Everything about The Mohawk Valley totally explained
The
Mohawk Valley (
Yenęˀná•ˀna•č in
Tuscarora) region of the
U.S. state of
New York is the area surrounding the
Mohawk River, sandwiched between the
Adirondack Mountains and
Catskill Mountains.
The region is a suburban and rural area surrounding the industrialized cities of
Utica and
Rome, along with other smaller commercial centers. The 5,882 square mile (15,234 km²) area is an important agricultural center and encompasses the heavily forested wilderness areas just to the north that are part of
New York's
Adirondack Park.
The (Mohawk Valley) is a natural passageway connecting the
Atlantic Ocean, by way of the
Hudson Valley with the interior of
North America. Indian Nations of the
Iroquois Confederacy lived in the region, and in the 1700s immigrants of
German,
Dutch and
Scottish settled the area, joined by
Italians following the rapid industrialization of the mid-19th century. During the 18th Century, the Mohawk Valley was a frontier of great political, military and economic importance. Colonists, such as
Phillip Schuyler,
Nicholas Herkimer,
William Johnson, trading with the Iroquois set the stage for commercial and military competition between European nations, leading to the
French and Indian Wars and the
American Revolution. Almost 100 battles of the American Revolution were fought in New York State, including the
Battle of Oriskany and defense of
Fort Stanwix. A series of raids against valley residents took place during the war; led by John Johnson they were collectively known as the "Burning of the Valleys".
The
Erie Canal was completed in
1825 as the first commercial connection between the American East and West.
Strategic importance
During the
French and Indian War, the Mohawk Valley was of prime strategic importance; to the British, it provided a corridor to the
Great Lakes from which to threaten
New France directly, while to the French it provided a corridor to the
Hudson Valley and on to the heart of
British North America. In addition, many settlements of the
Mohawk, Britain's crucial Indian ally at the time of the war, were located in or near the valley.
At the beginning of the war, the major British stronghold in the Mohawk corridor was
Fort Oswego, located on
Lake Ontario. The French captured and destroyed the fort after a short siege in
1756, and the Mohawk Valley laid open to French advance as a result. Although the French didn't directly exploit this avenue of attack, its impact swayed some of the Iroquois tribes to the French side.
Mohawks of Mohawk Valley
The original inhabitants of common day Mohawk Valley are traced back as far as 10,000 plus years and included
Algonquian people that later relocated from the newly established
Fort Orange Dutch trading post region as early as 1624, otherwise as the name implies, the inhabitants were and remained
Mohawks. The name Mohawk Valley had its origins in the time period of 1614 and 1624-25 following the settlement of Dutch traders who established a post among the region of the Mohawk of Mohawk Valley as the Mohawk had become alliances and targets of the Indian Wars.
The Mohawks of Mohawk Valley call themselves Kanien'keha'ka, and "People of the Flint" in part due to their creation story of a powerful flinted arrow. Among other things, the traditional use of Mohawk Valley flint as
Toolmaking Flint is only one attribution to the Mohawk Valley People of the Flint name.
Counties
Also,
Schoharie County is sometimes considered to be part of the Mohawk Valley.
Major cities
Amsterdam
Gloversville
Johnstown
Rome
Rotterdam
Schenectady
UticaFurther Information
Get more info on 'Mohawk Valley'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://mohawk_valley.totallyexplained.com">Mohawk Valley Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |