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Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is the 29th state of the United States, having joined the Union on December 28, 1846. The official name of the state is the "State of Iowa", and the U.S. Post Office abbreviation for the state is IA. The state is named for the Native American Iowa people. Iowa

History

:Main article: History of Iowa. Highlights:
- French explorers Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette are believed to be the first Europeans to visit Iowa. They described Iowa as lush, green, and fertile.
- Iowa has been home to approximately 17 different tribes. Today, only the Meskwaki tribe, living in Tama County, is left in Iowa.
- The first white settlers officially moved to Iowa in June 1833. Primarily, they were families from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia.
- Iowa became the 29^th state in the union on December 28, 1846.
- The Chicago and North Western Railway reached Council Bluffs in 1867. Council Bluffs was designated the eastern terminus for the Union Pacific Railroad. The completion of five major railroads across Iowa brought major economic changes as well as travel opportunities.
- During the American Civil War, more than 75,000 Iowans participated in the war, 13,001 of whom died. A small battle fought at Athens, MO in 1861 resulted in a few shots landing in Croton, Iowa; a raid into Davis and Van Buren counties by Confederate guerrillas was stopped by Home Guards in October 1864. Iowa had a higher percentage of soldiers serve in the Civil War, per capita, than any other state in the Union, with nearly 60% of eligible males serving.
- The Iowa General Assembly passed a women's suffrage amendment in 1870.
- Iowa saw a large increase in farming of beef, corn, and pork during World War I, but farmers saw economic hardships after the war. These hardships were the result of the removal of war-time farm subsidies. Total recovery did not happen until the 1940s.
- Iowa had been a large supporter of alcohol prohibition.
- The Farm Crisis of the 1980's saw a major decline of family farms in Iowa and around the Midwest, and was marked by a sharp drop in the state's rural population.
- Although Iowa's primary industry is agriculture, it also produces refrigerators, washing machines, fountain pens, farm implements, and food products that are shipped around the world.
- Iowa is also a major producer of ethanol.
- Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa. He is also buried there.
- American film actor John Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa in 1907.
- Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, worked at Davenport, Iowa's radio station, WOC, as a sports announcer for University of Iowa games in 1932. In 1933 he became the chief sports announcer for WOC's sister station in Des Moines, WHO.

Geography

1933 1933 1933 :See List of counties in Iowa, List of cities in Iowa, List of townships in Iowa and List of Iowa rivers Iowa is bordered by Minnesota on the north, Nebraska and South Dakota on the west, Missouri on the south, and Wisconsin and Illinois on the east. The Mississippi River forms the eastern boundary of the state. The boundary along the west is formed by the Missouri River south of Sioux City and by the Big Sioux River north of Sioux City. There are many natural lakes in the state, most notably Spirit Lake, West Okoboji Lake, and East Okoboji Lake in northwest Iowa (see Iowa Great Lakes). Man-made lakes include Lake Odessa[http://www.iowadnr.com/fish/fishing/lakes/ode58.html], Saylorville Lake, Lake Red Rock, and Rathbun Lake. The topography of the state is gently rolling plains. Loess hills lie along the western border of the state. Some of these are several hundred feet thick. In the northeast along the Mississippi River is a section of the Driftless Zone, which in Iowa consists of low rugged hills covered with conifers—a landscape not usually associated with this state. The point of lowest elevation (146 m) is Keokuk in southeastern Iowa. The point of highest elevation (509 m) is Hawkeye Point, located in a feedlot north of Sibley in northwest Iowa. The mean elevation of the state is 335 m. Considering the size of the state (145,743 km²), there is very little elevation difference. Iowa has 99 counties. The state capital, Des Moines, is located in Polk County (#60). National parks, etc.
- Effigy Mounds National Monument
- Herbert Hoover National Historical Site

Climate

Iowa experiences a highly continental climate, with extremes of both heat and cold being present. The average annual temperature at Des Moines is 50.0° F (10.0° C); for some locations in the north the figure is under 45°, while Keokuk, on the Mississippi River, averages 52.1°. Winters are brisk and snowfall common, the capital receiving an average of 36.3 inches per season. Spring ushers in the beginning of the severe weather season, as well as bringing increased precipitation and warming temperatures. The Iowan summer is known for heat and humidity, with daytime temperatures sometimes exceeding 100° F (37.8° C).

Interstate highways

These are the interstate highways that go through Iowa:
- 29, 35, 74, 80, 129, 235, 280, 380, 480, 680

US highways

These are the United States highways that go through Iowa:
- 6, 18, 20, 30, 34, 52, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 75, 77, 136, 151, 169, 218, 275

Animals

These are some of the wild animals that can be found in Iowa: Iowa is home of 49 endangered & 35 threatened animal species as well as 64 endangered & 89 threatened plant species [http://www.iowadnr.com/education/wldresbs.html].

Economy

275]] The state's total gross state product for 2003 was $103 billion. Its per capita income for 2003 was $28,340. Iowa's main agricultural outputs are hogs, corn, soybeans, oats, cattle and dairy products. Its industrial outputs are food processing, machinery, electric equipment, chemical products, publishing and primary metals. Iowa produces the nation's largest amount of ethanol. Des Moines also serves as a center for the insurance industry.

