1.
Geographic coordinate system
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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
2.
Triumphal arch
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A triumphal arch is a monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. The main structure is decorated with carvings, sculpted reliefs. More elaborate triumphal arches may have multiple archways, Triumphal arches are one of the most influential and distinctive types of architecture associated with ancient Rome. The survival of great Roman triumphal arches such as the Arch of Titus inspired many states and rulers, up to the present day. Triumphal arch is also the given to the arch above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church where a rood can be placed. The origins of the Roman triumphal arch are unclear, Triumphal arch look similar to Mesopotamian Arch entrances like the Ishtar Gate but there is no evidence to support that the Romans got their influence from there. The development of the arch is often associated with ancient Roman architecture. To fully understand this development however it is important to understand the importance of basic arches in Roman civilization, the Romans had learned how to construct effective arches from the Etruscans, who lived in central Italy. This knowledge had a impact on the architecture of Roman civilization. As a result, the Romans used arches for things such as aqueducts, amphitheaters, bridges and they had effectively used the arch in various aspects of their civilization and city structure. Since the Romans had effectively perfected this architectural structure, one could conclude that the arch symbolized perfection, monumental gateways had already been in use for hundreds of years by civilizations such as the Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians and Myceneans. There were precursors to the arch within the Roman world, in Italy. Surviving examples of Etruscan arches can still be seen at Perugia, the two key elements of the triumphal arch – a round-topped arch and a square entablature – had long been in use as separate architectural elements in ancient Greece. Entablatures were a part of the structural fabric of such buildings. The great innovation of the Romans was to combine a round arch, the first recorded Roman triumphal arches were set up in the time of the Roman Republic. Generals who were granted a triumph were termed triumphators and would erect fornices or honorific arches bearing statues to commemorate their victories, a number of fornices were built in Rome during the Republican era. Lucius Steritinus erected two in 196 BC to commemorate his victories in Hispania, another fornix was built on the Capitoline Hill by Scipio Africanus in 190 BC, and Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus constructed one in the Roman Forum in 121 BC. None of them today and little is known about their appearance
3.
Washington Square Park
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Washington Square Park is a 9. 75-acre public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York Citys 1,900 public parks, it is a landmark as well as a meeting place and it is operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The Park is a space, dominated by the Washington Square Arch at the northern gateway to the park. The Parks fountain area has long been one of the popular spots for residents and tourists. Most of the surrounding the park now belong to New York University. Some of the buildings have built by NYU while others have been converted from their former uses into academic. Located at the foot of Fifth Avenue, the park is bordered by Washington Square North, Washington Square East, Washington Square South, while the park contains many flower beds and trees, little of the park is used for plantings due to the paving. The two prominent features are the Washington Square Arch and a large fountain and it includes childrens play areas, trees and gardens, paths to stroll on, a chess and scrabble playing area, park benches, picnic tables, commemorative statuary and two dog runs. The New York City Police Department operates security cameras in the park, the New York University Department of Public Safety also keeps a watch on the park, and the city parks department has security officers who sometimes patrol the park. The area has a low rate in the safest big city in the United States. The land was divided by a narrow marshy valley through which Minetta Creek ran. In the early 17th century, a Native American village known as Sapokanican or Tobacco Field was nearby, by the mid-17th century, the land on each side of the Minetta was used as farm land by the Dutch. The Dutch gave the land to slaves, thus freeing them, the slaves that received the land were told that, although they were no longer slaves, they had to give a portion of the profits they received from the land to the Dutch West India Company. Also, their children would be born as slave, rather than free, the tract was in the possession of African Americans from 1643 to 1664. Today, the area, then called The Land of the Blacks, is Washington Square Park, the ex-slaves who owned The Land of the Blacks included Paulo DAngola. More information can be found at the exhibit Slavery in New York at the New-York Historical Society of Manhattan. It remained farmland until April 1797, when the Common Council of New York purchased the fields to the east of the Minetta for a new potters field and it was used mainly for burying unknown or indigent people when they died. But when New York went through yellow fever epidemics in the early 19th century, most of those who died from yellow fever were also buried here, safely away from town, as a hygienic measure
4.
