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I don't sell my dolls. Thank you for your understanding !!!
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My last opportunity to dress as a woman was back in November 2023, some seven months on and I still do not foresee any new opportunities to indulge in my love of female illusion anytime soon. It's a little frustrating as I have a lot of new dresses to wear that I've been quietly buying in sales over the last year. My female clothing is mainly bought in sales as it's a nice way to get some gorgeous feminine clothes at good value. I can often get three dresses, for example, at what was the original price for just one. That's a cross-dressing tip I would definitely recommend.
In my periods of being unable to dress as a woman , which is most of the time for me, I like to browse through my photos and videos and recall the delightful memories of the occasions I was able to become my female alter-ego. I do love and adore dressing as a woman, I really enjoy my time in my female guise. There is a delight in imagining I am female that I never experience as a man. I always enjoy having shaved legs, chest and arms and shaping my eyebrows, I enjoy the physical commitment to attempting to look more feminine.
I've said many times in the past how much I enjoy wearing make-up, wigs and dresses, they are just so fabulous and you feel amazing! I will admit to feeling a lot more confident presenting as a woman than I do as a man. Somehow being feminine is empowering compared to being male. I'm sure many men would disagree but for me I feel better being a woman. I will likely be accused of delusion as reality is I am a man dressing as a woman so in truth I know nothing of what women really have to experience. I am, I suppose, enjoying the trappings of femininity without facing the reality of being female.
Transvestism has featured strongly in my life and it took me a long time to set it free. For years I did all I could to suppress the urges and desires that I had to try and spend time dressed as a woman. I know I keep saying 'dressed as a woman' but that's my reality. It is all I can do to express the feelings I've always had about my inner desire to be feminine. These days I attempt to dress in a real world manner, so I can, hopefully, pass as a woman. This doesn't mean wearing dull styles, far from it, but I do now favour styles women would choose over what my transvestite desires have a liking for. I accept I have those desires so every now and again I like to indulge them.
This picture is one of those times. I had just shaved my legs and plucked my eyebrows and as I applied my make-up I found myself wanting to be a bit girly. I applied several coats of mascara to my lashes to help feminise them, I enjoyed my thinner shaped eyebrows and feeling a bit daring decided on a darker lipstick and chose my mid length blonde wig and decided on a black button through mini dress and pointed toe stiletto heels. I won't deny, I feel amazing stepping onto the photo set I had setup for my evening of indulging in photo taking as a my female self.
I loved...loved...doing this. I dreamt of the years I had missed on being a teenage girl and young woman (I only began to cross-dress as a woman in my early 40s...I wasted so much time...)
You only live once so it's good to have a bit of fun and dare to do things that are, let's be honest, gentle and harmlesss. It is a truth that we often experience fear and guilt when it comes to being men that dress as women but I feel sure most of us do enjoy our time in our dresses, heels, make-up and wigs. It's all an illusion but it is such an amazing experience. I think you can see why I couldn't resist slipping into the short dress and heels and put on the make-up...it was fun and yet, something I needed on an emotional level too.
637 (351 HDV) seen in a rare rear view shot - as a model builder I realise the value of this often neglected aspect of buses.
I think the SUL4A was a pretty little bus, even in this rear view which with many types of bus was often quite unflattering!
Values Stock Photo
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Story :
Value in box :
Other :
I don't sell my dolls. Thank you for your understanding !!!
Don't repost without my permission ☠
All rights reserved ©
Camera Model Name:Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Artist:SARAH H. ALSAYEGH
Copyright:SARAH H. ALSAYEGH
Exposure Program:Manual
ISO:200
Shutter Speed Value:6
Aperture Value:14
Flash:Off, Did not fire
Focal Length:20.0 mm
Project Title: ”Value”
Classroom Teacher: Nicole Abel and Laura Woolston
School: Southwark Elementary
Grade: 3rd Grade
Project Description:
The class explored the concept of monetary and social value. For this part of the project the students were given a section of a dollar bill print out. Using a simple grid, they reproduced the image proportionately on a larger piece of paper using acrylic paint. The class re-pieced the large-scale dollar back together like a big puzzle.
Description of Historic Place
The Alberta Pacific Grain Elevator Site Complex is located on Railway Avenue at Main Street, beside an active railway line in the hamlet of Meeting Creek in central Alberta. The site consists of a pre-World War One grain elevator and an attached drive shed, an office/engine house, and a storage/fuel shed, located on one lot of 215 square metres. The adjacent rail line and train station are not included in the designation.
Heritage Value
The heritage value of the Alberta Pacific Grain Elevator Site Complex in Meeting Creek lies in its role in the grain trade which lay at the economic heart of this rural community and its hinterland from before World War One. It also represents a method of grain handling that predates the large cooperatives of the 1920s onward.
The construction of the Calgary and Edmonton and Canadian Northern Railways and the introduction of the sturdy strain of Marquis wheat in 1910 dramatically expanded agricultural settlement and wheat production in central and northern Alberta in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Meeting Creek was one such settlement, established in 1911 in the centre of what would become a rich agricultural hinterland north of Buffalo Lake. The Alberta Pacific Grain Company erected the hamlet's first grain elevator next to the rail line sometime between 1914 and 1917.
Very few elevators of this period have survived in Alberta, and the buildings on the site follow standard plans common throughout the province at the time. The Alberta Pacific Grain Elevator Site Complex is an excellent, rare example of an early grain elevator, and demonstrates the central role of elevators in Alberta's rural communities. It represents an all-wood Prairie Vernacular style of industrial building designed to grade, weigh, store and ship grain, in this case with a 26, 000 bushel capacity and typical crib construction. The site retains original grain handling artifacts that demonstrate the workings of the elevator, and its historic relationship with the Canadian Northern railway station and rail line.
Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 1864)
Character-Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of this site include:
- the form, scale, and massing of the grain elevator and its ancillary structures, the drive shed, office-engine house and fuel shed; and the unaltered spatial relationship between the structures;
- the tall rectangular design expressing its grain handling function, with wooden crib construction, exposed structural members, sloping shoulder design, wood framing, and cupola
- pressed metal (tin) covering of elevator;
- in situ components of the grain handling system, such as the elevator leg and distributor, weigh scale and hopper scale, control wheel and levers, electric motors, bins, hopper, belts and pulleys for the vertical conveyor belt, wood bins and chutes, air pressurized hoist system, man-lift;
- post and beam construction of drive shed;
- fenestration pattern;
-prominent corporate signage;
- the external visual relationship between the site, rail line and railway station.
Location
Street Address:
Community:Meeting Creek
Boundaries:Plan 5614 AF, Block A, Lot 2
Contributing Resources:Buildings: 3
ATS Legal Description:
MerRgeTwpSecLSD
4
19
43
8
4 (ptn.)
PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):
PlanBlockLotParcel
5614 AF
A
N/A
Latitude/Longitude:
LatitudeLongitudeCDTDatum Type
52.681222-112.727913Secondary SourceNAD 83
UTM Reference:
NorthingEastingZoneCDTDatum Type
Recognition
Recognition Authority:Province of Alberta
Designation Status:Provincial Historic Resource
Date of Designation:2001/10/19
Historical Information
Built:1914/01/01 To 1917/01/01
Significant Date(s)N/A
Theme(s)Developing Economies : Trade and Commerce
Peopling the Land : Settlement
Historic Function(s):Food Supply : Grain Elevator
Current Function(s):Leisure : Museum
Architect:
Builder:
Context:The community of Meeting Creek developed shortly after the arrival of the railway to the district in 1911. Across the tracks, directly facing the hamlet's main street, the first grain elevator was erected by the Alberta Pacific Grain (APG) Company. The date of construction is listed on the designation application form as 1917-18. A photo of the hamlet dated 1914, however, clearly shows this wood frame elevator as the most prominent structure in the skyline.
Although Meeting Creek never developed into Village status, it was for years the centre of a rich agricultural hinterland north of Buffalo Lake. During the 1920s, the Searle Grain Company and the Alberta Wheat Pool (AWP) also built grain elevators there. In later years, the Alberta Pacific elevator was given a metal veneer and, in 1972, sold to the Alberta Wheat Pool. Today, the structure complements the adjacent railway station, which also dates from the pre-1920 period.
HSTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Alberta Pacific Grain Elevator in Meeting Creek is historically significant in that it represents the economic heart of this rural community and its hinterland from, practically, its inception. It also represents a method of grain handling that predates the large cooperative endeavours of the 1920s onward. Very few grain elevators of this vintage have survived in the province. The presence of early grain handling artifacts inside adds to its historical worth.
The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon sends children off to religious education classes with a tradition the growing congregation insists on keeping no matter how big it gets. This commitment to community amidst rapid change is part of why the Unitarian Universalist Association named the fellowship a Breakthrough Congregation.
See “Community Spirit" by Elaine McArdle, UU World (Summer 2016), pages 22–27. Photograph © 2016 Karen Cammack.
Ahmad ibn ‘Ali ibn Yusuf al-Buni (Arabic: أحمد البوني) (died 1225) was a well known Sufi and writer on the esoteric value of letters and topics relating to mathematics, sihr (sorcery) and spirituality, but very little is known about him. Al-Buni lived in Egypt and learned from many eminent Sufi masters of his time.
He wrote one of the most famous books of his era, the Shams al-Ma'arif al-Kubra (Sun of the Great Knowledge, Arabic شمس المعارف الكبرى) which is one of the most widely read medieval treatises on talismans, magic squares and occult practices. This work rivals the Picatrix in importance. This book was later banned by orthodox Muslims as heretical, but continues to be read and studied.
Instead of sihr (Sorcery), this kind of magic was called Ilm al-Hikmah (Knowledge of the Wisedom), Ilm al-simiyah (Study of the Divine Names) and Ruhaniyat (Spirituality). Most of the so-called mujarrabât ("time-tested methods") books on sorcery in the Muslim world are simplified excerpts from the Shams al-ma`ârif. The book remains the seminal work on Theurgy and esoteric arts to this day.
In c. 1200, Ahmad al-Buni showed how to construct magic squares using a simple bordering technique, but he may not have discovered the method himself. Al-Buni wrote about Latin squares and constructed, for example, 4 x 4 Latin squares using letters from one of the 99 names of Allah. His works on traditional healing remains a point of reference among Yoruba Muslim healers in Nigeria and other areas of the Muslim world.
Ahmad al-Buni also left a list of other titles that he wrote. Unfortunately, very few of them have survived.
Al-Buni states in his work Manba’ Usul al-Hikmah (Source of the Essentials of Wisdom) that he acquired his knowledge of the esoteric properities of the letters from his personal teacher Abu Abdillah Shams al-Din al-Asfahâni. He in turn received it from Jalal al-Din Abdullah al-Bistami, who in turn received it from Shaykh al-Sarajani, who received it from Qasim al-Sarajani, who received it from Abdullah al-Babani, who received it from Asîl al-Din al-Shirazi, who received it from Abu al-Najîb al-Sahruwardi, who received it from, Mohammad ibn Mohammad Al-Ghazali al-Tusi, who received it from Ahmad al-Aswad, who received it from Hamad al-Dînuri, who received it from the master al-Junayd al-Baghdadi, who received it from Sari al-Din al-Saqati, who received it from Ma’ruf al-Karkhi, who received it from Dawûd al-Jili, who received it from Habîb al-A’ajami, who received it from Imam Hasan al-Basri.
Al-Buni states in the same work that he acquired his knowledge of magical squares from Sirâj al-Dîn al-Hanafi, who acquired it from Shihab al-Dîn al-Muqaddasi, who acquired it from Shams al-Dîn al-Farisi, who acquired it from Shihab al-Dîn al-Hamadani, who acquired it from Qutb al-Dîn al-Diyâ’i, who acquired it from Muhyiddîn Ibn Arabi, who acquired it from Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad ibn al-Turîzi, who acquired it from Abu Abdillah al-Qurashi, who acquired it from Abu Madîn al-Andalusi.
He also states that he acquired additional knowledge about the esoteric art of letters and the magical squares from Mohammad 'Izz al-Dîn ibn Jam’a, who acquired it from Mohammad al-Sirani, who acquired it from Shihab al-Dîn al-Hamadani, who acquired it from Qutb al-Dîn al-Dhiya’i, who acquired it from Muhyiddîn Ibn Arabi.
Al-Buni also states that he acquired his occult knowledge from Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad ibn Maymûn al-Qastalâni, who acquired it from Abu Abdillah Mohammed al-Qurashi, who acquired it from Abu Madîn Shu'ayb ibn Hasan al-Ansari al-Andalusi, who received it from Abu Ayyub ibn Abi Sa'id al-Sanhaji al-Armuzi, who received it from Abi Muhammad ibn Nur, who received it from Abu al-Fadhl Abdullah ibn Bashr, who received it from Abu Bashr al-Hasan al-Jujari, who received it from al-Saqati, who received it from Dawûd al-Tâ’i, who received it from Habîb al-A'jami, who received it from Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Sîrîn, who received it from Malik ibn Anas.
Al-Buni also made regular mention in his work of Plato, Aristotle, Hermes, Alexander the Great, and obscure Chaldean magicians. In one of his works, he recounted a story of his discovery of a cache of manuscripts buried under the pyramids, that included a work of Hermetic thinkers.
His work is said to have influenced the Hurufis and the New Lettrist International.
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Hyper-Realistic HDR image PROCESSED with IRET (Iris Range Enhancement Technology)
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Copyright 2012 by mavenimagery Labs Inc. All rights reserved.
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Brief On HDR: This image has been intentionally produced as Hyper-real HDR for a being a survey conducted by mavenimagery in association with Photomatix Pro 4 Beta. The result of the survey and gathered data will be published in UK's and US's major Photography magazines. We believe HDRI Technology has become a trend (HDR almost became synonymous with with particular style of tone mapping which is mostly used to produce images with a candy-like garrish colors and 'cartoonish' or more like impressionistic paintings), rather than what it initially was meant to be...it was meant to capture, at least, 14 EVs (Exposure Values) as opposed to the conventional high-end cameras' capability of capturing only a miserable 5-9EV's. Hello? The eye sees, on any given day, 24EV's (1.000.000.000:1 contrast ratio). All the HDR images at mavenimagery are not really HDR images. So are yours, my Flickr-HDR Groups-on-a-High Saturated-horse, sometimes with missing an ear or a tree yonder assailed by "Enemy Photons" that strike your sensor without you being aware...not that would matter if you were aware. You'd still be enslaved to your ignorance (not to be ashamed of) of tone mapping provided you by numerous HDR softwares who themselves are students of HDRI, learning, ripping you off along the way as they're trying to fund their experiments with your money. Think! Harry Potter and George Lucas' Star Trek were the only ones to be produced in HDRI Technology....Now! Do you see any resemblance to the "tone mapping" by current HDR imagine soft wares? I know you don’t! If I only point out excessive obliterated pixels and candy-like saturated colors, I'd make my points. Now, there's nothing with trends or fashion and that 'gritty, garrish HDR look' can be very appealing since we're so accustomed to the glossy images in the media. But they're here for limited time only...Just like break-dance. Fact: as of today, there is no market for HDR images (OK, mavenimagery sold a few for commercial use, but a few doesn't count)...you can't view it, you can print. HDR technology is still in its infancy and may take 10-15 years to be supported by all formats, conventional prints and displays etc. Remember. We're still in transition from DVD to Blu-Ray. It’s been more than 7 seven years and it will take perhaps another 5 years or more to acquire Blu-Ray supported devices. Yes, the current Blu-Ray technology is not real HD either, but this not a concern of this subject, although relatively connected to each other via display devices.
Finally, the image you and I can display or print is not a 32-bit HDR image, but a 32-bit image converted (tone mapped) to 16-bit TIFF (MDR, Medium Dynamic Range)...Aha! (Houston We've got Problem. We can’t post you the Heavenly Colors of the moon in 16-bit TIFF’s either, BUT ONLY in 8-bit jpeg’s. More data loss. We apologize for the inconvenience), and then to 8-bit jpeg for display and prints...an image has to always end in a print. Tip: Save your HDR Images as hdr.<Radiance RGBE until the day comes...and, mean while, enjoy trending and funking, but do not insult our intelligence. Get off your miserable Pony horses, smell the stimulus of coffee and label your work like "Unrealistic HDR. This is not how I saw this image, sorry. This is my interpretation of an artistic image" or "This is sur-realistic....” Whatever the Devil's Horn, it may be!" do not call it HDRI! I cannot stop you from kidding yourself...but the genuine quality and the naked truth will stop you! As it did stop all the trends and fashions...
I finished up my value quilt last night! I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'll have to take some better photos at some point, it was starting to get dark! :)
I just did some simple straight line quilting on both sides of the HST middle seam. :)
More tests today. I'm learning how to control very light values. But first I did a little ink test in the upper left to see if you get green when you mix yellow and black ink. Yes, you do if you are very fast and mix them while they are still wet. I used a yellow Micron pen and a black Zig pen.
My main test was to slowly build up dilute colors. I had burnt sienna in one Kuretake Mini waterbrush and cobalt in another. I applied a wash, waited for it to dry completely, and added another. I did this four times to create four increasingly darker values. You have to be very patient, but it works. I learned this method from a book called "The Wash Method of Handling Water Colour" by Frank Forrest Frederick published in 1908. I found it for free on Archive.org
archive.org/details/washmethodofhand00freduoft
Where you can download it as a PDF, ePub, or Kindle file.