Demographics

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2004, Iowa's population was estimated to be 2,954,451 people. This includes about 97,000 foreign-born (3.3%). The racial makeup of the state is:
- 92.6% White non-Hispanic
- 2.1% Black
- 2.8% Hispanic
- 1.3% Asian
- 0.3% Native American
- 1.1% Mixed race The five largest ancestry groups in Iowa are: German (35.7%), Irish (13.5%), English (9.5%), American (6.6%), Norwegian (5.7%). Iowans are mostly of Northern European origin. There are large numbers of German-Americans in the state (1 in 3 Iowans answered that they were of German ancestry on the 2000 Census), as well as people of British, Scandinavian, and Dutch ancestry, among others. 6.4% of Iowa's population were reported as under 5, 25.1% under 18, and 14.9% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 50.9% of the population.

"Rural flight"

Iowa, in common with other Great Plains states (especially Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota), is feeling the brunt of falling populations. 89% of the total number of cities in those states have fewer than 3000 people; hundreds have fewer than 1000. Between 1996 and 2004, almost half a million people, nearly half with college degrees, left the six states. "Rural flight" as it is called has led to offers of free land and tax breaks as enticements to newcomers.

Religion

Most Iowans are Protestant Christians, with Lutheranism being the largest single Protestant denomination, followed by Methodist. The state has the second largest population of Reformed Christians, both RCA and CRC. The religious affiliations of the people of Iowa are:
- Christian – 86%
- Protestant – 62%
- Lutheran – 17%
- Methodist – 14%
- Baptist – 5%
- Presbyterian – 3%
- Reformed – 2%
- Congregational/United Church of Christ – 2%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 19%
- Roman Catholic – 23%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Other Religions – <1%
- Non-Religious – 14%

Important cities and towns

Education

Iowa has a strong emphasis on education, which is shown in standardized testing scores. In 2003, Iowa had the second highest average SAT scores by state, and tied for second highest average ACT scores in states where more than 20% of graduates were tested. The national office of ACT is in Iowa City, and the ITBS and ITED testing programs used in many states are provided by the University of Iowa. An overhaul of the current education system is being discussed. One of the suggested ideas is switching from 180 days to a year-round school system. [http://www.whotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3447742]

Law and government

Vatterott College.]] The state capital is Des Moines. The current Governor is Tom Vilsack (Democrat) and the two U.S. Senators:
- Chuck Grassley (R)
- Tom Harkin (D) The five U.S. Congressmen:
- Jim Leach (R)
- Jim Nussle (R)
- Steve King (R)
- Tom Latham (R)
- Leonard Boswell (D) The Code of Iowa contains the statutory laws of the State of Iowa. The Iowa Legislative Service Bureau is a non-partisan governmental agency that is responsible for organizing, updating and publishing the Iowa Code. The Iowa Code is republished in full in odd years (i.e., 1999, 2001, 2003, etc..) and is supplemented in even years. Iowa has a liberal populist tradition but now is fairly evenly divided between the two major political parties. The state supported Democrats in the presidential contests from 1988 through 2000. It was one of only two states that supported Democrat Al Gore that switched to supporting George W. Bush in 2004. Bush narrowly won the state's 7 electoral votes by a margin of 0.7 percentage points with 49.9% of the vote. Democratic strength is concentrated in the eastern region of the state and in Des Moines. :See List of Governors of Iowa, Iowa General Assembly, and Iowa State Capitol

Iowa caucus

The state gets considerable attention every four years because of its first in the nation presidential caucus, a gathering of voters which, along with the New Hampshire primary a week later, has become the starting gun for choosing the two major-party candidates for U.S. president. The caucus, held in January of the election year, involves people gathering in homes or public places and choosing their candidate, rather than casting secret ballots, as is done in a primary election.

U.S. senators from Iowa

List of United States Senators who have represented Iowa: List of United States Senators

Professional sports teams

The Minor League baseball teams are:

- Iowa Cubs (AAA, Pacific Coast League)
- Cedar Rapids Kernels (A, Midwest League)
- Burlington Bees (A, Midwest League)
- Chariton A's (collegiate summer)

- Clinton LumberKings (A, Midwest League)
- Swing of the Quad Cities (A, Midwest League)
- Waterloo Bucks (collegiate summer)
- Sioux City Explorers (Northern League, independent)

The Minor League hockey teams are:

- Iowa Stars
- Cedar Rapids RoughRiders
- Waterloo Black Hawks

- Des Moines Buccaneers
- Sioux City Musketeers
- Quad City Mallards

The Minor League soccer teams are:

- Des Moines Menace (USL Premier Development League; amateur)

External links

- http://www.iowa.gov/
- [http://www.HavenWorks.com/iowacentric Iowa News.]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/19000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- [http://www.legis.state.ia.us/IACODE Iowa Code online at Iowa General Assembly]
- [http://www.usnewspapers.org/state/iowa Iowa Newspapers]
- [http://mcc.sws.uiuc.edu/climate_midwest/mwclimate_data_summaries.htm Midwest Regional Climate Center] (climate statistics)

