1.
Brooklyn
–
Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015. It borders the borough of Queens at the end of Long Island. Today, if New York City dissolved, Brooklyn would rank as the third-most populous city in the U. S. behind Los Angeles, the borough continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves, Brooklyns official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght which translates from early modern Dutch as Unity makes strength. Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years, the neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North Americas first tidal mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today, however, the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furmans early compilation, what is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1,1683 and this tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. On August 27,1776 was fought the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park. The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay for the entire 19th century, the first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York, Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems and it later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19,1842, on May 14,1849 the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on September 5,1938 it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle
2.
New York City
–
The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
3.
National Register of Historic Places
–
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
4.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Battle of Long Island
–
The Battle of Long Island is also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. It was fought on August 27,1776 and was the first major battle of the American Revolutionary War to take place after the United States declared its independence on July 4,1776. It was a victory for the British Army and the beginning of a campaign that gave them control of the strategically important city of New York. In terms of troop deployment and fighting, it was the largest battle of the entire war, Washington understood that the citys harbor would provide an excellent base for the British Navy during the campaign, so he established defenses there and waited for the British to attack. After five days of waiting, the British attacked American defenses on the Guan Heights, unknown to the Americans, however, Howe had brought his main army around their rear and attacked their flank soon after. The Americans panicked, resulting in twenty percent losses through casualties and captures, the remainder of the army retreated to the main defenses on Brooklyn Heights. The British dug in for a siege but, on the night of August 29–30, Washington and the Continental Army were driven out of New York entirely after several more defeats and forced to retreat through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. In the first stage of the war, the British Army was trapped in the city of Boston and they abandoned it on March 17, setting sail to Halifax. Washington then began to transfer regiments to New York City which he believed the British would next attack because of its strategic importance. Washington left Boston on April 4, arrived at New York on April 13, Washington had sent his second in command Charles Lee ahead to New York the previous February to establish the citys defenses. Lee remained in New York City until March, when the Continental Congress sent him to South Carolina, troops were in limited supply, so Washington found the defenses incomplete, but Lee had concluded that it would be impossible to hold the city with the British commanding the sea. He reasoned that the defenses should be located with the ability to inflict casualties upon the British if any move was made to take. Barricades and redoubts were established in and around the city, Lee also saw that the immediate area was cleared of Loyalists. Washington began moving troops to Brooklyn in early May, and there were several thousand of them there in a short time. Three more forts were under construction on the side of the East River to support Fort Stirling. These new fortifications were Fort Putnam, Fort Greene, and Fort Box and they lay from north to south, with Fort Putnam farthest to the north, Greene slightly to the southwest, and Box slightly farther southwest. Each of these structures was surrounded by a large ditch, all connected by a line of entrenchments. Fort Defiance was also being constructed at this time, located farther southwest, past Fort Box, hulks were sunk at strategic locations to deter the British from entering the East River and other waterways
6.
American Revolutionary War
–
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
7.
Park Slope
–
Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwest Brooklyn, New York City. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, the neighborhood takes its name from its location on the western slope of neighboring Prospect Park. Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue are its primary streets, while its east-west side streets are lined with brownstones. The neighborhood had a population of about 62,200 as of the 2000 census, resulting in a density of approximately 68, 000/square mile, or approximately 26. Park Slope is considered one of New York Citys most desirable neighborhoods, Park Slope is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6. The area that comprises the neighborhood of Park Slope was first inhabited by the Native Americans of the Lenape people. The Dutch colonized the area by the 17th century and farmed the region for more than 200 years, during the American Revolutionary War, on August 27,1776, the Park Slope area served as the backdrop for the beginning of the Battle of Long Island. In this battle, over 10,000 British soldiers and Hessian mercenaries routed outnumbered American forces, the historic site of Battle Pass is now preserved in Prospect Park, and on Fifth Avenue there is a reconstruction of the stone farmhouse where a countercharge covered the American retreat. In the 1850s, a lawyer and railroad developer named Edwin Clarke Litchfield purchased large tracts of what was then farmland. Through the American Civil War era, he sold off much of his land to residential developers, during the 1860s, the City of Brooklyn purchased his estate and adjoining property to complete the West Drive and the southern portion of the Long Meadow in Prospect Park. However, Park Slope’s bucolic period ended soon after, many of the large Victorian mansions on Prospect Park West, known as the Gold Coast, were built in the 1880s and 1890s to take advantage of the beautiful park views. Today, many of these buildings are preserved within the 24-block Park Slope Historic District, by 1883, with the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge, Park Slope continued to boom and subsequent brick and brownstone structures pushed the neighborhoods borders farther. The 1890 census showed Park Slope to be the richest community in the United States, in 1892, President Grover Cleveland presided over the unveiling of the Soldiers and Sailors Arch at Grand Army Plaza, a notable Park Slope landmark. The Park Slope Armory was completed in 1893, nearby, Old Stone House is a 1930 reconstruction of the Vechte-Cortelyou House which was destroyed in 1897. It is located on Third Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, beside the former Gowanus Creek, realtors and community members saw a clear connection between Park Slopes bucolic setting and the comfort of living there. Baseball had also played a prominent role in the history of the Park Slope area, from 1879 to 1889, the Brooklyn Atlantics played at Washington Park on 5th Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets. When the park was destroyed by a fire, the moved to their part-time home in Ridgewood, Queens. In 1898, the New Washington Park was built between Third and Fourth Avenues and between First and Third Streets near the Gowanus Canal, the team, by this point known as the Dodgers, played to an ever-growing fan base at this location
8.
Gowanus Canal
–
The Gowanus Canal is a canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, on the westernmost portion of Long Island. Once a busy transportation hub, the canal is now recognized as one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States. The canals history has paralleled the decline of shipping via water. The canal is used for waterborne transportation of goods, notably fuel oil, scrap metal. Tugs and barges navigate the canal daily. A legacy of environmental problems has beset the area from the time the canal arose from the local tidal wetlands. In recent years, there has been a once again for environmental cleanup. The Gowanus neighborhood originally surrounded Gowanus Creek, which consisted of an inlet of navigable creeks in original saltwater marshland. Henry Hudson and Giovanni da Verrazzano both navigated the inlet in their explorations of New York Harbor, the first land patents within Breukelen, including the land of the Gowanus, were issued by the Dutch Government from 1630 to 1664. In 1636, the leaders of New Netherland bought the area around the Gowanus Bay, and in 1639, the early settlers of the area named the waterway Gowanes Creek after Gouwane, sachem of the local Lenape tribe called the Canarsee, who farmed on the shores. Adam Brouwer, who had been a soldier in the service of the Dutch West India Company, built, the tide-water gristmill on the Gowanus was the first in the town of Breukelen and was the first mill ever operated in New Netherland. The petition was presented to the council on May 29,1664, another mill, Coles Mill, was located just about at present day 9th Street, between Smith Street and the Canal. Coles Mill Pond, located north of 9th street, occupied the present location of Public Place, in 1700, a settler, Nicholas Vechte, built a farmhouse of brick and stone now known as the Old Stone House. In 1776, during the Battle of Long Island, American troops engaged British Army troops at the house and this house sat at the southeastern edge of the Dentons Mill pond. Browers Mill can be seen in drawings depicting the Battle of Brooklyn, throughout this period, a few Dutch farmers settled along the marshland and engaged in clamming of large oysters that became a notable first export to Europe. By the mid-19th century, the City of Brooklyn was quickly growing, the creek and surrounding agricultural land was now a part of an urban agglomeration, consisting of villages along the creeks shores. That same shoreline of river and swamp functioned as both a system and an informal sewage system for the growing city. The valleys watershed is approximately six miles square and includes drainage from what are now the adjacent neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens, wealthier residents tended to live inland and uphill to avoid the smells and discomforts of lower areas
9.
History of the Brooklyn Dodgers
–
The teams name derived from the reputed skill of Brooklyn residents at evading the citys trolley streetcar network. The team is noted for signing Jackie Robinson in 1947 as the first black player in the major leagues. Brooklyn was home to numerous clubs in the mid-1850s. Eight of 16 participants in the first convention were from Brooklyn, including the Atlantic, Eckford, Brooklyn helped make baseball commercial, as the locale of the first paid admission games, a series of three all star contests matching New York and Brooklyn in 1858. The Excelsiors no longer challenged for the championship after the Civil War. The Eckfords and Atlantics declined to join until 1872 and thereby lost their best players, the Eckfords survived only one season and the Atlantics four, with losing teams. When the Mutuals were expelled by the league, the Hartford Dark Blues club moved in, changed its name to The Brooklyn Hartfords and played its home games at Union Grounds in 1877 before disbanding. Byrne arranged to build a grandstand on a lot bounded by Third Street, Fourth Avenue, Fifth Street, and Fifth Avenue, the Grays played in the minor Inter-State Association of Professional Baseball Clubs that first season. Doyle became the first team manager, and they drew 6,431 fans to their first home game on May 12,1883 against the Trenton team. The Grays won the title after the Camden Merritt club disbanded on July 20. The Grays were invited to join the American Association for the 1884 season and they lost the 1889 World Series to the New York Giants and tied the 1890 World Series with the Louisville Colonels. Their success during this period was partly attributed to their having absorbed skilled players from the defunct New York Metropolitans, in 1899, the Grays merged with the Baltimore Orioles, as Baltimore manager Ned Hanlon became the clubs new manager and Charles Ebbets became the primary team owner. The team name, Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers, was coined in 1895, the nickname was still new enough in September 1895 that a newspaper could report that Trolley Dodgers is the new name which eastern baseball cranks have given the Brooklyn club. Some sources erroneously report that the name Trolley Dodgers referred to pedestrians avoiding fast cars on street car tracks that bordered Eastern Park on two sides, however, Eastern Park was not bordered by street-level trolley lines that had to be dodged by pedestrians. The name was shortened to Brooklyn Dodgers. Other team names used by the franchise that finally came to be called the Dodgers were the Grooms, the Bridegrooms, Wards Wonders, the Superbas, and the Robins. All of these nicknames were used by fans and newspaper sports writers to describe the team, the teams legal name was the Brooklyn Base Ball Club. However, the Trolley Dodgers nickname was used throughout this period, along with nicknames, by fans
10.