Finally I tried to get the lightest value possible with a number of colors. I used a wet round brush to pick up a little dried tube paint. I then quickly dipped the brush in water, tapped the brush against the inside of my water container (to dislodge a little water) and then made a brush mark down the dry page. This deposits very little pigment and is a good way to make beautiful, light colors. I also tried lifting some color out with a thirsty brush (in the cadmium red/lemon yellow mix), and I tried adding a little more color on top of the wet first stroke (ultramarine and cobalt - bottom left).
Goat Island (previously called Iris Island) is a small island in the Niagara River, in the middle of Niagara Falls between the Bridal Veil Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. The island is at the southwest corner of the City of Niagara Falls (and of Niagara County), New York, in the United States and is part of Niagara Falls State Park.
Goat Island has no residents, but is a destination for tourists visiting the falls on the U.S. side. It has several viewing points, including from Terrapin Point. Goat Island is connected to the U.S. mainland by two bridges that carry foot, car, and trackless train traffic, and to the smaller Luna Island (adjacent to the American Falls) by a pedestrian bridge. Goat Island is largely wooded and is interlaced with foot trails. The Cave of the Winds tour elevator provides access down to the foot of the falls.
The island was formed during the recent retreat of the falls as it cut inward (upstream) through the Niagara Escarpment. The Niagara River's channel splits in two above the falls, creating two sets of falls, one on either side of the island. In 1959–60, the island's eastern side was extended about 8.5 acres (34,000 m2) for additional parking and a helicopter pad. Fill was provided from excavation for the construction of the Robert Moses State Parkway.[citation needed] In 1954–1955 the area between the Terrapin Rocks and Goat Island was filled in, creating Terrapin Point.
In the early 1980s, the United States Army Corps of Engineers filled in more land and built diversion dams and retaining walls to force the water away from Terrapin Point. All together 400 feet (120 m) of the Horseshoe Falls was eliminated, including 100 feet (30 m) on the Canadian side. According to author Ginger Strand, the Horseshoe Falls is now entirely in Canada. Other sources say "most of" Horseshoe Falls is in Canada.
The island's western end is slowly being eroded by the falls and the entire island will eventually disappear as the falls erode further upstream. The waters around Goat Island are relatively shallow and studded with islets and rocks, many of them scenes of dramatic rescues and rescue attempts.
John Stedman—an early pioneer and miller—kept a herd of goats on the island. Upon returning to the island after the terrible winter of 1780, he found all but one of them had died, thus giving the island its name.
The island's preservation as parkland is due to the early efforts of Augustus Porter, who in the middle 19th century recognized the long-term value of the falls as a tourist attraction. Porter purchased the island and allowed a group of Tuscarora Native Americans to live on it and sell their crafts to the tourists who came to the falls by stagecoach and early railroads. In spite of pressure, Porter refused to tame the environment on the island. In 1817, he built a toll bridge to the island for tourists. It was swept away by ice, so another was built the following year downstream. Basil Hall called it "one of the most singular pieces of engineering in the world". Almost seven hundred feet long, it soon became the region's best-travelled walkway.
In 1885, the island was included in the Niagara Reservation State Park which is the oldest state park in the U.S.
The island is home to the Tesla Monument which honors the Serbian-American inventor, Nikola Tesla. The statue was given to the United States by the government of Yugoslavia in 1976. The statue's sculptor is Frano Kršinić (1897–1982), a renowned Yugoslav sculptor. In mid-2016, the statue was moved to Stedman's Bluff, the section of the island that overlooks the Bridal Veil Falls and the American Falls, to increase popularity.
In 1879, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, wrote that he had travelled four thousand miles throughout the continent "without finding elsewhere the same quality of forest beauty which was once abundant about the falls, and which is still to be observed in those parts of Goat Island where the original growth of trees and shrubs had not been disturbed..." Olmsted concluded the spray from the Falls created a natural nursery for indigenous plant life. Since that time, regular mowing of the Goat Island meadow, heavy foot traffic, and the incursion of invasive species have significantly changed the island's floral landscape.
Part of H. G. Wells's 1908 novel The War in the Air is set on Goat Island. During the fictional invasion of the U.S. by the forces of Imperial Germany, depicted in the book, the protagonist is stranded on the island, with bridges to the mainland having been destroyed in the fighting, and is involved in a grim battle for survival with two equally stranded German soldiers.
The Niagara River is a river that flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the province of Ontario in Canada (on the west) and the state of New York in the United States (on the east). There are differing theories as to the origin of the river's name. According to Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger, Niagara is derived from the name given to a branch of the locally residing native Neutral Confederacy, who are described as being called the Niagagarega people on several late-17th-century French maps of the area According to George R. Stewart, it comes from the name of an Iroquois town called Ongniaahra, meaning "point of land cut in two".
The river, which is occasionally described as a strait, is about 58 kilometres (36 mi) long and includes Niagara Falls in its course. The falls have moved approximately 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) upstream from the Niagara Escarpment in the last 12,000 years, resulting in a gorge below the falls. Today, the diversion of the river for electrical generation has significantly reduced the rate of erosion. The total drop in elevation along the river is 99 metres (325 ft). The Niagara Gorge extends downstream from the Falls and includes the Niagara Whirlpool and another section of rapids.
Power plants on the river include the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Stations (built in 1922 and 1954) on the Canadian side, and the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant (built in 1961) on the American side. Together, they generate 4.4 gigawatts of electricity. The International Control Works, built in 1954, regulates the river flow. Ships on the Great Lakes use the Welland Canal, part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, on the Canadian side of the river, to bypass Niagara Falls.
The Niagara River also features two large islands and numerous smaller islands. Grand Island and Navy Island, the two largest islands, are on the American and Canadian sides of the river, respectively. Goat Island and the tiny Luna Island split Niagara Falls into its three sections, the Horseshoe Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and American Falls. Unity Island lies further upstream, alongside the city of Buffalo.
The Niagara River and its tributaries, Tonawanda Creek and the Welland River, formed part of the last section of the Erie Canal and Welland Canal. After leaving Lockport, New York, the Erie Canal proceeds southwest until it enters Tonawanda Creek. After entering the Niagara River, watercraft then proceed southward to the final lock, where a short section of the canal allows boats to avoid the turbulent shoal water at the river intake and enter Lake Erie. The Welland Canals used the Welland River as a connection to the Niagara River south of the falls, allowing water traffic to safely re-enter the Niagara River and proceed to Lake Erie.
History
The Niagara River and trees are depicted in the painting.
Watercolour by Elizabeth Simcoe depicting the Niagara River from Queenston Heights, c. 1793
Niagara River at Queenston, Ontario, then known as Queenstown, Upper Canada, c. 1805 watercolour
The Niagara River and Falls have been known outside of North America since the late 17th century, when Father Louis Hennepin, a French explorer, first witnessed them. He wrote about his travels in A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America (1698).
The Niagara River was the site of the earliest recorded railway in America. It was an inclined wooden tramway built by John Montresor (1736–1799), a British military engineer, in 1764. Called "The Cradles" and "The Old Lewiston Incline", it featured loaded carts pulled up wooden rails by rope. It facilitated the movement of goods over the Niagara Escarpment in present-day Lewiston, New York.
In 1781, the Niagara Purchase was signed, involving a 6.5-kilometre-wide (4.0 mi) strip of land bordering the west bank of the Niagara River, connecting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.
Several battles occurred along the Niagara River, which was historically defended by Fort George (Canadian side) and Fort Niagara (American side) at the mouth of the river and Fort Erie (Canadian side) at the head of the river. These forts were important during the Seven Years' War (known as the French and Indian War in the United States) and the American Revolutionary War. The Battle of Queenston Heights took place near the river in the War of 1812.
The river was an important route to liberation before the American Civil War, as many African-Americans escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad crossed it to find freedom in Canada. The Freedom Crossing Monument stands on the bank of the river in Lewiston to commemorate the courage of the escaping slaves and the local volunteers who helped them secretly cross the river.
In the 1880s, the Niagara River became the first waterway in the world harnessed for large-scale generation of hydroelectricity.
On the Canadian side of the river the provincial agency Niagara Parks Commission maintains all of the shoreline property, including Fort Erie, except the sites of Fort George (a National Historic Site maintained federally by Parks Canada), as a public greenspace and environmental heritage.
On the American side, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation maintains several state parks adjacent to Niagara Falls and the Niagara River.
Today, the river is the namesake of Niagara Herald Extraordinary at the Canadian Heraldic Authority.
The Niagara River is listed as a Great Lakes Areas of Concern in The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada.
The Niagara River has a long history of both road and rail bridges spanning the river, both upstream and downstream of the Falls. This history includes numerous bridges that have fallen victim to the harsh conditions of the Niagara Gorge, such as landslides and icepacks.
United States Coast Guard Fort Niagara Station was once a United States Army post. There are no Canadian Coast Guard posts along the river. Fort Mississauga, Fort George and Fort Erie are former British and Canadian military forts (last used 1953, 1965 and 1923 respectively) and are now parks.
