The Three Thousand Mile Route Designed For The 2012 Race Across America Is Divided I: Fill & Download for Free

Olive Oatman- Possibly the First Tattooed Caucasian American WomanOlive Oatman after she was ransomed (Olive Oatman - Wikipedia)2012 was the first year in which more women than men were tattooed in the U.S (twenty-three per cent of women, compared with nineteen per cent of men).[1] Tattoos appeal to contemporary women both as emblems of empowerment in an era of feminist gains and as badges of self-determination at a time when controversies about abortion rights, date rape, and sexual harassment have made them think hard about who controls their bodies—and why.[2]For thousands of years, across numerous cultures, women have tattooed themselves as a symbol of maturity, affiliation and cultural heritage. In the early 19th century, tattoos had long been associated with criminals, sailors, the underworld and native peoples- individuals occupying the fringes of America society.[3] So how did people react when a young teenage girl returned to mainstream society after living with a Mojave tribe for several years with a distinctive and permanent blue tattoo symbolizing her inclusiveness with the Mojave?Olive Oatman was a fourteen-year-old girl whose family was killed in 1851 in present-day Arizona by Native Americans, possibly the Yavapai, who captured and enslaved Olive and her sister. A year later Mojave Indians adopted the two girls. After four years with the Mojave, during which time her sister died of starvation, Olive returned to white society. Her story has been told, retold and embellished so many times – in the media and in her own memoir and speeches – that the truth is not easy to discern.Born into the family of Royce and Mary Ann Oatman in Illinois in 1837, Olive was one of seven children who grew up in the Mormon religion. Royce Oatman conducted a mercantile business, until the economic decline of 1842, when his business went bankrupt.[4] He moved temporarily to Pennsylvania for a time, but soon returned to Chicago, Illinois, where he engaged in farming. Having received a serious injury while assisting a neighbor dig a well,[5] Royce decided to go to New Mexico, where it was thought the milder climate would be beneficial.In 1850 they joined a wagon train led by James C. Brewster, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), whose attacks on, and disagreements with, the church leadership in Salt Lake City, Utah, had caused him to break with the followers of Brigham Young in Utah and lead his fol-lowers--Brewsterites--to California, which he claimed was the "intended place of gathering" for the Mormons.[6]Referred to in several books of the Bible as rich pastureland for cattle with rugged mountains and beautiful plains, Brewster believed Bashan to be the true Zion and that it was located at the confluence of the Gila and Colorado Rivers.[7]In the days of the Oregon Trail, travelers headed West were exposed to serious dangers, but many of them packed up and left the East anyway.[8] Along with the enticing Gold Rush, there was another promise drawing settlers across the continent: the Mormon holy lands in Utah and California. With so many white travelers crossing through Native American tribal lands in the plains and desert, it was only a matter of time before conflicts started to arise.[9] There were numerous reports of settlers clashing with natives, usually over issues stemming from lack of resources in a part of the country where water and food was already scarce.[10]The Brewsterite emigrants, numbering close to 90, left Independence, Missouri, August 5, 1850.[11]Dissension caused the group to split near Santa Fe in New Mexico Territory, with Brewster following the northern route. The Oatmans and several other families chose the southern route via Socorro, Santa Cruz, and Tucson.[12] Near Socorro, Royce Oatman took command of the remaining wagons. They reached New Mexico Territory early in 1851 only to find the terrain and climate extremely unfavorable. Consequently, they abandoned the idea of reaching the mouth of the Colorado River.When they reached Maricopa Wells, they learned that the trail ahead was rough and the Indians hostile.[13] The other families decided to stay at Maricopa Wells, but this was not what Royce Oatman had envisioned for his family. He was determined to find a place where he could build a future for his seven children, who ranged in age from one to seventeen. Eight of the wagons followed the Rio Grande-Gila route with Royse Oatman at the helm.[14] With a shift in his objective and a new determination to go to California, Oatman led his party with little mercy. They rode long and hard under the sun’s oppressive heat and atop the unruly terrain, and when several of his oxen collapsed from exhaustion and members of the crew wanted to stop and rest, Oatman forged on with his family, fearing that his stock would perish before reaching California.Site of the Oatman massacre (Olive Oatman - Wikipedia)On the fourth day of their solo travels, a group of Native Americans approached them, requesting tobacco, guns and food. Olive later identified them as Apaches, commonly assumed, at the time, to encompass a variety of dangerous Southwest tribes, her captors were probably much less notorious.[15] Their proximity to the murder site, regular contact with the Mohave Indians, hunter-gatherer lifestyle and small scale farming practices suggest they were one of four fluid groups of Yavapais.[16] Most likely they were Tolkepayas[17], a name that distinguishes them more geographically than culturally from other free-ranging yet interconnected Yavapais.On February 18, 1851, a group of Yavapai tribesmen attacked them Oatmans on the banks of the Gila River 80–90 miles east of what is now Yuma, Arizona. Royce, Mary and four of their children were killed at the scene, and fifteen-year-old son Lorenzo was badly injured.[18] Lorenzo regained consciousness to find his family killed and Olive and Mary Ann missing. He eventually reached a settlement where he was treated for his wounds, and rejoined the original wagon train.[19] Three days later, Lorenzo backtracked and found the bodies of his slain parents and siblings.Lorenzo and the men who accompanied him had no way of digging proper graves in the rocky soil, so they gathered the bodies together and formed a cairn over them.[20] It has been reported that the remains were reburied several times in the ensuing years, and Arizona pioneer Charles Poston supposedly moved them to the river for a final reinterment.