87-637: 39°53′26″N 75°10′34″W / 39.89056°N 75.17611°W / 39.89056; -75.17611 League Island was an island in the Delaware River , part of the city of Philadelphia , just upstream from the mouth of the Schuylkill River . The island was developed as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard . Since the late 20th century, it has been redeveloped and now operates primarily as an industrial park under
174-504: A historical name for China that was used in Europe. During the early modern period, the term Cathay initially evolved as a term referring to what is now Northern China, completely separate and distinct from China , which was a reference to southern China. As knowledge of East Asia increased, Cathay came to be seen as the same polity as China as a whole. The term Cathay became a poetic name for China. The name Cathay originates from
261-491: A broad, sluggish inlet of the sea, with many marshes along its side, widening steadily into its great estuary, Delaware Bay . The Delaware River constitutes the boundary between Delaware and New Jersey. The Delaware–New Jersey border is actually at the easternmost river shoreline within the Twelve-Mile Circle of New Castle , rather than at mid-river, mid-channel or thalweg , so small portions of land lying west of
348-574: A collective name for the Lenape , a Native American people who inhabited an area of the basins of the Susquehanna River , Delaware River, and lower Hudson River in the northeastern United States at the time of European settlement, as well as for their language . As a result of disruption following the French and Indian War , American Revolutionary War , and the later Indian removals from
435-581: A day from the Delaware and its upstream tributaries. The Delaware River has been attached to areas of high pollution . The Delaware River in 2012 was named the 5th most polluted river in the United States, explained by PennEnvironment and Environment New Jersey. The activist groups claim that there is about 7–10 million pounds of toxic chemicals flowing through the waterways due to dumping by DuPont Chambers Works. PennEnvironment also claims that
522-510: A depth of 40 ft (12 m). There is an effort underway to deepen the 102.5-mile stretch of this federal navigation channel, from Philadelphia and Camden to the mouth of the Delaware Bay to 45 feet. The Delaware River port complex refers to the ports and energy facilities along the river in the tri-state PA - NJ - DE Delaware Valley region. They include the Port of Salem ,
609-527: A fantastical reimagination of the world used as a setting for various novels and games produced by Games Workshop , Grand Cathay is the largest human empire, situated in the far east of the setting and based on medieval China. Cathay is more prevalent in proper terms, such as in Cathay Pacific Airways or Cathay Hotel . Cathay Bank is a bank with multiple branches throughout the United States and other countries. Cathay Cineplexes
696-543: A merchant from Florence , compiled the Pratica della mercatura , a guide about trade in China, a country he called Cathay , noting the size of Khanbaliq (modern Beijing ) and how merchants could exchange silver for Chinese paper money that could be used to buy luxury items such as silk. Words related to Khitay are still used in many Turkic and Slavic languages to refer to China. The ethnonym derived from Khitay in
783-400: A peak of 30.95 feet (9.43 m) on September 23, 2004, 34.07 feet (10.38 m) on April 4, 2005, and 33.62 feet (10.25 m) on June 28, 2006, all considerably higher than the flood stage of 22 feet (6.7 m). Since the upper Delaware basin has few population centers along its banks, flooding in this area mainly affects natural unpopulated flood plains. Residents in the middle part of
870-547: A quiet and charming country of farm and forest, diversified with plateaus and escarpments, until it crosses the Appalachian plain and enters the hills again at Easton , Pennsylvania. From this point it is flanked at intervals by fine hills, and in places by cliffs, of which the finest are the Nockamixon Cliffs, 3 miles (5 km) long and above 200 feet (61 m) high. The Appalachian Trail , which traverses
957-605: A result of the failure of a controversial plan to build a dam on the Delaware River at Tocks Island , just north of the Delaware Water Gap to control water levels for flood control and hydroelectric power generation. The dam would have created a 37-mile (60 km) lake in the center of present park for use as a reservoir. Starting in 1960, the present-day area of the Recreation Area was acquired for
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#17327800180571044-581: A strong suspicion that Marco Polo's Cathay is simply the Tatar (i.e., Mongol ) name for the country he was in, i.e. China. Ricci supported his arguments by numerous correspondences between Marco Polo's accounts and his own observations: Most importantly, when the Jesuits first arrived to Beijing 1598, they also met a number of "Mohammedans" or "Arabian Turks" – visitors or immigrants from the Muslim countries to