Navy Island Royal Naval Shipyard was used by the French Navy in the 18th century as a naval base and by the Royal Navy from 1763 as a small shipyard, and abandoned around 1818 after the ratification of the Rush–Bagot Treaty in 1817.
On the Canadian side the Niagara Parkway travels along the River from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie.
NY 18F lines the river on the state side from Fort Niagara to Lewiston. Niagara Scenic Parkway on the state side only travels along the River from the Falls to Lewiston. The remaining river sections (with some interruptions) are covered by the LaSalle Expressway, NY 384, NY 266 and I-190 (Niagara Thruway) / New York Thruway.
New York, sometimes called New York State, is a state in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders New Jersey and Pennsylvania to its south, New England and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec to its north, and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. With almost 19.6 million residents, it is the fourth-most populous state in the United States and eighth-most densely populated as of 2023. New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state by area, with a total area of 54,556 square miles (141,300 km2).
New York has a varied geography. The southeastern part of the state, known as Downstate, encompasses New York City, the most populous city in the United States, Long Island, the most populous island in the United States, and the lower Hudson Valley. These areas are the center of the New York metropolitan area, a sprawling urban landmass, and account for approximately two-thirds of the state's population. The much larger Upstate area spreads from the Great Lakes to Lake Champlain, and includes the Adirondack Mountains and the Catskill Mountains (part of the wider Appalachian Mountains). The east–west Mohawk River Valley bisects the more mountainous regions of Upstate, and flows into the north–south Hudson River valley near the state capital of Albany. Western New York, home to the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, is part of the Great Lakes region and borders Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Central New York is anchored by the city of Syracuse; between the central and western parts of the state, New York is dominated by the Finger Lakes, a popular tourist destination. To the south, along the state border with Pennsylvania, the Southern Tier sits atop the Allegheny Plateau, representing the northernmost reaches of Appalachia.
New York was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that went on to form the United States. The area of present-day New York had been inhabited by tribes of the Algonquians and the Iroquois Confederacy Native Americans for several thousand years by the time the earliest Europeans arrived. Stemming from Henry Hudson's expedition in 1609, the Dutch established the multiethnic colony of New Netherland in 1621. England seized the colony from the Dutch in 1664, renaming it the Province of New York. During the American Revolutionary War, a group of colonists eventually succeeded in establishing independence, and the former colony was officially admitted into the United States in 1788. From the early 19th century, New York's development of its interior, beginning with the construction of the Erie Canal, gave it incomparable advantages over other regions of the United States. The state built its political, cultural, and economic ascendancy over the next century, earning it the nickname of the "Empire State." Although deindustrialization eroded a significant portion of the state's economy in the second half of the 20th century, New York in the 21st century continues to be considered as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, and environmental sustainability.
The state attracts visitors from all over the globe, with the highest count of any U.S. state in 2022. Many of its landmarks are well known, including four of the world's ten most-visited tourist attractions in 2013: Times Square, Central Park, Niagara Falls and Grand Central Terminal. New York is home to approximately 200 colleges and universities, including two Ivy League universities, Columbia University and Cornell University, and the expansive State University of New York, which is among the largest university systems in the nation. New York City is home to the headquarters of the United Nations, and it is sometimes described as the world's most important city, the cultural, financial, and media epicenter, and the capital of the world.
The history of New York begins around 10,000 B.C. when the first people arrived. By 1100 A.D. two main cultures had become dominant as the Iroquoian and Algonquian developed. European discovery of New York was led by the Italian Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 followed by the first land claim in 1609 by the Dutch. As part of New Netherland, the colony was important in the fur trade and eventually became an agricultural resource thanks to the patroon system. In 1626, the Dutch thought they had bought the island of Manhattan from Native Americans.[1] In 1664, England renamed the colony New York, after the Duke of York and Albany, brother of King Charles II. New York City gained prominence in the 18th century as a major trading port in the Thirteen Colonies.
New York played a pivotal role during the American Revolution and subsequent war. The Stamp Act Congress in 1765 brought together representatives from across the Thirteen Colonies to form a unified response to British policies. The Sons of Liberty were active in New York City to challenge British authority. After a major loss at the Battle of Long Island, the Continental Army suffered a series of additional defeats that forced a retreat from the New York City area, leaving the strategic port and harbor to the British army and navy as their North American base of operations for the rest of the war. The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the war in favor of the Americans, convincing France to formally ally with them. New York's constitution was adopted in 1777, and strongly influenced the United States Constitution. New York City was the national capital at various times between 1788 and 1790, where the Bill of Rights was drafted. Albany became the permanent state capital in 1797. In 1787, New York became the eleventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.
New York hosted significant transportation advancements in the 19th century, including the first steamboat line in 1807, the Erie Canal in 1825, and America's first regularly scheduled rail service in 1831. These advancements led to the expanded settlement of western New York and trade ties to the Midwest settlements around the Great Lakes.
Due to New York City's trade ties to the South, there were numerous southern sympathizers in the early days of the American Civil War and the mayor proposed secession. Far from any of the battles, New York ultimately sent the most soldiers and money to support the Union cause. Thereafter, the state helped create the industrial age and consequently was home to some of the first labor unions.
During the 19th century, New York City became the main entry point for European immigrants to the United States, beginning with a wave of Irish during their Great Famine. Millions came through Castle Clinton in Battery Park before Ellis Island opened in 1892 to welcome millions more, increasingly from eastern and southern Europe. The Statue of Liberty opened in 1886 and became a symbol of hope. New York boomed during the Roaring Twenties, before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and skyscrapers expressed the energy of the city. New York City was the site of successive tallest buildings in the world from 1913 to 1974.
The buildup of defense industries for World War II turned around the state's economy from the Great Depression, as hundreds of thousands worked to defeat the Axis powers. Following the war, the state experienced significant suburbanization around all the major cities, and most central cities shrank. The Thruway system opened in 1956, signaling another era of transportation advances.
Following a period of near-bankruptcy in the late 1970s, New York City renewed its stature as a cultural center, attracted more immigration, and hosted the development of new music styles. The city developed from publishing to become a media capital over the second half of the 20th century, hosting most national news channels and broadcasts. Some of its newspapers became nationally and globally renowned. The state's manufacturing base eroded with the restructuring of industry, and the state transitioned into service industries.
The first peoples of New York are estimated to have arrived around 10,000 BC. Around AD 800, Iroquois ancestors moved into the area from the Appalachian region. The people of the Point Peninsula complex were the predecessors of the Algonquian peoples of New York. By around 1100, the distinct Iroquoian-speaking and Algonquian-speaking cultures that would eventually be encountered by Europeans had developed. The five nations of the Iroquois League developed a powerful confederacy about the 15th century that controlled territory throughout present-day New York, into Pennsylvania around the Great Lakes. For centuries, the Mohawk cultivated maize fields in the lowlands of the Mohawk River, which were later taken over by Dutch settlers at Schenectady, New York when they bought this territory. The Iroquois nations to the west also had well-cultivated areas and orchards.
The Iroquois established dominance over the fur trade throughout their territory, bargaining with European colonists. Other New York tribes were more subject to either European destruction or assimilation within the Iroquoian confederacy. Situated at major Native trade routes in the Northeast and positioned between French and English zones of settlement, the Iroquois were intensely caught up with the onrush of Europeans, which is also to say that the settlers, whether Dutch, French or English, were caught up with the Iroquois as well. Algonquian tribes were less united among their tribes; they typically lived along rivers, streams, or the Atlantic Coast. But, both groups of natives were well-established peoples with highly sophisticated cultural systems; these were little understood or appreciated by the European colonists who encountered them. The natives had "a complex and elaborate native economy that included hunting, gathering, manufacturing, and farming...[and were] a mosaic of Native American tribes, nations, languages, and political associations." The Iroquois usually met at an Onondaga in Northern New York, which changed every century or so, where they would coordinate policies on how to deal with Europeans and strengthen the bond between the Five Nations.
Tribes who have managed to call New York home have been the Iroquois, Mohawk, Mohican, Susquehannock, Petun, Chonnonton, Ontario and Nanticoke.
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer in the service of the French crown, explored the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay. On April 17, 1524, Verrazzano entered New York Bay, by way of the Strait now called the Narrows. He described "a vast coastline with a deep delta in which every kind of ship could pass" and he adds: "that it extends inland for a league and opens up to form a beautiful lake. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats". He landed on the tip of Manhattan and perhaps on the furthest point of Long Island.
In 1535, Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, became the first European to describe and map the Saint Lawrence River from the Atlantic Ocean, sailing as far upriver as the site of Montreal.
On April 4, 1609, Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, departed Amsterdam in command of the ship Halve Maen (Half Moon). On September 3 he reached the estuary of the Hudson River. He sailed up the Hudson River to about Albany near the confluence of the Mohawk River and the Hudson. His voyage was used to establish Dutch claims to the region and to the fur trade that prospered there after a trading post was established at Albany in 1614.
