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50-678: The Kimberley Plan was a failed plan by the Freeland League to resettle Jewish refugees from Europe in northern Australia before and during the Holocaust . With rampant anti-Semitism in Europe, the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Colonization was formed in London in July 1935, to search for a potential Jewish homeland and haven. The League was a non-Zionist organisation and

100-458: A Jewish Autonomous Region was established in 1934. The Jewish Autonomous Oblast or JAO for short ( Russian : Евре́йская автоно́мная о́бласть , Yevreyskaya avtonomnaya oblast ; Yiddish : ייִדישע אווטאָנאָמע געגנט , romanized :  yidishe avtonome gegnt ) is still today an autonomous oblast situated in Russia 's far east ; where both Russian and Yiddish are its official languages. In

150-823: A Jewish colony in Africa. And in April ;1903 his efforts in London seemed to bear fruit. In response to the horrors of Kishinev , England's Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain proposed to Herzl the creation a semiautonomous region on the Uasin Gishu plateau in British East Africa for Jewish settlement. When Herzl revealed Chamberlain's offer to the Sixth Zionist Congress in August ;1903, Israel Zangwill spoke in favor of

200-608: A book on his experience, titled Australia – the Unpromised Land: in search of a home . However, even after Israel was created in 1949, Steinberg tried once more – unsuccessfully – approaching the newly re-elected Robert Menzies in 1950. But Menzies replied that the idea ran contrary to his government's policy of assimilation aimed at achieving "the ideal of one Australian family of peoples, devoid of foreign communities." Freeland League The first instance of what might be termed Territorialism, though

250-426: A local newspaper accused the region's Jews of killing a Christian child as part of their Passover rituals. This inflammatory use of the ancient " blood libel " sparked a three-day pogrom which resulted in the deaths of over forty Jews, as well as the destruction and looting of hundreds of Jewish homes and businesses. The specter of Kishinev profoundly influenced Zangwill's actions and work. Indeed, several years after

300-515: A number of Jewish leaders, but he also encountered opposition. Steinberg left Australia in June 1943 to rejoin his family in Canada. A 1944 opinion poll found that only 53% of Australians supported the scheme, with 47% against the plan. Opposition was primarily based on concerns that the settlers would inevitably drift away from Kimberley and begin migrating to the cities in large numbers. On 15 July 1944

350-462: Is derived from a branch of the local Neutral Confederacy , referred to as the Niagagarega people on several late- 17th-century French maps. George R. Stewart posits that it comes from an Iroquois town named Ongniaahra , meaning "point of land cut in two." The river, occasionally described as a strait , is approximately 58 kilometres (36 mi) long and includes Niagara Falls . Over

400-630: The Land of Israel . Theodor Herzl hoped for a Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel but recognized that global events demanded an immediate solution to the Jewish problem, in Russia at least, even if that solution required Jewish refugees to settle outside of Eretz Israel . Theodor Herzl 's Der Judenstaat argued for a Jewish state in either Palestine, "our ever-memorable historic home", or Argentina , "one of

450-516: The Ord and Victoria Rivers. Under the plan, an initial 500-600 pioneers would arrive to construct basic necessities for the settlement such as homes, irrigation works, and a power station, followed by the arrival of the main body of immigrants. Ravitch in his report to the League promoted a bigger number than Steinberg, suggesting the area could accommodate a million Jewish refugees. Steinberg (1888–1957)

500-672: The Portuguese government, the colonial power at the time), Asia , and Australia , but with little success. The Balfour Declaration and the subsequent British occupation of Palestine had made the territorial alternatives to Eretz Israel less viable. Accordingly, in 1925 the ITO was dissolved and most of its members returned to the Zionist movement. In pre-1917 the Zionist Socialist Workers Party also took up

550-879: The Seven Years' War (known as the French and Indian War in the United States) and the American Revolutionary War . The Battle of Queenston Heights took place near the river in the War of 1812 . The river was an important route to liberation before the American Civil War , as many African-Americans escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad crossed it to find freedom in Canada. The Freedom Crossing Monument stands on

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600-607: The Welland River to connect to the Niagara River south of the falls, enabling water traffic to safely re-enter the river and continue to Lake Erie. The Niagara River and Falls have been known outside of North America since the late 17th century, when Father Louis Hennepin , a French explorer, first witnessed them. He wrote about his travels in A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America (1698). The Niagara River

650-571: The frontier of white settlement—for $ 4.38 per acre, in order to build a refuge for Jews of all nations. He had brought with him a cornerstone which read "Ararat, a City of Refuge for the Jews, founded by Mordecai M. Noah in the Month of Tishri, 5586 (September, 1825) and in the Fiftieth Year of American Independence." However, the scheme failed to attract Noah's fellow Jews. It began and ended with

