Ls Land Issue 15 Little Duchess | Tested
Tyler Janicke
When Henry Hudson sailed up the Hudson River in 1609, laying claim to the valley for the Dutch Crown, the east bank of the river had been home for centuries to the Wappinger Indians and other members of the Algonquin Federation. They called one of their encampments Poughkeepsie, the reed-covered lodge by the little water place."
In 1683, the colonial assembly established the twelve original counties of New York. Dutchess was among them, named after Mary of Modena, then Duchess of York and wife of the future King James II of England. The county's name derives from the seventeenth-century spelling of "duchess," as preserved in the original November 1, 1683, law that established the first twelve counties of New York.
Early European settlements clustered along the Hudson River at modern Beacon, Fishkill, Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, and Red Hook. Colonists from New England founded communities throughout the disputed areas of eastern Dutchess in the opening decades of the eighteenth century. The Treaty of Dover of 1731 stabilized the border zone.
Until the American Revolution, much of Dutchess County was organized into large land patents owned by a few rich men, including the Rombout Patent, the Beekman Patent, and the Nine Partners Patent. These owners subsequently sold lots or rented out allotments to tenants, leading to fraught relations that presaged the American independence movement.
During the Revolutionary War, the Village of Fishkill hosted the primary supply depot for the entire Northern Department of the Continental Army, including barracks, a hospital, and workshops. After the burning of Kingston in October 1777, Poughkeepsie served as the state capitol until the conclusion of hostilities.
During the post-Revolutionary era, the county began a slow climb to economic prosperity. In 1785, New York State granted the first license for the Post Road, formally establishing a series of taverns and inns along modern Route 9, some of which still stand today. These include the Elmendorph Inn at Red Hook and the Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck. The road network continued to grow throughout the nineteenth century, eventually being eclipsed by the railroad, which reached Poughkeepsie in the 1830s.
Ease of access and economic prosperity brought the first families of American from New York City to found or expand estates along the Hudson River. The Astors, Rogers, and Vanderbilts were among the families whose vast and beautiful properties dotted the landscape along the river and in the eastern highlands.
As this leisure class with money and time to pursue learning and culture emerged, literary and historical societies, schools, and institutions of higher learning emerged. From Vassar College to small community libraries, learning thrived in Dutchess County from the second quarter of the nineteenth century onwards.
Landscape painters Frederick Church and Thomas Cole gained fame and patronage as the Hudson River School flourished, while landscape architects including Andrew Jackson Downing and Calvert Vaux selected Dutchess County as the canvass for several remarkable projects, including Springside in Poughkeepsie.
Early in the twentieth century, Dutchess County regained political prominence as the home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During his service as governor and subsequently as President of the United States, Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor made Dutchess an experimental laboratory for New Deal ideas. FDR was the only President to win a fourth term in the White House: when Thomas E. Dewey from Pawling ran against him in 1944, it was the only time in American history when two men from the same county vied for the Presidency.
The seeds for post-World War II prosperity in Dutchess were planted in 1942 when IBM purchased property in Poughkeepsie. The expansion of their operations in the 1950s and 1960s introduced an era of tremendous growth in the Information Technology field and further transformed the county landscape. A growing population, with accompanying expansions of suburbs, required new roads and increased engagement from county government.
Dutchess County's history is visible at every turn. Colonial homesteads, gothic cottages, clapboard farmhouses, Victorian villas, Beaux Arts mansions, stone churches, country inns--all stand in silent witness to past lives and events that have shaped the distinctive character of Dutchess County. High-tech industries and modern shopping malls have replaced brickyards and trading posts. Dutchess County remains a community rooted in deep history and facing forward towards new opportunities.
1. Questions 1-7.
In the sixteenth century, an age of great marine and terrestrialexploration, Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition to sail aroundthe world. As a young Portuguese noble, he served the king of Portugal,but he became involved in the quagmire of political intrigue at courtand lost the king's favor. After he was dismissed from service to theking of Portugal, he offered to serve the future Emperor Charles V ofSpain.
A papal decree of 1493 had assigned all land in the New World westof 50 degrees W longitude to Spain and all the land east of that lineto Portugal. Magellan offered to prove that the East Indies fell underSpanish authority. On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spainwith five ships. More than a year later, one of these ships wasexploring the topography of South America in search of a water routeacross the continent. This ship sank, but the remaining four shipssearched along the southern peninsula of South America. Finally theyfound the passage they sought near a latitude of 50 degrees S. Magellannamed this passage the Strait of All Saints, but today we know it asthe Strait of Magellan.