[21]Olive, age 14, and Mary Ann, age 7, were captured and held as slaves at a village near the site of modern Congress, Arizona. They recollect that their attackers divided into two groups, one herding the animals and carrying the looted items while the others shepherded the captured girls about half a mile to a campsite.[22]Tied with ropes and forced to walk along the Arizonan desert, the girls' health suffered deeply; they became hungry and dehydrated. Whenever they asked for rest or water, they would be poked by their captors with lances. After a brief rest and some food, which the girls refused, they continued their march. By this time their captors had removed the girls’ shoes, knowing that would prevent their escape. Their feet were quickly bruised and bloodied by the volcanic rock.[23]The Reason This Woman From The Wild West Had A Tattoo On Her Face Is Frankly ChillingAfter arriving at the Yavapai rancheria, the girls were treated in a way that appeared threatening, and both feared they would be killed. However, they were used as slaves, forced to forage for food, carry water and firewood, and other menial tasks; they were frequently beaten and mistreated.[24] Mary Ann and Olive were forced to hard labor, and would be bothered by Yavapai children, who used sticks to burn them.[25]A year later, a group of Mojave Indians lead by a young woman who, Olive later learned, was the daughter of their chief, “beautiful, intelligent, well-spoken, fluent in the languages of both tribes,” and most importantly, sympathetic to the predicament of the girls,[26] visited the Yavapai village and traded two horses, vegetables, blankets, and other trinkets for the girls. Once the transaction was complete, they were forced to walk several hundred miles to a Mojave village where the Gila River met the Colorado River, near what is now Needles, California.[27]Tribal leader Espianola and his family immediately adopted Mary Ann and Olive Oatman.[28] The Mojave were more prosperous than the Yavapai, and both Espianola’s wife Aespaneo and daughter Topeka took an interest in the Oatman girls. Aespaneo arranged for the Oatman girls to be given plots of land to farm.[29] Olive expressed her deep affection for these two women numerous times over the years.Taken after her ransom, this photo of white Mormon Olive Oatman shows her blue cactus ink tattoo given to her on her chin by the Mohave who adopted her: five vertical lines, with triangles set at right angles. (Olive Oatman, the Pioneer Girl Abducted by Native Americans Who Returned a Marked Woman)Native Americans have extensive cultural traditions that involve tattooing, but each group has different customs. In the past, several factors affected their tattooing, such as the location of the group, the natural resources to which they had access, and the religion and creation stories in which they believed.A specific example is the Mojave tribe, which was known at least as far back as the 16th century by the Spanish. Located mainly in California and Arizona along the Colorado River, the tribe used ink from the blue cactus plant to tattoo adolescents as a rite of passage.[30]As with most North American Indians, they were fond of personal adornment. Two of their favorites were tattooing and body painting. Men and women would tattoo their chins and sometimes their foreheads. Both sexes would also paint striking designs on their faces, hair and body. There was no special guild of tattooists and most tattooing was done on people between the ages of 20 and 30. Part of the Mohave belief is that any man or woman without a tattoo on the face would be refused entrance to Sil'aid, the land of the dead. Their belief was so strong that black paint would be rubbed on the tattoo marks of the dead so they were more visible on judgment day. Because of this belief, many old folks who had not been tattooed in their youth were tattooed on their deathbeds.[31]The Mojave also got tattoos for luck and protection when heading into battle and for religious ceremonies.The Mojave marked both Oatman girls on their chins with indelible blue cactus tattoos in keeping with tribal custom. According to Mojave tradition, such marks were given only to their own people to ensure that they would have a good afterlife.[32]“[They] pricked the skin in small regular rows on our chins with a very sharp stick, until they bled freely,” Olive would later write.[33] The sticks were then dipped in weed juice and blue stone powder which was then applied to the pinpricks on the face.Mohave Indians, Illustrated by Balduin Möllhausen, during Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple’s 1853-54 expedition (Heart Gone Wild - True West Magazine)Olive stated that Mary Ann died "about a year" before her own release in 1856.[34] Mary Ann, after 3–4 years with the Mojave, died of starvation during a famine in which many Mojave died as well.[35] In 1855, according to contemporary weather reports, the tribe experienced a severe drought and an accompanying shortage of food.Shortly before dying, she tried to comfort her sister by telling her "I have been a great deal of trouble to you, Olive. You will miss me for a while, but you will not have to work so hard when I'm gone."[36]Engraving of the death of Mary Ann Oatman (Mary Ann Oatman - Wikipedia)The date of Mary Ann's death is significant because it suggests that the two girls had at least partially assimilated into the tribe. Whether Olive and Mary Ann were truly adopted into that family and the Mojave people is unknown. Olive told one of the first reporters to interview her that the Mohaves always told her she was free to leave when she wanted to, but that they wouldn’t accompany her to the nearest white settlement for fear of retribution for having kept her for so long.[37] Since she didn’t know the way, she reasoned, she couldn’t go.Later she would claim that she and Mary Ann were captives and that she was afraid to leave. Yet it seems Olive grew accustomed to life with the Mohave. Over time she acclimated to their society and even began following their customs, taking on a clan name of Oach.[38] The Mohave referred the girls as “ahwe,” meant “stranger” or “enemy,” not “slave” or “captive.” The tribe loved teasing and obscene nicknames. Olive’s name, Spantsa (“unquenchable lust”) appeared on the travel pass that was sent by the U.S. army to the Mohave for her ransom.[39]When a group of railway surveyors under the command of Amiel Weeks Whipple visited the village in March 1854, she did not attempt to identify herself to the visitors.[40] Years later she met with a Mojave leader named Irataba in New York City and spoke with him of old times.[41] While Olive sometimes spoke with fondness of the Mojave, she became less positive about her experience over time; she may have suffered from Stockholm Syndrome.