700-409: The 1930s to investigate the region and to collect data on topography and climate. The League investigated the proposal, hoping to buy an area of 28,000 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi) of agricultural land for 75,000 Jews fleeing Europe. The tract in question was that of Connor, Doherty and Durack Limited, including Auvergne Station , Newry Station , and Argyle Downs , and extending between

750-542: The Canadian side of the river, to bypass Niagara Falls. The Niagara River features two large islands and several smaller ones. Grand Island and Navy Island , the two largest, are on the American and Canadian sides, respectively. Goat Island and the small Luna Island divide Niagara Falls into three sections: Horseshoe Falls , Bridal Veil Falls , and American Falls . Unity Island lies further upstream, adjacent to

800-763: The Niagara River include: The Niagara River is listed as a Great Lakes Areas of Concern in The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada. The Niagara River has a long history of both road and rail bridges spanning the river, both upstream and downstream of the Falls. This history includes numerous bridges that have fallen victim to the harsh conditions of the Niagara Gorge , such as landslides and icepacks. The following parks are located along

850-606: The Niagara River: A Niagara River Greenway Plan is in progress in the United States. Download coordinates as: Several islands are located on the upper river upriver from the falls: United States Coast Guard Fort Niagara Station was once a United States Army post. There are no Canadian Coast Guard posts along the river. Fort Mississauga , Fort George and Fort Erie are former British and Canadian military forts (last used 1953, 1965 and 1923 respectively) and are now parks. Navy Island Royal Naval Shipyard

900-522: The Russian Jewish delegation to the Congress. Few historians believe that such a settlement scheme could have attracted immigrants, Jewish financial support, or international political support. Since there was strong support on the part of some members of the Zionist leadership, however, peace was kept in the movement by the time-honored parliamentary maneuver of voting to establish a committee for

950-833: The United States, the Organization for Jewish Colonization in Russia worked to encourage the emigration and settlement of Jews there, likewise with the Gezerd in Australia. Territorialist projects in the USSR ended mostly with the advent of the Great Purge (which saw the dissolution of the Territorialist KOMZET and its agitprop counterpart OZET ), and then in their totality following the Holocaust ; which saw

1000-636: The Zionist movement. It attempted to locate territory suitable for Jewish settlement in various parts of America (e.g. Galveston ), and on the African, Asian, and Australian continents, yet with little success. Zangwill's interest in territorialism began in 1903 in response to the Kishinev Pogrom . In April of that year in Kishinev , Bessarabia , a Western province of the Russian Empire ,

1050-495: The bank of the river in Lewiston to commemorate the courage of the escaping slaves and the local volunteers who helped them secretly cross the river. In the 1880s, the Niagara River became the first waterway in the world harnessed for large-scale generation of hydroelectricity . On the Canadian side of the river the provincial agency Niagara Parks Commission maintains all of the shoreline property, including Fort Erie, except

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1100-534: The basis for governance. Though Zangwill's literary works suggest his nostalgia for the ghetto, he too recognized the need for a modern Jewish polity. Both concurred that a self-governing Jewish territory should be based on a preponderance of Jews in the region rather than British legislative fiat , and both concurred that the new government should be formed on a modern, democratic basis rather than some earlier biblical ideal or Eastern European Kehilla structure. This basic agreement between Zangwill and Wolf would lead to

1150-620: The blindest the need of a publicly and legally safeguarded home for our unhappy race. When you come to consider where this centralized home should be you will find no place as practicable as Palestine, or at least for a start, its neighborhood. But few in the Zionist Organization supported the Uganda Scheme , as the East Africa offer was called, particularly representatives from Eastern Europe who argued that Palestine

1200-627: The ceremonial laying of that cornerstone. The Jewish Colonization Association , created in 1891 by the Baron Maurice de Hirsch , was aimed at facilitating mass emigration of Jews from the Russian Empire and other Eastern European countries, by settling them in agricultural colonies on lands purchased by the committee, particularly in North and South America (especially Argentina ). Before 1905 some Zionist leaders had seriously considered proposals for Jewish homelands in places other than

1250-519: The city of Buffalo . The Niagara River and its tributaries, Tonawanda Creek and the Welland River , formed part of the final section of the Erie Canal and Welland Canal. After leaving Lockport , the Erie Canal heads southwest into Tonawanda Creek . Upon entering the Niagara River, watercraft proceed south to the final lock , where a short canal section allows boats to bypass turbulent shoal water and enter Lake Erie. The Welland Canals used

