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Exploration of North America
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The exploration of North America by non-indigenous people was a continuing effort to map and explore the continent of North America. It spanned centuries, and consisted of efforts by numerous people and expeditions from various foreign countries to map the continent. The European colonization of the Americas followed.
Contents
[hide]
1 Pre-Columbian exploration
2 Age of Discovery and the search for the Northwest Passage
3 Further nautical explorations
4 Overland exploration of the West
4.1 16th to 17th centuries
4.2 18th century
4.3 19th century to present
5 Gallery
6 See also
6.1 Historical overviews
6.2 Specific eras, explorers, regions, and efforts
7 References
8 External links
Pre-Columbian exploration[edit]
Main article: Norse colonization of the Americas
See also: Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
According to the Sagas of Icelanders, Norse sailors (often called Vikings) from Iceland first settled Greenland in the 980s. Erik the Red explored and settled southwestern Greenland, which he named to entice potential Icelandic settlers, eventually establishing the Eastern and Western Settlements, which were abandoned around 1350.
L'Anse aux Meadows, an archaeological site on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, and a second site in southwestern Newfoundland, are the only known sites of a Norse village in North America outside of Greenland. These sites are notable for their possible connections with the attempted colony of Vinland established by Leif Erikson in 1003.
Age of Discovery and the search for the Northwest Passage[edit]
Part of a series on
European colonization
of the Americas
First wave of European colonization
British
Couronian
Danish
Dutch
French
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Hospitaller (Maltese)
Norse
Portuguese
Russian
Scottish
Spanish
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Colonization of Canada
Colonization of the United States
Decolonization
Colonialism portal
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Further information: European colonization of the Americas
The Viking voyages did not become common knowledge in the Old World, and Europeans remained unaware of the existence of the Americas as a whole, until the first decades following the year 1492. Many expeditions were launched from European nations in search of a Northwest Passage to East Asia (or "the Indies" as the region was called) in order to establish a shorter trade route to China than the Silk Road, a trade route which had become desperately needed and yet exacerbated by the Fall of Constantinople. Also, the Castilian crown needed an alternative to the Portuguese controlled eastern maritime trade route around Africa to India and East Asia.
The arrival of Christopher Colombus to America, 1492
On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from the Port of Palos de la Frontera in the Province of Huelva, from the newly los Reyes Católicos coordinated Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, in present-day Spain, financed by Queen Isabella I of Castille. Columbus's Letter on the First Voyage of his discovery of the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola spread the news across Europe quickly. Columbus rediscovered and explored much of the Lesser Antilles in his second voyage then discovered both Trinidad and Tobago on his third voyage whilst skirting the northern South American coast. His fourth voyage was spent scanning the Central American coast. The Voyages of Christopher Columbus opened the New World.
Italian navigator and explorer Giovanni Caboto (known in English as John Cabot) is credited with the discovery of continental North America on June 24, 1497, under the commission of Henry VII of England. Though the exact location of his discovery remains disputed, the Canadian and United Kingdom governments' official position is that he landed on the island of Newfoundland. The English presence through Giovanni Caboto was signaled in Juan de la Cosa's map of 1500.
In 1499 João Fernandes Lavrador was licensed by the King of Manuel I of Portugal and together with Pêro de Barcelos they reached Greenland and sighted Labrador for the first time since Leif Erikson, which was granted and named after Lavrador. After returning he possibly went to Bristol to sail in the name of England.[1] Nearly at the same time, between 1499 and 1502 the brothers Gaspar and Miguel Corte Real explored and named the coasts of Greenland, Labrador and also Newfoundland, naming "Terra Verde" the explored North American coasts.[2] Both explorations were signaled in 1502 Cantino planisphere.
It was soon understood that Columbus had not reached Asia, but rather found what was to Europeans a New World, which in 1507 was named "America", probably after Amerigo Vespucci, on the Waldseemüller map.
Further nautical explorations[edit]
In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral was sent by Portugal to explore South America. He is considered to be the discoverer of Brazil.
Aragon King Ferdinand II sent Juan Ponce de León from the fledgling colony on Hispaniola to verify rumors of undiscovered land to the northwest. On April 2, 1513, Ponce de León disembarked on the northeast coast of what he named Florida for the crown. The exact location is disputed, but historians have offered the possibilities of St. Augustine, Ponce de León Inlet, and Melbourne Beach. He encountered the powerful Gulf Stream and found a passage through the Florida Keys to land on the southwestern Gulf Coast of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. Again, the exact location is disputed.[3] While it is true that Columbus visited Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in 1493, Ponce de Leon was the first known European to reach the present-day United States (mainland).[4]
On September 25, 1513, Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean once he crossed the Isthmus of Panama. He claimed all the territory touching it for the Crown, later to affect colonization of Las Californias.