Sources

- [http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/iowa/ Iowa: Facts, Map and State Symbols - EnchantedLearning.com]
- [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0801717.html State Symbols]
- The Graduate Center, CUNY: Research Studies: [http://www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/key_findings.htm American Religious Identification Survey]
- Category:States of the United States ko:아이오와 주 ja:アイオワ州 th:มลรัฐไอโอวา

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the fifty states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, together with the District of Columbia and Palmyra Atoll (an uninhabited incorporated unorganized territory), form the United States of America. The separate state governments and the U.S. federal government share sovereignty, in that an "American" is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of residence. The United States Constitution allocates power between the two levels of government in general terms; the general idea is that by ratifying the Constitution, each state has transferred certain aspects of its sovereign powers to the federal government while retaining the remainder for itself. The tasks of education, health, transportation, and other infrastructure are generally the responsibility of the states. Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did.

Legal relationship

At the time of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776, the 13 colonies became 13 independently sovereign states, which became fourteen in 1777 with the formation of the Vermont Republic; for a brief period, they were in effect legally separate nations. But upon the adoption of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the states became a single sovereign political entity as defined by international law, empowered to levy war and to conduct international relations, albeit with a very loosely structured and inefficient central government. After the failure of the union under the Articles of Confederation, the thirteen states joined the modern union via ratification of the United States Constitution, beginning in 1789. Under Article IV of the Constitution, which outlines the relationship between the states, the Congress has the power to admit new states to the union. The states are required to give "full faith and credit" to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts, marriages, criminal judgments, and - at the time - slave status. The states are guaranteed military and civil defense by the federal government, which is also required to ensure that the government of each state remains a republic. The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the union. The Articles of Confederation had stated that the earlier union of the colonies "shall be perpetual", and the preamble to the Constitution states that Constitution was intended to "form a more perfect union". In 1860 and 1861, several states attempted to secede, but were brought back into the Union by force of arms during the Civil War. Subsequently, the federal judicial system, in the case of Texas v. White, established that states do not have the right to secede without the consent of the other states.
- Four of the states bear the formal title of Commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In these cases, this is merely a name and has no legal effect. However, the United States has non-state areas called commonwealths (Puerto Rico and the Northern Marianas) which do have a legal status different from the states.
- States are free to organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as due process is protected. See state supreme court for more information. For example, most lawsuits in the state of New York are filed in the Supreme Court, and then appealed to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. The highest court in New York is the Court of Appeals.
- The joint resolution which admitted the Republic of Texas to the Union as a state guaranteed Texas the right to divide itself up into up to 5 states. This clause may be redundant, however, as any such state would arguably require Congressional approval, just as when Maine was split off from Massachusetts; it may also be unconstitutional, as reducing the equal suffrage of the other states in the United States Senate.

List of states

The states, with their U.S. postal abbreviations, traditional abbreviations, capitals and largest cities, are as follows. For a complete list of non-state dependent areas and other territory under control of the U.S., see United States dependent areas. State names speak to the circumstances of their creation. (See the lists of U.S. state name etymologies and U.S. county name etymologies for more detail.)
- Southern states on the Atlantic coast originated as British colonies named after British monarchs: Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. Some northeastern states, also former British colonies, take their names from places in the British Isles: New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York.
- Many states' names are those of Native American tribes or are from Native American languages: Kansas, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Mississippi, Texas, Utah, and others.
- Because they are on territories previously controlled by Spain or Mexico, many states in the southeast and southwest have Spanish names. They include Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, and Nevada.
- Because it was previously a French colony, Louisiana is named after the Louis XIV (King of France at the time).
- The origins of the names of California, Oregon, Idaho, and Rhode Island are unknown, although various theories exist.

Trivia

Names

- "Georgia" can refer to either a U.S. state or to an independent country in the Caucasus.
- The name "New York" can refer to any one of three geographical levels: a state, a city in that state, or a county (coterminous with the borough of Manhattan) in that city.
- "Washington" is a state, a city corresponding to the District of Columbia (and thus not part of any state), and a number of cities and counties in various states. See the list of places named for George Washington.
- The state of Washington is the only state named after a U.S. President (or after a person born within the area now comprising the U.S., for that matter).
- The official name of Rhode Island is "the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
- Only two states have state capitals named for the state (however, such name-sharing occurs commonly with states and provinces in some other countries, where the state or province actually often takes its name from a capital city): Oklahoma, with capital Oklahoma City, and Indiana, with capital Indianapolis (which means Indiana City). Iowa City, Iowa was the first state capital of Iowa but the capital was later moved to Des Moines, Iowa.
- Maine is the only state with a one-syllable name.

