers, cruisers, in addition to those standards all boats employ the same basic principles of hydrodynamics. Boating activities are as varied as the boats and boaters who participate, broad categories include the following, Paddlesports include ears, swiftwater, and oceangoing types, usually covered-cockpit kayaks. Canoes are popular on lakes and rivers due to their carrying capacity and they are also easy to portage, or carry overland around obstructions like rapids, or just down to the water from a car or cabin. Kayaks can be found on inland waters, whitewater rivers. Known for their maneuverability and seaworthiness, kayaks take many shapes depending on their desired use, rowing craft are also popular for fishing, as a tender to a larger vessel, or as a competitive sport. Rowing shells are long and narrow, and are intended to convert as much of the rowers muscle power as possible into speed. The ratio of length of waterline to beam has much importance in marine mechanics, row boats or dinghies are oar powered, and generally restricted to protected waters. Rowboats are generally heavy craft compared to other has Sailing can be competitive, as in collegiate dinghy racing. Small sailboats are commonly made from fiberglass, and will have wood, aluminum, or carbon-fiber spars, and generally a sloop rig. Racing dinghies and skiffs tend to be lighter, have more sail area, daysailers tend to be wider across the beam and have greater accommodation space at the expense of speed. Freshwater fishing boats account for approximately 1/3 of all registered boats in the U. S. watersport Boats or skiboats are high-powered Go-Fast boats is designed for activities where a participant is towed behind the boat such as waterskiing and parasailing. Variations on the ubiqutous waterski include wakeboards, water-skiing, kneeboarding, inflatable towables, to some degree, the nature of these boating activities influences boat design. Waterski boats are intended to hold a course at an accurate speed with a flat wake for slalom skiing runs. Wakeboard boats run at speeds, and have various methods including ballast and negative lift foils to force the stern in the water, thereby creating a large. Saltwater fishing boats vary widely in length and are once again specialized for various species of fish, flats boats, for example, are used in protected, shallow waters, and have shallow draft. Sportfishing boats range from 25 to 80 feet or more, fishing boats in colder climates may have more space dedicated to cuddy cabins and wheelhouses, while boats in warmer climates are likely to be entirely open
10.
Fishing
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Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild, techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping. Fishing may include catching aquatic animals other than fish, such as molluscs, cephalopods, crustaceans, the term is not normally applied to catching farmed fish, or to aquatic mammals, such as whales where the term whaling is more appropriate. According to United Nations FAO statistics, the number of commercial fishermen. Fisheries and aquaculture provide direct and indirect employment to over 500 million people in developing countries, in 2005, the worldwide per capita consumption of fish captured from wild fisheries was 14.4 kilograms, with an additional 7.4 kilograms harvested from fish farms. In addition to providing food, modern fishing is also a recreational pastime, Fishing is an ancient practice that dates back to at least the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period about 40,000 years ago. Isotopic analysis of the remains of Tianyuan man, a 40. Archaeology features such as middens, discarded fish bones, and cave paintings show that sea foods were important for survival. During this period, most people lived a lifestyle and were, of necessity. However, where there are examples of permanent settlements such as those at Lepenski Vir. The British dogger was a type of sailing trawler from the 17th century. The Brixham trawler that evolved there was of a build and had a tall gaff rig. They were also sufficiently robust to be able to tow large trawls in deep water, the great trawling fleet that built up at Brixham, earned the village the title of Mother of Deep-Sea Fisheries. The small village of Grimsby grew to become the largest fishing port in the world by the mid 19th century, an Act of Parliament was first obtained in 1796, which authorised the construction of new quays and dredging of the Haven to make it deeper. It was only in the 1846, with the expansion in the fishing industry. The foundation stone for the Royal Dock was laid by Albert the Prince consort in 1849, the dock covered 25 acres and was formally opened by Queen Victoria in 1854 as the first modern fishing port. The elegant Brixham trawler spread across the world, influencing fishing fleets everywhere, by the end of the 19th century, there were over 3,000 fishing trawlers in commission in Britain, with almost 1,000 at Grimsby. These trawlers were sold to fishermen around Europe, including from the Netherlands, twelve trawlers went on to form the nucleus of the German fishing fleet
11.