In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Christiaensen, built Fort Nassau (now Albany) the first Dutch settlement in North America and the first European settlement in what would become New York. It was replaced by nearby Fort Orange in 1623. In 1625, Fort Amsterdam was built on the southern tip of Manhattan Island to defend the Hudson River. This settlement grew to become the city New Amsterdam.
The British conquered New Netherland in 1664; Lenient terms of surrender most likely kept local resistance to a minimum. The colony and New Amsterdam were both renamed New York (and "Beverwijck" was renamed Albany) after its new proprietor, James II later King of England, Ireland and Scotland, who was at the time Duke of York and Duke of Albany The population of New Netherland at the time of English takeover was 7,000–8,000.
Thousands of poor German farmers, chiefly from the Palatine region of Germany, migrated to upstate districts after 1700. They kept to themselves, married their own, spoke German, attended Lutheran churches, and retained their own customs and foods. They emphasized farm ownership. Some mastered English to become conversant with local legal and business opportunities. They ignored the Indians and tolerated slavery (although few were rich enough to own a slave).
Large manors were developed along the Hudson River by elite colonists during the 18th century, including Livingston, Cortlandt, Philipsburg, and Rensselaerswyck. The manors represented more than half of the colony's undeveloped land. The Province of New York thrived during this time, its economy strengthened by Long Island and Hudson Valley agriculture, in conjunction with trade and artisanal activity at the Port of New York; the colony was a breadbasket and lumberyard for the British sugar colonies in the Caribbean. New York's population grew substantially during this century: from the first colonial census (1698) to the last (1771), the province grew ninefold, from 18,067 to 168,007.
New York in the American Revolution
Further information: John Peter Zenger, Stamp Act Congress, Invasion of Canada (1775), New York and New Jersey campaign, Prisoners of war in the American Revolutionary War, and Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War
New York played a pivotal role in the Revolutionary War. The colony verged on revolt following the Stamp Act of 1765, advancing the New York City–based Sons of Liberty to the forefront of New York politics. The Act exacerbated the depression the province experienced after unsuccessfully invading Canada in 1760. Even though New York City merchants lost out on lucrative military contracts, the group sought common ground between the King and the people; however, compromise became impossible as of April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord. In that aftermath the New York Provincial Congress on June 9, 1775, for five pounds sterling for each hundredweight of gunpowder delivered to each county's committee.
Two powerful families had for decades assembled colony-wide coalitions of supporters. With few exceptions, members long associated with the DeLancey faction went along when its leadership decided to support the crown, while members of the Livingston faction became Patriots.
New York's strategic central location and port made it key to controlling the colonies. The British assembled the century's largest fleet: at one point 30,000 British sailors and soldiers anchored off Staten Island. General George Washington barely escaped New York City with his army in November 1776; General Sir William Howe was successful in driving Washington out, but erred by expanding into New Jersey. By January 1777, he retained only a few outposts near New York City. The British held the city for the duration, using it as a base for expeditions against other targets.
In October 1777, American General Horatio Gates won the Battle of Saratoga, later regarded as the war's turning point. Had Gates not held, the rebellion might well have broken down: losing Saratoga would have cost the entire Hudson–Champlain corridor, which would have separated New England from the rest of the colonies and split the future union.
Upon war's end, New York's borders became well–defined: the counties east of Lake Champlain became Vermont and the state's western borders were settled by 1786.
Many Iroquois supported the British (typically fearing future American ambitions). Many were killed during the war; others went into exile with the British. Those remaining lived on twelve reservations; by 1826 only eight reservations remained, all of which survived into the 21st century.
The state adopted its constitution in April 1777, creating a strong executive and strict separation of powers. It strongly influenced the federal constitution a decade later. Debate over the federal constitution in 1787 led to formation of the groups known as Federalists—mainly "downstaters" (those who lived in or near New York City) who supported a strong national government—and Antifederalists—mainly upstaters (those who lived to the city's north and west) who opposed large national institutions. In 1787, Alexander Hamilton, a leading Federalist from New York and signatory to the Constitution, wrote the first essay of the Federalist Papers. He published and wrote most of the series in New York City newspapers in support of the proposed United States Constitution. Antifederalists were not swayed by the arguments, but the state ratified it in 1788.
In 1785, New York City became the national capital and continued as such on and off until 1790; George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States in front of Federal Hall in 1789. The United States Bill of Rights was drafted there, and the United States Supreme Court sat for the first time. From statehood to 1797, the Legislature frequently moved the state capital between Albany, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and New York City. Thereafter, Albany retained that role.
In the early 19th century, New York became a center for advancement in transportation. In 1807, Robert Fulton initiated a steamboat line from New York to Albany, the first successful enterprise of its kind. By 1815, Albany was the state's turnpike center, which established the city as the hub for pioneers migrating west to Buffalo and the Michigan Territory.
In 1825 the Erie Canal opened, securing the state's economic dominance. Its impact was enormous: one source stated, "Linking the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, the canal was an act of political will that joined the regions of the state, created a vast economic hinterland for New York City, and established a ready market for agricultural products from the state's interior." In that year western New York transitioned from "frontier" to settled area. By this time, all counties and most municipalities had incorporated, approximately matching the state's is organized today. In 1831, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad started the country's first successful regularly–scheduled steam railroad service.
Advancing transportation quickly led to settlement of the fertile Mohawk and Gennessee valleys and the Niagara Frontier. Buffalo and Rochester became boomtowns. Significant migration of New England "Yankees" (mainly of English descent) to the central and western parts of the state led to minor conflicts with the more settled "Yorkers" (mainly of German, Dutch, and Scottish descent). More than 15% of the state's 1850 population had been born in New England[citation needed]. The western part of the state grew fastest at this time. By 1840, New York was home to seven of the nation's thirty largest cities.
During this period, towns established academies for education, including for girls. The western area of the state was a center of progressive causes, including support of abolitionism, temperance, and women's rights. Religious enthusiasms flourished and the Latter Day Saint movement was founded in the area by Joseph Smith and his vision. Some supporters of abolition participated in the Underground Railroad, helping fugitive slaves reach freedom in Canada or in New York.
In addition, in the early 1840s the state legislature and Governor William H. Seward expanded rights for free blacks and fugitive slaves in New York: in 1840 the legislature passed laws protecting the rights of African Americans against Southern slave-catchers. One guaranteed alleged fugitive slaves the right of a jury trial in New York to establish whether they were slaves, and another pledged the aid of the state to recover free blacks kidnapped into slavery, (as happened to Solomon Northup of Saratoga Springs in 1841, who did not regain freedom until 1853.) In 1841 Seward signed legislation to repeal a "nine-month law" that allowed slaveholders to bring their slaves into the state for a period of nine months before they were considered free. After this, slaves brought to the state were immediately considered freed, as was the case in some other free states. Seward also signed legislation to establish public education for all children, leaving it up to local jurisdictions as to how that would be supplied (some had segregated schools).
New York culture bloomed in the first half of the 19th century: in 1809 Washington Irving wrote the satirical A History of New York under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker, and in 1819 he based Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in Hudson Valley towns. Thomas Cole's Hudson River School was established in the 1830s by showcasing dramatic landscapes of the Hudson Valley. The first baseball teams formed in New York City in the 1840s, including the New York Knickerbockers. Professional baseball later located its Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Saratoga Race Course, an annual summer attraction in Saratoga Springs, opened in 1847.
A civil war was not in the best interest of business, because New York had strong ties to the Deep South, both through the port of New York and manufacture of cotton goods in upstate textile mills. Half of New York City's exports were related to cotton before the war. Southern businessmen so frequently traveled to the city that they established favorite hotels and restaurants. Trade was based on moving Southern goods. The city's large Democrat community feared the impact of Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 and the mayor urged secession of New York.
By the time of the 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter, such political differences decreased and the state quickly met Lincoln's request for soldiers and supplies. More soldiers fought from New York than any other Northern state. While no battles were waged in New York, the state was not immune to Confederate conspiracies, including one to burn various New York cities and another to invade the state via Canada.
In January 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in states that were still in rebellion against the union. In March 1863, the federal draft law was changed so that male citizens between 20 and 35 and unmarried citizens to age 45 were subject to conscription. Those who could afford to hire a substitute or pay $300 were exempt. Antiwar newspaper editors attacked the law, and many immigrants and their descendants resented being drafted in place of people who could buy their way out. Democratic Party leaders raised the specter of a deluge of freed southern blacks competing with the white working class, then dominated by ethnic Irish and immigrants. On the lottery's first day, July 11, 1863, the first lottery draw was held. On Monday, July 13, 1863, five days of large-scale riots began, which were dominated by ethnic Irish, who targeted blacks in the city, their neighborhoods, and known abolitionist sympathizers. As a result, many blacks left Manhattan permanently, moving to Brooklyn or other areas.
In the following decades, New York strengthened its dominance of the financial and banking industries. Manufacturing continued to rise: Eastman Kodak founded in 1888 in Rochester, General Electric in Schenectady, and Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company in the Triple Cities are some of the well-known companies founded during this period. Buffalo and Niagara Falls attracted numerous factories following the advent of hydroelectric power in the area. With industry blooming, workers began to unite in New York as early as the 1820s. By 1882, the Knights of Labor in New York City had 60,000 members. Trade unions used political influence to limit working hours as early as 1867. At the same time, New York's agricultural output peaked. Focus changed from crop-based to dairy-based agriculture. The cheese industry became established in the Mohawk Valley. By 1881, the state had more than 241,000 farms. In the same period, the area around New York harbor became the world's oyster capital, retaining that title into the early twentieth century.
Immigration increased throughout the latter half of the 19th century. Starting with refugees from the Great Famine of Ireland in the 1840s, New York became a prominent entry point for those seeking a new life in the United States. Between 1855 and 1890, an estimated 8 million immigrants passed through Castle Clinton at Battery Park in Manhattan. Early in this period, most immigrants came from Ireland and Germany. Ellis Island opened in 1892, and between 1880 and 1920, most immigrants were German and Eastern European Jews, Poles, and other Eastern and Southern Europeans, including many Italians. By 1925, New York City's population outnumbered that of London, making it the most populous city in the world. Arguably New York's most identifiable symbol, Liberty Enlightening the World (the Statue of Liberty), a gift from France for the American centennial, was completed in 1886. By the early 20th century, the statue was regarded as the "Mother of Exiles"—a symbol of hope to immigrants.
New York's political pattern changed little after the mid–19th century. New York City and its metropolitan area was already heavily Democrat; Upstate was aligned with the Republican Party and was a center of abolitionist activists. In the 1850s, Democratic Tammany Hall became one of the most powerful and durable political machines in United States history. Boss William Tweed brought the organization to the forefront of city and then state politics in the 1860s. Based on its command of a large population, Tammany maintained influence until at least the 1930s. Outside the city, Republicans were able to influence the redistricting process enough to constrain New York City and capture control of the Legislature in 1894. Both parties have seen national political success: in the 39 presidential elections between 1856 and 2010, Republicans won 19 times and Democrats 20 times.
By 1901, New York was the richest and most populous state. Two years prior, the five boroughs of New York City became one city. Within decades, the city's emblem had become the skyscraper: the Woolworth Building was the tallest building in the world from 1913, surpassed by 40 Wall Street in April 1930, the Chrysler Building in 1930, the Empire State Building in 1931, and the World Trade Center in 1972 before losing the title in 1974.
The state was serviced by over a dozen major railroads and at the start of the 20th century and electric Interurban rail networks began to spring up around Syracuse, Rochester and other cities in New York during this period.
In the late 1890s governor Theodore Roosevelt and fellow Republicans such as Charles Evans Hughes worked with many Democrats such as Al Smith to promote Progressivism. They battled trusts and monopolies (especially in the insurance industry), promoted efficiency, fought waste, and called for more democracy in politics. Democrats focused more on the benefits of progressivism for their own ethnic working class base and for labor unions.
Democratic political machines, especially Tammany Hall in Manhattan, opposed woman suffrage because they feared that the addition of female voters would dilute the control they had established over groups of male voters. By the time of the New York State referendum on women's suffrage in 1917, however, some wives and daughters of Tammany Hall leaders were working for suffrage, leading it to take a neutral position that was crucial to the referendum's passage.
Following a sharp but short-lived Depression at the beginning of the decade, New York enjoyed a booming economy during the Roaring Twenties. New York suffered during the Great Depression, which began with the Wall Street crash on Black Tuesday in 1929. The Securities and Exchange Commission opened in 1934 to regulate the stock market. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected governor in 1928, and the state faced upwards of 25% unemployment. His Temporary Emergency Relief Agency, established in 1931, was the first work relief program in the nation and influenced the national Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Roosevelt was elected President in 1932 in part because of his promises to extend New York–style relief programs across the country via his New Deal. In 1932, Lake Placid was host to the III Olympic Winter Games.
As the largest state, New York again supplied the most resources during World War II. New York manufactured 11 percent of total United States military armaments produced during the war and suffered 31,215 casualties. The war affected the state both socially and economically. For example, to overcome discriminatory labor practices, Governor Herbert H. Lehman created the Committee on Discrimination in Employment in 1941 and Governor Thomas E. Dewey signed the Ives-Quinn Act in 1945, banning employment discrimination. The G.I. Bill of 1944, which offered returning soldiers the opportunity of affordable higher education, forced New York to create a public university system since its private universities could not handle the influx; the State University of New York was created by Governor Dewey in 1948.
World War II constituted New York's last great industrial era. At its conclusion, the defense industry shrank and the economy shifted towards producing services rather than goods. Returning soldiers disproportionately displaced female and minority workers who had entered the industrial workforce only when the war left employers no other choice. Companies moved to the south and west, seeking lower taxes and a less costly, non–union workforce. Many workers followed the jobs. The middle class expanded and created suburbs such as the one on Long Island. The automobile accelerated this decentralization; planned communities like Levittown offered affordable middle-class housing.
Larger cities stopped growing around 1950. Growth resumed only in New York City, in the 1980s. Buffalo's population fell by half between 1950 and 2000. Reduced immigration and worker migration led New York State's population to decline for the first time between 1970 and 1980. California and Texas both surpassed it in population.
New York entered its third era of massive transportation projects by building highways, notably the New York State Thruway. The project was unpopular with New York City Democrats, who referred to it as "Dewey's ditch" and the "enemy of schools", because the Thruway disproportionately benefited upstate. The highway was based on the German Autobahn and was unlike anything seen at that point in the United States. It was within 30 miles (50 km) of 90% of the population at its conception. Costing $600 million, the full 427-mile (687 km) project opened in 1956.
Nelson Rockefeller was governor from 1959 to 1973 and changed New York politics. He began as a liberal, but grew more conservative: he limited SUNY's growth, responded aggressively to the Attica Prison riot, and promulgated the uniquely severe Rockefeller Drug Laws. The World Trade Center and other profligate projects nearly drove New York City into bankruptcy in 1975. The state took substantial budgetary control, which eventually led to improved fiscal prudence.
The Executive Mansion was retaken by Democrats in 1974 and remained under Democratic control for 20 years under Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo. Late–century Democrats became more centrist, including US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (1977–2001) and New York City Mayor Ed Koch (1978–1989), while state Republicans began to align themselves with the more conservative national party. They gained power through the elections of Senator Alfonse D'Amato in 1980, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1993, and Governor George Pataki in 1994. New York remained one of the most liberal states. In 1984, Ronald Reagan was the last Republican to carry the state, although Republican Michael Bloomberg served as New York City mayor in the early 21st century.
In the late 20th century, telecommunication and high technology industries employed many New Yorkers. New York City was especially successful at this transition. Entrepreneurs created many small companies, as industrial firms such as Polaroid withered. This success drew many young professionals into the still–dwindling cities. New York City was the exception and has continued to draw new residents. The energy of the city created attractions and new businesses. Some people believe that changes in policing created a less threatening environment; crime rates dropped, and urban development reduced urban decay.
This in turn led to a surge in culture. New York City became, once again, "the center for all things chic and trendy". Hip-hop and rap music, led by New York City, became the most popular pop genre. Immigration to both the city and state rose. New York City, with a large gay and lesbian community, suffered many deaths from AIDS beginning in the 1980s.
New York City increased its already large share of television programming, home to the network news broadcasts, as well as two of the three major cable news networks. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times became two of the three "national" newspapers, read throughout the country. New York also increased its dominance of the financial services industry centered on Wall Street, led by banking expansion, a rising stock market, innovations in investment banking, including junk bond trading and accelerated by the savings and loan crisis that decimated competitors elsewhere in New York.
Upstate did not fare as well as downstate; the major industries that began to reinvigorate New York City did not typically spread to other regions. The number of farms in the state had fallen to 30,000 by 1997. City populations continued to decline while suburbs grew in area, but did not increase proportionately in population. High-tech industry grew in cities such as Corning and Rochester. Overall New York entered the new millennium "in a position of economic strength and optimism".
In 2001, New York entered a new era following the 9/11 attacks, the worst terrorist attack ever to take place on American soil. Two of the four hijacked passenger jets crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, destroying them, and killing almost 3,000 people. One flew into the Pentagon demolishing the walls. The final one was almost taken back over by the passengers aboard and crashed into an open grassland with 296 out of the 500 people dead. Thousands of New Yorkers volunteered their time to search the ruin for survivors and remains in the following weeks.
Following the attacks, plans were announced to rebuild the World Trade Center site. 7 World Trade Center became the first World Trade Center skyscraper to be rebuilt in five years after the attacks. One World Trade Center, four more office towers, and a memorial to the casualties of the September 11 attacks are under construction as of 2011. One World Trade Center opened on November 3, 2014.