1300-508: The destruction of Jewish agricultural colonies in Ukraine and the Crimea. There were attempts to establish Crimea as a Jewish Homeland following World War II, which had some support from Vyacheslav Molotov , however such plans were rejected by Stalin who went on to recognise Israel , along with launching another series of political purges against Jewish organisations within the USSR. In

1350-640: The end men of his own party called him traitor and broke his heart. He worked for his people: they paid him his wages and he has gone home. In 1905 the members of the Seventh Zionist Congress formally rejected the Uganda Scheme. Following the rejection of the East Africa offer, Zangwill contacted Lucien Wolf, an English Jewish journalist and member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews , the main representative body of Anglo Jewry . Wolf

1400-590: The event, Zangwill would make the protagonist of his most important play, "The Melting Pot", a survivor of the pogrom who escapes to America after witnessing the murder of his family. The events of Kishinev also convinced Zangwill of the immediate need to find a place of Jewish refuge be it in Palestine or some other site. In commenting on the pogroms in a greeting to the Federation of American Zionists Zangwill commented: The Kishineff massacre has brought home to

1450-575: The exclusive type contemplated by the Freeland League". After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Steinberg criticized the exclusivist politics of the Israeli government and continued his attempts to create a non-nationalist Jewish settlement in some other region of the world. After Steinberg's death in 1957 the Freeland League was led by Mordkhe Schaechter , who gradually changed

1500-458: The face of the looming Nazi genocide , Isaac Nachman Steinberg established the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Colonization (Frayland-lige far Yidisher Teritoryalistisher Kolonizatsye) in London in 1935. This organization attempted, unsuccessfully, to pursue Jewish autonomy by obtaining a large piece of territory in sparsely populated areas in Ecuador , Australia, or Suriname . One of

1550-446: The focus of the organization to more cultural, Yiddishist goals. Niagara River The Niagara River ( / n aɪ ˈ æ ɡ ər ə , - ɡ r ə / ny- AGG -ər-ə, -⁠grə ) flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario , forming part of the border between Ontario , Canada , to the west, and New York , United States , to the east. The origin of the river's name is debated. Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger suggests it

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1600-711: The formation of the Jewish Territorial Organisation (ITO), an organisation dedicated to "obtaining a large tract of territory (preferably within the British Empire) wherein to found a Jewish Home of Refuge", and to the elevation of Zangwill to the ITO presidency. The ITO's members were known as territorialists or "ITOmen". ITO attempted to locate territory suitable for Jewish settlement in various parts of America (e.g. Galveston , Alaska ), Africa (in Angola , establishing several contacts with

1650-631: The idea, combining it with a strong Socialist Revolutionary orientation, and for a time had a considerable influence among Russian Jews. The party supported Herzl during the debate over the Uganda Scheme. After the October Revolution there was in the USSR a Territorialist effort in Ukraine , the Crimea (see: Jewish autonomy in Crimea ), and then in a region surrounding Birobidzhan , where

1700-399: The idea, preferring Palestine, but after the April 1903 Kishinev pogrom Herzl introduced a controversial proposal to the Sixth Zionist Congress to investigate the offer as a temporary measure for Russian Jews in danger. Notwithstanding its emergency and temporary nature, the proposal still proved very divisive, and widespread opposition to the plan was demonstrated by a walkout led by

1750-435: The investigation of the possibility, which was not finally dismissed until the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905. The Jewish Territorial Organization (ITO) was founded by British Jewish author, critic, and activist Israel Zangwill and British Jewish journalist Lucien Wolf in 1903 and institutionalized in 1905. The establishment was a response to Herzl's rejection of Uganda proposal, as the ITO led by Zangwill split off from

1800-526: The more well-known ventures was the Kimberley Plan , to secure land in Australia. The Kimberley Plan was officially vetoed on 15 July 1944 by Australian Prime Minister, John Curtin , who informed Steinberg that the Australian government would not "depart from the long-established policy in regard to alien settlement in Australia" and could not "entertain the proposal for a group settlement of

1850-526: The most fertile countries in the world". Some socialist Zionist groups were more territorialist than Zionist, such as Nachman Syrkin 's Zionist Socialist Workers Party (the Z.S.). As early as 1902, Herzl's negotiations with the Ottoman Empire for a Jewish homeland in Palestine had proven so futile and the dream of Zion so distant that he decided to approach the British about the creation of

1900-592: The past 12,000 years, the falls have moved roughly 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) upstream from the Niagara Escarpment , creating a gorge below the falls. Today, the diversion of the river for electricity generation has significantly slowed the rate of erosion . The total elevation drop along the river is 99 metres (325 ft). The Niagara Gorge, downstream from the falls, includes the Niagara Whirlpool and additional rapids . Power plants on

