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137-580: The Escarpment was the first area of the Catskills to attract the interest of European settlers . Botanist John Bartram wrote a widely read account of an expedition there prior to independence , and a century later the North-South Lake area he had visited became home to a number of exclusive resorts, including the Catskill Mountain House . Views of it inspired Thomas Cole and other painters of

274-534: A "shady vale" around North-South Lake, where he collected samples of the resin of the "Balm of Gilead" tree ( balsam fir ) to send to his English patron, Peter Collinson . He returned the next year for more. Collinson regularly prevailed on Bartram over the next several years to return for some seeds of the tree, which the former hoped to grow in England, and in 1753 he did, accompanied by a guide and his son William . Despite being seriously ill, he returned to South Lake. He

411-572: A band of Canarse from Brooklyn who occupied the bottom quarter of Manhattan, known then as the Manhattoes , for 60 guilders ' worth of trade goods. Minuit conducted the transaction with the Canarse chief Seyseys, who accepted valuable merchandise in exchange for an island that was actually mostly controlled by another indigenous group, the Weckquaesgeeks . Dutch fur traders set up a network upstream on

548-700: A capital city and royal palace, fully expecting the Dutch to retain control of this rich area. As the Dutch had in Europe, it tolerated the presence of Jews and other religious groups in the colony. After Maurits departed in 1643, the Dutch West India Company took over the colony until it was lost to the Portuguese in 1654. The Dutch retained some territory in Dutch Guiana , now Suriname . The Dutch also seized islands in

685-647: A century after Spain. The relatively late arrival meant that the British could use the other European colonization powers as models for their endeavors. Inspired by the Spanish riches from colonies founded upon the conquest of the Aztecs , Incas , and other large Native American populations in the 16th century, their first attempt at colonization occurred in Roanoke and Newfoundland , although unsuccessful. In 1606, King James I granted

822-585: A charter with the purpose of discovering the riches at their first permanent settlement in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. They were sponsored by common stock companies such as the chartered Virginia Company financed by wealthy Englishmen who exaggerated the economic potential of the land. The Reformation of the 16th century broke the unity of Western Christendom and led to the formation of numerous new religious sects, which often faced persecution by governmental authorities. In England, many people came to question

959-505: A colony in Greenland in the late tenth century, and lasted until the mid 15th-century, with court and parliament assemblies ( þing ) taking place at Brattahlíð and a bishop located at Garðar . The remains of a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland , Canada, were discovered in 1960 and were dated to around the year 1000 (carbon dating estimate 990–1050). L'Anse aux Meadows is

1096-475: A core group of scientists, who sought to map and catalogue the flora, fauna, and other aspects of the natural world. A major Russian expedition for exploration was mounted in 1742, contemporaneous with other eighteenth-century European state-sponsored ventures. It was not clear at the time whether Eurasia and North America were completely separate continents. The first voyages were made by Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov , with settlement beginning after 1743. By

1233-472: A failing Catskill Mountain House in 1846 and turned it into one of mid-19th century America's most exclusive resorts, visited by presidents and other dignitaries. Guests explored the area, following paths and trails that still exist, to visit Kaaterskill Falls and other scenic spots. Competing hotels opened up nearby over the next several decades. The Kaaterskill Hotel, founded by a disgruntled Mountain House guest,

1370-721: A long distance around. It is a constant sight from not only the New York State Thruway in Greene County and the river but the Taconic State Parkway across the river and the mountains of western Connecticut and Massachusetts . From the Escarpment it is possible to see all those areas, plus Vermont , on a clear day. An overlook along Route 23 as it climbs the northern Escarpment is called Five State Lookout since New Hampshire 's White Mountains are also visible. Along

1507-521: A number of European countries, took place primarily between the late 15th century and the early 19th century. The Norse explored and colonized areas of Europe and the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short-term settlement near the northern tip of Newfoundland circa 1000 AD. However, due to its long duration and importance, the later colonization by the European powers involving

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1644-511: A planetary scale, ... The fact that this other slavery had to be carried out clandestinely made it even more insidious. It is a tale of good intentions gone badly astray." A major event in early Spanish colonization, which had so far yielded paltry returns, was the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521). It was led by Hernán Cortés and made possible by securing indigenous alliances with

1781-664: A protected group of Christians, Indigenous men no longer could aspire to be ordained Christian priests. Throughout the Americas, the Jesuits were active in attempting to convert the Indigenous peoples to Christianity. They had considerable success on the frontiers in New France and Portuguese Brazil , most famously with Antonio de Vieira, S.J; and in Paraguay , almost an autonomous state within

1918-671: A range of responses, from outright hostility to active embrace of the new religion." In central and southern Mexico where there was an existing Indigenous tradition of creating written texts, the friars taught Indigenous scribes to write their own languages in Latin letters . There is a significant body of texts in Indigenous languages created by and for Indigenous peoples in their own communities for their own purposes. In frontier areas where there were no settled Indigenous populations, friars and Jesuits often created missions , bringing together dispersed Indigenous populations in communities supervised by

2055-580: A regular summer guest at the Mountain House since the Civil War , announced that not only were the so-called " Shandaken Mountains" in Ulster County to the southwest geologically continuous with the Catskills, one of them, Slide Mountain , was at 4,180 feet (1,270 m) the highest peak in the entire range, instead of the Escarpment's Kaaterskill High Peak . He had also found that the Mountain House itself

2192-408: A richer endowment of antibodies. The large-scale contact with Europeans after 1492 introduced Eurasian germs to the indigenous people of the Americas . Epidemics of smallpox (1518, 1521, 1525, 1558, 1589), typhus (1546), influenza (1558), diphtheria (1614) and measles (1618) swept the Americas subsequent to European contact, killing between 10 million and 100 million people, up to 95% of

2329-473: A seafaring nation and built a global empire in regions where the Portuguese had originally explored. In the Dutch Golden Age , it sought colonies. In the Americas, the Dutch conquered the northeast of Brazil in 1630, where the Portuguese had built sugar cane plantations worked by black slave labor from Africa. Prince Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen became the administrator of the colony (1637–43), building