On October 29 and 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive destruction of the state's shorelines, ravaging portions of New York City, Long Island, and southern Westchester with record-high storm surge, with severe flooding and high winds causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, and leading to gasoline shortages and disruption of mass transit systems. The storm and its profound effects have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of New York City and Long Island to minimize the risk from another such future event. Such risk is considered highly probable due to global warming and rising sea levels.
Victoria Peak (Chinese: 太平山, or previously Chinese: 扯旗山) is a mountain in the western half of Hong Kong Island. It is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak. With an elevation of 552 m (1,811 ft), it is the highest mountain on Hong Kong island, ranked 31 in terms of elevation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Tai Mo Shan is the highest point in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with an elevation of 957 m).
The summit is occupied by a radio telecommunications facility and is closed to the public. However, the surrounding area of public parks and high-value residential land is the area that is normally meant by the name The Peak. It is a major tourist attraction that offers views over Central, Victoria Harbour, Lamma Island and the surrounding islands.
be sure to view the comparison chart on Full Screen
OK. At first glimpse, this comparison might sound unfair. The D300, featuring a 12 MP sensor was released in 2007, while the D7100, featuring a 24 MP sensor was released almost 6 years later in 2013. Six years. That is a long time in the digital world.
PREFACE
But let's start from the beginning. I am, or at least was most of the time very happy with my D300 for more than 5 years now. The camera travelled from the darkest basements to far asian cities and islands. And I never considered it an option to give away my cam as it never failed, never let me in the dark, never disappointed me. After having the D40 for a year before going to the D300 I was learning to appreciate the straight and clean layout of the control elements on the D300. It is truly straightforward. Shooting modes (P,M,S,A), ISO, WB, Exposure, Aperture and many more important settings can be very easily accessed without ever going into the menu. Hold the specific settings button while clicking the exposure dial thru the option value range. Release the button and it is set. Thats it. This straight UX approach was another strong reason I was soo happy with that camera. Also with the quality of the camera, especially its built quality – full metal (magnesium alloy) body - and the haptic feeling I was always more than satisfied over those years. For the image quality I was also quite pleased. Except, that sometimes I felt a bit more resolution for cropping could have been in those situations where you once again had to hurry snapping a shot without fine adjusting of the frame. On other occasions I was feeling like wanting more High ISO with less noise to shoot in the dark by hand. But as both of those requests seemed like only having one answer, namely going to full-frame (FX-Format) I dismissed the idea of upgrading . I was more than often on a holiday in a situation were I was tired to carry around my bulky and heavy bag. Going to full frame would not have meant to spend much more money on lenses but also to carry around an even bulkier and more heavier bag than the one I am sick of right now. So on holiday you will see me often just with the camera hanging from my shoulder, having the 35mm f/1.8 on and thats it. I highly appreciate the ability to move virtuously. Without moving, there is not much different scenes you are going to take in a day. And if you don't have a car with you or someone who is happy to carry your equipment (tripod, bag, umbrellas … what else do you need?) you really don’t feel like moving that much while taking all that material with you.
I remember also one of my close friends wanting me to convert to Canon, but this was also never an option for me. Not only having to switch a whole system of lenses, flashes and accessories, but I was and I am appreciating the nature of Nikon products in all ways a lot. Canon cameras often come out with newer features (Full-Frame-Sensors, Video, ...) or higher image quality more soon than Nikon ones. But to me they never felt that solid holding them in my hands as the Nikon cameras. I had Canon Cameras in my hand which cost more than double of the D300, but they always feel like cheap plastic to me. They never feel that solid as I would spend that much money on them. I also have some recent models of premium cars in my mind where manufacturers really failed in interior materials for +100k USD cars. I never would going to buy those – even I had the money - as they have cheap plastic buttons on the command panel, despite of being highly awarded by the so called independent specialized press.
COMMON FEATURES
OK. Lets first take a look, not at the differences of those both cameras. Let's take a look of what they have in common. Both are Nikon F-Mount DSLRs with a DX-Sensor (crop factor 1.3x). Both have the four basic important shooting modes – P, M, S, A. Both have an HDMI output on the left and a LCD on top. And the D7100 has at least a body which is partially made of magnesium alloy. Both have a 100 % viewfinder (0.94x). Both can shoot 14-bit NEF's, and both are featuring a 51-point AF sensor and an AF-motor, so non AF-S lenses will have AF function on both cams as well. Both can be equipped with a battery grip, and if you take a look at the menus you'll also find both cameras having extensive settings options which is almost the same huge feature list once more. And interestingly the D300s (the video enabled succeeder of the D300) is available at almost the same price right now as the D7100 is.
VIDEO
Let's just assume for a second that the only feature I am missing on my D300 is the video. Especially on holiday there is always something funny happening you want to take a video of, but often that is not in ideal light conditions. Smartphones just miss up taking videos in dim light and they don't have any optical zoom. So for taking just a little bit serious video it might be a good feature to have on the camera. But for buying a new camera with new money the step from to the D300s is just not far enough for me. It does not feature 1080p or 30fps video recording. And compared to the D300 there is just not more in the box finally than the video.
When spending money on a new camera you want to have more than just one feature. I never thought before that I am going to leave this super straight and solid prosumer Nikon line – not in favour for a less-pro product line. But as it turns out, the D7100 has much more image detail and quality offering in a package which is even lighter and more easy to carry than my old D300 and it is giving me 1080p video, while spending even a little less than for the D300s without missing all those detailed menu settings and major features. That's it. Said like this, it sounds very simple.
DIFFERENCES
Finally, I want to point out, which features you might be missing in case you are going for that same “upgrade” as me, or which features you might gain.
D300 havs, D7100 don't havs - flash sync plug (the old round one) - round 10 pin cable socket for remote cable shutter release and the older style GPS modules - display cover (protects your display from scratches) - straightforward controls - CF card slot (big cards, easy to grab, but be careful with the pins) - manual pop up flash (it never fires unless you release it first, no matter which program – that makes you look more smart than those people who are taking photos in the night of far objects (like skylines) or shooting thru windows with accidently firing the flash ;) - more solid body - bigger top LCD - bigger body more easy to grab (but also more heavy) - high shooting rate of up to 6/8 shots per second (8 only with battery grip or sw tweak***) - big buffer space (will enable you continues shooting of up to 18 RAWs (12-bit) at 6 FPS with fast cards) - LCD screen features more realistic tones and colors - in camera preview is of higher quality
D7100 havs, D300 don't havs - 24 MP sensor - Video recording - SD cards (hell are these small!) - DUAL SD card slots (second one can be set to JPG, backup or overflow) - IR sensor (for triggering the shutter) - many shooting scene modes (your friends who are not into photography might be able to take photos as well) - flash pop up is controlled by software now (to disable the flash, be sure to choose the right settings first) - shooting rate at 6 shots per second also for 14-bit NEFs (3 on the D300), but as of the - limited buffer space the burst rate drops dramatically (under 3 fps depending on your card) after 5 or 6 takes. - support for newer style GPS receivers and the Wifi-Adapter - LCD screen features adjustable backlight - HDMI-C socket (HDMI-A-Cables need an adapter)
That is not a comprehensive list, but the biggest differences I have encountered so far.
LOW PASS FILTER
Finally one last stop at the so called “low-pass-filter”. I have read on many sources on the web that there is “no significant difference” in picture detail by removing the low-pass-filter. I can confirm now while comparing both cameras that this is not true. The D7100 100% crops show definitely higher sharpness on the pixel level than the shots from my D300. Sure, that effect can only be observed while having a lens which is able to deliver that high detail. Just look at the photos I took here. Despite that DX prime lens' super low price tag, its able to deliver this. And there are probably more pricy prime lenses available which can even surpass this performance.
DISPLAY
The back display of both cams are different, but I cannot see any benefit in case of the D7100 LCDs in having another W-subpixel. If you place the cameras side by side you will easily notice that the colors and tones on the display of the D300 are much more natural. The D7100 has an adjustable backlight now and a little bit more true black. That is both a plus. But the photos on the D7100 seem oversharped on playback. But luckily this effects can only be observed on the screen. The photos itself on your memory card are of highest quality on both cams.
Image playback on the D7100 over HDMI shows black bars on left and right side - even if you zoom in into the photo - this is something nobody likes to see, especially as the D300 was able to do that better back then in 2007 already. But despite Nikon knowing from customer complains about this problem they never went to fix it and so this sticks out as a deliberate attempt to cancel this as a pro-camera and keep a distance to the higher priced 3-digit and one-digit product line.
VERDICT
As for the overall picture quality there is not much big difference between both cams. They perform almost equal in terms of dynamic range and white balance. But when you have the right lens mounted, the D7100 is the clear winner in resolution and detail. Also in Low-Light situations the D7100 tends to preserve more details than the D300.
