1.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
2.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
College of William & Mary
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The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. William & Mary educated U. S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, a young George Washington also received his surveyors license through the College. W&M students founded the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society in 1776, the establishment of graduate programs in law and medicine in 1779 makes it one of the first universities in the United States. In addition to its program, W&M is home to several graduate programs. Named in honor of the reigning monarchs King William III and Queen Mary II, the original plans for the College date back to 1618 but were thwarted by the Indian Massacre of 1622, a change in government, events related to the English Civil War, and Bacons Rebellion. In 1695 before the town of Williamsburg existed, construction began on the College Building, now known as the Sir Christopher Wren Building and it is the oldest college building in America. The College is one of the countrys nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution, the Charter named James Blair as the Colleges first president. William & Mary was founded as an Anglican institution, students were required to be members of the Church of England, and professors were required to declare adherence to the Thirty-Nine Articles. In 1693, the College was given a seat in the House of Burgesses and it was determined the College would be supported by taxes and export duties on furs. The College acquired a 330 acres parcel for the new school,8 miles from Jamestown, in 1694, the new school opened in temporary buildings. Williamsburg was granted a charter as a city in 1722 by the Crown. During this time, the College served as a law center and it educated future U. S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler. The College has been called the Alma Mater of a Nation because of its ties to Americas founding fathers. A 17-year-old George Washington received his surveyors license through the College, William & Mary is famous for its firsts, the first U. S. institution with a Royal Charter, the first Greek-letter society, the first student honor code and the first law school in America. The College became a school in 1906 and became coeducational in 1918. In 1928, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. chose the College Building as the first building to be returned to its 18th-century appearance as part of the iconic Colonial Williamsburg restoration. During the period of the American Revolution, freedom of religion was established in Virginia notably with the 1786 passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, in 1779 the college became the first American university with the establishment of the graduate schools in law and medicine. The College of William and Mary is home to the nations first collegiate secret society, Society, popularly known as the Flat Hat Club, founded November 11,1750
4.
The Elder Scrolls
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The Elder Scrolls is a series of action role-playing open world fantasy video games primarily developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The series is known for its elaborate and richly detailed open worlds, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim all won Game of the Year awards from multiple outlets. The series has more than 40 million copies worldwide. Prior to working on The Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda had worked predominantly with sports, Bethesdas course changed abruptly when it began its first action role-playing venture. Ted Peterson worked alongside Vijay Lakshman as one of the designers of what was then simply Arena. Peterson and Lakshman were joined by Julian Lefay who, according to Peterson, Peterson, Lakshman, and LeFay were longtime aficionados of pen-and-paper role-playing games, which greatly influenced the creation of the world of Tamriel. They were also fans of Looking Glass Studios Ultima Underworld series, initially, Arena was not to be a role-playing game at all. The player, and a team of his fighters, would travel about a world fighting other teams in their arenas until the player became grand champion in the worlds capital, along the way, side quests of a more role-playing nature could be completed. As the process of development progressed, however, the tournaments became less important, RPG elements were added to the game, as it expanded to include cities outside the arenas, and dungeons beyond the cities. Eventually it was decided to drop the idea of tournaments altogether, although the team had dropped all arena combat from the game, all the material had already been printed up with the title, so the game went to market as The Elder Scrolls, Arena. Bethesda Founder Christopher Weaver came up with the name of The Elder Scrolls, and the words came to mean Tamriels mystical tomes of knowledge that told of its past, present. The games initial voice-over was changed in response, beginning, It has been foretold in the Elder Scrolls, Bethesda missed their Christmas 1993 deadline. The game was released in the first quarter of 1994, really serious for a small developer/publisher like Bethesda Softworks, the packaging included a scantily clad female warrior, which further contributed to distributor concern, leading to an initial distribution of only 20,000 units. Having missed the Christmas sales season, the development team was concerned that We had screwed the company, nevertheless, sales continued to grow, month after month, as news of the game was passed by word-of-mouth. Despite some initial bugginess, and the demands the game made on players machines. Evaluations of the game varied from modest to wild, still, the game maintained traction with its audience. Game historian Matt Barton concluded that the set a new standard for this type of CRPG. Work on The Elder Scrolls II, Daggerfall began immediately after Arenas release in March 1994, Ted Peterson was assigned the role of Lead Game Designer
5.