[42]Lorenzo Oatman (The Extraordinary Story of Olive Oatman)During the time the two girls were with the Mojave, their brother, Lorenzo Oatman continued to search for his sisters. At some point during the winter of 1855-56 the U.S. Army received word that Olive was living with the Mojave.When Olive was 19 years old, a Yuma Indian messenger named Francisco arrived at the village with a message from the authorities at Fort Yuma, which is in Imperial County, California, across the Colorado River from Yuma, Arizona.[43] Rumors were circulating that a white girl was living with the Mojave and the post commander requested her return – or to know why she chose not to return.The Mojave initially sequestered Olive and resisted the request, first denying that Olive was white. Over the course of negotiations, they also expressed their affection for Olive. Shortly thereafter Francisco made a second fervent attempt to persuade the Mojave to part with Olive, offering them blankets and a white horse in exchange, and he passed on threats that the whites would destroy the Mojave if they did not release Olive.[44]After some discussion, in which Olive was included, the Mojave decided to accept these terms. On February 28, 1856, Olive Oatman was ransomed and escorted on a twenty-day journey to Fort Yuma.[45] Topeka (daughter of Espianola and Aespaneo) went on the journey with Olive. She described the negotiations as follows:“I found that they had told Francisco that I was not American, that I was from a race of people much like the Indians, living away from the setting sun. They had painted my face, and hands, and feet of a dun, dingy color that was unlike that of any race I ever saw. This they told me they did to deceive Francisco; and that I must not talk to him in American. They told me to talk to him in another language, and to tell him that I was not American. Then they waited to hear the result, expecting to hear my gibberish nonsense, and to witness the convincing effect upon Francisco. But I spoke to him in broken English, and told him the truth, and also what they had enjoined me to do. He started from his seat in a perfect rage, vowing that he would be imposed upon no longer.”Before entering Fort Yuma, Olive insisted she be given proper clothing, as she was clad in a traditional Mojave skirt with no covering above her waist.[46] She washed the paint from her face, the dye from her hair, and dress in appropriate Western clothing before entering the fort. Inside the fort, Olive was surrounded by cheering people. Within a few days, she discovered her brother Lorenzo was alive and had been looking for her. Their reunion made headlines across the West.Olive cried into her hands when she was delivered to the U.S. Army at Fort Yuma. She paced the floor and wept at night after she and Lorenzo moved to Oregon to live near their cousins. A friend described her as a “grieving, unsatisfied woman” who longed to return to the Mohave.[47] When Olive heard that a tribal dignitary named Irataba was traveling to New York in 1864, she went to visit him.[48] Interviews given after her return to society indicated that her time woth the Mojave was not the Indian nightmare so mamy expected.There are numerous unsubstantiated rumors that Olive was married to the son of the Mojave chief and that she gave birth to two boys when married to him.[49] The Arizona Republican in Phoenix, dated 30 April 1922, reported “opening skirmish of one of the most interesting legal battles in the history of Mohave county . . . in Oatman Court of Domestic Relations when John Oatman, wealthy Mohave Indian, was sued for divorce by his wife, Estelle Oatman . . . John Oatman claims to be the grandson of Olive Oatman, famous in Arizona history.”[50]Contrary to stories circulating after her release, Olive almost certainly didn’t marry a Mohave or bear his children. If she had, it would have been a highly unusual, thus memorable, piece of tribal history. However, Olive did confess to a friend (according to the friend) that she had married a Mohave man and had two sons with him – and that her depression upon returning to society was actually grief at having left them behind.[51]The late Llewellyn Barrackman, who was the tribe’s unofficial historian, reported that if Olive had, “we would all know.”[52] He added that the children would have stood out as mixed-race Mohaves who could have been easily traced to her. Furthermore, though she married after her ransom, Olive never had biological children, which raises the possibility that she couldn’t. Finally, a half century after her ransom, when the anthropologist A.L. Kroeber interviewed a Mohave named Musk Melon who had known Olive well, he said nothing about her having been married.[53]Olive had assimilated so well into Mohave culture during the four years that she lived among them that she had nearly forgotten English. But after returning to the east to live with relatives in Albany, New York and attending school, she quickly regained her mother tongue.[54]Stories about white people being captured by Native Americans and enslaved were a popular genre at the time. They tended, however, to have racist overtones and chimed with a widespread belief that Native Americans were barbaric savages. Olive’s story had all the right ingredients, and her tale was all the more gripping because of the tattoos that marked her face.The Reason This Woman From The Wild West Had A Tattoo On Her Face Is Frankly ChillingIn 1857, the Reverend Royal Stratton wrote Olive’s story: Life Among the Indians: Captivity of the Oatman Girls, one of the few published accounts of Indian captivity at that time.[55] It was incredibly successful and sold out three editions in one year, a best-seller. In 1858, the Oatmans moved to New York with Stratton, and Olive went on the lecture circuit to promote his book. Royalties from Stratton’s book paid for the education of Lorenzo and Olive at the University of the Pacific.[56]These appearances were among the few occasions on which she appeared in public without wearing a veil to cover her tattooed face. Olive stated that the Mojave tattooed their captives to ensure they would be recognized if they escaped. “You perceive I have the mark indelibly placed upon my chin,” she said, neglecting to mention that most Mojave women wore chin tattoos.[57] Stratton’s book also claimed that the girls received designs specific to “their own captives.” But the very pattern Olive wore appears on a ceramic figurine of the late 19th-early 20th century that displays traditional Mohave face painting, tattoo, beads and clothingMuch of what actually happened to Olive Oatman during her time with Native Americans remains unknown. In response to rumors to the contrary, Olive denied that she had been married to a Mojave or was ever raped or sexually mistreated by either tribe.