Benson John Lossing
–
Benson John Lossing was a prolific and popular American historian, known best for his illustrated books on the American Revolution and American Civil War and features in Harpers Magazine. He was a trustee of Vassar College. Lossing was born February 12,1813 in Beekman, New York and his father was descended of old Dutch stock, originally surnamed Lassing or Lassingh, who had been among the earliest settlers of the Hudson Valley. His mother, Miriam Dorland Lossing was a Quaker and his formal education was curtailed when he was orphaned in 1824. Soon thereafter, he moved to Poughkeepsie to serve as apprentice to Adam Henderson, clock and watchmaker, during his apprenticeship he read a number of history books, and over a period of several years pursued an independent study. By 1833, Lossing and Henderson had formed a partnership, in 1835, Lossing became part owner and editor of the Poughkeepsie Telegraph. Out of that grew an semi-monthly literary paper, the Poughkeepsie Casket. Lossing began to learn the art of engraving from J. A. Adams. In 1838, Lossing moved to New York City seeking greater opportunity as a journalist, rothchilds weekly Family Magazine from 1839 to1841 and launched his literary career with the publication of his Outline of the History of Fine Arts. In 1846, he joined William Barritt in an engraving business that became one of the largest of such firms in New York. His illustrations appeared in the New York Mirror and several other periodicals, during this time, Lossing sat for a portrait by Thomas Seir Cummings, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. Around 1848, Lossing conceived the idea of writing a narrative sketchbook on the American Revolution, the first installment was published in Harpers New Monthly Magazine in 1850, the completed Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution was published in 1853. To gather material for the work, Lossing traveled some 8,000 miles throughout the United States, as with his subsequent books, his pen and ink drawings served as the primary illustrations when turned into wood cuts. The book won him acclaim and general reputation. During and after the Civil War, Lossing toured the United States, Lossing was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1872. He was awarded an LL. D. by the University of Michigan in 1873 adding to lesser degrees previously awarded him by Hamilton College and he also worked with engraver and book publisher George Edward Perine, most notably on his History of New York City. Although such efforts are today a standard among historians, in Lossings time they were not, historiography was not yet a discipline. In 1824, Lossing married his first wife, Alice Barrit, Lossings first wife died in 1855 and on November 18,1856, he married Helen Sweet
11.
William Alexander, Lord Stirling
–
William Alexander, known as Lord Stirling, was an American Brigadier-General during the American Revolutionary War. Alexander was considered male-heir to the title of Earl of Stirling through Scottish lineage and his claim was granted by a Scottish Court, however, the House of Lords ultimately over-ruled Scottish law and denied the title, granting Alexander instead the compromise title of Lord. Lord Stirling commanded the 1st Maryland Regiment that fought at the Battle of Long Island and he lost the battle and was captured but his actions allowed General George Washingtons troops to escape. Stirling was returned by prisoner exchange, promoted for his actions and he was trusted by Washington and in 1780 he exposed the Conway Cabal. Alexander was educated, ambitious, and proficient in mathematics and astronomy and he joined his mother, Mary Alexander, in a successful business and, in 1747, married Sarah Livingston, the daughter of Philip Livingston and sister of Governor William Livingston. The couple had two daughters and one son William, one of his daughters, Mary Alexander, would marry a wealthy merchant named Robert Watts of New York. Another daughter Catherine was the wife of Congressman William Duer, the title Earl of Stirling became dormant or expired upon the death of Henry Alexander, the 5th Earl of Stirling. Williams father, James Alexander, who had fled from Scotland in 1716 after participating in the Jacobite rising, upon his death William lay claim to the title and filed suit. His relationship to the 5th Earl was not through heirs of the body, but through heir male collateral and the inheritance by Proximity of blood had been questioned. It was settled in his favor, by a vote of a jury of twelve in a Scottish court in 1759. It is not clear if the case went to court because of an answer from the Lord Lyon King of Arms concerning the peerage. Legal opinion was that this was a Scottish heir problem so the right was solved. This might have been unopposed, as indisputable peerage, except there was a catch, the two sponsors, Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, and John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, encouraged William through representatives to seek the title. The goal was vast land holdings in America that the holder of the title was to enjoy, the sponsors were to receive money and land if Alexander was successful. With this in mind William decided to petition the House of Lords, a friend and professional agent in Scotland, Andrew Stuart, wrote and advised William not to petition the House of Lords. He felt that the right of indisputable peerage demanded that William just claim the titles as others had done and his opinion was that others lay similar claims to titles so he would not be opposed. It is possible William did not want to commit a crime, or be found out, one problem is that to prove his claim in court two old men were used to testify that William did in fact descend from the 1st Earl through his uncle named John Alexander. This might have been persuasive in a Scottish court but might be considered dubious in England, Stirling inherited a large fortune from his father
12.
Mordecai Gist
–
Mordecai Gist was a member of a prominent Maryland family who became a general in command of the Maryland Line in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Gist was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the child of Thomas. Thomas Gists father, Captain Richard Gist, was the surveyor of Marylands Eastern Shore, Richard Gists father, Christopher Richard Gist, was an English emigrant who came to the Province of Maryland before 1682 and settled in South Canton on the south bank of the Patapsco River. Christopher Richard Gist married Edith Cromwell, who is believed to have been a relative of Oliver Cromwell, Gist was the nephew of Christopher Gist, a son of Richard Gist. Christopher Gist was a Colonial-era explorer, scout, and frontier settler who was employed by the Ohio Company and had served with 21-year-old Colonel George Washington, Mordecai Gist was also distantly related to John Eager Howard. Mordecai Gist was educated for commercial pursuits, at the beginning of the American Revolution, the young men of Baltimore associated under the title of the Baltimore Independent Company and elected Gist as their captain. It was the first company raised in Maryland for the defense of popular liberty, in January 1779, the Continental Congress appointed him as a brigadier general in the Continental Army, and he took the command of the 2nd Maryland Brigade. He fought stubbornly at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina in 1780, at one time after a bayonet charge, his force secured fifty prisoners, but the British under Lord Cornwallis rallied, and the Marylanders gave way. Gist escaped, and, a later, he was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He joined the army under Nathanael Greene, and he was given the command of the light corps again when the army was remodelled in 1782. On August 26,1782, he rallied the forces of the Americans under John Laurens after they had been defeated by a small British foraging party. After the war, Gist relocated to plantation near Charleston, South Carolina and he was admitted as an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati in both Maryland and South Carolina. He also served as the master of Freemasons in South Carolina. He had two children, both sons, one of whom he named Independent and the other States. He died on September 12,1792, at the age of 50, in Charleston and is buried in St. Michaels Churchyard next to his son, States Gist, States Rights Gist was the great-grandson of William Gist, brother of Mordecai Gist. His papers are held at the Maryland Historical Society and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Wilson, James Grant, Fiske, John, eds. Documenting the American South, Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
13.
Gunpowder
–
Gunpowder, also known as black powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, the sulfur and charcoal act as fuels, and the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Black powder firearms are in limited use today in hunting, shooting, Black powder has been replaced for most industrial uses by high explosives such as dynamite. Black powder is assigned the UN number UN0027 and has a class of 1. 1D. It has a point of approximately 427–464 °C. The specific flash point may vary based on the composition of the gunpowder. Gunpowders specific gravity is 1. 70–1.82 or 1. 92–2.08, Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate at subsonic speeds, whereas high explosives detonate, ignition of the powder packed behind a bullet must generate enough pressure to force it from the muzzle at high speed, but not enough to rupture the gun barrel. Gunpowder thus makes a good propellant, but is suitable for shattering rock or fortifications. Gunpowder was widely used to fill artillery shells and in mining and civil engineering to blast rock until the half of the 19th century. Black powder is used as a delay element in various munitions where its slow-burning properties are valuable. The spread of gunpowder across Asia from China is widely attributed to the Mongols, the earliest record of a written formula for gunpowder appears in the 11th century Song dynasty text, Wujing Zongyao. This discovery led to the invention of fireworks and the earliest gunpowder weapons in China, in the centuries following the Chinese discovery, gunpowder weapons began appearing in the Muslim world and Europe. The technology spread from China through the Middle East or Central Asia, the earliest Western accounts of gunpowder appear in texts written by English philosopher Roger Bacon in the 13th century. The most ardent protagonists were Nathaniel Halhad, Johann Backmann, Quintin Craufurd, however, due to lack of sufficient proof, these theories have not been widely accepted. A major problem confronting the study of the history of gunpowder is ready access to sources close to the events described. The translation difficulty has led to errors or loose interpretations bordering on artistic licence, early writings potentially mentioning gunpowder are sometimes marked by a linguistic process where old words acquired new meanings. For instance, the Arabic word naft transitioned from denoting naphtha to denoting gunpowder, saltpeter was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD and there is strong evidence of the use of saltpeter and sulfur in various largely medicinal combinations
14.