Around 1519-1521, Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes explored the coasts of Newfoundland, Labrador and Nova Scotia, with a mission to create colonies.
In 1524, Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed for King Francis I of France and is known as the first European since the Norse to explore the Atlantic coast of North America. Arriving near the Cape Fear River delta, he explored the coastlines of present-day states of South Carolina and North Carolina, entering the Pamlico Sound, and bypassing entrances to the Chesapeake Bay. Believing the New York Harbor to be a lake, he sailed past Long Island, exploring Narragansett Bay and Newfoundland.
In 1524-1525, Portuguese explorer Estevão Gomes, on behalf of Charles I of Spain, explored present-day Nova Scotia sailing South along the Maine coast. Gomes entered New York Harbor and saw the Hudson River(which he named the "San Antonio River"). Because of his expedition, the 1529 Diogo Ribeiro world map outlines the East coast of North America almost perfectly.
In 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula, on the Gulf Gulf of Saint Lawrence and claimed the land in the name of Francis I. In 1535 Cartier explored the St. Lawrence river and also claimed the region for France.
Map of Hudson's voyages to North America.
After two failed attempts to reach East Asia by circumnavigating Siberia, Henry Hudson sailed west in 1609 under the Dutch East India Company. He, too, passed Cape Cod, Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware Bay, instead sailing up the Hudson River on September 11, 1609 in search of a fabled connection to the Pacific via what was actually the Great Lakes. In Hudson's fourth and final voyage, he discovered, mapped, and explored the Hudson Strait, Hudson Bay and James Bay.
Other major sea-based explorers were Captain James Cook, George Vancouver, and Charles Wilkes.
Overland exploration of the West[edit]
16th to 17th centuries[edit]
There were numerous Spanish explorers and conquistadors who explored the Southwest of North America (including present-day west and central United States) and cross the continent (east to west) in its southern regions, mainly from the second quarter to the middle of the 16th century, such as Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, but also the North American Southeast and south-central regions, s Soto]].
Map of the North-West Territory of the Province of Canada, stretching from the Fraser River on the west to Lake Superior on the east. By David Thompson, 1814.
In 1608 Samuel de Champlain founded what is now Quebec City, which would become the first permanent settlement and the capital of New France. He took personal administration over the city and its affairs, and sent out expeditions to explore the interior. Champlain himself discovered Lake Champlain in 1609. By 1615, he had travelled by canoe up the Ottawa River through Lake Nipissing and Georgian Bay to the centre of Huron country near Lake Simcoe. During these voyages, Champlain aided the Wendat (aka 'Hurons') in their battles against the Iroquois Confederacy. As a result, the Iroquois would become enemies of the French and be involved in multiple conflicts.
From 1679 to 1682 René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, and the entire course of Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
From 1697 to 1702 Eusebio Kino explored the Sonoran Desert and on his journey to the Colorado River Delta discovered an overland route to Baja California that was then commonly believed to be an island. In 1683 Kino lead the first European overland crossing of Baja California.
European exploration of western Canada was largely motivated by the fur trade and the search for the elusive Northwest Passage. Hudson's Bay Company explorer Henry Kelsey has the distinction of being the first European to see the northern Great Plains in 1690.
18th century[edit]
Anthony Henday was the first to have seen the Rocky Mountains, in 1754, but curiously did not mention it in his journals. From his westernmost geographic position (roughly near the town of Olds, Alberta, halfway between Calgary and Red Deer, Alberta) the Rockies should have been quite conspicuous, but he was likely trying to disguise the disappointing fact that an unknown range of seemingly impassible mountains now stood between the HBC and the Pacific. Samuel Hearne found the Coppermine River in 1769-71 in his failed search for copper ore deposits. Burned by these shortfalls, the HBC largely quit exploration.
The North West Company, on the other hand, used a business model that required constant expansion into untapped areas. Under the auspices of the NWC, Alexander Mackenzie discovered the Mackenzie River in 1789 and was the first European to reach the North-American Pacific overland, via the Bella Coola River, in 1793. Simon Fraser reached the Pacific in 1808 via the Fraser River.