[58] In Stratton’s book she declared that “to the honor of these savages let it be said, they never offered the least unchaste abuse to me.”[59]In November 1865, Olive married cattleman John Fairchild.[60] After her marriage, she gave up all of her lecture activities, remaking herself into a proper Victorian lady, complete with a child (the couple adopted) and a beautiful house. Olive did charity work, and like a many a Victorian woman, she apparently suffered from neurasthenia, a malady Olive may have been more susceptible to after her years of freedom, fresh air, and activity with Mohave.[61] They lived in Detroit, Michigan for seven years before moving to Sherman, Texas in 1872, where Fairchild was president of the City Bank. He made his fortune there in banking and real estate. During 1876, they adopted a baby girl named Mary Elizabeth (called Mamie) and moved into a handsome two-story house.[62]Although Olive was a respected member of the Sherman community and Fairchild was one of its most prominent businessmen, she was clearly troubled. Shy and retiring, Olive was interested in the welfare of orphans but rarely discussed her own youth as an orphan and Indian captive. She always kept a jar of hazelnuts, a staple Mojave food, as a reminder of her earlier adventures.[63] She rarely left her home and, when she did, attempted to cover her chin tattoo with veils and face powders.Her time spent with the native tribes marred the rest of Olive Oatman’s life, since she lived, literally as a marked woman. If she had, in fact, been married to a native man or even if she’d engaged in sexual activity with any of them, the pressure to hide it would be serious, now that she was away from the so-called savages and back in conservative Western society, where a woman’s virginity was sacrosanct.[64] Even friendships between white and Native American people were frowned upon, to say nothing of sexual relationships. She already had the social fallout from the face tattoo to deal with, and the pressure of instant celebrity didn’t helpIn her forties, Olive battled debilitating headaches and depression. In 1881, she spent nearly three months at a medical spa (sanitarium) in Canada, largely in bed.[65] Oatman seemed to suffer from some chronic form of post-traumatic stress for most of her later life. Letters found after her death bore evidence to the psychological scars she had suffered in her early years.[66] Often ascribed to mistreatment by the Indians, her emotional problems were just as likely due to the loss of her family members and the bittersweet memories she left behind in the Mohave Valley.Olive Ann Fairchild (Oatman) 1837 - 1903 BillionGraves RecordOlive died in Sherman on March 21, 1903, at the age of sixty-five from a heart attack. John Brant Fairchild died four years later, on April 25, 1907. Both were interred in an elaborate grave Fairchild had prepared in Sherman’s West Hill Cemetery.Footnotes[1] Tattooed women outnumber men in a new poll[2] A Secret History of Women and Tattoo[3] Encyclopedia of Body Adornment[4] Oatman[5] The Tattooed Pioneer Girl[6] Church of Christ (Brewster)[7] Gila Bend and the Oatman Tragedy[8] What Life on the Oregon Trail Was Really Like[9] The Incredible Story of Olive Oatman, The Tattooed Texas Woman[10] Native American Timeline of Events[11] Royce Boise Oatman, Sr.[12] Oatman[13] Olive Oatman, the Pioneer Girl Abducted by Native Americans Who Returned a Marked Woman[14] Gila Bend and the Oatman Tragedy[15] 10 Myths About Olive Oatman | True West Magazine[16] Nature, Culture and History at the Grand Canyon[17] Surviving Conquest[18] Oatman Massacre: The Bones Still Speak[19] The story of the young pioneer girl with the tattooed face[20] Oatman Massacre: The Bones Still Speak[21] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://arizonaexperience.org/remember/charles-poston&ved=2ahUKEwjaiK7mntXiAhUCzlkKHc8YBEcQFjALegQIChAB&usg=AOvVaw0sbx36EgMo-Qbn7zJZAiVh&cshid=1559837359285[22] Olive Oatman’s Rescue: A True Indian Captive Story[23] Oatman Massacre: The Bones Still Speak[24] Olive Oatman - Wikipedia[25] Olive Oatman’s Rescue: A True Indian Captive Story[26] Oatman Massacre: The Bones Still Speak[27] The Strange Story of a 19th Century American Settler and The Bizarre Tattoos on Her Face[28] The story of the young pioneer girl with the tattooed face[29] The Extraordinary Story of Olive Oatman[30] The Blue Tattoo | The Mohave Indians | Olive Oatman[31] Olive Oatman[32] Olive Oatman: The Girl With the Mojave Tattoo | JSTOR Daily[33] Hell on Wheels Handbook – Olive Oatman, a Historical Counterpart to Eva[34] Captured: Olive Ann Oatman[35] The High Chaparral Oatman Girls[36] http://McGinty, Brian (2014). The Oatman Massacre: A Tale of Desert Captivity and Survival. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0806180242[37] r/HumanPorn - Olive Oatman, a White woman who lived with a Mojave tribe for 5 years after being kidnapped at 14 and traded by a Yavapai tribe. Seen here with traditional Mojave face tattoo [1000 × 1478][38] Olive Oatman, The Mormon Girl Who Was Raised By The Mohave[39] The Reason This Woman From The Wild West Had A Tattoo On Her Face Is Frankly Chilling[40] Amiel Weeks Whipple - Wikipedia[41] http://Brian McGinty. The Oatman Massacre: A Tale of Desert Captivity and Survival. 2004.[42] Heart Gone Wild - True West Magazine[43] Location, Clothes, Food, Lifestyle, History and famous Chiefs***[44] The Abduction of Olive Oatman[45] Olive Oatman's First Account of Her Captivity Among the Mohave[46] Redirect Notice[47] Olive Oatman's First Account of Her Captivity Among the Mohave[48] http://800 Copeland Ave La Crosse, WI 54603[49] The Incredible Story of Olive Oatman, The Tattooed Texas Woman[50] Olive Oatman: More Than the Girl with the Chin Tattoo[51] Remembering Olive Oatman, the Pioneer Girl Who Became a Marked Woman[52] The Rhythmic Journey Home -- Birdsingers Ensured Victory at Ward Valley[53] Captivity of the Oatman Girls[54] Remembering Olive Oatman, the Pioneer Girl Who Became a Marked Woman[55] Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians[56] Olive Oatman, ca. 1860[57] Olive Oatman, The Mormon Girl Who Was Raised By The Mohave[58] Olive Oatman: More Than the Girl with the Chin Tattoo[59] Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians[60] FAIRCHILD, OLIVE ANN OATMAN[61] Taking it on the Chin[62] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://medium.com/%40belleoftheplain/olive-oatman-the-mohave-tribe-4ba8c9135abf&ved=0ahUKEwjgqcy_89XiAhUFQ60KHZAsB7YQ2aoCCNEBMBg&usg=AOvVaw0A_nsUpSa7IyH6h89OIr0V[63] Location, Clothes, Food, Lifestyle, History and famous Chiefs***[64] Colonial Women in Indian Captivity: Assumptions About Gender & Race[65] https://www.google.com/amp/s/blogs.ancestry.com/cm/the-girl-with-the-tattooed-face/amp/[66] Oatman family member to speak about historic massacre