Greenwich Village
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Greenwich Village, often referred to by locals as simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan, New York City. Greenwich Village has been known as a haven, the Bohemian capital, the cradle of the modern LGBT movement. Groenwijck, one of the Dutch names for the village, was Anglicized to Greenwich, two of New Yorks private colleges, New York University and the New School, are located in Greenwich Village. The neighborhoods surrounding it are the East Village and NoHo to the east, SoHo to the south, the East Village was formerly considered part of the Lower East Side and never associated with Greenwich Village. The western part of Greenwich Village is known as the West Village, some believe it starts at Seventh Avenue and its southern extension, a border to the west of which the neighborhood changes substantially in character and becomes heavily residential. The Far West Village is another sub-neighborhood of Greenwich Village that is bordered on its west by the Hudson River and on its east by Hudson Street. Greenwich Village is located in New Yorks 10th congressional district, New Yorks 25th State Senate district, New Yorks 66th State Assembly district, encyclopaedia Britannicas 1956 article on New York states that the southern border of the Village is Spring Street, reflecting an earlier understanding. The newer district of SoHo has since encroached on the Villages historic border, many of the neighborhoods streets are narrow and some curve at odd angles. This is generally regarded as adding to both the character and charm of the neighborhood. In addition, as the meandering Greenwich Street used to be on the Hudson River shoreline, much of the neighborhood west of Greenwich Street is on landfill, but still follows the older street grid. When Sixth and Seventh Avenues were built in the early 20th century, they were built diagonally to the street plan. Unlike the streets of most of Manhattan above Houston Street, streets in the Village typically are named rather than numbered, while some of the formerly named streets are now numbered, they still do not always conform to the usual grid pattern when they enter the neighborhood. The Districts convoluted borders run no farther south than 4th Street or St. Lukes Place, redevelopment in that area is severely restricted, and developers must preserve the main façade and aesthetics of the buildings during renovation. In the 16th century, Native Americans referred to its farthest northwest corner, by the cove on the Hudson River at present-day Gansevoort Street, the land was cleared and turned into pasture by Dutch and freed African settlers in the 1630s, who named their settlement Noortwyck. In the 1630s, Governor Wouter van Twiller farmed tobacco on 200 acres here at his Farm in the Woods, sir Peter Warren began accumulating land in 1731 and built a frame house capacious enough to hold a sitting of the Assembly when smallpox rendered the city dangerous in 1739. The building was designed by Joseph-François Mangin, who would later co-design New York City Hall, by 1821, the prison, designed for 432 inmates, held 817 instead, a number made possible only by the frequent release of prisoners, sometimes as many as 50 a day. The oldest house remaining in Greenwich Village is the Isaacs-Hendricks House, when the Church of St. Luke in the Fields was founded in 1820 it stood in fields south of the road that led from Greenwich Lane down to a landing on the North River. In 1822, a fever epidemic in New York encouraged residents to flee to the healthier air of Greenwich Village
5.
Lower Manhattan
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Lower Manhattan is defined most commonly as the area delineated on the north by 14th Street, on the west by the Hudson River, on the east by the East River, and on the south by New York Harbor. The Lower Manhattan business district forms the core of the area below Chambers Street and it includes the Financial District and the World Trade Center site. At the islands southern tip is Battery Park, City Hall is just to the north of the Financial District, also south of Chambers Street are the planned community of Battery Park City and the South Street Seaport historic area. The neighborhood of TriBeCa straddles Chambers on the west side, at the streets east end is the giant Manhattan Municipal Building, North of Chambers Street and the Brooklyn Bridge and south of Canal Street lies most of New Yorks oldest Chinatown neighborhood. Many court buildings and other government offices are located in this area. The Lower East Side neighborhood straddles Canal, North of Canal Street and south of 14th Street are the neighborhoods of SoHo, the Meatpacking District, the West Village, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Nolita, and the East Village. Between 14th and 23rd streets are lower Chelsea, Union Square, the Flatiron District, Gramercy, the area that would eventually encompass modern day New York City was inhabited by the Lenape people. These groups of culturally and linguistically identical Native Americans traditionally spoke an Algonquian language now referred to as Unami, European settlement began with the founding of a Dutch fur trading post in Lower Manhattan, later called New Amsterdam in 1626. The first fort was built at the Battery to protect New Netherland, soon thereafter, most likely in 1626, construction of Fort Amsterdam began. Later, the Dutch West Indies Company imported African slaves to serve as laborers, they helped to build the wall that defended the town against English, early directors included Willem Verhulst and Peter Minuit. Willem Kieft became director in 1638 but five years later was embroiled in Kiefts War against the Native Americans, the Pavonia Massacre, across the Hudson River in present-day Jersey City resulted in the death of 80 natives in February 1643. Following the massacre, Algonquian tribes joined forces and nearly defeated the Dutch, the Dutch Republic sent additional forces to the aid of Kieft, leading to the overwhelming defeat of the Native Americans and a peace treaty on August 29,1645. On May 27,1647, Peter Stuyvesant was inaugurated as director general upon his arrival, the colony was granted self-government in 1652, and New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1653. The first mayors of New Amsterdam, Arent van Hattem and Martin Cregier, were appointed in that year, in 1664, the English conquered the area and renamed it New York after the Duke of York. At that time, people of African descent made up 20% of the population of the city, with European settlers numbering approximately 1,500, during the mid 1600s, farms of free blacks covered 130 acres where Washington Square Park later developed. The Dutch briefly regained the city in 1673, renaming the city New Orange, the new English rulers of the formerly Dutch New Amsterdam and New Netherland renamed the settlement New York. As the colony grew and prospered, sentiment also grew for greater autonomy, by 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200. By 1703, 42% of households in New York had slaves, the 1735 libel trial of John Peter Zenger in the city was a seminal influence on freedom of the press in North America
6.