I read on many sites on the web that people recommend the D300(s) as a more solid working body for professional photographers who take their 3000 images a week, but finally I believe that professional photographers can afford more recent and more pricey equipment as the D4 for example. So we are really not talking about professional photography here I guess.
I really liked the super solid body and the straightforward controls on the D300. But at the same time I don't want to miss that resolution and detail plus on the D7100 anymore. If you are used to the controls on any prosumer Nikon it might need a little time to get used to the layout of the controls on the D7100, but that is nothing to worry about if you have that time. Also the smaller image buffer on the D7100 might be something to consider, as the burst rate just drops much more early than on the D300. As a fashion show photographer this drop in burst rate, is unacceptable. The D300 image buffer allowed taking 3 times the number of RAW pictures slowing down, as long as you agree on the fact that 12 bit raw is enough and you wont need 14 bit.
Finally, I believe, that if you don't care about using CF or SD cards, and if you don't care about having a camera body fully made of metal alloy or half synthetics, the D7100 will give you much more than just more image detail. It will give you a more advanced focussing system, a lighter body, a second memory card slot and of course Video. And all that for a very decent price tag. So for me it is really an option while not going to FX (more weight, more pricey lenses) but still having major image detail improvement and a few relevant features.
And as my friend Ivo says. It is a new toy to play with as well for sure. :)
Outer castle gate (Vienna) - ring road
(Further pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)
Heldenplatz page 2005
The outer castle gate in Vienna, formerly written also Burgthor is situated between the Heroes' Square and the Ringstrasse (Ring Road) and is also known as Heroes' Gate.
History
Outer castle gate in 1898
1660 the old castle gate was built as part of the fortifications of Vienna and hotly contested during the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683. During the Fifth coalition war, in 1809, it was - like other parts of the city fortifications, too - blown up by Napoleon's soldiers, by which became apparent that the city fortifications had finally lost its military value .
The outer castle gate was built of Peter Nobile according to plans of Luigi Cagnola by soldiers of the Imperial Austrian army. For the door system with five arched gates in cuboid technique were used hard Wöllersdorfer and Kaisersteinbrucher stone, for less loaded parts St. Margarethener stone. The ceremonial laying of the foundation stone took place on 22 September 1821 in the presence of Emperor Franz I. On 16 October 1824 - the eleventh anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig - it was opened. According to an announcement was from 18 October 1824 the free passage through the new gate possible.
In gilded script can be found on the ring road side the inscription "FRANCISCUS I. IMPERATOR AUSTRIAE MDCCCXXIV " (Francis I, Emperor of Austria 1824) and at the Heroes' Square, facing front "IUSTITIA REGNORUM FUNDAMENTUM" (Justice is the foundation of the rule), the motto of Emperor Francis I of Austria.
At the end of the 19th Century Otto Wagner planned to tear off the gate and rebuild it in Grinzing (19th district of Vienna). In its place he wanted to build a monumental statue of Emperor Franz Joseph. Ludwig Baumann, on the other hand, a supervisor of the Imperial Palace, was for the demolition of the building, so as to open the Heldenplatz (until 1878" Outside Castle Square") towards to the ring road.
At the time of Nazi rule in Austria there were considerations to upgrade the Heldenplatz architecturally. To this end, the main axis of the square should be rotated by 90 degrees, so that the balcony of the Imperial Palace, from where Adolf Hitler announced the annexation of Austria, would have become the main focal point in large marches. On this behalf, one wanted to move the equestrian statues of Prince Charles and Prince Eugene of Savoy, as well as the castle gate itself, which they wanted to shift into the center of Heroes' Square.
Even the erection of this building by soldiers and the opening on the eleventh anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig should refer to the heroic struggle of the Austrian army against Napoleon's troops. Throughout its history, more and more other memorials have been set up here.
Laurel wreath and crest
Laurel branches of the supreme commander
"Laurel for our heroes 1914-1916"
At Pentecost 1915 suggested the wife of an Imperial Council, Flora Berl, the action "laurel for our heroes from 1914 to 1916". Archduke Charles Stephen, the protector of the relief operation of the war welfare office - formerly "protection against the cold" - also took care of the daughter action "laurel for our heroes 1914-1918" and also had the idea with the exterior castle gate as a central place of this action.
In this fundraising campaign should "of an alloy that is not suitable for lethal projectiles", laurel wreaths ("victor's wreaths", no grave wreaths) be produced. Each donor could either engrave his own name in one of the laurel leaves or dedicate this sheet to a soldier at the front. The donor could himself register in a book of honor and received a commemorative document - a fundraising campaign that resembles the principle of the "military man in iron". This fundraising campaign was opened on 1 June 1915 in the Kärntner Straße 35 in Vienna, where the rooms of the Hamburg-America Line served as propaganda local. The proceeds of this fundraising campaign went to the K.K. Austrian Military Widows and Orphans Fund and War Fürsorgeamt (Social Security Office) formerly "protection against the cold".
Most prominent donors were:
Emperor Franz Joseph I (Austria-Hungary)
Kaiser Wilhelm II (German Empire)
Grand Sultan Mehmed V. (Ottoman Empire)
King Ferdinand I (Bulgaria)
To their donations remember the four gilded laurel branches in the middle of the ring road frontage between the laurel wreaths and coat of arms of the countries and cities in Austria ("the countries represented in the Reichsrat"). In addition was the saying "LAURUM MILITIBUS LAURO DIGNIS MDCCCCXVI (bay laurel honor of the soldiers 1916)" attached.
Feststiege (festival stairway) to the roofless hall of honor
Crypt
Heroes Monument, Crypt
Between the years 1933 and 1934 the outer castle gate was after an architectural competition by Rudolf Wondracek, a student of Otto Wagner, to a to the fallen of the First World War dedicated heroe's monument converted, a change of the outer shape of the building not being allowed. On the two short sides run feast stairs to his roofless hall of honor, which the architect explained by stating: "The heroes of World War II have fallen under the open sky, they are to be honored under the open sky." Inside was north of the road a crypt for the fallen of the First world War built. In there can be found the by Wilhelm Frass of red marble created epitaph of a dead soldier and a simple altar. Until November 2012 ten honor books were issued with the names of the in the war fallen Austrians in showcases, whose pages were turned over daily. The books were removed after repair and on 30th November 2012 handed over to the Austrian State Archives.
For the financing of the construction of the hero monument had been placed the already in the First World War used "Wehrmann in Eisen" in service again. The ten honor books were funded by these donations. Although the epitaph was not finished, the War Memorial on 9th and 10th in September 1934 was opened as part of a patriotic ceremony. On 15 March 1938 here also laid Adolf Hitler a wreath and Hermann Goering visited on 27 March the place of honor. In this crypt is read every Sunday a Holy Mass.
SA Memorial
During the period of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the middle gate entrance was usually closed, as this was reserved for the emperor. Here the SA later got its own memorial, which was removed after the war ended in 1945.
Ordination space
1965 on the decision of the Federal Governement was south of the passage established an ordination space for the victims of the Austrian Struggle for Freedom. It contains a black block of marble, those upper side bears the federal coat of arms and on its front the inscription" IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS IN THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM IN AUSTRIA". In a display case in the lobby are kept documents about the re-establishment of the Republic of Austria. On 27th May 1965 the ordination space was given over to its purpose.
Environment
Just a few meters away from the exterior castle gate are two other memorials of the recent past.
Papal cross
To the south is next to the Heldentor the steel Pope cross, which the visit of Pope John Paul II on 10th September 1983 recalls and was designed by architect Gustav Peichl.
Monument to the executive
To the north, next to the Heroe's Place, there is a monument that should commemorate policemen and policewomen and gendarmes (1st July of 2005 gendarmes became policemen) killed in service. The monument, consisting of two rectangular steel bodies, was in the presence of President Thomas Klestil on 3rd June 2002 consecrated.
Papal cross
Monument to the executive
Postwar period and reorganization of the crypt in Heldentor
After the Member of Parliament Harald Walser of the Greens had made known in 2012 that the name of Josef Vallaster (criminal of war) was also listed in the Books of the Death in the crypt of the Heldentor, prompted Defense Minister Norbert Darabos the deletion Vallasters from the Books of the Death. In addition, this was followed by an ordered investigation by experts to determine whether other war criminals are among the soldiers listed in the Books of the Death. Furthermore, it was investigated whether as 1938 claimed by Wilhelm Frass, he in 1935 deposited secretly a tribute of the National Socialism in the lying soldiers, which is confirmed in July 2012. At the same time also a pacifist message of Frass' heretofore largely unknown assistant Alfons Riedel was discovered. The two documents were on 9th July 2013 handed over to the Vienna Museum of Military History, where they are exhibited as facsimile in the hall Republic and Dictatorship over a display case with a model of the castle gate and that brass sleeve in which the letters were hidden.