Charles River

*Includes pictures From the "Trail of Tears" to Wounded Knee and Little Bighorn, the narrative of American history is incomplete without the inclusion of the Native Americans that lived on the continent before European settlers arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the first contact between natives and settlers, tribes like the Sioux, Cherokee, and Navajo have both fascinated and perplexed outsiders with their history, language, and culture. Among all the Native American tribes, the Spanish, Mexicans, and Americans learned the hard way that the warriors of the Apache were perhaps the fiercest in North America. Based in the Southwest, the Apache fought all three in Mexico and the American Southwest, engaging in seasonal raids for so many centuries that the Apache struck fear into the hearts of all their neighbors. Given the group's reputation, it's fitting that they are inextricably associated with one of their most famous leaders, Geronimo. Descendants of people killed by "hostile" Apache certainly considered warriors like Geronimo to be murderers and thieves whose cultures and societies held no redeeming values, and even today, many Americans associate the name Geronimo with a war cry. The name Geronimo actually came about because of a battle he fought against the Mexicans. Over time, however, the historical perception of the relationship between America and Native tribes changed drastically. With that, Geronimo was viewed in a far different light, as one of a number of Native American leaders who resisted the U. S. and Mexican governments when settlers began to push onto their traditional homelands. Like the majority of Native American groups, the Apache were eventually vanquished and displaced by America's westward push, and Geronimo became an icon for eluding capture for so long. On the north side of San Antonio, Texas, a stone tower sits atop a hill in a city park. Originally, the tower was manned and served to warn the residents of San Antonio of the approach of Comanche raiding parties. In Texas, the Comanche are vilified and serve as a convenient reminder of the difficulties and hardships faced and overcome by brave white settlers. In reality, the Comanche provided settlers in Texas what William S. Burroughs called "a modicum of challenge and danger." For many Texans, the word "Comanche" is still akin to a curse word. For centuries, the Comanche thrived in a territory called Comancheria, which comprised parts of eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, Oklahoma, and some of northwest Texas. Before conflicts with white settlers began in earnest, it's been estimated that the tribe consisted of more than 40,000 members. While the Comanche are still a federally recognized nation today and live on a reservation in part of Oklahoma, they have remained a well-known tribe due to their 19th century notoriety. Indeed, the conflict between the Comanche and white settlers in the Southwest was particularly barbaric compared to other native tribes. During Comanche raids, all adult males would be killed outright, and sometimes women and children met the same fate. On many occasions, older children were taken captive and gradually adopted into the tribe, until they gradually forgot life among their white families and accepted their roles in Comanche society. Popular accounts written by whites who were captured and lived among the Comanche only brought the terror and the tribe closer to home among all Americans back east as well. The Apache and Comanche: The History and Legacy of the Southwest's Most Famous Warrior Tribes comprehensively covers the cultures and histories of the two tribes, profiling their origins and their lasting legacy. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Apache and Comanche like never before.