Cannon
–
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile, which may or may not be explosive. The word cannon is derived from languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as tube, cane. The Greeks invented the first type—a steam cannon—designed by Archimedes during the Siege of Syracuse, ctesibius built a steam cannon in Alexandria and in the fifteenth century Leonardo da Vinci designed another, the Architonnerre, based on Archimedes work. The earliest form of artillery was developed in Song China, over time replacing siege engines. In the Middle East, the first use of the cannon is argued to be during the 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut between the Mamluk Sultanate and Mongol Empire. The first cannon in Europe were in use in the Iberian Peninsula by the mid-13th century and it was during this period, the Middle Ages, that cannon became standardised, and more effective in both the anti-infantry and siege roles. After the Middle Ages most large cannon were abandoned in favour of greater numbers of lighter, Cannon also transformed naval warfare in the early modern period, as European navies took advantage of their firepower. In World War I, the majority of fatalities were caused by artillery. Most modern cannon are similar to those used in the Second World War, Cannon was widely known as the earliest form of a gun and artillery, before early firearms were invented. The word has been used to refer to a gun since 1326 in Italy, both Cannons and Cannon are correct and in common usage, with one or the other having preference in different parts of the English-speaking world. Cannons is more common in North America and Australia, while cannon as plural is more common in the United Kingdom, Cannon in general have the form of a truncated cone with an internal cylindrical bore for holding an explosive charge and a projectile. The thickest, strongest, and closed part of the cone is located near the explosive charge, as any explosive charge will dissipate in all directions equally, the thickest portion of the cannon is useful for containing and directing this force. Field artillery cannon in Europe and the Americas were initially made most often of bronze, though later forms were constructed of cast iron and eventually steel. However, cast iron cannon have a tendency to burst without having any previous weakness or wear. The following terms refer to the components or aspects of a classical western cannon as illustrated here. In what follows, the words near, close, and behind will refer to those parts towards the thick, closed end of the piece, and far, front, in front of, and before to the thinner, open end. Bore, The hollow cylinder bored down the centre of the cannon, including the base of the bore or bottom of the bore, the diameter of the bore represents the cannons calibre. Chamber, The cylindrical, conical, or spherical recess at the nearest end of the bottom of the bore into which the gunpowder is packed
15.
Musket
–
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smoothbore firearm, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry, a soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer. The musket replaced the arquebus, and was in turn replaced by the rifle. By the end of the 17th century, a version of the musket had edged out the arquebus, and the addition of the bayonet edged out the pike. In the 18th century, improvements in ammunition and firing methods allowed rifling to be practical for use. In the 19th century, rifled muskets became common, combining the advantages of rifles, about the time of the introduction of cartridge, breechloading, and multiple rounds of ammunition just a few years later, muskets fell out of fashion. Musket calibers generally ranged from 0.50 to 0.90 in, rifled muskets of the mid-19th century, like the Springfield Model 1861, were significantly more accurate, with the ability to hit a man sized target at a distance of 500 yards or more. However, in the Italian War of 1859, French forces were able to defeat the longer range of Austrian rifle muskets by aggressive skirmishing and rapid bayonet assaults during close quarters combat. According to the Etymology Dictionary, firearms were often named after animals, and the word derived from the French word mousquette. An alternative theory is that derives from the 16th century French mousquet, -ette, from the Italian moscetto, -etta, the Italian moscetto is a diminutive of mosca, a fly. Hand cannons arrived in Europe from Asia sometime in the early 14th century and they were more commonly used by the early 15th century, particularly in the Hussite wars. It is possible that the noise was at least as important as the missile and these were very short ranged, inaccurate and difficult to load and fire. Hand cannons had a handle, or no handle at all. A wooden stock was added, allowing the weapon to be easily held. The hand cannon evolved into the arquebus by the mid 15th century, the matchlock mechanism was a simple solution to this problem, and placed the match in a clamp on the end of a lever. When a trigger was pulled, the lever would rotate and allowed the match to come in contact with the touch hole, the first European usage of firearms in large ratios was in Hungary under king Matthias Corvinus. Every third soldier in the Black Army of Hungary had an arquebus, gradual advances in the empirical understanding of the corning of gunpowder made possible a more powerful explosive. The cost of gunpowder also gradually fell, by the 16th century the handheld firearm became commonplace, replacing the crossbow and longbow in all advanced armies, and known as the arquebus
16.
Mill pond
–
A mill pond is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. Mill ponds were created through the construction of a mill dam or weir across a waterway. In many places, the proper name Mill Pond has remained even though the mill has long since gone. It may be fed by a stream, known by several terms including leat. The term mill pond is used colloquially and in literature to refer to a very flat body of water. Witnesses of the loss of RMS Titanic reported that the sea was like a mill pond, collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
17.
Watermill
–
A watermill or water mill is a mill that utilizes hydropower. It is a structure that uses a wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling, rolling. Such processes are needed in the production of material goods, including flour, lumber, paper, textiles. Thus watermills may be comprise gristmills, sawmills, paper mills, textile mills, hammermills, trip hammering mills, rolling mills, wire drawing mills. The former type can be divided, depending on where the water hits the wheel paddles, into undershot, overshot, breastshot. Another way to water mills is by an essential trait about their location, tide mills use the movement of the tide. The earliest evidence of a wheel is probably the Perachora wheel. The earliest written reference is in the technical treatises Pneumatica and Parasceuastica of the Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium, the British historian of technology M. J. T. The sakia gear is, already developed, for the first time attested in a 2nd-century BC Hellenistic wall painting in Ptolemaic Egypt. The Greek geographer Strabon reports in his Geography a water-powered grain-mill to have existed near the palace of king Mithradates VI Eupator at Cabira, Asia Minor, before 71 BC. The Roman engineer Vitruvius has the first technical description of a watermill, dated to 40/10 BC and he also seems to indicate the existence of water-powered kneading machines. The Greek epigrammatist Antipater of Thessalonica tells of an overshot wheel mill around 20 BC/10 AD. He praised for its use in grinding grain and the reduction of human labour, Hold back your hand from the mill, you grinding girls, even if the cockcrow heralds the dawn, sleep on. If we learn to feast toil-free on the fruits of the earth, the Roman encyclopedist Pliny mentions in his Naturalis Historia of around 70 AD water-powered trip hammers operating in the greater part of Italy. There is evidence of a mill in 73/4 AD in Antioch. It is likely that a stamp mill was used at Dolaucothi to crush gold-bearing quartz. The stamps were operated as a batch of four working against a large conglomerate block, similar anvil stones have been found at other Roman mines across Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal. The 1st-century AD multiple mill complex of Barbegal in southern France has been described as the greatest known concentration of power in the ancient world
18.
Continental Army
–
The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14,1775, the Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and troops that remained under control of the individual states or were otherwise independent. General George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the army throughout the war, most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris ended the war. The 1st and 2nd Regiments went on to form the nucleus of the Legion of the United States in 1792 under General Anthony Wayne and this became the foundation of the United States Army in 1796. The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all 13 colonies, and after 1776, when the American Revolutionary War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army. As tensions with Great Britain increased in the leading to the war. Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774, colonists such as Richard Henry Lee proposed forming a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea. On April 23,1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized the raising of an army consisting of 26 company regiments. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut soon raised similar, on July 18,1775, the Congress requested all colonies form militia companies from all able bodied effective men, between sixteen and fifty years of age. It was not uncommon for men younger than sixteen to enlist as most colonies had no requirement of consent for those under twenty-one. Four major-generals and eight brigadier-generals were appointed by the Second Continental Congress in the course of a few days, after Pomeroy did not accept, John Thomas was appointed in his place. As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, as a result, the army went through several distinct phases, characterized by official dissolution and reorganization of units. Soldiers in the Continental Army were citizens who had volunteered to serve in the army, early in the war the enlistment periods were short, as the Continental Congress feared the possibility of the Continental Army evolving into a permanent army. The army never numbered more than 17,000 men, turnover proved a constant problem, particularly in the winter of 1776–77, and longer enlistments were approved. Major General Philip Schuylers ten regiments in New York were sent to invade Canada, the Continental Army of 1776, reorganized after the initial enlistment period of the soldiers in the 1775 army had expired. Despite attempts to broaden the recruiting base beyond New England, the 1776 army remained skewed toward the Northeast both in terms of its composition and of its geographical focus. This army consisted of 36 regiments, most standardized to a battalion of 768 men strong and formed into eight companies. Enlistment terms extended to three years or to the length of the war to avoid the crises that depleted forces
19.
United States Declaration of Independence
–
Instead they formed a new nation—the United States of America. John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence, which was passed on July 2 with no opposing vote cast, a committee of five had already drafted the formal declaration, to be ready when Congress voted on independence. The term Declaration of Independence is not used in the document itself, John Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document, which Congress would edit to produce the final version. The next day, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, but Independence Day is actually celebrated on July 4, the date that the Declaration of Independence was approved. After ratifying the text on July 4, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms and it was initially published as the printed Dunlap broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public. The source copy used for printing has been lost. Jeffersons original draft, complete with changes made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, the best known version of the Declaration, a signed copy that is popularly regarded as the official document, is displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D. C. This engrossed copy was ordered by Congress on July 19, the sources and interpretation of the Declaration have been the subject of much scholarly inquiry. Having served its purpose in announcing independence, references to the text of the Declaration were few in the following years. Abraham Lincoln made it the centerpiece of his rhetoric, and his policies and this has been called one of the best-known sentences in the English language, containing the most potent and consequential words in American history. The passage came to represent a standard to which the United States should strive. Believe me, dear Sir, there is not in the British empire a man who more cordially loves a union with Great Britain than I do. But, by the God that made me, I will cease to exist before I yield to a connection on such terms as the British Parliament propose, and in this, I think I speak the sentiments of America. By the time that the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, relations had been deteriorating between the colonies and the mother country since 1763. Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase revenue from the colonies, such as the Stamp Act of 1765, Parliament believed that these acts were a legitimate means of having the colonies pay their fair share of the costs to keep them in the British Empire. Many colonists, however, had developed a different conception of the empire, the colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, and colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. This tax dispute was part of a divergence between British and American interpretations of the British Constitution and the extent of Parliaments authority in the colonies. In the colonies, however, the idea had developed that the British Constitution recognized certain fundamental rights that no government could violate, after the Townshend Acts, some essayists even began to question whether Parliament had any legitimate jurisdiction in the colonies at all
20.