Emmaus, Pennsylvania
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Emmaus is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is located five miles southwest of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the state and it also lies 50 miles north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvanias largest city, and 20 miles west of the Delaware River. Emmaus is located in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area, the population of Emmaus was 11,335 at the 2014 census. This borough has given many awards, including the Delaware Valley Green Building Councils Sustainable Community Award. In 2007 and 2009, Emmaus was listed as one of the top 100 Best Places to Live in the United States by Money magazine, Emmaus borders South Mountain, a large mountain range. The towns elevation is 436 feet above sea level, Emmaus is located at approximately 40°32′13″N 75°29′45″W. As of the census of 2013, there were 11,313 people,4,985 households, the population density was 3,918.8 people per square mile. There were 5,186 housing units at a density of 1,796.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the borough was 95. 89% White,0. 70% African American,0. 06% Native American,1. 81% Asian,0. 03% Pacific Islander,0. 88% from other races, and 0. 63% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 51% of the population,31. 5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13. 6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the family size was 2.85. In the borough, the population was out, with 21. 2% under the age of 18,6. 6% from 18 to 24,31. 0% from 25 to 44,22. 1% from 45 to 64. The median age was 40 years, for every 100 females, there are 91.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.8 males. The median income for a household in the borough was $55,139, whereas the estimated meadian household for the state of Pennsylvania is $52,007, males had a median income of $38,659 versus $25,331 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $23,245, about 2. 2% of families and 3. 5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1. 2% of those under age 18 and 7. 9% of those age 65 or over. Emmaus was settled in the 1740s and dates its founding to 1759, for approximately 100 years, until the mid-19th century, it was a closed community of the Moravian Church. The original land on which the town now lies was donated by Sebastian Heinrich Knauss, the founders and original residents of the town were members of the Lutheran and Reformed faiths, who joined the Moravian church when their own denominations were unable to provide ministers
6.
Williamsburg, Virginia
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Williamsburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 14,068, in 2014, the population was estimated to be 14,691. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is bordered by James City County and York County, Williamsburg was founded in 1632 as Middle Plantation, a fortified settlement on high ground between the James and York rivers. The city served as the capital of the Colony of Virginia from 1699 to 1780 and was the center of events in Virginia leading to the American Revolution. S. Presidents as well as other important figures in the nations early history. The citys tourism-based economy is driven by Colonial Williamsburg, the restored Historic Area of the city, along with nearby Jamestown and Yorktown, Williamsburg forms part of the Historic Triangle, which attracts more than four million tourists each year. Modern Williamsburg is also a town, inhabited in large part by William & Mary students. Prior to the arrival of the English colonists at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia in 1607, by the 1630s, English settlements had grown to dominate the lower portion of the Virginia Peninsula, and the Powhatan tribes had abandoned their nearby villages. Jamestown was the capital of Virginia Colony, but was burned down during the events of Bacons Rebellion in 1676. The members of the House of Burgesses discovered that the location was both safer and more pleasant environmentally than Jamestown, which was humid and plagued with mosquitoes. A school of education had long been an aspiration of the colonists. An early attempt at Henricus failed after the Indian Massacre of 1622, the location at the outskirts of the developed part of the colony had left it more vulnerable to the attack. In the 1690s, the colonists tried again to establish a school and they commissioned Reverend James Blair, who spent several years in England lobbying, and finally obtained a royal charter for the desired new school. It was to be named the College of William & Mary in honor of the monarchs of the time, when Reverend Blair returned to Virginia, the new school was founded in a safe place, Middle Plantation in 1693. Classes began in temporary quarters in 1694, and the College Building, four years later, in 1698, the rebuilt Statehouse in Jamestown burned down again, this time accidentally. The government again relocated temporarily to Middle Plantation, and in addition to the better climate now also enjoyed use of the Colleges facilities. The College students made a presentation to the House of Burgesses, a village was laid out and Middle Plantation was renamed Williamsburg in honor of King William III of England, befitting the towns newly elevated status