Cuando los arque logos americanos descubrieron la colecci n de tablas cuneiformes en Iraq a finales del siglo XIX, se encontraron con una lengua y un pueblo que en aquel tiempo eran apenas conocidos incluso por los escolares m s expertos en la antigua Mesopotamia: los sumerios. Las haza as y logros de los otros pueblos mesopot micos, como los asirios y los babilonios, ya eran conocidos por un gran segmento de la poblaci n a trav s del Antiguo Testamento; y el campo emergente de los estudios del Oriente Pr ximo ya hab a descifrado el enigma de la lengua acadia, la cual era usada ampliamente en toda la regi n en tiempos antiguos. Pero el descubrimiento de las tablas sumerias dieron luz la existencia de la cultura tura sumeria, la m s antigua de todas las culturas mesopot micas. Mucho antes de que Alejandr a fuese una ciudad e incluso antes de que Menfis y Babilonia alcanzasen la grandeza, la antigua ciudad mesopot mica de Ur fue una de las primeras ciudades en Oriente Pr ximo. Hoy en d a, la grandeza y la influencia cultural de Ur han ca do en el olvido para la mayor a, en parte porque sus monumentos no han aguantado el paso del tiempo de la misma forma que lo han hecho los monumentos de otras ciudades antiguas. Por ejemplo, los monumentos de Egipto se construyeron en piedra, mientras que los de Ur y la mayor a de ciudades de Mesopotamia se construyeron con ladrillo de barro y, como se discutir en este informe, el ladrillo de barro puede ser un material m s facil de trabajar que la piedra, pero tambi n se descompone mucho m s r pido. La misma observaci n se aplica a los documentos escritos producidos en Ur. Los pueblos de Mesopotamia, a los cuales Ur pertenecia, empleaban el sistema de escritura cuneiforme. Ya que la escritura cuneiforme casi siempre se escrib a en tablas de arcilla, los investigadores modernos se han visto enfrentados al desafortunado problema de que muchas de esas tablas se han roto y se han vuelto ilegibles a lo largo de los siglos. A pesar de la naturaleza ef mera de sus monumentos y en cierto modo de sus textos, Ur demostr ser una inspiraci n para los sumerios que construyeron la ciudad, as como para las siguientes culturas y dinast as que habitaron Mesopotamia. Un an lisis de las primeras fuentes vinculadas a Ur, as como las excavaciones arqueol gicas llevadas a cabo en la antigua ciudad, revelan que la ciudad fue un modelo cultural durante miles de a os. Ur comenz como una ciudad sumeria de importancia secundaria, pero r pidamente se convirti en la ciudad sumeria m s importante. En su momento lgido, Ur fue el centro de una gran dinast a que control la mayor a de Mesopotamia a trav s de un ej rcito y administraci n bien mantenida, y las reas que no estaban bajo su control directo eran influenciadas por los diplom ticos e ideas religiosas de Ur. Este estudio tambi n revelar que Ur era una ciudad realmente resistente, ya que sobrevivi a la ca da de los sumerios, a la destrucci n absoluta a manos de los elamitas, y m s tarde a la ocupaci n de numerosos pueblos, incluyeron a Saddam Hussein m s recientemente. Ur inspir la imaginaci n de los pueblos antiguos, pero tambi n ha cautivado a las mentes modernas, quienes han trabajado por m s de 150 a os para descifrar los misterios de esta ciudad. Realmente, en lo que se refiere a las ciudades antiguas m s importantes, Ur deber a contarse entre las m s grandes. Aunque Uruk no fue la nica ciudad que construyeron los sumerios durante el per odo Uruk, fue de lejos la m s grande y tambi n la fuente de la mayor a de las pruebas arqueol gicas y escritos referentes a la cultura sumeria temprana (Kuhrt 2010, 1:23). Uruk pas de ser la primera ciudad del mundo al centro pol tico y cultural m s importante en el antiguo Medio Oriente de forma relativamente r pida. Alrededor de 3200 a. C., la cultura sumeria de Uruk comenz a expandirse m s all de las fronteras de Sumeria, lo cual coi

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts of the Seleucid Empire *Includes a bibliography for further reading In 323 BCE, Alexander the Great was on top of the world. Never a man to sit on his hands or rest upon his laurels, Alexander began planning his future campaigns, which may have included attempts to subdue the Arabian Peninsula or make another incursion into India. But fate had other plans for the young Macedonian king. One night, while feasting with his admiral Nearchus, he drank too much and took to bed with a fever. At first, it seemed like the fever was merely a consequence of his excess, and there was not much concern for his health, but when a week had elapsed and there was still no sign of his getting better, his friends and generals began to grow concerned. The fever grew, consuming him to the point that he could barely speak. After two weeks, on June 11, 323 B. C., Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, Hegemon of the League of Corinth, King of Kings, died. On his deathbed, some historians claim that when he was pressed to name a successor, Alexander muttered that his empire should go "to the strongest". Other sources claim that he passed his signet ring to his general Perdiccas, thereby naming him successor, but whatever his choices were or may have been, they were ignored. Alexander's generals, all of them with the loyalty of their own corps at their backs, would tear each other apart in a vicious internal struggle that lasted almost half a century before four factions emerged victorious: Macedonia, the Seleucid Empire in the east, the Kingdom of Pergamon in Asia Minor, and the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. During the course of these wars, Alexander's only heir, the posthumously born Alexander IV, was murdered, extinguishing his bloodline for ever. Despite the infighting among them, one thing Alexander's generals did agree upon was their Hellenistic culture. Most famously, Ptolemy's line firmly established the Hellenistic culture of the Greeks while