George Washington
–
George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
21.
Maryland 400
–
This action is commemorated in Marylands nickname, the Old Line State. A monument in Brooklyn and multiple plaques were put up in the memory of this regiment, the 115th Infantry claims lineage back to the earliest militia units formed to protect the frontier of western Maryland. The birthdate of the unit,14 June 1775, is also the birthdate of the United States Army and they left Frederick in August and marched 551 miles in 21 days to report to General Washington in September to support Washingtons efforts to drive the British out of Boston. Later, Maryland militia companies, armed with older, surplus British muskets and bayonets, were formed, at the Battle of Long Island, the 1st Maryland Regiment was under the command of Colonel William Smallwood. This unit anchored the right against British General Grants diversionary attack, stirling ordered all of his troops, except a contingent of Maryland troops under the command of Major Mordecai Gist, to cross the creek. This group of Maryland troops became known to history as the Maryland 400 although they numbered about 260-270 men, stirling and Gist led the troops in a rear-guard action against the overwhelming numbers of British troops which surpassed 2,000 troops supported by two cannon. Stirling and Gist led the Marylanders in two attacks against the British who were in fixed positions in and in front of the Vecthe-Cortelyou House, after the last assault the remaining troops retreated across the Gowanus Creek. Some of the men who tried to cross the marsh were bogged down in the mud under musket fire, stirling was surrounded and, unwilling to surrender to the British, broke through the British lines to von Heisters Hessians and surrendered to them. More than 100 men were captured and 256 killed, practically wiping the regiment out in the assaults in front of the Old Stone House, fewer than a dozen made it back to the American lines. Washington, watching from a redoubt on nearby Cobble Hill, was to have said, Good God, the 256 dead troops of the Maryland 400 were buried by the British in a mass grave on a hillock on farmer Adrian Van Brunts land on the outskirts of the marsh. This mass grave is believed to be around the southwest corner of what is today 3rd Ave. between 7th and 9th Streets, in 6 trenches, the military burial ditches had a North/South orientation so that the bodies would be facing east. In the 1890s, the site was covered by 12 feet of fill. Construction was done over the site and it became a coal yard, a limited archeological dig by Columbia University archaeology graduate students turned up no remains. A determination was made at the time to not preserve the site, again in 2008, Third Avenue between Seventh and Eighth Street was visited by archaeologist Dr. Joan E. Geismar in conjunction with the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. No remains were found but she did find a commemorative slab. The current location is now believed to be underneath an auto repair shop parking lot in Park Slope, a group of historians are currently seeking to purchase the property to again mount a search of the site for the graves. The Maryland 400 represented the cream of the Maryland Line, which had a reputation of being among the best of the Continental Army, prior to the reorganization into the 58th Brigade Combat Team, the 1–115th was part of the Third Brigade, 29th Infantry Division. In 2006, the 115th was consolidated with the 175th Infantry Regiment, as a result of this consolidation, it no longer exists as a separate regiment
22.
Atlantic Avenue (New York City)
–
Atlantic Avenue is an important street in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. It stretches from the Brooklyn waterfront on the East River all the way to Jamaica, Atlantic Avenue is the sole east–west through truck route across Brooklyn, mostly serving the purpose of the canceled Bushwick Expressway and the Brooklyn portion of the Cross Brooklyn Expressway. The street connects to the segment of NY878 via Conduit Boulevard. As it stretches east toward Flatbush Avenue, Atlantic separates the neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill and this section of Atlantic Avenue is the site of the Atlantic Antic, an annual street fair involving local and visiting merchants and artists, held in early October. At Flatbush Avenue and Fourth Avenue the crossing of the three major thoroughfares form a triangular intersection historically known as Times Plaza. Here the smaller shops, restaurants, churches and boutiques give way to the Atlantic Terminal, the area is dominated by massive buildings, formerly factories, now used by storage companies, and by the Atlantic Center Mall, Atlantic Terminal Mall and Barclays Center. All three are products of developer Forest City Ratner, the Atlantic Avenue Railroad originally ran along Atlantic Avenue as streetcars pulled by horses. With electrification, other traffic was eliminated from the roadway and Atlantic Avenue became discontinuous, when railway sections west of Jamaica station were put underground in the early 1940s, that portion of Atlantic Avenue became continuous again. East of Jamaica, the railway is still at ground level, just east of the Van Wyck Expressway, the roadway narrows to two lanes and becomes 94th Avenue, after which the roadway soon diverges into side-streets, ending as 157th Street at Liberty Avenue. Atlantic Avenue from the Brooklyn Docks to the Van Wyck Expressway is 10.3 miles long, with 7.4 miles in Brooklyn, pre-electrification maps from 1909 and 1910 show Atlantic Avenue, at that time, continued to the city line. Short roadways still named Atlantic Avenue exist further east adjacent to the LIRR Main Line within Nassau County, a stretch of road still named Atlantic Avenue, just under one mile long, runs just south of the Main Line from the Bellerose station to the Floral Park station. Just north of the Merillon Avenue train station in Garden City is another short roadway called Atlantic Avenue, the Q24 New York City Bus route runs on Atlantic Avenue from Broadway Junction to Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer. The B63 runs on it between its end and Fourth Avenue. The B61, B65 buses run on this street for short sections, Long Island Rail Road stations on the Atlantic Branch are located at Flatbush Avenue, Nostrand Avenue, and Van Sinderen Avenue. A four-block-long Atlantic Avenue exists in Sea Gate, Brooklyn
23.
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
24.
Hessian (soldier)
–
They took their name from the German state of Hesse-Kassel. The British hired Hessian troops for duty in several eighteenth century conflicts. About 30,000 German soldiers fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War and they entered the British service as entire units, fighting under their own German flags, commanded by their usual officers, and wearing their existing uniforms. The largest contingent came from the state of Hesse, which supplied about 40% of the German troops who fought for the British. The large number of troops from Hesse-Kassel led to the use of the term Hessians to refer to all German troops fighting on the British side, the others were rented from other small German states. Patriots presented the soldiers as foreign mercenaries with no stake in America, many of the men were press-ganged into Hessian service. Deserters were summarily executed or beaten by an entire company, Hessian prisoners of war were put to work on local farms. The small German states of the Holy Roman Empire had professional armies, when military conflict broke out, the German states provided a ready supply of trained troops that was ready to go into action immediately. Hesse-Kassel was particularly prominent in this role, Between 1706 and 1707,10,000 Hessians served as a corps in Eugene of Savoys army in Italy before moving to the Spanish Netherlands in 1708. In 1714,6,000 Hessians were rented to Sweden for its war with Russia whilst 12,000 Hessians were hired by George I of Great Britain in 1715 to combat the Jacobite Rebellion. In the midst of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1744,6,000 Hessians were fighting with the British army in Flanders whilst another 6,000 were in the Bavarian army. By 1762,24,000 Hessians were serving with Ferdinand of Brunswicks army in Germany, in most of these wars, Hesse-Kassel never became a belligerent by declaring war on any other country. The troops were rented for service in other armies, and Hesse-Kassel itself had no stake in the outcome of the war. Thus, it was possible for Hessians to serve with the British and Bavarian armies in the War of the Austrian Succession, even though Britain, historian Charles Ingrao says that the local prince had turned Hesse into a mercenary state by renting out his regiments to fund his government. Of 30,067 German troops leased by Great Britain,12,992 were supplied by Hesse-Kassel and they came not as individuals but in entire units with their usual uniforms, flags, equipment, and officers. Hesse-Kassel like most of the other German principalities still had serfdom, once these troops entered British Territory, where serfdom was illegal, they were still bound by the military code. Their officers were for the most part the upper stratum of society, the only ways a Hessian regular soldier could become a free man under these circumstances was desertion or capture. Serfdom was only abolished in Hesse-Kassel in 1806 by Napoleon Bonaparte, Hessian troops included jäger, hussars, three artillery companies, and four battalions of grenadiers
25.
1st Maryland Regiment
–
The 1st Maryland Regiment originated with the authorization of a Maryland Battalion of the Maryland State Troops on 14 January 1776. On 6 July 1776, the Maryland Battalion was assigned to the main Continental Army, on 12 August 1776, it was assigned to Stirlings Brigade and five days later adopted into the main Continental Army. On 31 August, the Maryland Battalion was reassigned from Stirlings Brigade to McDougalls Brigade, on 19 September 1776 the Maryland Independent Companies were assigned to the Maryland Battalion. This element was relieved from McDougalls Brigade on 10 November 1776, from 10 December 1776 to January 1777, the element was assigned to Mercers Brigade. On 12 May 1779, the regiment was re-organized to nine companies, on 5 April 1780, the 1st Maryland Brigade was reassigned to the Southern Department. On 1 January 1781, it was reassigned to the Maryland Brigade of the Southern Department, the regiment was furloughed 27 July 1783 at Baltimore and disbanded on 15 November 1783. Thereafter, General George Washington relied heavily upon the Marylanders as one of the few reliable fighting units in the early Continental Army, for this reason, Maryland is sometimes known as The Old Line State. The lineage of this unit is perpetuated by the 175th Infantry Regiment, the Maryland Regiment had joined the Continental Army barely two weeks before the Battle of Long Island. The Marylanders were put under Lord Stirlings brigade, in fierce fighting, the Marylanders charged the British forces six times to give their comrades time to make their way to safety with the rest of Washingtons army in the Heights. Only Major Mordecai Gist and nine others managed to reach the American lines, of the others,256 lay dead in front of the Old Stone House and more than 100 were wounded/and or captured. The bravery of the Maryland Regiment earned them the name immortals, the dead were buried in a mass grave consisting of six trenches in a farm field. The gravesite is located on what is now Third Avenue between 7th and 8th Streets, the result of the brief battle was stunning for the Americans. More than a thousand men were killed, captured, or missing, generals Stirling and Sullivan were in the enemys hands. The battalion had lost more than 250 of their number, most of the Marylanders casualties occurred in the retreat and desperate covering action at the Cortelyou House. Ultimately, of the original Maryland 400 muster,96 returned, historian, Thomas Field, writing in 1869, The Battle of Long Island, called the stand of the Marylanders an hour more precious to liberty than any other in history. Over time, the became the site of a Red Devil paint factory. The paint factory gave way to a repair shop and the courtyard was roofed over. Today the heroes whom Washington himself lamented lie under the floor of the building that had housed the repair shop
26.
William Smallwood
–
William Smallwood was an American planter, soldier and politician from Charles County, Maryland. He served in the American Revolutionary War, rising to the rank of major general and he was serving as the fourth Governor of Maryland when the state adopted the United States Constitution. Smallwood was born in 1732 to planter Bayne Smallwood and Priscilla Heaberd Smallwood and he had six siblings, Lucy Heabard Smallwood, Elizabeth F. Smallwood, Margaret F. Stoddert, Heabard Smallwood, Priscilla Courts, and Eleanor Smallwood. His sister Eleanor and brother Hebard served with him later in the Revolutionary War and his parents sent the boys to England, for their education at Eton. His great-grandfather was James Smallwood, who immigrated in 1664 and became a member of the Maryland Assembly in 1692, James son Bayne followed him later in the Assembly. A first cousin of James and Milledge Bonham was Senator Matthew Butler Smallwood served as an officer during the French and he was elected to the Maryland provincial assembly. When the American Revolutionary War began, he was appointed a colonel of the 1st Maryland Regiment in 1776 and he led the regiment in the New York and New Jersey campaign, where the regiment served with distinction. For his role at the Battle of White Plains, in which he was twice wounded and he continued to serve under George Washington in the Philadelphia campaign, where his regiment again distinguished itself at Germantown. Thereafter, he quartered at the Foulke house, also occupied by the family of Sally Wister, Smallwoods accounts of the battle and criticisms of Gates behavior before and during the battle may have contributed to the Congressional inquiries into the debacle. Opposed to the hiring and promotion of foreigners, Smallwood objected to working under Baron von Steuben and he spent the remainder of the war in Maryland. He served as the first President-General of the Maryland Society of the Cincinnati in 1783, Smallwood was elected to Congress in 1785. He was elected Governor of Maryland before he could take up the Congressional seat, in 1787 he convened the states convention that in 1788 adopted the United States Constitution. The 1790 census shows that he held 56 slaves and a tobacco crop of 3000 pounds. When he died in 1792 his estate, known as Mattawoman, including his home the Retreat, William Trueman Stoddard was orphaned at age 9 and raised by his maternal grandfather, Bayne Smallwood). His burial site is now the Smallwood State Park in Marbury, during his occupation of the building in 1778, Gen. Smallwood used the building as a hospital. Some of the soldiers who died in the building were buried in the graveyard directly outside, Smallwood frequented the Cross Keys Inn, at the time a several-room inn and bar. This building stands as a residence at the intersection of Calvert Road. His restored plantation home, Smallwoods Retreat, is located at Smallwood State Park, Smallwood Church Road leads from the State Park toward Old Durham Church, where he was a vestryman
27.
Jacques Cortelyou
–
Jacques Cortelyou was an influential early citizen of New Amsterdam who was Surveyor General of the early Dutch colony. Cortelyou arrived in Nieuw Amsterdam from Utrecht, Holland, where he had been born to French Huguenot parents, Cortelyou was subsequently appointed Surveyor General of the province of Nieuw Netherlands, succeeding Andries Hudde, and in 1660 made his famous map of Nieuw Amsterdam. Cortelyou also founded two subsequent settlements himself, New Utrecht on Long Island, in 1660 he designed Bergen Square site of the first town within the present borders of the state of New Jersey to receive a municipal charter. The town of Bergen was located on the bluff on the west side of the North River in Pavonia, there is some debate about the origin of the Bergen name, which happens to be the name of one of the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam. In any case, the year 1660 was the first time the word Bergen was used to describe the new settlement, sadly, the original map of the Bergen settlement by Cortelyou, as well as the list of patentees, have been lost to history. Cortelyou was active in Nieuw Amsterdam and later in New York and he was a real estate speculator, and served in many public offices. As the Surveyor General of the city, Cortelyou worked under Governor Peter Stuyvesant and his most well-known accomplishment was his map of early lower Manhattan, executed in 1660, and known as the Castello Plan. Cortelyou was also instrumental in helping to erect the wall, originally fortified against attacks by Native Americans, cortelyous early plan of New York City was known as the Castello Plan because it was later rediscovered at the Villa di Castello near Florence, Italy, in 1900. The map had been bound within an atlas that was sold to a member of the Medici family, names of Early Comers, The New York Times, January 13,1895
28.
Litchfield Villa
–
Litchfield Villa is an Italianate mansion built in 1854 -1857 on a large private estate that has since become part of Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The villa was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis, Americas leading architect of the fashionable Italianate style for railroad, the structure is considered to be Davis greatest Italianate villa, and is currently the Brooklyn borough headquarters of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Davis also designed a house, greenhouse, and chicken house for the property. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, after years of neglect, an extensive renovation was funded by an anonymous descendent of the Litchfield family. The renovation, under the direction of architect Ralph Carmosino, was completed in 2008, the original stucco was removed from the house, and many of the interior details, including the elaborately painted ceiling murals, were lost. It is located on Prospect Park West at 5th Street
29.
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
–
The total area of the properties maintained by the department is over 30,000 acres. The department maintains more than 1,700 parks, playgrounds, Parks also cares for park flora and fauna, community gardens,23 historic houses, over 1,200 statues and monuments, and more than 2.5 million trees. The City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation produces many special events, including concerts, the largest single component of parkland maintained by the department is the forever wild Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, with an area of 2,765 acres. The symbol of the department is a cross between the leaf of the London plane and a maple leaf and it is prominently featured on signs and buildings in public parks across the city. The London plane tree is on the NYC Parks Departments list of restricted use species for tree planting because it constitutes more than 10% of all street trees. The department is a mayoral agency, the current Parks Commissioner is Mitchell Silver. The current chair of the New York City Council Committee on Parks & Recreation is Mark D. Levine, the department is allocated an expense budget and a capital budget. The expense budget covers the expenses incurred by the agency. The capital budget is dedicated solely for new projects, as well as major repairs in parks that have a useful life of more than five years. Its regulations are compiled in Title 56 of the New York City Rules, Parks Enforcement Patrol officers have peace officer status under NYS Penal Law and are empowered through this status to make arrests and issue tickets. PEP officers patrol land, waterways and buildings under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks and Recreation on foot, bicycle, horseback, boat, PEP officers are also responsible for physical site inspections of NYC park concession facilities to assure the concessionaires compliance with state laws. The Urban Park Rangers was founded as a program in 1979 by then Parks Commissioner Gordon J. Davis, with the support. The program provides free programs year-round, such as nature walks. They also operate programs such as The Natural Classroom for class trips, explorer programs are available for activities such as canoeing in the citys flagship parks in all five boroughs. NYC Urban Park Rangers are easily identified by their uniforms, although NYC Park Rangers possess peace officer status, their primary mission is environmental education, protection of park resources, and visitor safety. Law enforcement in city parks is the responsibility of the New York City Police Department, most businesses that operate or generate revenue on New York City parkland are considered concessions and must obtain a permit or license from the Revenue Division of Parks. Pursuant to the Citys Concession Rules, these licenses and permits are awarded through a public solicitation process. Approximately 500 concessions currently operate in parks throughout the five boroughs, the food service concessions range from pushcarts selling hot dogs to restaurants such as Tavern on the Green and Terrace on the Park
30.