2466-525: A series of Papal Bulls that confirmed Spanish claims to the newly discovered lands. After the final Reconquista of Iberia , the Treaty of Tordesillas was ratified by the Pope, the two kingdoms of Castile (in a personal union with other kingdoms of Spain) and Portugal in 1494. The treaty divided the entire non-European world into two spheres of exploration and colonization. The longitudinal boundary cut through

2603-574: A state. The Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God , a translation by John Eliot of the gospel into Algonquian , was published in 1663. Roman Catholics were the first major religious group to immigrate to the New World, as settlers in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies of Portugal and Spain, and later, France in New France . No other religion was tolerated and there was a concerted effort to convert indigenous peoples and black slaves to Catholicism. The Catholic Church established three offices of

2740-410: A thousand feet so much up and down that a man standing on their edges is fool enough to think he can jump from top to bottom. "What see you when you get there ? " asked Edwards. "Creation!" said Natty, dropping the end of his rod into the water, and sweeping one hand around him in a circle, "all creation, lad." The same year the hotel later to become the Catskill Mountain House was built at

2877-479: A virgin stand. They survived the era when tanners sought the species for the tannin in its bark since the steep and perilous nature of that terrain made them too difficult to profitably extract. It and many of the other ravines draining into Kaaterskill Clove also support some plants species rare in New York State, such as roseroot stonecrop and fragrant cliff fern (listed as threatened and endangered at

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3014-444: Is Kaaterskill Falls , one of the Catskills' oldest tourist attractions. Above Kaaterskill Clove rises South Mountain , after which the ridge levels to North-South Lake , the former locale of the Catskill Mountain House and other resorts of the late 19th century. Today it is a busy public campground. North of it the ridge rises again to 3,180-foot (970 m) North Mountain , with the open views from North Point to its south one of

3151-469: Is estimated that from Columbus's arrival to the end of the 19th century between 2.5 and 5 million Native Americans were forced into slavery. Indigenous men, women, and children were often forced into labor in sparsely populated frontier settings, in the household, or in the toxic gold and silver mines. This practice was known as the encomienda system and granted free native labor to the Spaniards. Based upon

3288-446: Is found only in the cloves, where some of it is also protected . The Forest Preserve lands are divided into management units by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Initially all of the state lands save North-South Lake Public Campground were classified as Wild Forests, a protection level unique to New York that is slightly less restrictive than wilderness . In 2008 an updated Catskill State Land Master Plan combined

3425-433: Is found. Since those species are shade-intolerant , it suggests that the sites have not reforested since the end of glaciation. At lower elevations, the many fires that have raged over the region have left it with a mixed forest where oak and pine predominate. Several large areas of Norway spruce were planted on the north slopes of Windham High Peak during reforestation efforts following state land acquisitions in

3562-494: Is now Brazil. They imported millions of slaves to run their plantations. The Portuguese and Spanish royal governments expected to rule these settlements and collect at least 20% of all treasure found (the quinto real collected by the Casa de Contratación ), in addition to collecting all the taxes they could. By the late 16th century silver from the Americas accounted for one-fifth of the combined total budget of Portugal and Spain. In

3699-501: Is the 22.3-mile (35.9 km) Escarpment Trail, which begins at Schutt Road just outside the campground gate. From there it goes north to Route 23, climbing over Stoppel Point, Blackhead and Windham High Peak along the way. All but the southernmost 2.5 miles (4.0 km) are also part of the Long Path long-distance trail, which itself traverses Kaaterskill High Peak and descends Kaaterskill Clove to near Palenville and then reascends to join

3836-562: The Caribbean that Spain had originally claimed but had largely abandoned, including Sint Maarten in 1618, Bonaire in 1634, Curaçao in 1634, Sint Eustatius in 1636, Aruba in 1637, some of which remain in Dutch hands and retain Dutch cultural traditions. On the east coast of North America, the Dutch planted the colony of New Netherland on the lower end of the island of Manhattan , at New Amsterdam starting in 1624. The Dutch sought to protect their investments and purchased Manhattan from

3973-455: The Caribbean , and parts of South America. They also gained Florida and Quebec in the French and Indian War . John Smith convinced the colonists of Jamestown that searching for gold was not taking care of their immediate needs for food and shelter. The lack of food security leading to an extremely high mortality rate was quite distressing and cause for despair among the colonists. To support

4110-490: The Greene County line. It rises again quickly to a high area around 3,655-foot (1,114 m) Kaaterskill High Peak , the easternmost Catskill High Peak and the first of three along the Escarpment. North of it the Escarpment is again breached by Kaaterskill Clove , the largest of its three breaks. It carries NY 23A through the Escarpment to the towns of Haines Falls , Tannersville and Hunter . Along its northern side

4247-608: The Hudson River . There were Jewish settlers from 1654 onward, and they remained following the English capture of New Amsterdam in 1664. The naval capture was despite both nations being at peace with the other. Russia came to colonization late compared to Spain or Portugal, or even England. Siberia was added to the Russian Empire and Cossack explorers along rivers sought valuable furs of ermine , sable , and fox . Cossacks enlisted

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4384-592: The Hudson River School , the first art movement in the United States. Today much of it is New York State Forest Preserve within the Catskill Park , and a popular place for hiking , camping and other outdoor recreation. The Catskill Escarpment begins in the south at 3,140-foot (960 m) Overlook Mountain , just north of Woodstock . The graded trail to the summit and the 360-degree unobstructed view from

4521-485: The Illinoian glaciation swept through the region. This had two impacts on the Escarpment. Not only did it scour and steepen its slopes, leaving the many bare cliffs found today, it carved out both Platte and Kaaterskill cloves from the narrower, shorter and shallower valleys of smaller streams. In the latter, the gouge in the Escarpment was so deep it resulted in stream capture , as the outflow streams from North-South Lake ,

4658-646: The Indigenous peoples of the Americas to the Christian religion . Pope Alexander VI issued the Inter caetera bull in May 1493 that confirmed the lands claimed by the Kingdom of Spain , and mandated in exchange that the Indigenous peoples be converted to Catholic Christianity . During Columbus 's second voyage, Benedictine friars accompanied him, along with twelve other priests. With