1950-600: The proposal. In his speech to the Congress Zangwill made clear that, though he did not see East Africa as the ultimate consummation of the Zionist cause, he did believe that it proved a particularly useful, temporary (if still somewhat long-term) solution to the Jewish problem in Russia. In 1903 British cabinet ministers suggested the British Uganda Program , land for a Jewish state in " Uganda " (actually in modern Kenya ). Herzl initially rejected

2000-785: The river include the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations (built in 1922 and 1954) on the Canadian side, and the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant (built in 1961) on the American side, collectively generating 4.4 gigawatts of electricity. The International Control Dam , constructed in 1954, regulates river flow . Ships on the Great Lakes use the Welland Canal , part of the St. Lawrence Seaway , on

2050-411: The scheme was vetoed by the Australian government and Labor Prime Minister John Curtin (with bipartisan support) informed Steinberg that the Australian government would not "depart from the long-established policy in regard to alien settlement in Australia" and could not "entertain the proposal for a group settlement of the exclusive type contemplated by the Freeland League". In 1948 Steinberg published

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2100-608: The sites of Fort George (a National Historic Site maintained federally by Parks Canada ), as a public greenspace and environmental heritage. On the American side, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation maintains several state parks adjacent to Niagara Falls and the Niagara River. Today, the river is the namesake of Niagara Herald Extraordinary at the Canadian Heraldic Authority . Cities and towns along

2150-524: The term did not yet exist, much predated Zionism. In 1825 the playwright , diplomat and journalist , Mordecai Manuel Noah —the first Jew born in the United States to reach national prominence—tried to found a Jewish "refuge" at Grand Island in the Niagara River , to be called " Ararat ", after Mount Ararat , the Biblical resting place of Noah's Ark . He purchased land on Grand Island—then on

2200-459: Was an opponent of political Zionism, but did support the creation of Jewish colonies in the Diaspora . In August 1905 Zangwill and Wolf met to discuss the Uganda Scheme, and in subsequent correspondence between the two we learn that both supported the creation of a Jewish colony in British East Africa. Wolf had objected to any specifically "Jewish national homeland", that is to say a state which ghettoized Jews, preserving Jewish customs and law as

2250-407: Was led by Isaac Nachman Steinberg . In late 1938 or early 1939, the pastoral firm of Michael Durack in Australia offered the League about 16,500 square kilometres (6,400 sq mi) in the Kimberley region in Australia , stretching from the north of Western Australia into the Northern Territory . The League sent a Yiddish poet and essayist Melech Ravitch to the Northern Territory in

2300-469: Was sent out from London to further investigate the scheme's feasibility and to enlist governmental and communal endorsement. He arrived in Perth on 23 May 1939. Steinberg was a skilled emissary, and based his campaign on the officially declared need by Australia to populate northern Australia. By early 1940, he won the support of churches, leading newspapers, many prominent political and public figures (including Western Australian Premier John Willcock ) and

2350-426: Was signed, involving a 6.5-kilometre-wide (4.0 mi) strip of land bordering the west bank of the Niagara River, connecting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Several battles occurred along the Niagara River, which was historically defended by Fort George (Canadian side) and Fort Niagara (American side) at the mouth of the river and Fort Erie (Canadian side) at the head of the river. These forts were important during

2400-417: Was the site of the earliest recorded railway in America. It was an inclined wooden tramway built by John Montresor (1736–1799), a British military engineer, in 1764. Called "The Cradles" and "The Old Lewiston Incline", it featured loaded carts pulled up wooden rails by rope. It facilitated the movement of goods over the Niagara Escarpment in present-day Lewiston, New York . In 1781, the Niagara Purchase

2450-459: Was the sole acceptable site for a Jewish homeland. Herzl was severely criticized for his willingness to seek a Jewish state outside of the Middle East, and such criticism, Zangwill claimed, contributed to Herzl's death from heart failure in 1904. In a 1905 speech on the East Africa offer he exclaimed: Herzl is dead: he worked for his people as no man ever worked for them since Judas Maccabaeus . His people called him dreamer and demagogue, and towards

2500-449: Was used by the French Navy in the 18th century as a naval base and by the Royal Navy from 1763 as a small shipyard, and abandoned around 1818 after the ratification of the Rush–Bagot Treaty in 1817. On the Canadian side the Niagara Parkway travels along the River from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. [REDACTED] NY 18F lines the river on the state side from Fort Niagara to Lewiston. [REDACTED] Niagara Scenic Parkway on

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