1131-481: Is China, as he met the members of a caravan returning from Beijing to Kashgar, who told them about staying in the same Beijing inn with Portuguese Jesuits. (In fact, those were the same very "Saracens" who had, a few months earlier, confirmed it to Ricci that they were in "Cathay"). De Góis died in Suzhou, Gansu – the first Ming China city he reached – while waiting for an entry permit to proceed toward Beijing; but, in
1218-511: Is a derogatory term in Chinese meaning "barbarians of the south" ( Man was used to describe unsinicised Southern China in its earlier periods), and would therefore not have been used by the Chinese to describe themselves or their own country, but it was adopted by the Mongols to describe the people and country of Southern China. The name for South China commonly used on Western medieval maps
1305-588: Is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States . From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York , the river flows for 282 miles (454 km) along the borders of New York , Pennsylvania , New Jersey , and Delaware , before emptying into Delaware Bay . The river has been recognized by
1392-475: Is a major barrier to travel between New Jersey and Pennsylvania . Most of the larger bridges are tolled only westbound, and are owned by the Delaware River and Bay Authority , Delaware River Port Authority , Burlington County Bridge Commission or Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission . After New York City built 15 reservoirs to supply water to the city's growing population, it was unable to obtain permission to build an additional five reservoirs along
1479-450: Is an important part of the Delaware River's history, adding to its diverse cultural legacy. The magnitude of the commerce of Philadelphia has made the improvements of the river below that port of great importance. Small improvements were attempted by Pennsylvania as early as 1771. Commerce was once important on the upper river, primarily prior to railway competition of 1857. The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area came about as
1566-644: Is named in honor of Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (1577–1618), an English nobleman and the Virginia colony's first royal governor , who defended the colony during the First Anglo-Powhatan War . Lord de la Warr waged a punitive campaign to subdue the Powhatan after they had killed the colony's council president, John Ratcliffe , and attacked the colony's fledgling settlements. Lord de la Warr arrived with 150 soldiers in time to prevent
1653-402: Is working to try to address the issue of flooding along the river. As the past few years have seen a rise in catastrophic floods, most residents of the river basin feel that something must be done. The local governments have worked in association with FEMA to address many of these problems, however, due to insufficient federal funds, progress is slow. A number of oil spills have taken place in
1740-568: The Army Corps of Engineers through eminent domain . Between 3,000 and 5,000 dwellings were demolished, including historical sites, and about 15,000 people were displaced by the project. Because of massive environmental opposition, dwindling funds, and an unacceptable geological assessment of the dam's safety, the government transferred the property to the National Park Service in 1978. The National Park Service found itself as
1827-778: The Delaware City Refinery , the Dupont Chambers Works , Oceanport Terminal at Claymont , the Marcus Hook Refinery, the Trainer Refinery , the Paulsboro Asphalt Refinery , Paulsboro Refinery , Eagle Point Refinery, and Sunoco Fort Mifflin. As of 2011, crude oil was the largest single commodity transported on the Delaware River, accounting for half of all annual cargo tonnage. The Delaware River
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#17327800180571914-750: The Ghaznavid court (in Ghazna , in today's Afghanistan) was visited by envoys from the Liao ruler, he was described as a "Qatā Khan", i.e. the ruler of Qatā ; Qatā or Qitā appears in writings of al-Biruni and Abu Said Gardezi in the following decades. The Persian scholar and administrator Nizam al-Mulk (1018–1092) mentions Khita and China in his Book on the Administration of the State , apparently as two separate countries (presumably, referring to
2001-754: The Liao and Song Empires , respectively). The name's currency in the Muslim world survived the replacement of the Khitan Liao dynasty with the Jurchen Jin dynasty in the early 12th century. When describing the fall of the Jin Empire to the Mongols (1234), Persian history described the conquered country as Khitāy or Djerdaj Khitāy (i.e., "Jurchen Cathay"). The Mongols themselves, in their Secret History (13th century) talk of both Khitans and Kara-Khitans. In about 1340 Francesco Balducci Pegolotti ,