One ship deserted while in this passage and returned to Spain, sofewer sailors were privileged to gaze at that first panorama of thePacific Ocean. Those who remained crossed the meridian we now call theInternational Date Line in the early spring of 1521 after ninety-eightdays on the Pacific Ocean. During those long days at sea, many ofMagellan's men died of starvation and disease.
Later Magellan became involved in an insular conflict in thePhilippines and was killed in a tribal battle. Only one ship andseventeen sailors under the command of the Basque navigator Elcanosurvived to complete the westward journey to Spain and thus prove onceand for all that the world is round, with no precipice at the edge.
The sixteenth century was an age of great ___exploration.
3. The Pope divided New World lands between Spain and Portugalaccording to their location on one side or the other of an imaginarygeographical line 50 degrees west of Greenwich that extends in a ___direction.
8. Questions 8-14
Marie Curie was one of the most accomplished scientists in history.Together with her husband, Pierre, she discovered radium, an elementwidely used for treating cancer, and studied uranium and otherradioactive substances. Pierre and Marie's amicable collaboration laterhelped to unlock the secrets of the atom.
Marie was born in 1867 in Warsaw, Poland, where her father was aprofessor of physics. At the early age, she displayed a brilliant mindand a blithe personality. Her great exuberance for learning promptedher to continue with her studies after high school. She becamedisgruntled, however, when she learned that the university in Warsawwas closed to women. Determined to receive a higher education, shedefiantly left Poland and in 1891 entered the Sorbonne, a Frenchuniversity, where she earned her master's degree and doctorate inphysics.
Marie was fortunate to have studied at the Sorbonne with some ofthe greatest scientists of her day, one of whom was Pierre Curie. Marieand Pierre were married in 1895 and spent many productive years workingtogether in the physics laboratory. A short time after they discoveredradium, Pierre was killed by a horse-drawn wagon in 1906. Marie wasstunned by this horrible misfortune and endured heartbreaking anguish.Despondently she recalled their close relationship and the joy thatthey had shared in scientific research. The fact that she had two youngdaughters to raise by herself greatly increased her distress.
Curie's feeling of desolation finally began to fade when she wasasked to succeed her husband as a physics professor at the Sorbonne.She was the first woman to be given a professorship at the world-famousuniversity. In 1911 she received the Nobel Prize in chemistry forisolating radium. Although Marie Curie eventually suffered a fatalillness from her long exposure to radium, she never becamedisillusioned about her work. Regardless of the consequences, she haddedicated herself to science and to revealing the mysteries of thephysical world.
The Curies' ____ collaboration helped to unlock the secrets of the atom.
15. Questions 15-19.
Mount Vesuvius, a volcano located between the ancient Italiancities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, has received much attention becauseof its frequent and destructive eruptions. The most famous of theseeruptions occurred in A. D. 79.
The volcano had been inactive for centuries. There was littlewarning of the coming eruption, although one account unearthed byarchaeologists says that a hard rain and a strong wind had disturbedthe celestial calm during the preceding night. Early the next morning,the volcano poured a huge river of molten rock down upon Herculaneum,completely burying the city and filling in the harbor with coagulatedlava.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain, cinders, stone andash rained down on Pompeii. Sparks from the burning ash ignited thecombustible rooftops quickly. Large portions of the city were destroyedin the conflagration. Fire, however, was not the only cause ofdestruction. Poisonous sulphuric gases saturated the air. These heavygases were not buoyant in the atmosphere and therefore sank toward theearth and suffocated people.
Over the years, excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum haverevealed a great deal about the behavior of the volcano. By analyzingdata, much as a zoologist dissects a specimen animal, scientist haveconcluded that the eruption changed large portions of the area'sgeography. For instance, it turned the Sarno River from its course andraised the level of the beach along the Bay of Naples. Meteorologistsstudying these events have also concluded that Vesuvius caused a hugetidal wave that affected the world's climate.
In addition to making these investigations, archaeologists havebeen able to study the skeletons of victims by using distilled water towash away the volcanic ash. By strengthening the brittle bones withacrylic paint, scientists have been able to examine the skeletons anddraw conclusions about the diet and habits of the residents. Finally,the excavations at both Pompeii and Herculaneum have yielded manyexamples of classical art, such as jewelry made of bronze, which is analloy of copper and tin.
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius and its tragic consequences haveprovided us with a wealth of data about the effects that volcanoes canhave on the surrounding area. Today volcanologists can locate andpredict eruptions, saving lives and preventing the destruction ofcities and cultures.
Herculaneum and its harbor were buried under ___lava.