4795-580: The River Plate in South America. These explorers include João Vaz Corte-Real in Newfoundland; João Fernandes Lavrador , Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real and João Álvares Fagundes , in Newfoundland, Greenland, Labrador, and Nova Scotia (from 1498 to 1502, and in 1520). During this time, the Portuguese gradually switched from an initial plan of establishing trading posts to extensive colonization of what

4932-593: The Silk Road , the traditional route for trade between Europe and Asia, forced European traders to look for alternative routes. The Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus led an expedition to find a route to East Asia, but instead landed in The Bahamas . Columbus encountered the Lucayan people on the island Guanahani (possibly Cat Island ), which they had inhabited since the ninth century. In his reports, Columbus exaggerated

5069-982: The Spanish Inquisition , in Mexico City ; Lima, Peru ; and Cartagena de Indias in Colombia to maintain religious orthodoxy and practice. The Portuguese did not establish a permanent office of the Portuguese Inquisition in Brazil, but did send visitations of inquisitors in the seventeenth century. English and Dutch colonies, on the other hand, tended to be more religiously diverse. Settlers to these colonies included Anglicans , Dutch Calvinists , English Puritans and other nonconformists , English Catholics , Scottish Presbyterians , French Protestant Huguenots , German and Swedish Lutherans , as well as Jews , Quakers , Mennonites , Amish , and Moravians . Jews fled to

5206-531: The Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire , evangelization of the dense Indigenous populations was undertaken in what was called the "spiritual conquest". Several mendicant orders were involved in the early campaign to convert the Indigenous peoples. Franciscans and Dominicans learned Indigenous languages of the Americas , such as Nahuatl , Mixtec , and Zapotec . One of the first schools for Indigenous peoples in Mexico

5343-539: The first wave of European colonization , the religious discrimination , persecution , and violence toward the Indigenous peoples' native religions was systematically perpetrated by the European Christian colonists and settlers from the 15th–16th centuries onwards. During the Age of Discovery and the following centuries, the Spanish and Portuguese colonial empires were the most active in attempting to convert

5480-585: The indigenous population of the Americas. The cultural and political instability attending these losses appears to have been of substantial aid in the efforts of various colonists in New England and Massachusetts to acquire control over the great wealth in land and resources of which indigenous societies had customarily made use. Such diseases yielded human mortality of unquestionably enormous gravity and scale – and this has profoundly confused efforts to determine its full extent with any true precision. Estimates of

5617-484: The northern Great Plains , experienced little to no colonization at all until the 1800s. European contact and colonization had disastrous effects on the indigenous peoples of the Americas and their societies. Norse Viking explorers were the first known Europeans to set foot in North America. Norse journeys to Greenland and Canada are supported by historical and archaeological evidence. The Norsemen established

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5754-495: The pre-Columbian population of the Americas vary tremendously. Others have argued that significant variations in population size over pre-Columbian history are reason to view higher-end estimates with caution. Such estimates may reflect historical population maxima, while indigenous populations may have been at a level somewhat below these maxima or in a moment of decline in the period just prior to contact with Europeans. Indigenous populations hit their ultimate lows in most areas of

5891-545: The 16th century perhaps 240,000 Europeans entered ports in the Americas. France founded colonies in the Americas: in eastern North America (which had not been colonized by Spain north of Florida ), a number of Caribbean islands (which had often already been conquered by the Spanish or depopulated by disease), and small coastal parts of South America. Explorers included Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524; Jacques Cartier (1491–1557), and Samuel de Champlain (1567–1635), who explored

6028-467: The 1790s the first permanent settlements were established. Explorations continued down the Pacific coast of North America , and Russia established a settlement in the early nineteenth century at what is now called Fort Ross, California . Russian fur traders forced indigenous Aleut men into seasonal labor. Never very profitable, Russia sold its North American holdings to the United States in 1867, called at

6165-584: The 1800s, although some parts of the continent gained their independence from Europe by then, countries such as the United States continued to fight against Native Americans and practiced settler colonialism . The United States for example practiced a settler colonial policy of Manifest Destiny and the Trail of Tears . Other regions, including California , Patagonia , the North Western Territory, and

6302-412: The 1930s. Due to the history of fires and logging on the northern sections of the range, there are very few areas of first-growth remaining outside of the boreal plots. The largest is the summit of Blackhead ; the largest hardwood first-growth is likewise the 0.9 square miles (230 ha) around the summit of Windham High Peak. The eastern hemlocks around Spruce Creek below Kaaterskill Falls are also

6439-409: The 1930s; however, their supplies were stolen during World War II and the project was abandoned. Its decaying frame remains near the mountain's summit. There were some attempts to revive the Mountain House after the war, and preservationists urged that it be restored as an architectural treasure. But the increasingly decrepit building was becoming hazardous to the hikers who explored it, and after

6576-726: The Americas in the early 20th century; in a number of cases, growth has returned. According to scientists from University College London , the colonization of the Americas by Europeans killed so much of the indigenous population that it resulted in climate change and global cooling . Some contemporary scholars also attribute significant indigenous population losses in the Caribbean to the widespread practice of slavery and deadly forced labor in gold and silver mines. Historian Andrés Reséndez, supports this claim and argues that indigenous populations were smaller previous estimations and "a nexus of slavery, overwork and famine killed more Indians in

6713-624: The Americas, and the establishment of several settler colonial states. Russia began colonizing the Pacific Northwest in the mid-18th century, seeking pelts for the fur trade. Many of the social structures—including religions , political boundaries , and linguae francae —which predominate in the Western Hemisphere in the 21st century are the descendants of those that were established during this period. The rapid rate at which some European nations grew in wealth and power

6850-485: The Atlantic Ocean and the eastern part of present-day Brazil. The countries declared their rights to the land despite the fact that Indigenous populations had settled from pole to pole in the hemisphere and it was their homeland. After European contact, the native population of the Americas plummeted by an estimated 80% (from around 50 million in 1492 to eight million in 1650), due in part to Old World diseases carried to

6987-563: The Aztecs' enemies, mobilizing thousands of warriors against the Aztecs for their own political reasons. The Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan , became Mexico City , the chief city of the " New Spain ". More than an estimated 240,000 Aztecs died during the siege of Tenochtitlan , 100,000 in combat, while 500–1,000 of the Spaniards engaged in the conquest died. The other great conquest was of the Inca Empire (1531–35), led by Francisco Pizarro . During