Geography

- Colorado and Wyoming are bounded by two circles of latitude and two meridians each, i.e. they appear to be rectangles in a cylindrical map projection.
- Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming are the only states whose borders are made up of only straight lines (taking meridians and circles of latitude as straight lines) and, thus, the only states whose borders completely ignore natural features.
- Every state—except Hawaii, which has no land boundaries—has straight lines as at least part of its boundaries. These are usually combined with rivers (see river borders of U.S. states), ridge lines and other natural boundaries. Pennsylvania and Delaware are unique in that their common border is an arc of a circle, see The Twelve-Mile Circle.
- The lower peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten; Louisiana is shaped like a boot.
- Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia have panhandles.
- Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico and Mississippi have bootheels.
- Alaska and Hawaii are the only states that are not physically connected to other states; Maine is the only state that borders only one other state. Missouri and Tennessee each border eight other states, the most for any state.
- Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah are the only four states to share a common border, known as the "Four Corners."
- Appearances given by the stereographic projection to the contrary, Minnesota is the northernmost of the forty-eight contiguous United States, as a northern spur of the state contains a portion of Lake of the Woods. At one time it was thought that Lake of the Woods contained the headwaters of the Mississippi River (now known to be at Lake Itasca).
- Alaska is the northernmost state and the westernmost state. Some would argue that it is also the easternmost state, as the Aleutian island chain crosses the 180º line of longitude.

Grouping of the states in regions

Alaska, The South and The Northeast. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] States may be grouped in regions; there are endless variations and possible groupings, as most states are not defined by obvious geographic or cultural borders. For further discussion of regions of the U.S., see the list of regions of the United States.

State lists

References

External links

- [http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1R_US9S_geo_id=01000US.html Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (in order of population)]
- [http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_US9_geo_id=01000US.html Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (alphabetical)]
- [http://www.usnewspapers.org US Newspapers by State]
- [http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0854966.html Origin of State Names] United States, States of the Category:Subdivisions of the United States
- U.S. State ja:アメリカ合衆国の地方行政区画 ko:미국의 주 simple:List of U.S. states th:มลรัฐของสหรัฐอเมริกา zh-min-nan:Bí-kok ê hêng-chèng-khu

December 28

December 28 is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 3 days remaining.

Events

- 418 - St. Boniface I becomes Pope.
- 1065 - Westminster Abbey is consecrated.
- 1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, emperor of Japan, begins.
- 1612 - Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune when it was in conjunction with Jupiter, yet he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star because of its extremely slow motion along the ecliptic at that time. Neptune was not truly discovered until 1846, about 234 years after Galileo first sighted it with his telescope.
- 1832 - John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign.
- 1835 - Osceola led his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the U.S. Army.
- 1836 - South Australia and Adelaide are founded
- 1836 - Spain recognizes independence of Mexico.
- 1846 - Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.
- 1879 - The Tay Bridge Disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses as a train passed over it, killing 75.
- 1895 - The Lumiere brothers have their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines -- this date is commonly considered the debut of the cinema.
- 1897 - The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premieres in Paris.
- 1902 - The first indoor professional American football game is played in New York City at Madison Square Garden.
- 1908 - An earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000.
- 1941 - Starts the Operation Anthropoid (the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague).
- 1945 - The U.S. Congress officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance
- 1950 - The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.
- 1973 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn publishes Gulag Archipelago.
- 1974 - Senegalese marxist group Reenu-Rew founds the political movement And-Jëf at a clandestine congress.
- 1981 - The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born (Norfolk, Virginia).
- 1981 - The HBO pay cable television service expanded its schedule offering to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- 1984 - The final telecast of soap opera The Edge of Night (which started from 1956 to 1975 on CBS) on ABC due to TV stations dropping the show in favor of syndicated programming, losing sponsorship, and low ratings.
- 1989 -A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.
- 1991 - Nine are crushed while a crowd pushes their way into a basketball game at City College of New York.
- 1991 - Sonic the Hedgehog Game Gear version is released in Japan.
- 1995 - CompuServe sets a precedent by blocking access to sex-oriented newsgroups after being pressured by German prosecutors.
- 1998 - Claudia Benton of West University Place, Texas is murdered in her home by Angel Maturino Resendiz. This is Angel's third victim in his third incident.
- 1999 - Saparmurat Niyazov was proclaimed President for Life in Turkmenistan.
- 2000 - Adrian Năstase became the Prime Minister of Romania.
- 2000 - U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.