David Thompson, widely regarded as the greatest land geographer that ever lived, traveled over 90,000 km during his lifetime. In 1797, Thompson was sent south by his employers to survey part of the Canada-U.S. boundary along the water routes from Lake Superior to Lake of the Woods to satisfy unresolved questions of territory arising from the Jay Treaty between Great Britain and the United States. By 1798 Thompson had completed a survey of 6,750 km (4,190 mi) from Grand Portage, through Lake Winnipeg, to the headwaters of the Assiniboine and Mississippi Rivers, as well as two sides of Lake Superior.[5] In 1798, the company sent him to Red Deer Lake (in present-day Alberta) to establish a trading post. The English translation of Lac La Biche-Red Deer Lake-first appeared on the Mackenzie map of 1793.[6] Thompson spent the next few seasons trading based in Fort George (now in Alberta), and during this time led several expeditions into the Rocky Mountains. In 1811/1812 he followed the Columbia River to the Pacific, and in 1814 used his notes and measurements to draft the first European-style map of western Canada, covering 3.9 million square kilometres.
19th century to present[edit]
Lewis and Clark were the first Americans to venture into the newly acquired territory of the Louisiana Purchase, at the order of President Thomas Jefferson. They discovered many new geographical features, Indian tribes, and animal and plant species. John Colter was a member of the expedition who subsequently became a guide for others in the 'Old West,' and did some explorations of his own.
John C. Frémont led many important explorations in the Great Plains, Great Basin, Oregon territory, and Mexican Alta California.
Joseph Reddeford Walker was one of the most prominent of the explorers, and charted many new paths through the West, which often were then utilized by emigrants crossing to settle in Western towns and communities. In 1833, his exploring party discovered a route along the Humboldt River across present-day Nevada, ascending the Sierra Nevada following the Carson River and descending via Stanislaus River drainages to Monterey. His return route across the southern Sierra was via Walker Pass, named after Walker by John Charles Fremont. The approach of the Sierra via the Carson River route later became known as the California Trail, the primary route for the emigrants to the gold fields during the California gold rush.
As the American population of the West increased, the US government launched ongoing official explorations mainly through the US Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. One of the main officers and explorers in this unit was George Wheeler. In 1872, the US Congress authorized an ambitious plan to map the portion of the United States west of the 100th meridian at a scale of 8 miles to the inch. This plan necessitated what became known as the Wheeler Survey, along with the Clarence King and John Wesley Powell Surveys, and expeditions by Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. In 1879, all such efforts were reorganized as the United States Geological Survey.
See also: Portolà expedition
Gallery[edit]
Maps of the New World
Universalis Cosmographia, the Waldseemüller map dated 1507, depicts the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Ocean separating Asia from the Americas.
The Vinland map surfaced in 1965 and is claimed, though widely discredited, to be a 15th-century map depicting the Norse colony of Vinland.
See also[edit]
Historical overviews[edit]
Age of Discovery
Notable cartographers of the Age of Exploration
National Historic Trail
Americas (terminology)
European colonization of the Americas
Specific eras, explorers, regions, and efforts[edit]
Old West + Mountain men
Amerigo Vespucci, Martin Waldseemüller + Matthias Ringmann: originators of term America
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Diffie, Bailey (1960). Prelude to empire: Portugal overseas before Henry the Navigator. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 463–464. ISBN 0-8032-5049-5.
Jump up ^ Diffie, Bailey (1960). Prelude to empire: Portugal overseas before Henry the Navigator. University of Nebraska Press. pp. 464–465. ISBN 0-8032-5049-5.
Jump up ^ ""Episode 06 Early Maps of Florida" by Robert Cassanello and Kendra Hazen". stars.library.ucf.edu. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
Jump up ^ ""Episode 06 Early Maps of Florida" by Robert Cassanello and Kendra Hazen". stars.library.ucf.edu. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
Jump up ^ Aritha Van Herk, Travels with Charlotte, Canadian Geographic Magazine, July/August 2007
Jump up ^ "Lac La Biche 2004-5". Atlas of Alberta Lakes. Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02.
Ambrose, Stephen E..Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, New York: Simon & Schuster (1996).
Bartlett, Richard. Great Surveys of the American West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980.
Fernlund, Kevin J.William Henry Holmes and the Rediscovery of the American West. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000.
Goetzmann, William H. Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1966.
Pyne, Stephen J.. Grove Karl Gilbert: A Great Engine of Research. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1980.
Stegner, Wallace. Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West. Houghton, Mifflin, 1954.
External links[edit]
National Park Service links and materials on explorers of North America
Historical Maps and Prints - A diverse collection (1503-1910) from the UBC Library Digital Collections that pertains to the exploration and mapping of the world, the evolution of cartography, and the settlement of North America
Early Maps of Florida at A History of Central Florida Podcast
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Lazy Susan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A Lazy Susan in a Chinese restaurant
A Lazy Susan or Lazy Suzy is a turntable (rotating tray) placed on a table or countertop to aid in distributing food. Lazy Susans may be made from a variety of materials but are usually glass, wood, or plastic. They are usually circular and placed in the center of a circular table to share dishes easily among diners. Owing to the nature of Chinese cuisine, especially dim sum, they are common at formal Chinese restaurants both on the mainland and abroad. In Chinese, they are simply known as 餐桌转盘 (p cānzhuō zhuànpán) or "dinner-table turntables".
Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Other uses
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
History[edit]
It is likely that the explanation of the term Lazy Susan has been lost to history.[1][2][3] Folk etymologies claim it as an American invention and trace its name to a product – Ovington's $8.50 mahogany "Revolving Server or Lazy Susan"[4] – advertised in a 1917 Vanity Fair,[5] but the term's use predates both the advertisement and, probably, the country.[1][3]
A mahogany George III dumbwaiter (c. 1780), auctioned for $3,900 by Christie's in London on 20 Jan. 2010.[3]
Part of the mystery arises from the variety of devices that were grouped under the term dumb waiter (today written dumbwaiter). An early 18th-century British article in The Gentleman's Magazine describes how silent machines had replaced over-garrulous servants at some tables[6] and, by the 1750s, Christopher Smart was praising the "foreign" but discreet devices in verse.[7] It is, however, almost certain that the devices under discussion were wheeled serving trays similar to those introduced by Thomas Jefferson to the United States from France,[8] where they were known as étagères.[8] At some point during or before the 3rd quarter of the 18th century, the name dumb waiter also began to be applied to rotating trays.[1] (Jefferson never had a Lazy Susan at Monticello but he did construct a box-shaped rotating book stand and, as part of serving "in the French style", employed a revolving dining-room door whose reverse side supported a number of shelves.[9]) Finally, by the 1840s, Americans were applying the term to small elevators carrying food between floors as well.[1] The success of George W. Cannon's 1887 mechanical dumbwaiter then popularized this usage, replacing the previous meanings of "dumbwaiter."
The Lazy Susan was initially uncommon enough in the United States for the utopianist Oneida Community to be credited with its invention. They employed the devices as part of their practice of communalism, making food easily and equally available to residents and visitors at meals.[10] An American patent was issued in 1891 to Elizabeth Howell for "certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Waiting Tables". Howell's device ran more smoothly and did not permit crumbs to fall into the space between the Lazy Susan and the table.[11]
The rotating serviette at "Penates", the estate of Russian painter Ilya Repin at Kuokkala. Made in 1909 by Finnish carpenter Ikahainen.[12]
Despite various folk etymologies linking the name to Jefferson and Edison's daughters, the earliest use of these "serviettes" or "butler's assistants"[13] being called a lazy Susan dates to the 1903 Boston Journal:
John B. Laurie, as the resuscitator of "Lazy Susan", seems destined to leap into fortune as an individual worker. "Lazy Susan" is a step toward solving the ever-vexing servant problem. She can be seen, but not heard, nor can she hear, she simply minds her business and carries out your orders in a jiffy.
Laurie was a Scottish carpenter who made his "Lazy Susan" to the design of a Hingham-area lady; finishing the device too late for her to present it as a gift, Laurie received an abusive tirade and then, asked for the price, "told her it wasn’t for sale, though of course it is".[14] The name was repeated in a 1911 Idaho Statesman article – which describes it as "a cousin to the 'curate's assistant', as the English muffin stand is called"[15] – and again in the 1912 Christian Science Monitor, which calls the "silver" Lazy Susan "the characteristic feature of the self-serving dinner table".[16] By the next year, the Lima Daily News described an Ohioan "inaugurat[ing] ... the 'Lazy Susan' method of serving".[17] Henry Ford used an enormous one on his camping trips in the 1920s to avoid bringing a full contingent of servants along with his guests.[3] In 1933, the term was added to the Webster's Dictionary.[18]
Unusually, the 1916 American Cookery describes the device as a German invention:
There is a table arrangement used much in Germany, which has now found its way to America, though it is still by no means common. The German frau calls it "Lazy Susan", but it is entirely different from our product used for salt and pepper shakers. Its only point of similarity is the swivel upon which it turns. The one which joys my heart is of mahogany, and it turns automatically at the slightest touch. It contains seven china dishes, six of which are trapezoids, the center one being octagonal. The trapezoids fit about the center octagon, forming a perfect whole.[19]
By 1918, Century Magazine was already describing the Lazy Susan as out of fashion,[20] but beginning in the 1950s its popularity soared once again after the redesign and reintroduction of the Lazy Susan by George Hall, an engineer, soy-sauce manufacturer, and partner in popular San Francisco-area Chinese restaurants (Johnny Kan's and Ming's of Palo Alto), and the rotating tray became ubiquitous in Chinese restaurants, and was used in homes around the globe.[21] The decline in America's domestic service sector after World War I and its collapse following World War II,[22] combined with the post-war Baby Boom, led to a great demand for them in US households across the country in the 1950s and '60s. This popularity has had the effect, however, of making them seem kitsch in subsequent decades.[3]
Other uses[edit]
A Lazy Susan may be employed as a cake turntable for cake decorating.