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7124-602: The Caribbean than smallpox, influenza and malaria." According to the Cambridge World History , the Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies, and the Cambridge World History of Genocide, colonial policies in some cases included the deliberate genocide of indigenous peoples in North America. According to the Cambridge World History of Genocide, Spanish colonization of the Americas also included genocidal massacres. According to Adam Jones , genocidal methods included

7261-422: The Catskills claimed to offer a more genuine mountain experience, and purer air, to their guests. The guests who did come tended to stay for shorter periods, mainly hot weekends in the summer. Beach and the Mountain House made a long-planned joint venture to build an incline railway up the Escarpment to the hotel a reality in 1892, but it cut into their profits. The state made its first significant purchases along

7398-504: The Catskills' most popular hikes. Beyond North Point the Escarpment turns to the northwest. The land drops off slightly, then rises once again to Stoppel Point , 3,420 feet (1,040 m) in elevation. Then the Escarpment is broken once again by Dutcher or East Kill Notch, traversed only by an old road now used as a hiking trail. Another sharp rise leads up again to a ridge almost as high as Stoppel Point known unofficially as Arizona due to its dryness. North of it rises Blackhead Mountain ,

7535-523: The Catskills. The summit of North Mountain, at 3,180 feet (970 m) above sea level, is covered in boreal forest, the lowest Catskill summit of which this is true. While there are no true alpine zones in the Catskills, Kudish has found the only areas in the range which come close along the Escarpment at elevations between 2,260 and 2,720 feet (690 and 830 m) along the Escarpment as it rises from lakes to North Mountain. These are exposed ridgetops where three-toothed cinquefoil , and in one mountain sandwort ,

7672-668: The Darien scheme was one of the factors that led the Kingdom of Scotland into the Act of Union 1707 with the Kingdom of England , creating the united Kingdom of Great Britain and giving Scotland commercial access to English, now British, colonies. The Netherlands had been part of the Spanish Empire , due to the inheritance of Charles V of Spain. Many Dutch people converted to Protestantism and sought their political independence from Spain. They were

7809-457: The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam when the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions cracked down on their presence. The European lifestyle included a long history of sharing close quarters with domesticated animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, dogs and various domesticated fowl , from which many diseases originally stemmed. In contrast to the indigenous people, the Europeans had developed

7946-657: The Escarpment Trail. Backpackers starting near Woodstock can use the trail up that mountain to hike the entire Escarpment, connecting to the Long Path between Indian Head and Plattekill mountains. Other trails climb the ridge, all from the west with the exception of the Dutcher Notch Trail. They mainly provide access to the Escarpment Trail, except for the old trails around the Mountain House property at North-South Lake which provide short connections and loop trips between

8083-426: The Escarpment in 1900, with parcels along the ridgetop north of Blackhead. Beach, who had finally dropped his resistance to Jewish guests and electricity, died in 1902 and left his hotel to his sons. The roads up the cloves were paved to accommodate the then-new automobile. Since guests could then more easily reach the newer resorts further into the mountains, the Mountain House continued to suffer. The incline railroad

8220-402: The Escarpment, and thus the Catskills. No one would explore them for a century, until Johannes Hardenbergh secured the 2 million-acre (810,000 ha) land grant that bore his name from colonial governor Lord Cornbury in 1708, a patent later affirmed by his cousin, Queen Anne . The language of the document specified that its northeastern corner was at a lake above the Escarpment believed to be

8357-497: The Hudson, and their similarly styled Romantic renderings of the region, dubbed the Hudson River School , became the young nation's first native art movement. Poet William Cullen Bryant similarly used his art to glorify the Catskills, helping to create interest in the region as a tourist destination. Steamboat service up the Hudson, and later the railroads , made it even more accessible from New York City . Charles Beach took over

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8494-545: The Indies in 1524, based in Seville, and issued laws of the Indies to assert its power against the early conquerors. The crown created the viceroyalty of New Spain and the viceroyalty of Peru to tighten crown control over these rich prizes of conquest. Over this same time frame as Spain, Portugal claimed lands in North America (Canada) and colonized much of eastern South America naming it Santa Cruz and Brazil . On behalf of both

8631-403: The New World. Smallpox was especially devastating, for it could be passed through touch, allowing native tribes to be wiped out, and the conditions that colonization imposed on Indigenous populations, such as forced labor and removal from homelands and traditional medicines. Some scholars have argued that this demographic collapse was the result of the first large-scale act of genocide in

8768-503: The North Mountain, Windham High Peak and Blackhead Range Wild Forests into one new unit, the Windham-Blackhead Range Wilderness. Two old roads through the Escarpment were also given a new classification, Primitive Bicycle Corridor, to accommodate mountain bikes . From north to south, the areas are: All the Escarpment's public lands are available for passive recreation such as hiking , camping and birding . Hunting and fishing are permitted within season and as otherwise regulated by

8905-413: The Pacific Coast from Alaska to California . Violent conflicts arose during the beginning of this period as indigenous peoples fought to preserve their territorial integrity from increasing European colonizers and from hostile indigenous neighbors who were equipped with Eurasian technology. Conflict between the various European empires and the indigenous peoples was a leading dynamic in the Americas into

9042-435: The Portuguese and Spanish crowns, cartographer Amerigo Vespucci explored the South American east coast and published his new book Mundus Novus ( New World ) in 1502–1503 which disproved the belief that the Americas were the easternmost part of Asia and confirmed that Columbus had reached a set of continents previously unheard of to any Europeans. Cartographers still use a Latinized version of his first name, America , for

9179-409: The Schoharie drains into the Mohawk and then back into the Hudson at Cohoes . The Escarpment is considered the only place in the Catskills where the region's boundary is distinct and unambiguous. In other directions the slow descent of the mountains into the hills of the Allegheny Plateau leads to arbitrary delineations of the range's extent. Due to its prominence, the Escarpment can be seen from