ruling over Egypt, and by marrying within their family line, the Ptolemaic pharaohs kept their Hellenistic heritage until the very end of Ptolemy's line, which died with Cleopatra in 30 BCE. Although the Seleucid Empire is less well known, Alexander's general Seleucus was no less successful in "Hellenizing" Persia and parts of Asia Minor. The Greek influence is still readily visible in the region thousands of years later. Anthropologists have found that some of the earliest Buddha statues constructed in India bear an uncanny resemblance to Ancient Greek depictions of Apollo, and local legend has it that the wild olive trees that grow in some regions of Afghanistan sprang from the olive seeds that Macedonian soldiers spat out on the march - not to mention the presence of Balkan features such as red hair and blue eyes among a significant amount of the locals there to this day. Legends of Alexander crop up amid the popular mythology of half the world, and while some among the Persian Empire called him "the accursed", it is now widely believed that the story of the prophet Dhul-Qarnayn ("The Two-Horned One") in the Qur'an is a reference to Alexander. For a time, the Seleucids commanded the largest empire in the world as it stretched from the high plains and deserts of what is now Afghanistan in the east to parts of the Levant and Asia Minor in the west. The empire's early kings were strong and shrewd and committed to the ideas of Hellenism as much as holding power and expanding the realm of their empire, but later rulers did not prove as capable. In time, the Seleucid royal house often descended into orgies of violence which were driven by ambitious men and women. Despite its troubles and its sheer size and scope, the Seleucid Empire lasted for several centuries, and it would not truly reach its end until the heyday of Rome. As a result, the Seleucid Empire managed to leave an indelible mark on the region that has lasted to this day.

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts describing the image and the theories surrounding its origins *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading No other artwork in the world is comparable to the Virgin of Guadalupe. What makes this painting unique -located in the Basilica of Guadalupe, north of Mexico City- is not precisely its artistic quality, as is the case with the Mona Lisa by Leonardo or The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, nor its place in the evolution of painting. It clearly does not constitute a landmark in art history, and the most visited painting in the world is certainly not the summit or the harbinger of a new aesthetic movement, like Dali s melting watches or Van Gogh s Starry Night. In fact, for some, the execution of the image is coarse and all its elements fit well known techniques. For others, it s merely a copy of a sculpture of the Virgin found in Spain. What distinguishes the Virgin of Guadalupe of Mexico is her universality: unlike any work of art in the world, it can be recognized by any local; it s certainly the most ubiquitous symbol in her country. It would be difficult to find a Mexican who cannot name her. Likewise, it would be complicated to find one who hasn t been at least once in his or her life before the image at the Basilica, either reluctantly or filled with devotion. The other thing that makes the Virgin of Guadalupe incomparable is her power to unite her nation, something that has been widely demonstrated throughout history. At different moments, and raised by different hands, the Virgin of Guadalupe (never the original painting) has led the troops that changed the history of the territory now known as Mexico. Not even a few hours had passed after the start of the War of Independence when the rebel army was already carrying the image of Guadalupe; in the twentieth century the image was present at the indigenous rebellion in Chiapas in 1994 and also materialized during the Mexican "perestroika" of 2000, which ended the single-party regime that had lasted for seven decades. Going further back, during Mexico s Conquest, Hern n Cort s carried an image of the Virgin that, to the disinterested observer, is obviously the prototype of the Mexican Madonna. For some, Guadalupe is the work of a talented Indian painter, and this work was retouched and embellished by others in later centuries. The majority of scholars note how the image "appeared" at a very convenient time in Mexico s history, when evangelization functioned as the ideological arm of the material conquest of the Aztec empire. There are even reasons to wonder whether the image currently on display in Mexico City is the same as in the 17th century since it is known from testimonies of the time that Mary had a crown on her head. That means if it s the same, at the very least it s been retouched, doctored and tampered with again. Conversely, for the believers, the image was miraculously stamped on the tilma or cloak of a man named Juan Diego. Among the latter are most of the 17 million persons who visit the original every year in Mexico City, which makes it the most visited painting in the country, and certainly the world. By comparison, the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris receives six million visitors per year. What nobody questions -believers, skeptics or atheists- is that the Virgin of Guadalupe has been the most important symbol, religious or not, in Mexico s history, a kind of non-official flag. Her influence has spread even to the Mexican diaspora, where it has become a sign of identity, pride and resistance among undocumented immigrants in the United States. For Mexicans, it s not necessary to be religious to believe in the power of the Virgin of Guadalupe as a unifying symbol and embodiment of national identity. The Virgin of Guadalupe: The History and Legacy of One of the Catholic Church's Most Venerated Images looks at the history of the image.

*Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts of the colonies *Includes a bibliography for further reading John Smith is one of the most common names in the English language and akin to the use of John Doe, but every Briton and American is familiar with the explorer and mercenary Captain John Smith, who helped found the first permanent English colony in the New World at Jamestown in 1607. Jamestown is fondly remembered today for being the first permanent English settlement in the colonies, but it was not fondly remembered by those who lived and died there. The English quickly learned it would be difficult to establish a permanent settlement because of the poor weather, the swampy terrain, the hostile natives living nearby, and the general inexperience and ineptitude of the English settlers. During their first winter, everyone nearly starved, and more than half of the settlers died. By the end of the winter of 1609-1610, known as the "starving time", barely 10% of the settlers were still alive. Nevertheless, Jamestown is remembered today because the settlement did survive through the hardships and go on to serve as the capital of the English colony for much of the 17th century. At the same time, one of the biggest reasons for its survival and fame today can be attributed to the local Native Americans, particularly Pocahontas, who has added both a human and romanticized, mythological element to Jamestown. She was the daughter of the paramount chief (mamanatowick) Powhatan, leader of an Algonquian-speaking native group in eastern Virginia. It was this group that Smith and the other English settlers came into contact with, and Smith credited her with saving him from being killed by the Native Americans. After that, Smith was able to establish relatively friendly relations and trade with the local inhabitants, ensuring Jamestown's survival. Though the Virginian colonists had difficulty in the beginning, by the late 1620s the Chesapeake area was thriving, having become a haven for those seeking economic opportunity in the new world. Pressures in England were growing as King Charles I was on the throne. Though Charles I himself was an Anglican, many suspected him of Catholic sympathies, a suspicion not alleviated by Charles I marriage to a French Catholic princess. Many Protestants had a growing desire to practice their faith and conduct their lives away from the mother country, and sought refuge in a destination called New England. The land chosen by this group, who "could pay their own way across the Atlantic" in contrast to the poorer settlers of the Chesapeake region was "colder, less abundant, but far healthier" than Virginia. Ultimately, the men of the New England Company decided that the time had come to remove themselves from England, and to pursue their lives in the Americas. The Dorchester Company was founded by a group of investors with an interest in settlement in the New World. This settlement would be a for-profit venture, but it would have as its two main causes the spreading of the Gospel to the Indian population and the stop of the spread of Roman Catholicism in the American colonies. John White, the company's leader, also wanted to compete with the separatists who had begun the Plymouth colony in 1620. Cape Ann, a promontory very near to Cape Cod was established by the Dorchester Company as an early settlement. The fishing was excellent, but Cape Ann proved unable to provide the farm goods needed to sustain the Puritan settlers who came to the New World. The Dorchester Company was dissolved, but investors seeking to salvage its aims formed the New England Company or Massachusetts Bay Company and secured a charter just before King Charles I dissolved the Parliament in 1629.