Births

- 1164 - Emperor Rokujo of Japan (d. 1176)
- 1522 - Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (d. 1583)
- 1619 - Antoine Furetière, French writer (d. 1688)
- 1655 - Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1698)
- 1665 - George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general (d. 1716)
- 1856 - Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1924)
- 1879 - Billy Mitchell, American military aviation pioneer (d. 1936)
- 1882 - Arthur Eddington, English astronomer and physicist (d. 1944)
- 1888 - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, German film director (d. 1931)
- 1899 - Eugeniusz Bodo, Polish actor (d. 1943)
- 1902 - Mortimer Adler, American philosopher (d. 1902)
- 1903 - Earl "Fatha" Hines, American musician (d. 1983)
- 1903 - John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 1957)
- 1905 - Cliff Arquette, American actor and comedian (d. 1974)
- 1908 - Lew Ayres, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1922 - Stan Lee, American comic book writer
- 1924 - Milton Obote, President of Uganda (d. 2005)
- 1925 - Hildegard Knef, German actress, singer and writer (d. 2002)
- 1929 - Brian Redhead, English journalist and broadcaster (d. 1994)
- 1931 - Guy Debord, human being, enemy (d. 1994)
- 1932 - Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman (d. 2002)
- 1932 - Manuel Puig, Argentine writer (d. 1990)
- 1932 - Roy Hattersley, British politician
- 1933 - Nichelle Nichols, American actress and singer
- 1934 - Maggie Smith, English actress
- 1940 - Don Francisco, Chilean TV host
- 1943 - Richard Whiteley, British television presenter (d. 2005)
- 1944 - Kary Mullis, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1946 - Edgar Winter, American musician
- 1947 - Aurelio Rodríguez, baseball player (d. 2000)
- 1953 - Richard Clayderman, French pianist
- 1954 - Denzel Washington, American actor
- 1956 - Nigel Kennedy, English violinist
- 1967 - Chris Ware, American cartoonist
- 1969 - Linus Torvalds, Finnish computer programmer
- 1971 - Frank Sepe, American bodybuilder and model
- 1972 - Patrick Rafter, Australian tennis player
- 1978 - John Legend, American singer, songwriter, and pianist
- 1981 - Sienna Miller, English actress
- 1982 - Cedric Benson, American football player
- 1989 - Mackenzie Rosman, American actress

Deaths

- 1367 - Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shogun (b. 1330)
- 1446 - Antipope Clement VIII
- 1503 - Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1471)
- 1558 - Hermann Finck, German composer (b. 1527)
- 1622 - Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva and saint (b. 1567)
- 1663 - Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1618)
- 1671 - Johann Friedrich Gronovius, German classical scholar (b. 1611)
- 1694 - Queen Mary II of England (b. 1662)
- 1703 - Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1664)
- 1706 - Pierre Bayle, French philosopher (b. 1647)
- 1708 - Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (b. 1656)
- 1715 - William Carstares, Scottish minister (b. 1649)
- 1734 - Robert Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero (b. 1671)
- 1736 - Antonio Caldara, Italian composer (b. 1670)
- 1829 - Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French scientist (b. 1744)
- 1859 - Thomas Macaulay, British poet, historian, and politician (b. 1800)
- 1900 - Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, Portuguese explorer (b. 1846)
- 1916 - Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer (b. 1835)
- 1918 - Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (b. 1865)
- 1924 - Léon Bakst, Russian artist (b. 1866)
- 1937 - Maurice Ravel, French composer (b. 1875)
- 1938 - Florence Lawrence, American actress (b. 1886)
- 1945 - Theodore Dreiser, American author (b. 1871)
- 1947 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (b. 1869)
- 1949 - Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (b. 1910)
- 1952 - Fletcher Henderson, American musician (b. 1897)
- 1963 - Paul Hindemith, German composer (b. 1895)
- 1967 - Katharine McCormick, American women's rights activist (b. 1875)
- 1976 - Katharine Byron, U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1903)
- 1981 - Allan Dwan, Canadian-born film director (b. 1885)
- 1983 - William Demarest, American actor (b. 1892)
- 1983 - Jimmy Demaret, American golfer (b. 1910)
- 1983 - Dennis Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (b. 1944)
- 1984 - Sam Peckinpah, American film director (b. 1925)
- 1986 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian film director (b. 1932)
- 1989 - Hermann Oberth, German physicist (b. 1894)
- 1991 - Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (b. 1952)
- 1998 - Claudia Benton, Peruvian child psychologist (b. 1959)
- 1999 - Clayton Moore, American actor (b. 1914)
- 2001 - William X. Kienzle, American novelist (b. 1928)
- 2003 - Benjamin Hacker, U.S. admiral (b. 1935)
- 2003 - Dinsdale Landen, British actor (b. 1932)
- 2004 - Jerry Orbach, American actor (b. 1935)
- 2004 - Susan Sontag, American writer and activist (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances

- The third day of Christmas in Western Christianity.
- Childermas(Children's Mass) Old English name for Feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorating the children massacred on Herod's orders (part of the birth of Christ story in the Bible).
- Also called Massacre of the Innocents or el Día de los Santos Inocentes, it is a day of practical jokes, in the same spirit as April Fool's Day.
- Proclamation Day (South Australian public holiday), for the foundation of the Australian state of South Australia

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/28 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/12/28 Today in History: December 28] ---- December 27 - December 29 - November 28 - January 28 -- listing of all days Á ko:12월 28일 ms:28 Disember ja:12月28日 simple:December 28 th:28 ธันวาคม