Ebbets Field
–
Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York City. It is known mainly as the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team of the National League, from 1913 to 1957, Ebbets Field was demolished in 1960 and replaced by apartment buildings. Ebbets Field was bounded by Bedford Avenue on the east, Sullivan Place on the South, Cedar Street on the west, and Montgomery Street on the north. The land included the site of a garbage dump called Pigtown, because of the pigs that once ate their fill there and the stench that filled the air. Construction began on March 4,1912, and the cornerstone, a piece of Connecticut granite that held newspapers, pictures of players, cards, telegrams. At the cornerstone laying ceremony, Ebbets said that the ballpark was going to be ready for play on September 1, when the park was opened, it was discovered that the flag, keys to the bleachers, and a press box had all been forgotten. The press box level was not added until 1929, the seating area was initially a double deck from past third base, around home plate, and all the way down the right side. There was an open, concrete bleacher stand extending the rest of the way down the base side to the outer wall. The right field wall was high due to the short foul line necessitated by the street immediately beyond it. The ballpark was built on a piece of ground. The right field wall made up the difference, as the right corner was above street level. The left field corner was below street level, and there was an incline or terrace running along the field wall. Ebbets Field was the scene of early successes, as the Robins. The seating area was expanded in the 1920s, a time for baseball when many ballparks were expanded. By the 1940s, a big scoreboard had been installed in right field, however, additional rows of seating across left field reduced that area by about 15 feet, to the delight of right-handed sluggers. The parks first night game was played on June 15,1938, johnny Vander Meer of the visiting Cincinnati Reds pitched his second consecutive no-hitter in that game, a feat that has never been duplicated in Major League Baseball. It was also in 1938 that Hilda Chester, one of the earlier sports superfans became a regular attendee when Larry MacPhail brought Ladies Days to Ebbets Field, after the early successes of the Dodgers, the team slid into hard times. The Dodgers won pennants in 1941,1947,1949,1952,1953,1955 and 1956, Ebbets Field also hosted the 1949 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
31.
Washington Park (baseball)
–
Washington Park was the name given to three major league Baseball parks on two different sites in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, located at Third Street and Fourth Avenue. The first two sites were diagonally opposite each other at that intersection, the third site was the same as the second site. The first Washington Park was bounded by Third and Fifth Streets, the property contained an old building then called the Gowanus House, which stands today, albeit largely reconstructed. Those events inspired the ballparks name, the ballpark was the home of the Brooklyn baseball club during 1883–1891, with a slight interruption by a destructive fire during the 1889 season. The team, then called the Atlantics, had started in a league in 1883, joined the then-major American Association in 1884. Streetcar tracks ran near the ballpark, inspiring the one of the many nicknames that ultimately stuck. In 1891, the split its time between Washington Park and a newer facility called Eastern Park in Brownsville, moving there full-time in 1892. That might have seemed like an idea at the time, but the park was a little too eastern for the fans convenience. The second Washington Park was bounded by First and Third Streets and it was located at 40°40′30″N 73°59′10″W. It consisted of a covered grandstand behind the infield and uncovered stand down the field line. The Brooklyn National Leaguers, by then called the Superbas as well as the Dodgers, moved into this new ballpark in 1898. On April 30,1898, the Dodgers played their first game at new Washington Park and 15,000 fans attended. One of the unusual features of the Park was the aroma from nearby factories and Gowanus Canal. Meanwhile, owner Charlie Ebbets slowly invested in the lots on a larger piece of property in Flatbush. So in 1913, the Dodgers, at that time most often called the Robins for their manager Wilbert Robinson, abandoned Washington Park. The old park took on an appearance, in fact. Part of the center field wall of this final Washington Park still stands on the east side of 3rd Avenue, south of 1st Street. A book by Barnet Schecter that includes and excellent study of the Battle of Long Island, ebbets-Field. com Brooklyn Ballparks page on Washington Park
32.
Hamilton (musical)
–
Hamilton, An American Musical is a sung-through musical about the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, with music, lyrics and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The show, inspired by the 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton by historian Ron Chernow, the musical made its Off-Broadway debut at The Public Theater in February 2015, where its engagement was sold out. The show transferred to Broadway in August 2015 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, on Broadway, it received enthusiastic critical reception and unprecedented advance box office sales. The prior off-Broadway production of Hamilton won the 2015 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical as well as seven other Drama Desk Awards out of 14 total nominated categories, the Chicago production of Hamilton opened at the PrivateBank Theatre in September 2016. The first U. S. national tour of the show began performances in March 2017, a production of Hamilton will open in the West End in November 2017 at the Victoria Palace Theatre. A second U. S. tour is set to begin performances in early 2018. Upon Mirandas discovery he began a project entitled The Hamilton Mixtape, on May 12,2009, Miranda was invited to perform music from In the Heights at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word. Instead, he performed the first song from The Hamilton Mixtape and he spent a year after that working on My Shot, another early number from the show. Miranda performed in a production of the show, then titled The Hamilton Mixtape. The workshop production was directed by Thomas Kail and musically directed by Alex Lacamoire, the workshop consisted of the entirety of the first act of the show and three songs from the second act. The workshop was accompanied by Lacamoire on the piano, of the original workshop cast, only three principal cast members played in the Off-Broadway production, Miranda, Daveed Diggs, and Christopher Jackson. Most of the original Off-Broadway cast moved to Broadway, except Brian dArcy James, the musical begins with the company summarizing Alexander Hamiltons early life as an orphan in the Caribbean. Hamilton was born out of wedlock in the West Indies—his father abandoned him at an early age, by nineteen, Hamilton has made his way to the American colonies, a dedicated supporter of American independence. In the summer of 1776 in New York City, Hamilton seeks out Aaron Burr, Burr advises the overenthusiastic Hamilton to talk less, smile more. Hamilton is unable to understand why Burr would rather exercise caution than fight for his beliefs, Hamilton bonds with three fellow revolutionaries, abolitionist John Laurens, the flamboyant Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette, and the tailors apprentice Hercules Mulligan. Hamilton dazzles them with his skills and they dream of laying down their lives for their cause. Meanwhile, the wealthy Schuyler sisters—Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy—wander the streets of New York, samuel Seabury, a vocal Loyalist, preaches against the American Revolution, and Hamilton refutes and ridicules his statements. A message arrives from King George III, reminding the colonists that he is able, the revolution is underway, and Hamilton, Burr, and their friends join the Continental Army
33.
Geographic information system
–
A geographic information system is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data. What goes beyond a GIS is a spatial data infrastructure, a concept that has no such restrictive boundaries, in general, the term describes any information system that integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographic information. GIS applications are tools that allow users to create interactive queries, analyze spatial information, edit data in maps, Geographic information science is the science underlying geographic concepts, applications, and systems. GIS is a term that can refer to a number of different technologies, processes. It is attached to operations and has many applications related to engineering, planning, management, transport/logistics, insurance, telecommunications. For that reason, GIS and location intelligence applications can be the foundation for many location-enabled services that rely on analysis, GIS can relate unrelated information by using location as the key index variable. Locations or extents in the Earth space–time may be recorded as dates/times of occurrence, and x, y, and z coordinates representing, longitude, latitude, all Earth-based spatial–temporal location and extent references should be relatable to one another and ultimately to a real physical location or extent. This key characteristic of GIS has begun to open new avenues of scientific inquiry, the first known use of the term geographic information system was by Roger Tomlinson in the year 1968 in his paper A Geographic Information System for Regional Planning. Tomlinson is also acknowledged as the father of GIS, previously, one of the first applications of spatial analysis in epidemiology is the 1832 Rapport sur la marche et les effets du choléra dans Paris et le département de la Seine. The French geographer Charles Picquet represented the 48 districts of the city of Paris by halftone color gradient according to the number of deaths by cholera per 1,000 inhabitants and this was one of the earliest successful uses of a geographic methodology in epidemiology. The early 20th century saw the development of photozincography, which allowed maps to be split into layers, for one layer for vegetation. This work was drawn on glass plates but later plastic film was introduced, with the advantages of being lighter, using less storage space and being less brittle. When all the layers were finished, they were combined into one using a large process camera. Once color printing came in, the idea was also used for creating separate printing plates for each color. Computer hardware development spurred by nuclear weapon research led to general-purpose computer mapping applications by the early 1960s, the year 1960 saw the development of the worlds first true operational GIS in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada by the federal Department of Forestry and Rural Development. A rating classification factor was added to permit analysis. CGIS was an improvement over computer mapping applications as it provided capabilities for overlay, measurement and it supported a national coordinate system that spanned the continent, coded lines as arcs having a true embedded topology and it stored the attribute and locational information in separate files. As a result of this, Tomlinson has become known as the father of GIS, CGIS lasted into the 1990s and built a large digital land resource database in Canada
34.
Library of Congress
–
The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, the Library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. it also maintains the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, which houses the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world and its collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages. Two-thirds of the books it acquires each year are in other than English. The Library of Congress moved to Washington in 1800, after sitting for years in the temporary national capitals of New York. John J. Beckley, who became the first Librarian of Congress, was two dollars per day and was required to also serve as the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s, most of the original collection had been destroyed by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812. To restore its collection in 1815, the bought from former president Thomas Jefferson his entire personal collection of 6,487 books. After a period of growth, another fire struck the Library in its Capitol chambers in 1851, again destroying a large amount of the collection. The Library received the right of transference of all copyrighted works to have two copies deposited of books, maps, illustrations and diagrams printed in the United States. It also began to build its collections of British and other European works and it included several stories built underground of steel and cast iron stacks. Although the Library is open to the public, only high-ranking government officials may check out books, the Library promotes literacy and American literature through projects such as the American Folklife Center, American Memory, Center for the Book, and Poet Laureate. James Madison is credited with the idea for creating a congressional library, part of the legislation appropriated $5,000 for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress. And for fitting up an apartment for containing them. Books were ordered from London and the collection, consisting of 740 books and 3 maps, was housed in the new Capitol, as president, Thomas Jefferson played an important role in establishing the structure of the Library of Congress. The new law also extended to the president and vice president the ability to borrow books and these volumes had been left in the Senate wing of the Capitol. One of the only congressional volumes to have survived was a government account book of receipts and it was taken as a souvenir by a British Commander whose family later returned it to the United States government in 1940. Within a month, former president Jefferson offered to sell his library as a replacement
35.
The History Press
–
The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdoms largest publisher in this field and its imprints include Phillimore, Pitkin, Spellmount, Stadia, Sutton Publishing and Tempus Publishing. The History Press can be traced back to the 1970s with the first title published in 1978, the company evolved from the amalgamation of a number of smaller publishing houses that formed part of the NPI Media Group. The largest component of the NPI Media Group was Tempus Publishing, Tempus Publishings early years were spent producing local history titles, principally books of old photographs depicting towns and villages throughout the UK. Tempus Publishing opened offices in both the USA and Europe which are in use today by The History Press, during the 1990s, the list diversified in a number of directions. Tempus Publishing produced their first books on archaeology, as well as books on general history subjects. The organisation became a publisher of Transport material including maritime history. Local history remained the bedrock of Tempus Publishing with over 1500 titles now published, the History Press, based in and around Stroud in Gloucestershire is supported by international offices in the United States, Germany, Ireland, France and Belgium. Their UK office is in the The Mill building in Brimscombe Port, Stroud
36.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
37.
The New York Times
–
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
38.
David McCullough
–
David Gaub McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, McCullough earned a degree in English literature from Yale University. His first book was The Johnstown Flood, and he has written nine more on such topics as Harry S. Truman, John Adams, the Brooklyn Bridge. McCullough has also narrated numerous documentaries, such as The Civil War by Ken Burns, as well as the 2003 film Seabiscuit, McCulloughs two Pulitzer Prize-winning books, Truman and John Adams, have been adapted by HBO into a TV film and a miniseries, respectively. McCullough was born in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and he was educated at Linden Avenue Grade School and Shady Side Academy, in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of four sons, McCullough had a marvelous childhood with a range of interests, including sports. McCulloughs parents and his grandmother, who read to him often and his parents often talked about history, a topic he says should be discussed more often. McCullough loved school, every day, he contemplated many career choices, ranging from architect, actor, painter, writer, to lawyer, in 1951, McCullough began attending Yale University. He said that it was a privilege to study English at Yale because of faculty members such as John OHara, John Hersey, Robert Penn Warren, McCullough occasionally ate lunch with the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder. Wilder, says McCullough, taught him that a competent writer maintains an air of freedom in the storyline, so that a reader will not anticipate the outcome, while at Yale, he became a member of Skull and Bones. He served apprenticeships at Time, Life, the United States Information Agency, and American Heritage, once I discovered the endless fascination of doing the research and of doing the writing, I knew I had found what I wanted to do in my life. While attending Yale, McCullough studied Arts and earned his bachelors degree in English and he graduated with honors in English literature. After graduation, McCullough moved to New York City, where Sports Illustrated hired him as a trainee and he later worked as an editor and writer for the United States Information Agency in Washington, D. C. After working for years, including a position at American Heritage, in editing and writing. McCullough had no anticipation that was going to write history, but stumbled upon a story that thought was powerful, exciting, while working at American Heritage, McCullough wrote in his spare time for three years. The Johnstown Flood, a chronicle of one of the worst flood disasters in United States history, was published in 1968 to high praise by critics, John Leonard, of The New York Times, said of McCullough, We have no better social historian. Despite rough financial times, he decided to become a full-time writer, after the success of The Johnstown Flood, two new publishers offered him contracts, one to write about the Great Chicago Fire and another about the San Francisco earthquake
39.
1776 (book)
–
1776 is a book written by David McCullough, first published by Simon & Schuster on May 24,2005. The work is considered a piece to McCulloughs earlier biography of John Adams. While revolving mostly around the leadership of George Washington, there is also considerable attention given to King George III, General Howe, Henry Knox, and Nathanael Greene. Key Revolutionary War battles detailed in the include the Battle of Dorchester Heights, the Battle of Long Island. The actual signing of the Declaration of Independence is treated as a minor detail. The book includes pages of full color illustrations, including portraits. 1776, The Illustrated Edition was released on October 2,2007, the Illustrated Edition contains 140 images and thirty-seven removable replicas of source documents. The text closely mirrors the original book, but omits or summarizes some parts deemed too long, the book is plain covered in blue with the golden embossed numbers 1776. 1776 was selected as part of the 2005 and 2006 CSAF Professional Reading Program,1776 is also a New York Times and Amazon bestseller. Publishers Weekly This is a tour de force, exhibiting all the hallmarks the author is known for, fascinating subject matter, expert research and detailed. Kirkus A master story-tellers character driven account of a year in the American Revolution. A sterling account. Library Journal. McCullough brilliantly captures the Spirit of 76 in Washingtons miraculous victories at Trenton and Princeton, an altogether marvelous contribution that deserves to be read by every American. Official Site at Simon & Schuster C-SPAN Q&A interview with McCullough about 1776, August 7,2005
40.
Protected areas of the United States
–
The protected areas of the United States are managed by an array of different federal, state, tribal and local level authorities and receive widely varying levels of protection. Some areas are managed as wilderness, while others are operated with acceptable commercial exploitation, as of 2015, the 25,800 protected areas covered 1,294,476 km2, or 14 percent of the land area of the United States. This is also one-tenth of the land area of the world. The U. S. also had a total of 787 National Marine Protected Areas, covering an additional 1,271,408 km2, some areas are managed in concert between levels of government. The Father Marquette National Memorial is an example of a park operated by a state park system. As of 2007, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, federal level protected areas are managed by a variety of agencies, most of which are a part of the National Park Service, a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior. They are often considered the jewels of the protected areas. Other areas are managed by the United States Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Army Corps of Engineers is claimed to provide 30 percent of the recreational opportunities on federal lands, mainly through lakes and waterways that they manage. The highest levels of protection, as described by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, are Level I, the United States maintains 12 percent of the Level I and II lands in the world. These lands had an area of 210,000 sq mi. A confusing system for naming protected areas results in some types being used by more than one agency, for instance, both the National Park Service and the U. S. Forest Service operate areas designated National Preserves and National Recreation Areas. The National Park Service, the U. S. Forest Service, National Wilderness Areas are designated within other protected areas, managed by various agencies and sometimes wilderness areas span areas managed by multiple agencies. States and local zoning bodies may or may not choose to protect these, the state of Colorado, for example, is very clear that it does not set any limits on owners of NRHP properties. State parks vary widely from urban parks to large parks that are on a par with national parks. Some state parks, like Adirondack Park, are similar to the National parks of England and Wales, about half the area of the park, some 3,000,000 acres, is state-owned and preserved as forever wild by the Forest Preserve of New York. Wood-Tikchik State Park in Alaska claims to be the largest state park by the amount of protected land, it is larger than many U. S. National Parks. Many states also operate game and recreation areas. S, State and tribal wilderness areas Various counties, cities, metropolitan authorities, regional parks, townships, soil conservation districts and other units manage a variety of local level parks. Some of these are more than picnic areas or playgrounds, however
41.
Federal government of the United States
–
The Federal Government of the United States is the national government of the United States, a republic in North America, composed of 50 states, one district, Washington, D. C. and several territories. The federal government is composed of three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U. S. Constitution in the Congress, the President, and the courts, including the Supreme Court. The powers and duties of these branches are defined by acts of Congress. The full name of the republic is United States of America, no other name appears in the Constitution, and this is the name that appears on money, in treaties, and in legal cases to which it is a party. The terms Government of the United States of America or United States Government are often used in documents to represent the federal government as distinct from the states collectively. In casual conversation or writing, the term Federal Government is often used, the terms Federal and National in government agency or program names generally indicate affiliation with the federal government. Because the seat of government is in Washington, D. C, Washington is commonly used as a metonym for the federal government. The outline of the government of the United States is laid out in the Constitution, the government was formed in 1789, making the United States one of the worlds first, if not the first, modern national constitutional republics. The United States government is based on the principles of federalism and republicanism, some make the case for expansive federal powers while others argue for a more limited role for the central government in relation to individuals, the states or other recognized entities. For example, while the legislative has the power to create law, the President nominates judges to the nations highest judiciary authority, but those nominees must be approved by Congress. The Supreme Court, in its turn, has the power to invalidate as unconstitutional any law passed by the Congress and these and other examples are examined in more detail in the text below. The United States Congress is the branch of the federal government. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate, the House currently consists of 435 voting members, each of whom represents a congressional district. The number of each state has in the House is based on each states population as determined in the most recent United States Census. All 435 representatives serve a two-year term, each state receives a minimum of one representative in the House. There is no limit on the number of terms a representative may serve, in addition to the 435 voting members, there are six non-voting members, consisting of five delegates and one resident commissioner. In contrast, the Senate is made up of two senators from each state, regardless of population, there are currently 100 senators, who each serve six-year terms
42.
National Historic Site (United States)
–
A National Historic Site is a protected area of national historic significance in the United States. An NHS usually contains a historical feature directly associated with its subject. As of 2015, there are 50 NHPs and 90 NHSs, most NHPs and NHSs are managed by the National Park Service. Some federally designated sites are owned by local authorities or privately owned, one property, Grey Towers National Historic Site, is managed by the U. S. Forest Service. As of October 15,1966, all areas, including NHPs and NHSs. There are also about 80,000 NRHP sites, the majority of which are neither owned nor managed by the NPS. Of these, about 2,500 have been designated at the highest status as National Historic Landmark sites, National Historic Sites are generally federally owned and administered properties, though some remain under private or local government ownership. There are currently 90 NHSs, of which 78 are official NPS units,11 are NPS affiliated areas, one is managed by the US Forest Service, and one by the Bureau of Land Management. Derived from the Historic Sites Act of 1935, a number of NHSs were established by United States Secretaries of the Interior, in 1937, the first NHS was created in Salem, Massachusetts in order to preserve and interpret the maritime history of New England and the United States. There is one International Historic Site in the US park system, the title, given to the site of the first permanent French settlement in America, recognizes the influence that has had on both Canada and the United States. The NPS does not distinguish among these designations in terms of their preservation or management policies, in the United States, sites are historic, while parks are historical. The NPS explains that a site can be intrinsically historic, while a park is a legal invention. As such, a park is not itself historic, but can be called historical when it contains historic resources and it is the resources which are historic, not the park. Klondike Gold Rush International Historical Park was formally established in 1998 by the United States and Canada, the park comprises Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Washington and Alaska, and Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site in British Columbia. It was this trail which so many prospectors took in hopes of making their fortunes in the Klondike River district of Yukon, list of World Heritage Sites in the Americas Designation of National Park System Units
43.