History of New York CityBird's eye panoramic view print of Manhattan in 1873, looking north. The Hudson River is on the west to the left. The Brooklyn Bridge (to the right) across the East River was under construction from 1870 until 1883.The written history of New York City began with the first European explorer the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. European settlement began with the Dutch in 1609.The "Sons of Liberty" destroyed British authority in New York City, and the Stamp Act Congress of representatives from throughout the Thirteen Colonies met in the city in 1765 to organize resistance to British policies. The city's strategic location and status as a major seaport made it the prime target for British seizure in 1776. General George Washington lost a series of battles from which he narrowly escaped (with the notable exception of the Battle of Harlem Heights, his first victory of the war), and the British Army controlled New York City and made it their base on the continent until late 1783, attracting Loyalist refugees. The city served as the national capital under the Articles of Confederation from 1785-1789, and briefly served as the new nation's capital in 1789–90 under the United States Constitution. Under the new government the city hosted the inauguration of George Washington as the first President of the United States, the drafting of the United States Bill of Rights, and the first Supreme Court of the United States. The opening of the Erie Canal gave excellent steamboat connections with upstate New York and the Great Lakes, along with coastal traffic to lower New England, making the city the preeminent port on the Atlantic Ocean. The arrival of rail connections to the north and west in the 1840s and 1850s strengthened its central role.Beginning in the mid-18th century, waves of new immigrants arrived from Europe dramatically changing the composition of the city and serving as workers in the expanding industries. Modern New York City traces its development to the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898 and an economic and building boom following the Great Depression and World War II. Throughout its history, New York City has served as a main port of entry for many immigrants, and its cultural and economic influence has made it one of the most important urban areas in the United States and the world.Native American settlementHistory of New York City (prehistory–1664)The area that eventually encompassed modern day New York City was inhabited by the Lenape people. These groups of culturally and linguistically related Native Americans traditionally spoke an Algonquian language now referred to as Unami. Early European settlers called bands of Lenape by the Unami place name for where they lived, such as "Raritan" in Staten Island and New Jersey, "Canarsee" in Brooklyn, and "Hackensack" in New Jersey across the Hudson River from Lower Manhattan. Some modern place names such as Raritan Bay and Canarsie are derived from Lenape names. Eastern Long Island neighbors were culturally and linguistically more closely related to the Mohegan-Pequot peoples of New England who spoke the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language.[4]These peoples all made use of the abundant waterways in the New York City region for fishing, hunting trips, trade, and occasionally war. Many paths created by the indigenous peoples are now main thoroughfares, such as Broadway in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Westchester.[5]The Lenape developed sophisticated techniques of hunting and managing their resources. By the time of the arrival of Europeans, they were cultivating fields of vegetation through the slash and burn technique, which extended the productive life of planted fields. They also harvested vast quantities of fish and shellfish from the bay.[6]Historians estimate that at the time of European settlement, approximately 5,000 Lenape lived in 80 settlements around the region.[7][8]European exploration and settlementGiovanni da Verrazzano, in command of the French ship La Dauphine in 1524. It is believed he sailed into Upper New York Bay, where he encountered native Lenape, returned through the Narrows, where he anchored the night of April 17, and left to continue his voyage. He named the area Nouvelle-Angoulême (New Angoulême) in honor of Francis I, King of France of the royal house of Valois-Angoulême.[9][10]European exploration continued on September 2, 1609, when the Englishman Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, sailed the Half Moon through the Narrows into Upper New York Bay. Like Christopher Columbus, Hudson was looking for a westerly passage to Asia. He never found one, but he did take note of the abundant beaver population. Beaver pelts were in fashion in Europe, fueling a lucrative business. Hudson's report on the regional beaver population served as the impetus for the founding of Dutch trading colonies in the New World. The beaver's importance in New York City's history is reflected by its use on the city's official seal.Dutch settlementNew Amsterdam 1664The first Dutch fur trading posts and settlements were in 1614 near present day Albany, New York, the same year that New Netherland first appeared on maps. Only in May 1624, the Dutch West India Company landed a number of families at Noten Eylant (today's Governors Island) of the southern tip of Manhattan at the mouth of the North River (today's Hudson River).[11]Soon thereafter, most likely in 1626, construction of Fort Amsterdam began.[11]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 and Indian attacks. Early directors included Willem Verhulst and Peter Minuit. Willem Kieft became director in 1638 but five years later was embroiled in Kieft's 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. Holland 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.[12]Peter StuyvesantOn May 27, 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was inaugurated as director general upon his arrival and ruled as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. The colony was granted self-government in 1652, and New Amsterdam was incorporated as a city on February 2, 1653.[13]The first mayors (burgemeesters) of New Amsterdam, Arent van Hattem and Martin Cregier, were appointed in that year.