2088-689: The Mughal capitals Agra and Lahore ), Cathay – a country that could be reached via Kashgar – had a large Christian population, while the Jesuits in China had not found any Christians there. In retrospect, the Central Asian Muslim informants' idea of the Ming China being a heavily Christian country may be explained by numerous similarities between Christian and Buddhist ecclesiastical rituals – from having sumptuous statuary and ecclesiastical robes to Gregorian chant – which would make
2175-702: The National Wildlife Federation as one of the country's Great Waters and has been called the "Lifeblood of the Northeast" by American Rivers . Its watershed drains an area of 13,539 square miles (35,070 km ) and provides drinking water for 17 million people, including half of New York City via the Delaware Aqueduct . The Delaware River has two branches that rise in the Catskill Mountains of New York:
2262-612: The Otter Creek tributary , leading to a water advisory in Philadelphia . With the failure of the dam project to come to fruition, the lack of flood control on the river left it vulnerable, and it has experienced a number of serious flooding events as the result of snow melt or rain run-off from heavy rainstorms. Record flooding occurred in August 1955, in the aftermath of the passing of the remnants of two separate hurricanes over
2349-406: The Port of Wilmington , the Port of Chester , the Port of Paulsboro , the Port of Philadelphia and the Port of Camden . Combined they create one of the largest shipping areas of the United States. In 2015, the ports of Philadelphia, Camden, and Wilmington handled 100 million tons of cargo from 2,243 ship arrivals, and supported 135,000 direct or indirect jobs. The biggest category of imports
2436-652: The Uyghur language for Han Chinese is considered pejorative by both its users and its referents, and the PRC authorities have attempted to ban its use. The term also strongly connotes Uyghur nationalism . As European and Arab travelers started reaching the Mongol Empire , they described the Mongol-controlled Northern China as Cathay in a number of spelling variants. The name occurs in
2523-629: The West Branch at Mount Jefferson in Jefferson , Schoharie County , and the East Branch at Grand Gorge , Delaware County . The branches merge to form the main Delaware River at Hancock, New York . Flowing south, the river remains relatively undeveloped, with 152 miles (245 km) protected as the Upper , Middle , and Lower Delaware National Scenic Rivers . At Trenton, New Jersey ,
2610-434: The "Cathayans" were dividing the day – and Martini, who of course knew no Persian, was able to continue the list. The names of the 24 solar terms matched as well. The story, soon published by Martini in the "Additamentum" to his Atlas of China, seemed to have finally convinced most European scholars that China and Cathay were the same. Even then, some people still viewed Cathay as distinct from China, as did John Milton in
2697-579: The 11th Book of his Paradise Lost (1667). In 1939, Hisao Migo ( Japanese : 御江久夫 , a Japanese botanist ) published a paper describing Iris cathayensis (meaning "Chinese iris") in the Journal of the Shanghai Science Institute . Below is the etymological progression from "Khitan" to Cathay as the word travelled westward: In many Turkic and Slavic languages a form of "Cathay" (e.g., Russian : Китай , Kitay ) remains
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2784-520: The 19th century, when it was completely replaced by China . Demonyms for the people of Cathay (i.e., Chinese people ) were Cathayan and Cataian . The terms China and Cathay have histories of approximately equal length in English. Cathay is still used poetically. The Hong Kong flag-bearing airline is named Cathay Pacific . One of the largest commercial banks of Taiwan is named Cathay United Bank . The novel Creation by Gore Vidal uses
2871-652: The Clean Water Act explains how conditions of the river should be stable enough for human fishing and swimming. Even though the river has had success with the cleanup of pollution, the Delaware River still does not meet that standard of swimmable or fishable conditions in the Philadelphia/Chester region. In March 2023, a pipe rupture at a Trinseo chemical plant in Bristol, Pennsylvania , released over 8,000 gallons of latex finishing material into
2958-666: The Delaware River as the River of the Year for 2020, citing 75 years of progress in reducing pollution and restoring wildlife. In 1984, the U.S. Department of the Treasury authorized the creation of a wine region or " American Viticultural Area " called the Central Delaware Valley AVA located in southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey . The wine appellation includes 96,000 acres (38,850 ha) surrounding
