Wikibooks: History of New York State/Pre-Colonial History and the "Province of New York"

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bering Strait; Hudson
• Online Access: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/History_of_New_York_State/Pre-Colonial_History_and_the_%22Province_of_New_York%22

TOCright limit=2 =Introduction = This chapter will examine the pre colonial history of the New York State. People have lived in what is now known as the State of New York for over five thousand years. Native Americans were the first migrants to settle in to the New York area having ultimately settled there after traveling by way of the Bering Strait pushing through mountains plains and forests. The fertile land surrounding the riverbanks was attractive to these migrants as they sought to establish settlements. The geographical features of New York made the area a strategic stronghold for any group of Native Americans that was able to establish themselves there. The first group of Native Americans to occupy the New York area spoke the Algonquian language with the last wave of Algonquians’ arriving just before the year 1000. By the time the first white settlers arrived in New York during the late 1500s and early 1600s the power of the Algonquians’ had declined and had shifted to the powerful tribes of the Iroquois. With the arrival of European settlers such as Henry Hudson the political and social landscape of the new world started to change. This chapter will also look at the history of the New Netherlands and their settlement of New Amsterdam which would eventually become New York City. Finally this section will examine the influence of the telegraph newspapers and Rural literacy in New York State history. = The Iroquois = When the first French explorers came to the North Eastern forests of North America five hundred years ago they encountered a people who they called the Iroquois. They ruled a vast territory of what is now New York State. The Iroquois were famous for their skills in hunting and their abilities as warriors. In addition the Iroquois system of government was highly sophisticated and democratic. = Ancestors of the Iroquois = The ancestors of the Iroquois lived in the North Eastern forests for thousands of years. At first they were hunter gathers but eventually they developed means to cultivate ...