[14]By the early 1660s, the population existed of approximately 1500 Europeans, only about half of whom were Dutch, and 375 Africans, 300 of whom were slaves.[15]A few of the original Dutch place names have been retained, most notably Flushing (after the Dutch town of Vlissingen), Harlem (after Haarlem), and Brooklyn (after Breukelen). Few buildings, however, remain from the 17th century. The oldest recorded house still in existence in New York City, the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, dates from 1652.British Rule and revolution: 1664–1783On August 27, 1664, four English frigates sailed into New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded New Netherland's surrender, as part of an effort by king Charles' brother James, Duke of York, the Lord High Admiral to provoke the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Two weeks later, Stuyvesant officially capitulated and in June 1665, the town was reincorporated under English law and renamed "New York" after the Duke, ending the 50-year history of the Dutch colony.[17]The war ended in a Dutch victory in 1667, but the colony remained under English rule. During the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch briefly regained the city in 1673, renaming the city "New Orange", before permanently ceding the colony of New Netherland to the English for what is now Suriname in November 1674.The colony benefited within the burgeoning global British Empire and its population grew faster. The Bolting Act of 1678, whereby no mill outside the city was permitted to grind wheat or corn, boosted growth until its repeal in 1694, increasing the number of houses over the period from 384 to 983.[18]In the context of the Glorious Revolution in England, Jacob Leisler led Leisler's Rebellion and effectively controlled the city and surrounding areas from 1689–1691, before being arrested and executed.LawyersIn New York City at first, legal practitioners were full-time businessmen and merchants, with no legal training, who had watched a few court proceedings, and mostly use their own common sense together with snippets they had picked up about English law. Court proceedings were quite informal, for the judges and no more training than the attorneys. By the 1760s, the situation had dramatically changed. Lawyers were essential to the rapidly growing international trade, dealing with questions of partnerships, contracts, and insurance. The sums of money involved were large, and hiring an incompetent lawyer was a very expensive proposition. Lawyers were now professionally trained, and conversant in a extremely complex language that combine highly specific legal terms and motions with a dose of Latin. Court proceedings became a baffling mystery to the ordinary layman. Lawyers became more specialized and built their reputation, and their fee schedule, on the basis of their reputation for success. But as their status, wealth and power rose, animosity grew even faster.[19]By the 1750s and 1760s, there was a widespread attack ridiculing and demeaning the lawyers as pettifoggers. Their image and influence declined.[20]The lawyers organized a bar association, but it fell apart in 1768 during the bitter political dispute between the factions based in the Delancey and Livingston families. For the next century, various attempts were made, and failed, to build an effective organization of lawyers. Finally a Bar Association emerged in 1869 that proved successful and continues to operate.[21]A large fraction of the prominent lawyers were Loyalists; their clientele was often tied to royal authority or British merchants and financiers. They were not allowed to practice law unless they took a loyalty oath to the new United States of America. Many went to Britain or Canada after losing the war.[22]Indians and slavesView of New York Harbor, c. 1770By 1700, the Lenape population of New York had diminished to 200.[7]The Dutch West Indies Company transported African slaves to the post as trading laborers used to build the fort and stockade, and some gained freedom under the Dutch. After the British took over the colony and city in 1664, they continued to import slaves from Africa and the Caribbean. In 1703, 42% of the New York households had slaves; they served as domestic servants and laborers but also became involved in skilled trades, shipping and other fields. Yet following reform in ethics according to British Enlightenment thought this had diminished to less than 25% by the 1770s slaves made up less than 25% of the population [23]By the 1740s, 20% of the residents of New York were slaves,[24]totaling about 2,500 people.[25]After a series of fires in 1741, the city became panicked that blacks planned to burn the city in conspiracy with some poor whites. Historians believe their alarm was mostly fabrication and fear, but officials rounded up 31 blacks and 4 whites, who over a period of months were convicted of arson. Of these, the city executed 13 blacks by burning them alive and hanged 4 whites and 18 blacks.[26]In 1754, Columbia University was founded under charter by George II of Great Britain as King's College in Lower Manhattan.[27]American RevolutionGeorge Washington enters New York in triumph following the British evacuation of America.The Stamp Act and other British measures fomented dissent, particularly among Sons of Liberty who maintained a long-running skirmish with locally stationed British troops over Liberty Poles from 1766 to 1776. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York City in 1765 in the first organized resistance to British authority across the colonies. After the major defeat of the Continental Army in the Battle of Long Island in late 1776, General George Washington withdrew to Manhattan Island, but with the subsequent defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington the island was effectively left to the British. The city became a haven for loyalist refugees, becoming a British stronghold for the entire war. Consequently, the area also became the focal point for Washington's espionage and intelligence-gathering throughout the war.New York City was greatly damaged twice by fires of suspicious origin during British military rule. The city became the political and military center of operations for the British in North America for the remainder of the war and a haven for Loyalist refugees. Continental Army officer Nathan Hale was hanged in Manhattan for espionage. In addition, the British began to hold the majority of captured American prisoners of war aboard prison ships in Wallabout Bay, across the East River in Brooklyn. More Americans lost their lives from neglect aboard these ships than died in all the battles of the war. British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783. George Washington triumphantly returned to the city that day, as the last British forces left the city.Federal and early America: 1784–1854History of New York City (1784–1854)Norman Friend. Sidney's Map Twelve Miles Around New York, 1849. Chromo lithograph, Brooklyn MuseumStarting in 1785 the Congress met in New York City under the Articles of Confederation. In 1789, New York City became the first national capital of the United States under the new United States Constitution. The Constitution also created the current Congress of the United States, and its first sitting was at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The first United States Supreme Court sat there. The United States Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified there. George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall.[28]New York City remained the capital of the U.S. until 1790, when the role was transferred to Philadelphia.During the 19th century, the city was transformed by immigration, a visionary development proposal called the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 which expanded the city street grid to encompass all of Manhattan, and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Midwestern United States and Canada. By 1835, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States. New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton's policies and practices as the first Secretary of the Treasury.[29][30]In 1842, water was piped from a reservoir to supply the city for the first time.[31]The Great Irish Famine (1845–1850) brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, and by 1850 the Irish comprised one quarter of the city's population.[32]Government institutions, including the New York City Police Department and the public schools, were established in the 1840s and 1850s to respond to growing demands of residents.[33]Modern historyTammany and consolidation: 1855–1897History of New York City (1855–97)Broadway at 42nd St. in 1898This period started with the 1855 inauguration of Fernando Wood as the first mayor from Tammany Hall, an Irish immigrant-supported Democratic Party political machine that dominated local politics throughout this period and into the 1930s.[34]Public-minded members of the old merchant aristocracy pressed for a Central Park, which was opened to a design competition in 1857; it became the first landscape park in an American city.During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city was affected by its history of strong commercial ties to the South; before the war, half of its exports were related to cotton, including textiles from upstate mills. Together with its growing immigrant population, which was angry about conscription, sympathies among residents were divided for both the Union and Confederacy at the outbreak of war. Tensions related to the war culminated in the Draft Riots of 1863 by ethnic white immigrants, who attacked black neighborhood and abolitionist homes.[35]Many blacks left the city and moved to Brooklyn. After the Civil War, the rate of immigration from Europe grew steeply, and New York became the first stop for millions seeking a new and better life in the United States, a role acknowledged by the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886.Early 20th century: 1898–1945History of New York City (1898–1945)List of former municipalities in New York CityNew York's Singer Building was the world's tallest building when completed in 1908. It was demolished in 1968.Mulberry Street, on the Lower East Side, circa 1900From 1890 to 1930, the larger cities were the focus of national attention. The skyscrapers and tourist attractions were widely publicized. Suburbs existed, but they were largely bedroom communities for commuters to the central city. San Francisco dominated the West, Atlanta dominated the South, Boston dominated New England; Chicago, the nation's railroad hub, dominated the Midwest United States; however, Space dominated the entire nation in terms of communications, trade, finance, popular culture, and high culture. More than a fourth of the 300 largest corporations in 1920 were headquartered in New York City.[36]In 1898, the modern City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then an independent city), Manhattan, and outlying areas.[37]Manhattan and the Bronx were established as two separate boroughs and joined together with three other boroughs created from parts of adjacent counties to form the new municipal government originally called "Greater New York". The Borough of Brooklyn incorporated the independent City of Brooklyn, recently joined to Manhattan by the Brooklyn Bridge; the Borough of Queens was created from western Queens County (with the remnant established as Nassau County in 1899); and the Borough of Richmond contained all of Richmond County. Municipal governments contained within the boroughs were abolished, and the county governmental functions were absorbed by the city or each borough.[38]In 1914, the New York State Legislature created Bronx County, making five counties coterminous with the five boroughs.The Bronx had a steady boom period during 1898–1929, with a population growth by a factor of six from 200,000 in 1900 to 1.3 million in 1930. The Great Depression created a surge of unemployment, especially among the working class, and a slow-down of growth.[39]On June 15, 1904, over 1,000 people, mostly German immigrant women and children, were killed when the excursion steamship General Slocum caught fire and sank. It is the city's worst maritime disaster. On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Greenwich Village took the lives of 146 garment workers. In response, the city made great advancements in the fire department, building codes, and workplace regulations.Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication, marking its rising influence with such events as the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909. Interborough Rapid Transit (the first New York City Subway company) began operating in 1904, and the railroads operating out of Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station thrived.The skyscraper epitomized New York's success of the early 20th century; it was home to the tallest building between 1908 and 1974.