Ice fishing
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Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice fishermen may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks, longer fishing expeditions can be mounted with simple structures. Larger, heated structures can make multiple day fishing trips possible, a structure with various local names, but often called an ice shanty, ice shack, fish house, shack, bobhouse, or ice hut, is sometimes used. These are dragged or towed onto the lake using a vehicle such as a snowmobile, the two most commonly used types are portable and permanent. The portable houses are made of a heavy material that is usually watertight. The two most common types of houses are those with a shelter that flips behind the user when not needed. The permanent shelters are made of wood or metal and usually have wheels for easy transport. They can be as basic as a heater and holes or have satellite television, bathrooms, stoves, full-size beds. In North America, ice fishing is often a social activity, some resorts have fish houses that are rented out by the day, often, shuttle service by Snow Track or other vehicles modified to drive on ice is provided. In Finland, solitary and contemplative isolation is often the object of the pastime, in Finland, fish houses are a rare occurrence, but wearing a sealed and insulated dry suit designed with space-age fabric is not. In North America, portable houses appear to create a city at locations where fishing is best, Ice fishing gear is highly specialized. An ice saw, auger or chisel is used to cut a circular or rectangular hole in the ice, the size of the hole depends on the type of fish sought, generally suggested is 8 inches. If these tools are not available, an axe may be used to chop the hole, a skimmer, a large metal spoon with holes in it, is used to remove new ice as it forms and to clear slush left from making the hole. During colder periods most ice anglers choose to carry a heater of some type, the heater is not only for warmth but it also for keeping an anglers fishing hole from freezing. When temperatures fall to -20 °F or colder it becomes hard to keep a fishing hole open. Three main types of fishing occur, the first is using a small, light fishing rod with small, brightly coloured lures or jigs with bait such as wax worms, fat heads or crappie or shiner minnows. The angler sits at the hole in the ice and lifts the pole every now and then, producing the jig effect. The second is using tip-ups, which are made of wood or plastic, black line is put on the spool and a swivel is placed at the end of the black line
12.
Ice skating
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Ice skating is the act of moving on ice by using ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including exercise, leisure, traveling, ice skating occurs both on specially prepared ice surfaces, both indoors and outdoors, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water, such as ponds, lakes and rivers. A study by Federico Formenti of the University of Oxford suggests that the earliest ice skating happened in southern Finland more than 3,000 years ago, originally, skates were merely sharpened, flattened bone strapped to the bottom of the foot. Skaters did not actually skate on the ice, but rather glided on top of it, true skating emerged when a steel blade with sharpened edges was used. Skates now cut into the ice instead of gliding on top of it, adding edges to ice skates was invented by the Dutch in the 13th or 14th century. These ice skates were made of steel, with sharpened edges on the bottom to aid movement, the construction of modern ice skates has stayed largely the same since then. In the Netherlands, ice skating was considered proper for all classes of people, ice skating was also practised in China during the Song dynasty, and became popular among the ruling family of the Qing dynasty. Ice skating was brought to Britain from the Netherlands, where James II was briefly exiled in the 17th century, when he returned to England, this new sport was introduced to the British aristocracy, and was soon enjoyed by people from all walks of life. The first organised skating club was the Edinburgh Skating Club, formed in the 1740s, from this description and others, it is apparent that the form of skating practiced by club members was indeed an early form of figure skating rather than speed skating. On the Continent, participation in ice skating was limited to members of the upper classes, emperor Rudolf II of the Holy Roman Empire enjoyed ice skating so much, he had a large ice carnival constructed in his court in order to popularise the sport. King Louis XVI of France brought ice skating to Paris during his reign, madame de Pompadour, Napoleon I, Napoleon III and the House of Stuart were, among others, royal and upper class fans of ice skating. The next skating club to be established was in London and was not founded until 1830, as the technology for the maintenance of natural ice did not exist, these early rinks used a substitute consisting of a mixture of hogs lard and various salts. The area of ice is extremely convenient for such as may be desirous of engaging in the graceful. Skating became popular as a recreation, a means of transport, racing was the preserve of workers, most of them agricultural labourers. It is not known when the first skating matches were held, but by the nineteenth century racing was well established. Skating as a sport developed on the lakes of Scotland and the canals of the Netherlands, in the 13th and 14th centuries wood was substituted for bone in skate blades, and in 1572 the first iron skates were manufactured. When the waters froze, skating matches were held in towns, in these local matches men would compete for prizes of money, clothing or food. The winners of matches were invited to take part in the grand or championship matches in which skaters from across the Fens would compete for cash prizes in front of crowds of thousands
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