9316-558: The Spanish crown had acknowledged their inability to control and properly ensure compliance with traditional laws overseas, so they granted to Native Americans specific protections not even Spaniards had, such as the prohibition of enslaving them even in the case of crime or war. These extra protections were an attempt to avoid the proliferation of irregular claims to slavery. However, as historian Andrés Reséndez has noted, "this categorical prohibition did not stop generations of determined conquistadors and colonists from taking Native slaves on

9453-410: The aid of indigenous Siberians , who sought protection from nomadic peoples, and those peoples paid tribute in fur to the czar. Thus, prior to the eighteenth-century Russian expansion that pushed beyond the Bering Strait dividing Eurasia from North America, Russia had experience with northern indigenous peoples and accumulated wealth from the hunting of fur-bearing animals. Siberia had already attracted

9590-451: The beginning of Virginia's settlements in 1587 until the 1680s, the main source of labor and a large portion of the immigrants were indentured servants looking for a new life in the overseas colonies. During the 17th century, indentured servants constituted three-quarters of all European immigrants to the Chesapeake Colonies . Most of the indentured servants were teenagers from England with poor economic prospects at home. Their fathers signed

9727-422: The campground and various sections of the Escarpment Trail. The most popular trail in the entire Catskills is the short trail up to Kaaterskill Falls from Route 23A, formerly the southernmost section of the Escarpment Trail until it was closed above the falls for safety reasons. European colonization of the Americas During the Age of Discovery , a large scale colonization of the Americas , involving

9864-413: The century, the new Province of Pennsylvania was given to William Penn in settlement of a debt the king owed his father. Its government was established by William Penn in about 1682 to become primarily a refuge for persecuted English Quakers, but others were welcomed. Baptists , German and Swiss Protestants , and Anabaptists also flocked to Pennsylvania. The lure of cheap land, religious freedom and

10001-565: The colony, numerous supply missions were organized. Tobacco later became a cash crop, with the work of John Rolfe and others, for export and the sustaining economic driver of Virginia and the neighboring colony of Maryland . Plantation agriculture was a primary aspect of the economies of the Southern Colonies and in the British West Indies . They heavily relied on African slave labor to sustain their economic pursuits. From

10138-532: The complete and irrevocable renunciation of their ancestral religious beliefs and practices. In 1539, Mexican bishop Juan de Zumárraga oversaw the trial and execution of the Indigenous nobleman Carlos of Texcoco for apostasy from Christianity . Following that, the Catholic Church removed Indigenous converts from the jurisdiction of the Inquisition , since it had a chilling effect on evangelization. In creating

10275-473: The continents of North America and South America is more well-known. During this time, the European empires of Spain , Portugal , Britain , France , Russia , the Netherlands , Denmark , and Sweden began to explore and claim the Americas, its natural resources, and human capital , leading to the displacement, disestablishment, enslavement , and even genocide of the Indigenous peoples in

10412-582: The course of the rest of the century, the state developed North-South Lake into the busy campground it is today and cut new trails and marked old roads and paths throughout the range. Today the Forest Preserve along the Escarpment is divided into several different management units and administered according to the Catskill State Land Master Plan. The forests of the Escarpment reflect their history, location and topography . The retreat of

10549-452: The debate on Christianization was particularly acute during the early 16th century, when Spanish conquerors and settlers sought to mobilize Indigenous labor. Later, two Dominican friars, Bartolomé de Las Casas and the philosopher Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda , held the Valladolid debate , with the former arguing that Native Americans were endowed with souls like all other human beings, while

10686-459: The decade ended, and the son-in-law who now owned the Mountain House had to sell most of the tract to the state to make ends meet. Despite the onset of the Great Depression , the Mountain House struggled through a few years, closing for a while, then reopening for one final season in 1942 under new ownership. New owners also began building a third Overlook Hotel in 1927 and continued throughout

10823-556: The early 1500s, and the East Indies to Spain, where It established the Philippines . The city of Santo Domingo , in the current-day Dominican Republic , founded in 1496 by Columbus, is credited as the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the Americas. By the 1530s, other Western European powers realized they too could benefit from voyages to the Americas, leading to British and French colonializations in

10960-509: The early period of exploration, conquest, and settlement, c. 1492–1550, the overseas possessions claimed by Spain were only loosely controlled by the crown. With the conquests of the Aztecs and the Incas, the New World now commanded the crown's attention. Both Mexico and Peru had dense, hierarchically organized indigenous populations that could be incorporated and ruled. Even more importantly, both Mexico and Peru had large deposits of silver, which became

11097-495: The easternmost peak of the Blackhead Range and fifth highest in the Catskills overall. Its 3,940-foot (1,200 m) summit is the highest point along the Escarpment, visible with its neighbors from as far north as Albany . After its steep northern slope the range curves more sharply to the west. Minor peaks Burnt Knob and Acra Point form the northern wall of Big Hollow along with 3,523-foot (1,074 m) Windham High Peak ,

11234-502: The economic motor of the Spanish empire and transformed the world economy. In Peru, the singular, hugely rich silver mine of Potosí was worked by traditional forced indigenous labor drafts, known as the mit'a . In Mexico, silver was found outside the zone of dense indigenous settlement, so free laborers migrated to the mines in Guanajuato and Zacatecas . The crown established the Council of

11371-521: The field of battle, stating that the indigenous were now subjects of the Spanish Crown and would be punished if they resisted. When the news of this situation and the abuse of the institution reached Spain, the New Laws were passed to regulate and gradually abolish the system in the Americas, as well as to reiterate the prohibition of enslaving Native Americans. By the time the new laws were passed, in 1542,

11508-457: The fire tower is a popular destination. The next mountain in the chain, directly to the north-northeast, is Plattekill Mountain, at 3,100 feet (940 m) dwarfed by its western neighbor, Indian Head Mountain , eastern end of the Devil's Path . To the north of Plattekill the ridge is broken by deep and narrow Platte Clove , the first of three breaks in the Escarpment. Just north of it the range crosses

11645-453: The following: Indigenous population loss following European contact directly led to Spanish explorations beyond the Caribbean islands they initially claimed and settled in the 1490s, since they required a labor force to both produce food and to mine gold. Slavery was not unknown in Indigenous societies. With the arrival of European colonists, enslavement of Indigenous peoples "became commodified, expanded in unexpected ways, and came to resemble

