(Слайд 6) Milwaukee

(Слайд 2) Wisconsin is a U. S. state located in the north-central United States, in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin is the 23rd state by total area and the 20th most populous.

It seems that the name of Wisconsin is the result of a series of misinterpretations of pronunciation and spelling, and stem originally from the travels of Jacques Marquette and his fur trapper companion Louis Joilet in 1673. They were exploring across America in the company of various tribes including the Menominee, Kickapoo, Mascouten and Miami Indians in the region of Green Bay and the Upper Fox River. A long journey across dry land eventually took them to a tributary of the Mississippi. This tributary was referred to as 'Meskonsing' by Jacques Marquette, but this was subsequently spelled on a map compiled by his companion as 'Misconsing'. But just one year later French explorer La Salle misread the flowery writing of the letter 'M' as 'Ou', and thus for the next 150 years 'Ouisconsin' became the most accepted spelling.

In the early 19th century the region came under U. S Government control and on 1st February 1830, the Anglo-American phonetic translation of the French 'Ou' with 'W' was first used in a House of representatives document, so Ouisconsin became Wisconsin. A prominent Governor strongly advocated further Americanisation of the name to 'Wiskconsan' but it was 'Wisconsin' which eventually became the standard spelling of the tributary and the state, and was officially sanctioned on 4th July 1836 when this became an official territory.

The precise derivation of Marquette's original 'Meskonsing' remains disputed however. Translations such as 'Stream of a Thousand Isles' and 'Gathering of Waters' or 'Grassy Place' have been put forward, but without much supportive evidence. By far the most likely derivation seems to relate to the colour red, and this was Marquette's own belief. There was an Ojibwe word 'miskwasiniing' which may have meant 'red-stone place'. But it was Miami Indians who first used a word sounding like this to Marquette, and the phrase was taken as meaning 'the river that meanders through a red area' - possibly the red sandstone bluffs of the Wisconsin Dells (orangy red sandstone is a feature of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, where erosion has laid bare the rock). Subsequently the local dialect seems to have died out when the Miami vacated the area, and the last native speakers died in the 1960s.

(Слайд 3) Paleo-Indians, the earliest ancestors of Native Americans, arrived in what is now Wisconsin during or after the retreat of the last continental glacier, about 12, 000 years ago. They built effigy mounds, of which at least 20 remain in the Madison area alone. When the first European explorers reached the Wisconsin region in the 1600s, several Native American groups were living there. These included the Ojibwa, Menominee, Ho-Chunk (Winnebago), Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Sauk, Fox, Illinois, Miami etc.
In 1634 French explorer Jean Nicolet was most likely the first European to enter what would become the state of Wisconsin. The area remained under French control until 1763, when it was acquired by the British. It was subsequently ceded to the United States by the Peace of Paris treaties in 1783. Wisconsin finally became a state in 1848.

(Слайд 4) The Americans quickly became interested in settling the land and implemented profound changes. They cleared the land for farms; built houses, roads, and towns; and cut the timber for lumber. They quickly dispossessed the Native Americans of their land through treaties and overwhelming military defeats. By 1829 more than 4, 000 lead miners worked in southwestern Wisconsin, in and around Mineral Point. By 1850 the population of Wisconsin had increased from about 30, 000 to more than 300, 000 due to the influx of the immigrants, and most of the agriculturally suitable areas had been occupied by 1880.

Agriculture generally developed after mining and then mostly in the southern two-thirds of the state, where dairying became dominant. (Since 1920 Wisconsin has ranked first in the country in cheese production and at or near the top in the production of milk and other dairy products. ) By the 1870s commercial lumbering reached Wisconsin’s northern forests. Timber exploitation continued for about 40 more years, leaving a devastated countryside that only since the mid-20th century has begun to recover through the regrowth of timber and ecofriendly tourism.

(Слайд 5) Throughout the 1850s Wisconsin was a leader in the abolition of slavery. Slaves passed through the Underground Railroad on their way to Canada. In 1854 Wisconsin abolitionists held meetings in a schoolhouse in Ripon, where they recommended forming a new political party called Republican. (Today the Little White Schoolhouse, which is claimed to be the birthplace of the Republican Party, is a museum and national landmark. ) That same year the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the Fugitive Slave Act was unconstitutional.

(Слайд 6) Milwaukee

The name Milwaukee comes from the Algonquin word millioke, meaning “the good land. ” Minowakiing, which has the same meaning, is another commonly accepted origin word for Milwaukee. The “good land” is the widely agreed upon definition, although other popular translations include “beautiful land” or “pleasant land. ”

The earliest reference to the name can be traced back to a journal from the 1670s with a mention of the Mellokiriver. Algonquin languages have a number of dialects, and many different spellings were used by early explorers: Milwogues, Melecki, Milwacky, Wilakie, Willawaky, and Miskoumina. The spelling variations came from a combination of the dialect differences and European visitors attempting to write down what they heard in an unfamiliar language.

The spelling “Milwaukie” was commonly accepted toward the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. By this time, Milwaukee had become an established village, but there was still disagreement with regard to the spelling of its name. The east ward preferred “Milwaukie, ” whereas those on the west side of the river were in favor of the spelling “Milwaukee. ”

The Milwaukee region was once home to several Native American peoples, including the Potawatomi, Menominee, Fox, Sauk, and Ho-Chunk Nation (Winnebago). French missionary and explorer Jacques Marquette camped there in 1674, and fur traders soon followed. The area was opened to settlement after agreements with the Native Americans in the 1830s.

Milwaukee grew as a manufacturing and distribution centre in the second half of the 19th century. Flour milling, leather tanning, and iron founding were all major industries. However, Milwaukee became best known for beer production, which began in 1840. German immigrants subsequently opened several large breweries and made Milwaukee a national centre of the industry. For a time the city was the region’s primary lake port for eastbound shipments, particularly wheat. With the arrival of the railroad and the growth of Chicago as a national rail hub, Milwaukee’s importance as a shipping point declined in the late 19th century.

European immigration was largely responsible for Milwaukee’s growth. German settlers played an important and sustained part in the city’s development; a wave of immigration that occurred after Germany’s unsuccessful revolution in 1848 contributed wealthy and cultured refugees. As the city’s largest ethnic group, the Germans developed their own society that included schools, churches, and breweries. Irish formed the second largest group beginning in the mid-19th century. Large influxes of Poles and Italians occurred toward the end of the century. In 1910 immigrants or their children constituted some three-fourths of the city’s population.

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