3045-745: The Delaware River north of Philadelphia and Trenton , New Jersey. In Pennsylvania, it consists of the territory along the Delaware River in Bucks County ; in New Jersey, the AVA spans along the river in Hunterdon County and Mercer County from Titusville , New Jersey, just north of Trenton, northward to Musconetcong Mountain . As of 2013, there are no New Jersey wineries in the Central Delaware Valley AVA. In
3132-497: The Delaware River's tributaries. As a result, in 1928 the city decided to draw water from the Delaware River, putting them in direct conflict with villages and towns across the river in Pennsylvania which were already using the Delaware for their water supply. The two sides eventually took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court , and in 1931, New York City was allowed to draw 440 million US gallons (1,700,000 m ) of water
3219-415: The Delaware River. This settlement marked one of the earliest European establishments in the region, with Fort Christina (located near modern-day Wilmington, Delaware) becoming a key trading post and symbol of Swedish colonial ambition. The Swedes engaged in peaceful land negotiations with the local Lenape people and developed a thriving colony. New Sweden became a center for trade and cultural exchange between
3306-522: The Delaware basin experience flooding, including three major floods in the three years (2004–2006) that have severely damaged their homes and land. The lower part of the Delaware basin from Philadelphia southward to the Delaware Bay is tidal and much wider than portions further north, and is not prone to river-related flooding (although tidal surges can cause minor flooding in this area). The Delaware River Basin Commission , along with local governments,
3393-552: The Delaware becomes tidal , navigable , and significantly more industrial . This section forms the backbone of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area, serving the port cities of Philadelphia , Camden, New Jersey , and Wilmington, Delaware . The river flows into Delaware Bay at Liston Point, 48 miles (77 km) upstream of the bay's outlet to the Atlantic Ocean between Cape May and Cape Henlopen . Before
3480-516: The Delaware over the years. The National Marine Fisheries Service is considering designating sixteen rivers as endangered habitat for the Atlantic sturgeon which would require more attention to be given to uses of the rivers that affect the fish. The river is part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System . Cathay Cathay ( / k æ ˈ θ eɪ / ka- THAY ) is
3567-754: The Delaware. Similarly, the East Branch begins from a small pond south of Grand Gorge in the town of Roxbury in Delaware County , flowing southwest toward its impoundment by New York City to create the Pepacton Reservoir , the largest reservoir in the New York City water supply system . Its tributaries are the Beaver Kill River and the Willowemoc Creek which enter into the river ten miles (16 km) before
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3654-734: The Dutch Orientalist Jacobus Golius met with the China-based Jesuit Martino Martini , who was passing through Leyden . Golius knew no Chinese, but he was familiar with Zij-i Ilkhani , a work by the Persian astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi , completed in 1272, in which he described the Chinese ("Cathayan") calendar . Upon meeting Martini, Golius started reciting the names of the 12 divisions into which, according to Nasir al-Din,
3741-567: The EPA involved the Delaware County Regional Water Authority (DELCORA) where they set up a plan to spend around $ 200 million to help rid the waterway of about 740 million gallons of sewage and pollution. DELCORA was also fined about $ 1.4 million for allowing the Delaware River to have so much pollution residing in the river in the first place and for not complying with the Clean Water Act. Part of
3828-667: The Lenape". The Delaware River played a key factor in the economic and social development of the Mid-Atlantic region. In the seventeenth century it provided the conduit for colonial settlement by the Dutch ( New Netherland ) and the Swedish ( New Sweden ). Beginning in 1664, the region became an English possession as settlement by Quakers established the colonies of Pennsylvania (including present-day Delaware ) and West Jersey . In
3915-426: The New York City water system. It is the most recently constructed New York City reservoir and began serving the city in 1964. Draining a large watershed of 455 square miles (1,180 km ), the reservoir's capacity is 95.7 billion US gallons (362,000,000 m ). This water flows over halfway through the reservoir to enter the 44-mile (71 km) West Delaware Tunnel in Tompkins , New York. Then it flows through