11782-455: The form of gold, agricultural products, and labor. The Spanish Crown tried to terminate the system through the Laws of Burgos (1512–13) and the New Laws of the Indies (1542). However, the encomenderos refused to comply with the new measures and the indigenous people continued to be exploited. Eventually, the encomienda system was replaced by the repartimiento system which was not abolished until

11919-420: The friars in order to more easily preach the gospel and ensure their adherence to the faith. These missions were established throughout Spanish America which extended from the southwestern portions of current-day United States through Mexico and to Argentina and Chile. As slavery was prohibited between Christians and could only be imposed upon non-Christian prisoners of war and/or men already sold as slaves,

12056-430: The glaciers, particularly on the ridgetops and northern and eastern slopes, scoured the rock, further distressing the growing environment on what are the Catskills' steepest and most exposed slopes. As a result, the coniferous evergreen species characteristic of boreal forests such as red spruce and the balsam fir Bartram sought appear in much higher concentrations, and at lower elevations, then they do elsewhere in

12193-636: The headwaters of what would eventually be named Schoharie Creek instead flowed down into the new gorge. This both created Kaaterskill Falls , one of the Catskills' early tourist attractions, and relocated the source of the Schoharie to its present location. As the Escarpment began to revegetate in the wake of the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciation , its forests remained exposed to weather due to their location. Lightning in particular caused many forest fires . Catskill forest historian Michael Kudish believes that

12330-466: The hoteliers, other trends of the era began producing a decline in guests at the Escarpment hotels. Expansions of the railroad network meant that the wealthy guests who had previously been content to go to the Mountain House or Kaaterskill instead went to their own Great Camps in the Adirondacks, or to other mountainous or coastal regions. Competing hotels in areas further inland now recognized as being in

12467-406: The kinds of human trafficking that are recognizable to us today". While the disease was the main killer of indigenous peoples, the practice of slavery and forced labor was also a significant contributor to the indigenous death toll. With the arrival of Europeans other than the Spanish, enslavement of native populations increased since there were no prohibitions against slavery until decades later. It

12604-431: The last of the three High Peaks along the Escarpment and the mountain traditionally considered its northern end, as the lesser ranges to its west divide and do not rise as drastically as the Escarpment itself does from the nearby land. Hydrologically, the entire Escarpment is within the Hudson River 's drainage basin. To the east, Plattekill and Kaaterskill creeks drain the two cloves that share their names, and runoff from

12741-570: The late 18th century. Catskill Creek Catskill Creek is a 46.0-mile-long (74.0 km) tributary of the Hudson River that drains the northeastern Catskill Mountains of the U.S. State of New York . From its source at Franklinton Vlaie in Schoharie County it flows southeast through parts of Albany County and Greene County to its mouth at the village of Catskill on the Hudson River. Like Fishkill Creek , Catskill Creek

12878-410: The latter argued to the contrary to justify their enslavement. In 1537, the papal bull Sublimis Deus definitively recognized that Native Americans possessed souls, thus prohibiting their enslavement, without putting an end to the debate. Some claimed that a native who had rebelled and then been captured could be enslaved nonetheless. When the first Franciscans arrived in Mexico in 1524, they burned

13015-459: The lower slopes, it forms part of the border between Ulster and Greene counties at its southern end. Within Greene County, it separates the towns of Catskill , Cairo and Durham on the lowland side from Hunter , Jewett and Windham in the mountains. The Catskill Park Blue Line also follows an irregular path along old property lines along its slopes from its southern end to the Route 23 junction,

13152-503: The many scenic views both from the Escarpment and of it, he took sketches of the area and returned several times to get more. The Catskills had been a subject of art since the 1730s, but the landscape paintings Cole eventually produced caused a sensation back in New York, with John Trumbull observing that Cole "has done what I have all my life attempted in vain". Other artists like Asher Durand and Frederick Church began following Cole up

13289-589: The migrants from England died in the first few years. Economic advantage also prompted the Darien scheme , an ill-fated venture by the Kingdom of Scotland to settle the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690s. The Darien Scheme aimed to control trade through that part of the world and thereby promote Scotland into a world trading power. However, it was doomed by poor planning, short provisions, weak leadership, lack of demand for trade goods, and devastating disease. The failure of

13426-500: The modern era . For example, the labor and tribute of inhabitants of Hispaniola were granted in encomienda to Spaniards, a practice established in Spain for conquered Muslims. Although not technically slavery, it was coerced labor for the benefit of the Spanish grantees, called encomenderos . Spain had a legal tradition and devised a proclamation known as The Requerimento to be read to indigenous populations in Spanish, often far from

13563-507: The most visible of the Catskill ranges. The Munsee and Mahican tribes of Native Americans indigenous to the Hudson Valley did not live in the mountains, but settled heavily in the valley below. They went up the Escarpment only to hunt or start fires to nurture hunting grounds and provide defensive barriers against other tribes, or to follow trails to other communities on the far side of

13700-407: The mountains. While nothing has been recorded from the early years of contact with European settlers of what role the mountains above them played in their religious beliefs , it is very likely that they did, given their animistic traditions. In 1609 Henry Hudson 's Half Moon sailed up the river later named for him in search of a route to China . Its sailors became the first Europeans to see

13837-472: The native population of North America which would come to be known as the skrælings . After capturing and killing eight of the natives, they were attacked at their beached ships, which they defended. Systematic European colonization began in 1492. A Spanish expedition sailed west to find a new trade route to the Far East , the source of spices, silks, porcelains, and other rich trade goods. Ottoman control of

13974-560: The natives was important. About 16,000 French men and women became colonizers. The great majority became subsistence farmers along the St. Lawrence River . With a favorable disease environment and plenty of land and food, their numbers grew exponentially to 65,000 by 1760. Their colony was taken over by Britain in 1760, but social, religious, legal, cultural, and economic changes were few in a society that clung tightly to its recently formed traditions. British colonization began in North America almost

14111-598: The northeast tip of the Americas, including in the present-day United States . Within a century, the Swedish established New Sweden ; the Dutch established New Netherland ; and Denmark–Norway along with the Swedish and Dutch established colonization of parts of the Caribbean . By the 1700s, Denmark–Norway revived its former colonies in Greenland , and Russia began to explore and claim