New York City
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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
7.
Legacy of George Washington
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George Washington commanded Americas war for independence, and was the first President of the United States, from 1789 to 1797. In terms of personality, a leading biographer Douglas Southall Freeman concluded, by character, says David Hackett Fischer Freeman meant integrity, self-discipline, courage, absolute honesty, resolve, and decision, but also forbearance, decency, and respect for others. Because of his role in the founding of the United States. His devotion to republicanism and civic virtue made him a figure among early American politicians. His image has become an icon and is commonplace in American culture, pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere, uniform, dignified, and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting. Correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand, the purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues. Such was the man for whom our nation mourns, lees words set the standard by which Washingtons overwhelming reputation was impressed upon the American memory. Washington set many precedents for the government and the presidency in particular. In 1951 the unwritten two-term limit set by Washington would become the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution and he also set constitutional precedent by being the first president to use the Presidential Veto. As early as 1778 he was lauded as the Father of His Country and is considered to be the most important of Founding Fathers of the United States. He has gained fame around the world as a example of a benevolent national founder. As Gordon Wood concludes, the greatest act in his life was his resignation as commander of the act that stunned aristocratic Europe. According to painter Benjamin West, West told me that. The King began to talk abt and he asked West what would Washington do were America to be declared independent. West said He believed He would retire to a private situation, -- The King said if He did He would be the greatest man in the world. Washington was long considered not just a military and revolutionary hero, in 1790, Washingtons close friend Benjamin Franklin died. In Franklins will, he bequeathed Washington his walking cane, which Franklin received while serving as ambassador to France during the 1780s, if it were a Sceptre, he has merited it, and would become it. Washington was always the exemplar of republican virtue in America and he is seen more as a character model than war hero or founding father. One of Washingtons greatest achievements, in terms of values, was refraining from taking more power than was due
8.
First inauguration of George Washington
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The first inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States was held on April 30,1789 on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, New York. The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of George Washington as President, chancellor of New York Robert Livingston administered the presidential oath of office. With his inauguration, the branch of the United States government officially began operations under the new frame of government established by the 1787 Constitution. The first term of John Adams as Vice President commenced on April 21,1789, when he took the vice presidential oath of office. The first presidential term started on March 4,1789, the set by the Congress of the Confederation for the beginning of operations of the federal government under the new U. S. Constitution. However, due to delays, that did not happen. On that date, the House of Representatives and the Senate convened, as a result, the Presidential Electoral Votes could not be counted or certified. On April 1, the House convened with a present for the first time. The Senate first achieved a quorum on April 6 and that same day, the House and Senate met in joint session and the electoral votes were counted. Washington and Adams were certified as having been elected president and vice president respectively. It was 5 p. m. at Mount Vernon on April 14,1789, the letter had been sent by Senator John Langdon of New Hampshire, the first president pro tempore of the United States Senate, who had presided over the counting of the electoral votes. He left early the morning for another welcome awaiting him in Trenton. On April 23 he took a barge with 13 pilots through the Kill Van Kull tidal strait into the Upper New York Bay. Thousands had gathered on the waterfront to see him arrive, Washington landed at Murrays Wharf, where he was greeted by New York Governor George Clinton as well as other congressmen and citizens. A plaque now marks the landing site and they proceeded through the streets to what would be Washingtons new official residence,3 Cherry Street. Washington dressed in an American-made dark brown suit with silk stockings and silver shoe buckles, he also wore a steel-hilted sword. Washington moved to the second-floor balcony, chancellor of New York Robert Livingston administered the presidential oath of office in view of throngs of people gathered on the streets. The Bible used in the ceremony was from St. Johns Lodge No,1, A. Y. M. and due to haste, it was opened at random to Genesis 49,13
9.