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
–
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum, located at 97 Orchard Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is a National Historic Site. The five-story brick tenement building was home to an estimated 7,000 people, from over 20 nations, the museum, which includes a visitors center down the block, promotes tolerance and historical perspective on the immigrant experience. The building at 97 Orchard Street was contracted by Prussian-born immigrant Lukas Glockner in 1863 and was modified several times to conform with the developing housing laws. When first constructed, it contained 22 apartments and a basement level saloon, over time, four stoop-level and two basement apartments were converted into commercial retail space, leaving 16 apartments in the building. Modifications over the years included the installation of indoor plumbing, an air shaft, no further changes were made until the Lower East Side Tenement Museum became involved with the building in 1988. As such, the stands as a kind of time capsule, reflecting 19th and early 20th century living conditions. In spite of the restoration, some parts of the floors are unstable. The Tenement Museum was founded in 1988 by Ruth J. Abram, the Museums key property, the tenement at 97 Orchard Street, was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 19,1994. The National Historic Site was authorized on November 12,1998 and it is an affiliated area of the National Park Service but is owned and administered by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. The site received a Save Americas Treasures matching grant for $250,000 in 2000 for preservation work, in 2001 the museum was awarded the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence silver medal. The National Defense Authorization Act for the 2015 fiscal year expanded the National Historic Site designation to include the tenement at 103 Orchard Street. The museums tours place the lives in the broader context of American history. The museum also has a collection of historical archives and provides a variety of educational programs. There were many Tenement House Acts during the 1800s and 1900s, however, there were three particular Acts that changed the living conditions in housing today. Those three Tenement House Act were, The Tenement House Act of 1867, The Tenement House Act of 1879, the first tenement house act was called, The Tenement House Act of 1867, also known as “the Old Law”. It was the countrys first comprehensive housing reform law, the law required buildings to have fire escapes and at least one toilet for every 20 tenants, and to be connected to the city sewers if possible. However, many people did not follow the law, so it had little effect, then came the second Tenement House Act which was called The Tenement House Act of 1879, also known as “the Old Law” and was followed by the 1867 law. Many buildings were outlawing the construction of buildings like 97 Orchard Street that had interior rooms without windows, the 1879 law required all rooms to be open onto the street, the rear yard, or an air shaft
44.
National Monument (United States)
–
Historically, some national monuments were managed by the War Department. National monuments can be so designated through the power of the Antiquities Act of 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt used the act to declare Devils Tower in Wyoming as the first national monument. The Antiquities Act of 1906 resulted from concerns about protecting mostly prehistoric Native American ruins, the Act authorized permits for legitimate archaeological investigations and penalties for taking or destroying antiquities without permission. Among the next three monuments he proclaimed in 1906 was Petrified Forest in Arizona, another natural feature, in 1908, Roosevelt used the act to proclaim more than 800,000 acres of the Grand Canyon as a national monument. In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Katmai National Monument in Alaska, Katmai was later enlarged to nearly 2,800,000 acres by subsequent Antiquities Act proclamations and for many years was the largest national park system unit. Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, and Katmai were among the national monuments later converted to national parks by Congress. Substantial opposition did not materialize until 1943, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed Jackson Hole National Monument in Wyoming. He did this to accept a donation of lands acquired by John D. Rockefeller, roosevelts proclamation unleashed a storm of criticism about use of the Antiquities Act to circumvent Congress. A bill abolishing Jackson Hole National Monument passed Congress but was vetoed by Roosevelt, the proclamation authority was not used again anywhere until 1996, when President Bill Clinton proclaimed the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. This action was unpopular in Utah, and bills were introduced to further restrict the presidents authority. To date, none of them have been enacted, presidents have used the Antiquities Acts proclamation authority not only to create new national monuments but to enlarge existing ones. For example, Franklin D. Roosevelt significantly enlarged Dinosaur National Monument in 1938, lyndon B. Johnson added Ellis Island to Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and Jimmy Carter made major additions to Glacier Bay and Katmai National Monuments in 1978. Marine National Monument List of U. S. National Forests List of areas in the National Park System of the United States List of U. S
45.
African Burial Ground National Monument
–
African Burial Ground National Monument is a monument at Duane Street and African Burial Ground Way in the Civic Center section of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Its main building is the Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway, historians estimate there may have been 10, 000–20,000 burials in what was called the Negroes Burial Ground in the 1700s. The five to six acre sites excavation and study was called the most important historic urban archeological project in the United States, the Burial Ground site is New Yorks earliest known African-American cemetery, studies show an estimated 15,000 African American people were buried here. The discovery highlighted the history of African slaves in colonial and federal New York City. By the American Revolutionary War, they constituted nearly a quarter of the population in the city, New York had the second-largest number of slaves in the nation after Charleston, South Carolina. Scholars and African-American civic activists joined to publicize the importance of the site, the site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993 and a National Monument in 2006. In 2003 Congress appropriated funds for a memorial at the site, a design competition attracted more than 60 proposals for a design. The memorial was dedicated in 2007 to commemorate the role of Africans and African Americans in colonial and federal New York City, several pieces of public art were also commissioned for the site. A visitor center opened in 2010 to provide interpretation of the site, two years after their arrival three female Angolan slaves arrived. These two groups heralded the beginning of the institution of slavery in what would become New York City that would continue for two hundred years, the first slave auction in the city took place in 1655 at Pearl Street and Wall Street-then on the East River. Although the Dutch imported Africans as slaves, it was possible for some to gain freedom or half-freedom under Dutch rule, paul DAngola and his companions petitioned the Dutch West India Company for their freedom in 1643. Their petition was granted and they were given grants of land on which to build their own houses, in the mid-17th century, farms of free blacks covered 130 acres where Washington Square Park later developed. Even slaves in full bondage were granted rights and afforded protections such as the prohibition against arbitrary physical punishment – such as a whipping. After the English took over New Amsterdam in 1664, they changed the name to New York, some 40 percent of the small population was in bondage. In 1697 Trinity Church gained control of the grounds in the city. When Trinity took control of the burial ground, now its north graveyard. Through much of the 18th century, the African burying ground was beyond the boundary of the city. As the city increased, so did the number of residents who held slaves
46.
Castle Clinton
–
Castle Clinton or Fort Clinton, once known as Castle Garden, is a circular sandstone fort now located in Battery Park, in Manhattan, New York City. It is perhaps best remembered as Americas first immigration station, where more than 8 million people arrived in the U. S. from 1855 to 1890. Over its active life, it has functioned as a beer garden, exhibition hall, theater, public aquarium. Castle Clinton stands approximately two blocks west of where Fort Amsterdam was built in 1626, when New York City was known by the Dutch name New Amsterdam, construction began in 1808 and was completed in 1811. The fort, known as West Battery, was designed by architects John McComb, Jr. and it was built on a small artificial island just off shore. Subsequent landfill expanded Battery Park, and the fort was incorporated into the mainland of Manhattan Island, as with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, Castle Clinton National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. West Battery was renamed Castle Clinton in 1815, its current official name, the United States Army stopped using the fort in 1821, and it was leased to New York City as a place of public entertainment. It opened as Castle Garden on July 3,1824, a name by which it was known for most of its existence. It served in turn as a promenade, beer garden/restaurant, exhibition hall, opera house, designed as an open-air structure, it was eventually roofed over to accommodate these uses. In 1850, the castle was the site of two concerts given for charity by the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind to initiate her American tour, a year later, European dancing star Lola Montez performed her notorious tarantula dance in Castle Garden. In 1853–54, Louis-Antoine Jullien, the eccentric French conductor and composer of music, gave dozens of very successful concerts mixing classical. The Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company notably staged the New York premieres of Gaetano Donizettis Marino Faliero on June 17,1851, and Giuseppe Verdis Luisa Miller on July 20,1854 at Castle Garden. In the first half of the 19th century, most immigrants arriving in New York City landed at docks on the east side of the tip of Manhattan, around South Street. On August 1,1855, Castle Clinton became the Emigrant Landing Depot, the new facility was needed because immigrants were known to carry diseases, which led to epidemics of cholera and smallpox. After many unnecessary deaths, and scandals over immigration workers cheating and stealing from immigrants, called Kesselgarten by Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jews, a Kesselgarten became a generic term for any situation that was noisy, confusing or chaotic, or where a babel of languages was spoken. Prominent persons associated with the administration of the immigrant station included Gulian Crommelin Verplanck, Friedrich Kapp, from 1896 to 1941, Castle Garden was the site of the New York City Aquarium. For many years, it was the citys most popular attraction, the structure was extensively altered, and roofed over to a height of several stories, though the original masonry fort remained. In 1941, the politically powerful Park Commissioner Robert Moses wanted to tear the structure down completely, due to the efforts of Albert S. Bard and other civic reformers, the Castle was saved, and finally became a national monument