14248-481: The northeast, then reaching as high as 15,000 feet (4,600 m) over present-day sea level. Later, during the Acadian orogeny , the sea became the deeper Appalachian Basin , and the sand and clay from the newer mountains became the shale and sandstone found throughout the Catskills today. Eventually the sea floor itself began to drain and uplift . The area of today's Escarpment and northeastern Catskills had been

14385-529: The northernmost point in the park. The Escarpment owes its formation to three phases in different geological epochs . Two different processes shaped the range into what it is today. Its limestone bedrock began forming 400 mya , during the Silurian period, when the Catskill region was a river delta and the shallow sea it drained into. The river carried eroded material from the Taconic Mountains to

14522-459: The only site widely accepted as evidence of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact. It was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978. It is also notable for its possible connection with the attempted colony of Vinland , established by Leif Erikson around the same period or, more broadly, with the Norse colonization of the Americas . Leif Erikson's brother is said to have had the first contact with

14659-691: The organization of the Church of England by the end of the 16th century. One of the primary manifestations of this was the Puritan movement, which sought to purify the existing Church of England of its residual Catholic rites. The first of these people, known as the Pilgrims , landed on Plymouth Rock in November 1620. Continuous waves of repression led to the migration of about 20,000 Puritans to New England between 1629 and 1642, where they founded multiple colonies . Later in

14796-482: The papers that gave them free passage to America and an unpaid job until they came of age. They were given food, clothing, and housing and taught farming or household skills. American landowners were in need of laborers and were willing to pay for a laborer's passage to America if they served them for several years. By selling passage for five to seven years worth of work, they could then start on their own in America. Many of

14933-574: The phrase "gold, glory, and God". The Spanish justified their claims to the New World based on the ideals of the Christian Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims, completed in 1492. In the New World, military conquest to incorporate indigenous peoples into Christendom was considered the "spiritual conquest". In 1493, Pope Alexander VI , the first Spaniard to become Pope, issued

15070-469: The practice of exacting tribute from Muslims and Jews during the Reconquista , the Spanish Crown granted a number of native laborers to an encomendero , who was usually a conquistador or other prominent Spanish male. Under the grant, they were theoretically bound to both protect the natives and convert them to Christianity. In exchange for their forced conversion to Christianity , the natives paid tributes in

15207-501: The quantity of gold in the East Indies , which he called the " New World ". These claims, along with the slaves he brought back, convinced the monarchy to fund a second voyage. Word of Columbus's exploits spread quickly, sparking the Western European exploration, conquest, and colonization of the Americas. Spanish explorers, conquerors, and settlers sought material wealth, prestige, and the spread of Christianity , often summed up in

15344-523: The region of Canada he reestablished as New France . The first French colonial empire stretched to over 10,000,000 km (3,900,000 sq mi) at its peak in 1710, which was the second largest colonial empire in the world, after the Spanish Empire . In the French colonial regions, the focus of the economy was on sugar plantations in the French West Indies . In Canada the fur trade with

15481-476: The ridge feeds Catskill Creek and other smaller tributaries of the Hudson in that area. To the west, with the exception of Kaaterskill High Peak, runoff feeds the headwaters and upper tributaries of Schoharie Creek , which rises at the height of land between Plattekill and Indian Head mountains. This makes them part of New York City 's water supply due to the creek's impoundment at Schoharie Reservoir . Beyond there

15618-729: The right to improve themselves with their own hand was very attractive. Mainly due to discrimination, there was often a separation between English colonial communities and indigenous communities. The Europeans viewed the natives as savages who were not worthy of participating in what they considered civilized society. The native people of North America did not die out nearly as rapidly nor as greatly as those in Central and South America due in part to their exclusion from British society. The indigenous people continued to be stripped of their native lands and were pushed further out west. The English eventually went on to control much of Eastern North America ,

15755-470: The river's distributaries and had the thickest layer of Devonian sediments, leading it to uplift as a whole and become a plateau rather than fracturing into mountains. Gradually, the upper levels of the plateau began to erode and create stream basins, eventually becoming today's mountains and valleys The Escarpment of that time was more gradually sloped than it is now, with much loose rock from its uplift. Sometime between 100,000 and 300,000 years ago,

15892-467: The rocky ledges of Overlook at the southern end of the range. The paucity of water on the ridgetops and the slopes means that there are few major fish or amphibian species in the Escarpment, save around North-South Lake. Most of the Escarpment, including all its mountaintops and ridges, has been acquired by the state and added to the Forest Preserve , requiring that it be kept forever wild. Private land

16029-487: The sacred places dedicated to the Indigenous peoples' native religions . However, in Pre-Columbian Mexico , burning the temple of a conquered group was standard practice, shown in Indigenous manuscripts, such as Codex Mendoza . Conquered Indigenous groups expected to take on the gods of their new overlords, adding them to the existing pantheon. They likely were unaware that their conversion to Christianity entailed

16166-561: The signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, Portugal and Spain agreed to divide the Earth in two, with Portugal having dominion over non- Christian lands in the world's eastern half, and Spain over those in the western half. Spanish claims essentially included all of the Americas ; however, the Treaty of Tordesillas granted the eastern tip of South America to Portugal, where it established Brazil in

16303-438: The source of Kaaterskill Creek, later North-South Lake . The murky circumstances of the patent, likely involving official corruption, compounded by litigation from a competing group of claimants and interference with the crews attempting to survey the property limited efforts to explore or settle the Escarpment, much less the whole region. That began to change in 1741 when early American naturalist John Bartram climbed up to

16440-419: The southern Escarpment "has been burned over many times, perhaps hundreds of times, during the last several thousand years". The history of the Escarpment is, in its early stages, the history of the Catskills, as the two were one and the same until modern surveying and science broadened the definition of the region in the late 19th century. No longer home to the Catskills' highest peak, the Escarpment became just

16577-487: The spot. DeWitt Clinton was an early visitor. In 1824, the Hunter Turnpike, forerunner of today's Route 23A, was cut through Kaaterskill Clove, making the whole area more accessible. Otherwise, the area remained the same undeveloped wilderness Bartram had explored. It was an ideal subject for a young painter named Thomas Cole , who visited the Catskills in 1825 and stayed at the new hotel. Struck by its wildness and