Fifth Avenue
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Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare going through the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It stretches from West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square North at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village and it is considered among the most expensive and best shopping streets in the world. The lower stretch of Fifth Avenue extended the stylish neighborhood of Washington Square northwards, Fifth Avenue is the central scene in Edith Whartons 1920 Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Age of Innocence. The novel describes New Yorks social elite in the 1870s and provides context to Fifth Avenue. Originally a narrower thoroughfare, much of Fifth Avenue south of Central Park was widened in 1908, the midtown blocks, now famously commercial, were largely a residential district until the start of the 20th century. In 1906 his department store, B. Altman and Company, the result was the creation of a high-end shopping district that attracted fashionable women and the upscale stores that wished to serve them. Lord & Taylors flagship store is located on Fifth Avenue near the Empire State Building. In the 1920s traffic towers controlled important intersections from 14th to 59th Streets, traffic crosses the river on the Madison Avenue Bridge. Fifth Avenue serves as the line for house numbering and west-east streets in Manhattan. It separates, for example, East 59th Street from West 59th Street, the most expensive street in the world moniker changes depending on currency fluctuations and local economic conditions from year to year. For several years starting in the mid-1990s, the district between 49th and 57th Streets was ranked as having the worlds most expensive retail spaces on a cost per square foot basis. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Fifth Avenue as being the most expensive street in the world, some of the most coveted real estate on Fifth Avenue are the penthouses perched atop the buildings. The American Planning Association compiled a list of 2012 Great Places in America and this historic street has many world-renowned museums, businesses and stores, parks, luxury apartments, and historical landmarks that are reminiscent of its history and vision for the future. Below is a list of sites on Fifth Avenue with their designation dates,500 Fifth Avenue Building – December 14,2010 Aeolian Building – – December 10,2002 George W. It recognizes structures, buildings, sites, and districts associated with important events, people, Fifth Avenue from 142nd Street to 135th Street carries two-way traffic. Fifth Avenue carries one-way traffic southbound from 135th Street to Washington Square North, the changeover to one-way traffic south of 135th Street took place on January 14,1966, at which time Madison Avenue was changed to one way uptown. From 124th Street to 120th Street, Fifth Avenue is cut off by Marcus Garvey Park, Fifth Avenue is one of the few major streets in Manhattan along which streetcars did not operate. Instead, Fifth Avenue Coach offered a more to the taste of fashionable gentlefolk
10.
Tuckahoe marble
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Tuckahoe marble is a type of marble named after the village of Tuckahoe, New York or alternatively the neighborhood of Inwood in Manhattan, New York City. It is found in Eastchester and extending southward to parts of the Bronx, such as Kingsbridge, Mott Haven, Melrose and Tremont and it has long been quarried at Tuckahoe as well as at Ossining, Hastings, and Thornwood, hence the alternate name, Westchester marble. It is part of the Inwood Formation, which also intrudes into western Connecticut and it dates from the Late Cambrian to the Early Ordovician ages. Inwood marble is a high quality marble first discovered in 1822 in the town of Tuckahoe in Westchester County, the marble is from the larger Inwood Formation or deposit, which stretches in a northeasterly direction from mid-Manhattan through southern Westchester. The marble is characterized scientifically as a marble and varies in color from a light gray to light green. A distinctive characteristic is the size of the calcite and dolomite particles that primarily compose the stone. Oxidation of these iron-bearing minerals causes certain varieties of the marble to turn orange-brown when the stone is exposed to weather, locally quarried Manhattan schist and sandstone from the lower Hudson Valley were typically used before marble became more popular. By the late 18th century, marble was being produced by a number of quarries in northern Manhattan, the most well-known quarry that supplied stone from the deposit was in the area now known as Tuckahoe. This Tuckahoe marble was nearly white in color and considered by many to be of the highest grade. Many federal buildings destroyed by the British during the War of 1812 were rebuilt with Tuckahoe marble, the commercial marble industry first developed along the Bronx River. In 1818 the Tuckahoe Marble Quarry opened and eventually became a producer of marble for the world. These local marble quarries were the reason that the state government of New York chose Sing Sing as the site of a new prison in 1825. From 1865 to 1871, hundreds of Scottish and Irish laborers blasted huge quantities of marble from the quarry at Hastings-on-Hudson, by the 1880s, Hastings Pavement was producing the paving blocks used extensively in Central Park and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Between 1895 and 1900, Hastings Pavement produced 10 million such blocks and shipped throughout the U. S. and to cities in Canada, Brazil. White Tuckahoe marble supplied the early United States with a material suitable for the neoclassical architecture popular in Americas early public buildings. Quarrying of Tuckahoe Marble ceased in 1930, Inwood marble was used to construct the burial vaults at the New York Marble Cemetery and the New York City Marble Cemetery, both repositories of influential and prominent early citizens. T. Stewart Company Store, Manhattan Brooklyn Borough Hall Tweed Courthouse, Manhattan Washington Square Arch, Marble House, Newport, Rhode Island Washington Monument, Washington, D. C. List of types of marble Torres, Louis, Tuckahoe Marble, The Rise and Fall of an Industry in Eastchester, New York, 1822-1930, Harrison, N. Y