Smaller Lazy Susans are used for spice racks and rotating TV or monitor platforms.
By analogy, the term "Lazy Susan" is sometimes applied to cabinets (especially corner cabinets) whose circular shelves rotate around a vertical axle to allow easy access to a greater area of space. Such corner cabinets cut out a quarter of the circle to permit two "doors" to be mounted at right angles to one another. These are especially common in kitchen cabinets.
The term is also infrequently used for the much-older turntables employed in pottery wheels and related tasks like sculpture, modeling, repair work, etc.[23]
A Lazy Susan can be placed under a game-board, such as Scrabble, improving usability of editions that lack a built-in turntable.
See also[edit]
Serving cart
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c d Quinion, Michael. World Wide Words: "Lazy Susan". 24 Apr 2010. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Jump up ^ Lazy Susan. "What’s in a name? The origins of Lazy Susan". 27 Sept 2010. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Levine, Bettijane. The Los Angeles Times. L.A. at Home. "Back Story: Who Was Susan, and Was She Truly Lazy?" 25 Mar 2010. Accessed 15 May 2013.
Jump up ^ Klages, Karen. Chicago Tribune. "Whaddayaknow. Q: Who named the Lazy Susan?" 9 Jun 1996. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Jump up ^ Vanity Fair, Vol. 9, No. 6. Dec. 1917
Jump up ^ Weekly Register, No. 105. 15 Apr 1732. Op. cit. The Gentleman's Magazine: Or, Monthly Intelligencer, "p. 701". F. Jefferies (London), Apr. 1732. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Jump up ^ Smart, Christopher. Fables: "Mrs. Abigail and the Dumb Waiter: Fable XV". 1755.
^ Jump up to: a b Monticello.org. "Rooms & Furnishings: Dumbwaiters". Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Jump up ^ Monticello.org. "Design and Decor Convenience". Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Jump up ^ Popik, Barry. The Big Apple. "Lazy Susan". 6 Sept 2009
Jump up ^ Howell, Elizabeth (1891). Patent No. 464,073. Maryville, Missouri: United States Patent Office.
Jump up ^ Repin "Penaty" Estate in Repino/Kuokkala, Russia, currently a museum
Jump up ^ The Unpopular Review, p. 73. Jan.–Mar. 1919. Op. cit. Popik (2009).
Jump up ^ Boston Journal, p. 3. "Hingham Indian Maidens Revive Ancient Arts: Lazy Susan, Dumb Waitress". 8 Nov. 1903. Op. cit. Popik (2009).
Jump up ^ Idaho Statesman, p. 5. "An Ideal Servant: 'Lazy Susan' Works Hard and Never Talks Back" 30 Oct. 1911. Op. cit. Popik (2009).
Jump up ^ Christian Science Monitor. "Giving an Automatic Dinner". 25 Sept. 1912. Op. cit. Quinion (2010).
Jump up ^ Lima Daily News. 31 Dec. 1913. Op. cit. Quinion (2010).
Jump up ^ Orlando Sentinel. "A Turn Through History With The Lazy Susan". Accessed 15 May 2013.
Jump up ^ American Cookery, p. 105. Aug.–Sept. 1916. Op. cit. Popik (2009).
Jump up ^ Century Magazine, p. 396. Jan. 1918. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Jump up ^ Smithsonian Magazine, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/lazy-susan-classic-centerpiece-chinese-resturants-neither-classic-nor-chinese-180949844/
Jump up ^ Graff, Daniel. The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. "[www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/386.html Domestic Work and Workers]". Chicago Historical Society, 2005. Accessed 11 Aug 2013.
Jump up ^ U.S. Navy. Safety Center. "Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) East Uses Lazy Susan Design to Prevent Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Archived 2009-08-22 at the Wayback Machine.".
External links[edit]
Media related to Lazy Susans at Wikimedia Commons
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lazy_Susan&oldid=819943490"
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