1846

1846 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 5 - The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom
- February 5 - The Oregon Spectator becomes the first newspaper on the Pacific coast of the United States.
- February 10 - Many Mormons begin their migration west from Nauvoo, Illinois to Great Salt Lake led by Brigham Young
- February 19 - In Austin, Texas the newly-formed Texas state government is officially installed.
- March 10 - Prince Osahito, fourth son of deceased Emperor Ninko of Japan, becomes Emperor Komei of Japan.
- April 25 - Mexican-American War: Open conflict begins over border disputes of Texas' boundaries.
- April 27 - The first arrival of a train to Celje.
- May 8 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Palo Alto - Zachary Taylor defeats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande at Palo Alto, Texas in the first major battle of the war.
- May 13 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
- 16 May - Under the leadership of British Prime Minister Robert Peel, the British Parliament repeals the Corn Laws, replacing the old Colonial mercantile trade system with Free Trade.
- May 17 - The Saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax
- June 10 - Mexican-American War: The California Republic declares independence from Mexico.
- June 10 - Grinnell College: The first American college or university to the West of the Mississippi River is founded.
- June 14 - Bear Flag Revolt begins - American settlers in Sonoma, California start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
- June 15 - The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.[http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/two/oretreat.htm]
- June 21 - Pope Pius IX ascends to the Holy See.
- July 7 - Acting on instructions from Washington, DC, Commodore John Drake Sloat orders his troops to occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena thus beginning the United States annexation of California.
- August 14 - The Cape Girardeau meteorite, a 2.3 kg chondrite type meteorite struck earth 7.5 miles (12 km) south of the town of Cape Girardeau in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
- September 23 – Neptune discovered by German astronomers Johann Gottfried Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest, although the planet did not get its current name for many years.
- October 16 - Boston dentist William T.G. Morton uses ether anesthesia for the first time when he assist in removal of a tumor in the Massachusetts General Hospital
- December 28: Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.
- The portion of the District of Columbia that was ceded by Virginia in 1790 is re-ceded to Virginia.
- Potato crop fails in Ireland
- Electric Telegraph Company founded in Britain
- Liberia declares independence as a republic
- Elias Howe patents the sewing machine
- Railway Mania in Britain reaches its zenith
- Rotary printing press invented making rapid printing of newspapers possible

Ongoing events

- Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
- Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849)

Births

- January 5 - Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)
- February 2 - Francis Marion Smith, American borax magnate (d. 1931)
- February 9 - Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (d. 1929)
- February 18 - Wilson Barrett, English actor (d. 1904)
- February 26 - Buffalo Bill, American hunter and entertainer (d. 1917)
- April 4 - Comte de Lautreamont, French writer (d. 1870)
- May 5 - Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
- June 27 - Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish political leader (d. 1891)
- July 17 - Tokugawa Iemochi, Japanese shogun (d. 1866)
- November 25 - Carrie Nation, American temperance advocate (d. 1911)

Deaths

- February 21 - Emperor Ninko of Japan (b. 1800)
- March 17 - Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1784
- June 1 - Pope Gregory XVI (b. 1765)
- June 8 - Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss author, painter, and caricature artist (b. 1799)
- November 6 - Karol Marcinkowski, Polish physician and social activist (b. 1800) Category:1846 ko:1846년 th:พ.ศ. 2389

Louis Joliet

Louis Jolliet, also known Louis Joliet (September 21, 1645–May 1700), was a Canadian explorer born in Quebec who is important for his discoveries in North America. Joliet and missionary Jacques Marquette were the first white men to map the Mississippi River. Mississippi River

Early years

The son of a wagon-maker, Louis Joliet was born at Quebec, Canada, on September 21, 1645. He gave great promise of scholarship, especially in mathematics, in the Jesuits' school at Quebec, and received minor orders in 1663. But caught with the adventurous spirit of the times, he abandoned his studies in 1667 and became a rover in the Canadian wilderness and a trader with the Indians. A fleeting glimpse is caught of Joliet searching for a copper mine on the borders of Lake Superior, in 1669; and again in 1671, he is seen standing by the side of Saint-Lusson as he plants the arms of France at Sault Sainte Marie.

Exploration of the Mississippi River

In 1672, upon the advice of the intendant, Jean Talon, Joliet was dispatched by Governor Frontenac to explore the grande riviére beyond the Lakes, which the Indians alleged flowed into the southern sea. In the order the French governor refers to Joliet as one "experienced in these kinds of discoveries and who had been already very near the river." In December of the same year, Joliet reached the Straits of Mackinac, where, with Father Jacques Marquette, he spent the winter and the early spring in questioning the Indians and preparing maps for the journey. In May of the following year, 1673, the historic quest began. With five voyageurs and two canoes, Joliet and Marquette reached the Fox River in June. A few leagues beyond, a short portage was found by which they reached the Wisconsin River, down the tortuous course of which they glided until, on June 17, the little party drifted into the waters of the great Mississippi. For a month they paddled southward, passing a great river from the west which the Indians assured them flowed into the Vermeille Sea—the Gulf of California—and, near it, a little village whose inhabitants, they were told, traded with the Indians on the Pacific coast. Joliet descended the river to 30° 40', christening rivers, plateaus, and elevations with Indian and French names which were destined to endure no longer than La Salle's great dream of the "Empire of New France." Having established beyond doubt the important fact that the great river emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, the expedition returned, arriving at Green Bay in September, after having paddled 2,500 miles. Here Marquette remained while Joliet hurried to Quebec, where he arrived the middle of August 1674 after having lost all his documents and maps by the upsetting of his canoe in the Lachine Rapids. Whether or not Joliet was the first Frenchman to have gazed upon the Great River, the reports that he laid before the governor and his establishment of the fact that the Mississippi was a highway to the sea led to the immediate formation of plans on the part of Canadian merchants and officers for the settlement of the Mississippi Valley, though Joliet's offer to plant a colony among the Illinois was refused by the French Government.

Later years

Shortly after his return, Joliet was married to Claire-Francoise Bissot. In 1680 he was granted the Island of Anticosti, where he erected a fort, which was subsequently captured by the English in 1690, upon which occasion his wife was taken prisoner. The restless spirit of the explorer persevered in Joliet to the end, for mention is made, within a few years of his death, of extensive wanderings in Labrador. In 1693 he was appointed royal hydrographer, and, on April 30, 1697, he was granted the seigniory of Joliet, south of Quebec. Louis Joliet died some time in the month of May, 1700, being lost on a trip to one of his land holdings. He was one of the first native Americans to have achieved historical distinction. The city of Joliet, Illinois, in the United States is named after him.

External links

- [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=34427 Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online] Joliet, Louis Joliet, Louis Joliet, Louis Joliet, Louis Joliet, Louis

Jacques Marquette

Father Jacques Marquette (French: Père Jacques Marquette) (10 June, 1637 – May 18, 1675) and Louis Jolliet were the first Europeans to see and map the Mississippi River. Father Marquette was a Jesuit missionary born in Laon, France, who joined the Society of Jesus at age seventeen. After working and teaching in France for several years, he was dispatched to Quebec in 1666 to preach to the Native Americans, where he showed great proficiency in the local languages, especially Huron. Huron In 1668 Father Marquette was redeployed by his superiors to missions farther up the St. Lawrence River in the western Great Lakes. He worked at Sault Ste. Marie and at the Mission of the Holy Spirit in La Pointe, on Lake Superior, near the present-day town of Ashland, Wisconsin. Here, he came into contact with members of the Illinois tribes, who told him of the existence of the Mississippi River and invited him to come teach further south. Due to wars between the Hurons at La Pointe and the neighboring Dakota people, however, Father Marquette had to relocate to the Mackinac Straits, where he informed his superiors about the rumored river, and requested permission to explore it. Leave was granted, and in 1673 Marquette was joined by Louis Joliet, a French Canadian explorer. They departed from Mackinac on May 17, with two canoes and five other voyageurs of French-Indian ancestry. They followed Lake Michigan to the Bay of Green Bay and up the Fox River. From here, they portaged to the Wisconsin River, which they were told led to the river they sought. On June 17 they entered the Mississippi near Prairie du Chien, becoming the first Europeans to enter the river. Prairie du Chien The Joliet-Marquette expedition travelled to within 435 miles (700 km) of the Gulf of Mexico, but turned back at the mouth of the Arkansas River. By this point they had encountered a number of natives carrying European trinkets, and they feared any encounter with explorers or colonists from Spain. They followed the Mississippi back to the mouth of the Illinois River, which they learned from local natives was a shorter route back to the Great Lakes. They returned to Lake Michigan at the point of modern-day Chicago, Illinois. Marquette stopped at the mission of St. Francis Xavier in Green Bay in September, while Joliet returned to Quebec to relate the good news of their discoveries. Marquette returned to the Illinois River in 1674 to found a mission among the Illinois people at Kaskaskia, and preached at Starved Rock. Returning north, his party wintered on the shore of Lake Michigan, the first Europeans to visit the site of modern-day Michigan Avenue in Chicago. A bout of dysentery picked up during the Mississippi expedition, however, had sapped his health. On the return trip to Mackinack he died near the modern town of Ludington, Michigan, although the precise date and location are unknown. Father Marquette is memorialized in several towns and rivers that bear his name (such as Marquette, Michigan), as well as the Father Marquette National Memorial near St. Ignace, Michigan. He is also the namesake of Marquette University in Milwaukee.

External links

- [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=34519 Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online]
- [http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/ The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents 1610 to 1791, including Marquette's journal] Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Hacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques Marquette, Jacques

Meskwaki

The Fox tribe of Native Americans are an Algonquian language-speaking group that are now merged with the allied Sac tribe as the Sac and Fox Nation. The Fox called themselves Meshkwahkihaki or Mesquakie. The name Fox originated in a French mistake applying a clan name to the entire tribe. The Fox originally lived east of Michigan along the Saint Lawrence River. The tribe may have numbered as many as 10,000 but years of war with the French-supplied Hurons reduced their numbers and forced them west first to the area between Saginaw Bay and Detroit in Michigan and then to Wisconsin. When the French had first contact with them they estimated that the Fox numbered about 6,500. By 1712, they were down to 3,500 when the First Fox War broke out with the French (1712-1714). The Second Fox War of 1728 found the remaining 1500 Fox reduced to 500 who found shelter with the Sac and brought French animosity to that tribe. Members of the Fox tribe spread through southern Wisconsin, and the Iowa-Illinois border. In 1829 the government estimated there were 1500 Fox (along with 5500 Sac). Some of them were involved with some of the Sac in the Blackhawk War when they refused to give up their lands in Illinois. Fox who had successfully fled west of the Mississippi River were known as the "lost people" by the Dakota. The Meskwaki later moved to a settlement near Tama, Iowa. Soon after the Sauk were forced to a reservation in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. By 1910, there were only about 1000 Sac and Fox altogether and, even by 2000, their number was less than 4000.

Background and history

The Meskwaki are of the Algonquian origin from the Eastern Woodland Culture areas. Their language is a dialect of the same larger language spoken by the Sauk and Kickapoo. The tribe has been historically located in the St. Lawrence River Valley, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa. Meskwaki were called “Renards” (The Fox) by the French – the tribe's first European contact in 1666 – but have always identified themselves as “Meskwaki”. Meskwaki and Sauk are two distinct tribal groups. Linguistic and cultural similarities between the two tribes have made them often associated throughout history. Terminology established by the United States Government continues to treat the Sac & Fox as a single political unit despite their separate identities. Meskwaki fought against the French in what is called the Fox Wars (1701-1742). The Meskwaki resistance of French rule was so effective that the French King signed a decree commanding the complete extermination of the Meskwaki… the only edict of its kind in history of a Major and full standing army on one particular American Indian tribe. The Sauk and Meskwaki allied in 1735 to fend off Europeans and other Indian tribes. Both tribes moved southward from Wisconsin into Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. After the Black Hawk War of 1832, the United States officially combined the two tribes into a single group known as the Sac & Fox confederacy for treaty-making purposes. Then a series of land cessions under the name of “Sac & Fox”, the Sauk and Meskwaki lost all lands and ultimately were removed to a reservation in east central Kansas in 1845. But some Meskwaki remained hidden in Iowa with others coming back within a few years. In 1856 the state of Iowa enacted a law allowing the Meskwaki to stay. The U.S. government however tried to force the tribe back to the Kansas reservation by withholding treaty-right annuities. In 1857 the Meskwaki purchase the first 80 acres in Tama County. Ten years later the U.S. finally began paying annuities to the Meskwaki in Iowa, an act that gave the Meskwaki a formal identity as the Sac & Fox of Iowa. The jurisdictional status was unclear since the tribe then had formal federal recognition with eligibility for BIA services but also had a continuing relationship with the State of Iowa due to the tribe’s private ownership of land which was held in trust by the governor. For the next 30 years the Meskwaki were virtually ignored by federal as well as state polices. Subsequently, they lived a more independent lifestyle than other tribes confined to regular reservations that were strictly regimented by federal authority. To resolve this jurisdictional ambiguity, in 1896 the State of Iowa ceded to the Federal Government all jurisdiction over the Meskwaki. Category:Native American tribes Category:Algonquian languages Category:Languages of the United States Category:Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands

1833

1833 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

- January 3, British invades the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
- March 2, President Andrew Jackson signs the Force Bill, which authorizes him to use troops to enforce Federal law in South Carolina.
- March 3 -Ayya Vaikundar incarnated in a human body from the sea of Thiruchendur.
- May 11 - French-American farmhand Antoine le Blanc murders family of three.
- May 28 - Royal pretender Karl Wilhelm Naundorf arrives in Paris on foot
- June 6, US President Andrew Jackson becomes the first President to ride a train.
- August 29 - Child labor - in United Kingdom, parliament passes an act that makes illegal to employ children less than 9 years old in factories and limits the child workers 9 to 13 years of age to maximum of 9 hours a day
- September 2, Oberlin College is founded by John Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart.
- September 29, the infant Isabella II becomes Queen of Spain, under the regency of her mother, Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Her uncle Don Carlos, Conde de Molina challenges her claim, beginning the First Carlist War.
- December 14, assassination of Kaspar Hauser, dies three days later in December 17
- Charles Babbage described his analytical engine. (see also history of computing hardware)
- The dawn of biochemistry: discovery of the first enzyme, diastase, by Anselme Payen
- The British Parliament passes the Slavery Abolition Act giving all slaves in the British Empire their freedom.

Births

- January 1 - Robert Lawson, New Zealand architect (d. 1902)
- February 11 - Melville Weston Fuller 8th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1910)
- February 19 - Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1906)
- February 25 - John St. John, American temperance movement leader (d. 1916)
- February 28 - Alfred von Schlieffen, German field marshal (d. 1913)
- May 7 - Johannes Brahms, German composer (d. 1897)
- July 27 - Thomas George Bonney, English geologist (d. 1923)
- August 20 - Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (d. 1901)
- September 20 - Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1918)
- October 21 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor of dynamite, creator of the Nobel Prize (d. 1896)
- November 6 - Jonas Lie, Norwegian author (d. 1908)
- November 9 - Émile Gaboriau, French writer (d. 1873)
- November 12 - Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (d. 1887)

Month/day of birth unknown

- Francis Anstie, British physician and medical researcher (d. 1874)

Deaths

- January 10 - Adrien-Marie Legendre, French mathematician (b. 1752)
- January 23 - Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, British admiral (b. 1757)
- April 7 -

Iowa

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December 28

Events

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1846

Events

Ongoing events

Births

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Louis Joliet

Early years

Exploration of the Mississippi River

Later years

See also

External links

Jacques Marquette

External links

Meskwaki

Background and history

1833

Events

Births

Month/day of birth unknown

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