16714-470: The state acquired the building and the lands around it in 1962, the then- Conservation Department burned it down early the next year. Only its stone gateposts remain. Five years later the Laurel House was demolished as well. The Escarpment's transition from private paradise to public playground was complete, although the last mountaintop parcel, the summit of Overlook, was not fully acquired until 1996. Over

16851-457: The state level, respectively). Dominant fauna of the Escarpment are the species found elsewhere in the Catskills: white-tailed deer , porcupine , fisher , black bear and snowshoe hare . There have been some rare bobcat sightings up on the ridge. Bird species like the rare Bicknell's thrush and ruffed grouse nest in the boreal forests. A few timber rattlesnake dens are known to exist on

16988-672: The state. Later on, they followed the principles of Andrew Jackson Downing in designing their landscapes to provide views from their roads and paths. Even after the Livingstons moved on to other regions of the country, their reputation made the Catskills known in Britain as well as the U.S. In 1812, Washington Irving visited the Livingston estates for a week; he may have taken some of his inspiration for " Rip Van Winkle ", published seven years later, from that view. Other prominent American writers of

17125-509: The state. Unpowered boating is permitted on Echo and North-South lakes. Use is free except for North-South Lake Public Campground, for which a $ 8 fee is charged per vehicle in season (Campers are also charged $ 22 for the site). In return, heavier-impact camping and activities are allowed, and greater services are provided to visitors. There is also a 12-mile (18 km) snowmobile loop trail around Kaaterskill High Peak and Round Top. The Escarpment has many hiking trails . Foremost among them

17262-622: The time " Seward's Folly ". Duke Ferdinand I de Medici made the only Italian attempt to create colonies in America. For this purpose, the Grand Duke organized in 1608 an expedition to the north of Brazil, under the command of the English captain Robert Thornton. Thornton, on his return from the preparatory trip in 1609 (he had been to the Amazon ), found Ferdinand I dead and all projects were cancelled by his successor Cosimo II . Beginning with

17399-532: The time took notice of the Catskills as well. In a famous passage in James Fenimore Cooper 's The Pioneers , written in 1823 , Natty Bumppo describes both Kaaterskill Falls and the Pine Orchard, the area Bartram had explored and written about decades before. ... the place I mean is next to the river, where one of the ridges juts out a little from the rest, and where the rocks fall for the best part of

17536-403: The two continents. In April 1500, Portuguese noble Pedro Álvares Cabral claimed the region of Brazil to Portugal; the effective colonization of Brazil began three decades later with the founding of São Vicente in 1532 and the establishment of the system of captaincies in 1534, which was later replaced by other systems. Others tried to colonize the eastern coasts of present-day Canada and

17673-480: The very first importance," according to Catskill historian Alf Evers . "... [A] man looking toward the Catskills from the east bank could see a view the equal in almost every respect to the already famous ones admired by so many tourists to England's Lake District ." Horatio Spafford voiced a similar opinion at the time. "[The mountains] associate a mass of interesting, picturesque and sublime objects, no where exceeded in this country", he wrote in his 1813 gazetteer of

17810-418: Was founded by Pedro de Gante in 1523. The friars aimed at converting Indigenous leaders, with the hope and expectation that their communities would follow suit. In densely populated regions, friars mobilized Indigenous communities to build churches, making the religious change visible; these churches and chapels were often in the same places as old temples, often using the same stones. "Native peoples exhibited

17947-509: Was located near the summit of South Mountain. The more modest Laurel House stood near the top of Kaaterskill Falls. Several hoteliers attempted to make a similar success on the summit of Overlook Mountain. In the 1880s, the hotels started to lose their luster. The Catskills had already been displaced as New York's highest mountains by the Adirondacks ‘ Mount Marcy and other High Peaks there; in 1879 Princeton geology professor Arnold Guyot ,

18084-513: Was not as high as Beach claimed. Beach and the other Escarpment resort owners tried to discredit Guyot and his findings, but within years they had been verified by others. A few years later, in 1885, the state legislature responded to increasing concerns that rampant logging in the Adirondacks might cause erosion that would silt up the Erie Canal and make it unnavigable by creating the Forest Preserve , under which any state land in several counties

18221-483: Was shut down in 1918. When the Hotel Kaaterskill burned down in 1924, it was not rebuilt. The next year the state acquired Stoppel Point, complementing its purchase of Kaaterskill High Peak, most of Overlook, Plattekill and Roundtop in 1921, which had capped two decades of acquisitions on the northern Escarpment. It closed in on the Mountain House with the purchase of South Mountain and the former Kaaterskill site as

18358-587: Was the portion of the Hudson's eastern shore now the Hudson River Historic District , a National Historic Landmark (NHL), continued to enjoy the semi-feudal landownership they had broken with the Crown to protect. They made sure their estate houses, like Clermont Manor and Montgomery Place , both also NHLs, provided ample views of the Escarpment across the river, lands which the family had started to acquire. "The view to be had from these houses became of

18495-476: Was to be left "forever wild". The Catskills were included in a later, revised version of the bill , when the Ulster County delegation saw a chance to take some tax-delinquent properties, and the county's obligations to the state, off the counties' hands. In 1894 the legislature and voters responded to loopholes in the legislation by writing it into the state constitution , where its language has remained as Article 14 ever since. While this had no immediate effect on

18632-536: Was unable to harvest any seeds, but in the process became the first person to record a visit to Kaaterskill Falls . His account, "To ye Cats Kill Mountains with Billy", illustrated by the boy, was the first scientific report on the Catskills. It listed most of the flora of the area and speculated on how the mountains might have been formed. After the Revolution , the members of the Livingston family whose ancestral estate

18769-515: Was unforeseeable in the early 15th century because it had been preoccupied with internal wars and it was slowly recovering from the loss of population caused by the Black Death . The Ottoman Empire 's domination of trade routes to Asia prompted Western European monarchs to search for alternatives, resulting in the voyages of Christopher Columbus and his accidental arrival at the New World . With

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