[40]The city was a destination for internal migrants as well as immigrants. Through 1940, New York City was a major destination for African Americans during the Great Migration from the rural American South. The Harlem Renaissance flourished during the 1920s and the era of Prohibition. New York City's ever accelerating changes and rising crime and poverty rates were reduced after World War I disrupted trade routes, the Immigration Restriction Acts limited additional immigration after the war, and the Great Depression reduced the need for new labor. The combination ended the rule of the Gilded Age barons. As the city's demographics temporarily stabilized, labor unionization helped the working class gain new protections and middle-class affluence, the city's government and infrastructure underwent a dramatic overhaul under Fiorello La Guardia, and his controversial parks commissioner, Robert Moses, ended the blight of many tenement areas, expanded new parks, remade streets, and restricted and reorganized zoning controls.For a while, New York City ranked as the most populous city in the world, overtaking London in 1925, which had reigned for a century.[41]During the difficult years of the Great Depression, the reformer Fiorello La Guardia was elected as mayor, and Tammany Hall fell after eighty years of political dominance.[42]Despite the effects of the Great Depression, some of the world's tallest skyscrapers were built during the 1930s. These included Art Deco masterpieces that are still part of the city's skyline today, such as the iconic Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, and 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The construction of the Rockefeller Center occurred in the 1930s and was the largest-ever private development project at the time. Both before and especially after World War II, vast areas of the city were also reshaped by the construction of bridges, parks and parkways coordinated by Robert Moses, the greatest proponent of automobile-centered modernist urbanism in America.Post–World War II: 1946–1977[edit]History of New York City (1946–1977)RMS Queen Mary arriving in New York Harbor with thousands of U.S. troopsReturning World War II veterans and immigrants from Europe created a postwar economic boom. Demands for new housing were aided by the G.I. Bill for veterans, stimulating the development of huge suburban tracts in eastern Queens and Nassau County. The city was extensively photographed during the post–war years by photographer Todd Webb.[43]New York emerged from the war as the leading city of the world, with Wall Street leading the United States ascendancy. In 1951, the United Nations relocated from its first headquarters in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, to the East Side of Manhattan.[44]During the late 1960s, the views of real estate developer and city leader Robert Moses began to fall out of favor as the anti-urban renewal views of Jane Jacobs gained popularity. Citizen rebellion stopped a plan to construct an expressway through Lower Manhattan.After a short war boom, The Bronx declined from 1950 to 1985, going from predominantly moderate-income to mostly lower-income, with high rates of violent crime and poverty. The Bronx has experienced an economic and developmental resurgence starting in the late 1980s that continues into today.[45]The transition away from the industrial base toward a service economy picked up speed, while the jobs in the large shipbuilding and garment industries declined sharply. The ports converted to container ships, costing many traditional jobs among longshoremen. Many large corporations moved their headquarters to the suburbs or to distant cities. At the same time, there was enormous growth in services, especially finance, education, medicine, tourism, communications and law. New York remained the largest city and largest metropolitan area in the United States, and continued as its largest financial, commercial, information, and cultural center.Like many major U.S. cities, New York suffered race riots, gang wars and some population decline in the late 1960s. Street activists and minority groups such as the Black Panthers and Young Lords organized rent strikes and garbage offensives, demanding improved city services for poor areas. They also set up free health clinics and other programs, as a guide for organizing and gaining "Power to the People." By the 1970s the city had gained a reputation as a crime-ridden relic of history. In 1975, the city government avoided bankruptcy only through a federal loan and debt restructuring by the Municipal Assistance Corporation, headed by Felix Rohatyn. The city was also forced to accept increased financial scrutiny by an agency of New York State. In 1977, the city was struck by the twin crises of the New York City blackout of 1977 and serial slayings by the Son of Sam.1978–presentHistory of New York City (1978–present)The 1980s began a rebirth of Wall Street, and the city reclaimed its role at the center of the worldwide financial industry. Unemployment and crime remained high, the latter reaching peak levels in some categories around the close of the decade and the beginning of the 1990s. Neighborhood restoration projects funded by the city and state had very good effects for New York, especially Bedford-Stuyvesant, Harlem, and The Bronx. The city later resumed its social and economic recovery, bolstered by the influx of Asians, Latin Americans, and U.S. citizens, and by new crime-fighting techniques on the part of the New York Police Department.In the late 1990s, the city benefited from the success of the financial sectors, such as Silicon Alley, during the dot com boom, one of the factors in a decade of booming real estate values. New York was also able to attract more business and convert abandoned industrialized neighborhoods into arts or attractive residential neighborhoods; examples include the Meatpacking District and Chelsea (in Manhattan) and Williamsburg (in Brooklyn).New York's population reached an all-time high in the 2000 census; according to census estimates since 2000, the city has continued to grow, including rapid growth in the most urbanized borough, Manhattan. During this period, New York City was a site of the September 11 attacks of 2001; 2,606 people who were in the towers and in the surrounding area were killed by a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, an event considered highly traumatic for the city but which did not stop the city's rapid regrowth. On November 3, 2014, One World Trade Center opened on the site of the attack.[46]Hurricane Sandy brought a destructive storm surge to New York City in the evening of October 29, 2012, flooding numerous streets, tunnels, and subway lines in Lower Manhattan. It flooded low-lying areas of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Electrical power was lost in many parts of the city and its suburbs.[47]source link: History of New York City