4002-449: The Pacific coast, north of Beijing (Pekin) which was already well known to Europeans. The borders drawn on some of these maps would first make Cathay the northeastern section of China (e.g. 1595 map by Gerardus Mercator ), or, later, a region separated by China by the Great Wall and possibly some mountains and/or wilderness (as in a 1610 map by Jodocus Hondius , or a 1626 map by John Speed ). J. J. L. Duyvendak hypothesized that it
4089-501: The Pennsylvania–New Jersey state line for 25 miles (40 km) to the end of the ridge at Walpack Bend in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area . The Minisink is a buried valley where the Delaware flows in a bed of glacial till that buried the eroded bedrock during the last glacial period . It then skirts the Kittatinny ridge , which it crosses at the Delaware Water Gap , between nearly vertical walls of sandstone , quartzite , and conglomerate , and then passes through
4176-457: The Portuguese reached Southeast Asia ( Afonso de Albuquerque conquering Malacca in 1511) and the southern coast of China ( Jorge Álvares reaching the Pearl River estuary in 1513), they started calling the country by the name used in South and Southeast Asia. It was not immediately clear to the Europeans whether this China is the same country as Cathay known from Marco Polo . Therefore, it would not be uncommon for 16th-century maps to apply
4263-410: The Project of 1885, the U.S. government undertook systematically the formation of a 26-foot (7.9 m) channel 600 feet (180 m) wide from Philadelphia to deep water in Delaware Bay . The River and Harbor Act of 1899 provided for a 30-foot (9.1 m) channel 600 feet (180 m) wide from Philadelphia to the deep water of the bay. Since 1941, the Delaware River Main Channel was maintained at
4350-403: The Swedish settlers, Native Americans, and neighboring Dutch colonies. Although the Dutch would later assert dominance over the region in 1655, New Sweden laid the groundwork for European settlement along the Delaware River. The fort and surrounding settlements played a crucial role in the early European rivalry for control of North America's resources and territory. This era of Swedish colonization
4437-406: The Upper Delaware Scenic Byway. The river flows southeast for 78 miles through rural regions along the New York-Pennsylvania border to Port Jervis and Shawangunk Ridge . At Port Jervis , New York, it enters the Port Jervis trough. At this point, the Walpack Ridge deflects the Delaware into the Minisink Valley, where it follows the southwest strike of the eroded Marcellus Formation beds along
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#17327800180574524-452: The West Branch meets the East Branch. The confluence of the two branches is just south of Hancock . The East Branch and West Branch of the Delaware River parallel each other, both flowing in a southwesterly direction. From Hancock, New York , the Delaware flows between the northern Poconos in Pennsylvania, and the lowered shale beds north of the Catskills. The river flows down a broad Appalachian valley, passing Hawk's Nest overlook on
4611-437: The agricultural development of the region. The strategic Delaware River was the scene of several important campaigns during the American Revolutionary War . Perhaps the most famous event was George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River with the Continental Army on the night of December 25–26, 1776, leading to a successful surprise attack and victory against the Hessian troops occupying Trenton, New Jersey , on
4698-424: The aqueduct into the Rondout Reservoir , where the water enters the 85 miles (137 km) Delaware Aqueduct , that contributes to roughly 50% of the city's drinking water supply. At Deposit , on the border between Broome and Delaware counties, it turns sharply to the southeast and is paralleled by New York State Route 17 . It joins the East Branch at 880 feet (270 m) above sea level at Hancock to form
4785-430: The area within less than a week: first Hurricane Connie and then Hurricane Diane , which was, and still is, the wettest tropical cyclone to have hit the northeastern United States. The river gauge at Riegelsville , Pennsylvania recorded an all-time record crest of 38.85 feet (11.84 m) on August 19, 1955. More recently, moderate to severe flooding has occurred along the river. The same gauge at Riegelsville recorded
4872-423: The arrival of European settlers, the river was the homeland of the Lenape native people. They called the river Lenapewihittuk, or Lenape River, and Kithanne, meaning the largest river in this part of the country. In 1609, the river was visited by a Dutch East India Company expedition led by Henry Hudson . Hudson, an English navigator, was hired to find a western route to Cathay (China), but his encounters set
4959-400: The caretaker of the previously endangered territory, and with the help of the federal government and surrounding communities, developed recreational facilities and worked to preserve the remaining historical structures. The nearby Shawnee Inn , was identified in the 1990s as the only resort along the banks of the Delaware River. American Rivers , an environmental advocacy group, named
5046-418: The colony's original settlers at Jamestown from giving up and returning to England and is credited with saving the Virginia colony. The name of the barony (later an earldom ) is pronounced as in the current spelling form "Delaware" ( / ˈ d ɛ l ə w ɛər / DEL -ə-wair ) and is thought to derive from French de la Guerre . It has often been reported that the river and bay received
5133-464: The eastern United States, the name "Delaware" has been spread with the Lenape's diaspora to municipalities, counties and other geographical features in the American Midwest and Canada. The Delaware River's drainage basin has an area of 13,539 square miles (35,070 km ) and encompasses 42 counties and 838 municipalities in five U.S. states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. This total area constitutes approximately 0.4% of
5220-469: The eighteenth century, cities like Philadelphia , Camden (then Cooper's Ferry), Trenton , Wilmington and New Castle were established upon the Delaware and their continued commercial success into the present day has been dependent on access to the river for trade and power. The river provided the path for the settlement of northeastern Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley , and northwestern New Jersey by German Palatine immigrants—a population that became key in
5307-471: The external people circa 1000. The Khitans refer to themselves as Qidan ( Khitan small script : [REDACTED] ; Chinese : 契丹 ), but in the language of the ancient Uyghurs the final -n or -ń became -y, and this form may have been the source of the name Khitai for later Muslim writers. This version of the name was then introduced to medieval and early modern Europe via Muslim and Russian sources. The Khitans were known to Muslim Central Asia: in 1026,
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#17327800180575394-484: The label China just to the coastal region already well known to the Europeans (e.g., just Guangdong on Abraham Ortelius ' 1570 map), and to place the mysterious Cathay somewhere inland. It was a small group of Jesuits , led by Matteo Ricci who, being able both to travel throughout China and to read, learned about the country from Chinese books and from conversation with people of all walks of life. During his first fifteen years in China (1583–1598) Matteo Ricci formed
5481-437: The land mass in the United States. In 2001, the watershed was 18% agricultural land, 14% developed land, and 68% forested land. There are 216 tributary streams and creeks comprising an estimated 14,057 miles of streams and creeks, in the watershed. While the watershed is home to 4.17 million people according to the 2000 Federal Census, these bodies of water provide drinking water to 17 million people—roughly 6% of
5568-564: The morning of December 26. During the Philadelphia Campaign control of the Delaware River was urgently needed by the British, allowing their naval fleet to supply troops occupying Philadelphia. To this end, the Battle of Red Bank and the Siege of Fort Mifflin were fought on and along the shores of the Delaware by the American and British navies, commanded by Commodore John Hazelwood and Admiral Francis Reynolds respectively. See historical map of that campaign. In 1638, Swedish settlers, led by Peter Menuet, established New Sweden along
5655-405: The name "Delaware" after English forces under Richard Nicolls expelled the Dutch and took control of the New Netherland colony in 1664. However, the river and bay were known by the name Delaware as early as 1641. The state of Delaware was originally part of the William Penn 's Pennsylvania colony . In 1682, the Duke of York granted Penn's request for access to the sea and leased him
5742-417: The name "The Navy Yard". League Island no longer exists as an island, since the Back Channel, which separated it from the mainland, was closed at the eastern end to create land for Mustin Field , a military airfield. This was closed in 1963. The western end of the channel became the present Reserve Basin, which holds the ships of the U.S. Navy 's reserve fleet . Delaware River The Delaware River
5829-418: The name in reference to "those states between the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers" as the novel is set in the fifth and sixth centuries B.C. Ezra Pound 's Cathay (1915) is a collection of classical Chinese poems translated freely into English verse. In Robert E. Howard 's Hyborian Age stories (including the tales of Conan the Barbarian ), the analog of China is called Khitai . In Warhammer Fantasy ,
5916-415: The name was also used in Marco Polo 's book on his travels in Yuan dynasty China (he referred to southern China as Mangi ). Odoric of Pordenone (d. 1331) also writes about Cathay and the Khan in his travelbooks from his journey before 1331, perhaps 1321–1330. The term Cathay came from the name for the Khitans. A form of the name Cathai is attested in a Uyghur Manichaean document describing
6003-405: The plateau in a deep trough. The branch flows generally southwest, entering Delaware County and flowing through the towns of Stamford and Delhi . In southwestern Delaware County it flows in an increasingly winding course through the mountains, generally southwest. At Stilesville the West Branch was impounded in the 1960s to form the Cannonsville Reservoir , the westernmost of the reservoirs in
6090-403: The pollutants in the river can cause birth defects, infertility among women, and have been linked to cancer. In 2015, the EPA saw the Delaware River as a concern for mass pollution especially in the Greater Philadelphia and Chester, Pennsylvania area. The EPA was involved after accusations that the river met standards made illegal by the Clean Water Act . In complying with the Clean Water Act,
6177-487: The population of the United States. The waters of the Delaware River's basin are used to sustain "fishing, transportation, power, cooling, recreation, and other industrial and residential purposes." It is the 33rd largest river in the United States in terms of flow, but is among the nation's most heavily used rivers in daily freight tonnage. The average annual flow rate of the Delaware is 11,700 cubic feet per second at Trenton, New Jersey . With no dams or impediments on
6264-699: The ridge of Kittatinny Mountain in New Jersey, and Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania, crosses the Delaware River at the Delaware Water Gap near Columbia, New Jersey. In Easton, Pennsylvania , the Lehigh River joins the Delaware. At Trenton , the Delaware crosses the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line with a drop of 8 feet (2.4 m). Below Trenton , the Delaware flows between Philadelphia and New Jersey before becoming
6351-638: The river was renamed Delaware after Sir Thomas West , 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and the Virginia colony's first royal governor, who defended the colony during the First Anglo-Powhatan War . George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River in 1776 led to the Americans winning the Battle of Trenton , which was a pivotal moment in the American Revolution . The Delaware River
6438-728: The river's main stem, the Delaware is one of the few remaining large free-flowing rivers in the United States. The West Branch of the Delaware River , also called the Mohawk Branch, spans approximately 90 miles (140 km) from the northern Catskill Mountains to its confluence with the Delaware River's East Branch at Hancock, New York . The last 6 miles (9.7 km) forms part of the boundary between New York and Pennsylvania . The West Branch rises in Schoharie County , New York at 1,886 feet (575 m) above sea level, near Mount Jefferson , and flows tortuously through
6525-543: The shoreline, but on the New Jersey side of the river, are pene-exclaves under the jurisdiction of Delaware. The rest of the borders follow a mid-channel approach. At the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the early 17th century, the area near the Delaware River was inhabited by the Native American Lenape people. They called the Delaware River "Lenape Wihittuck", which means "the rapid stream of
6612-710: The stage for Dutch colonization of North America in the 17th century. Early Dutch and Swedish settlements were established along the lower section of the river and Delaware Bay . Both colonial powers called the river the South River (Zuidrivier), compared to the Hudson River , which was known as the North River . After the English expelled the Dutch and took control of the New Netherland colony in 1664,
6699-538: The term Khitan ( Chinese : 契丹 ; pinyin : Qìdān ), a para-Mongolic nomadic people who ruled the Liao dynasty in northern China from 916 to 1125, and who later migrated west after they were overthrown by the Jin dynasty to form the Qara Khitai (Western Liao dynasty) for another century thereafter. Originally, this name was the name applied by Central and Western Asians and Europeans to northern China;
6786-510: The territory along the western shore of Delaware Bay, which became known as the "Lower Counties on the Delaware". In 1704, the Lower Counties were given political autonomy to form a separate provincial assembly, but they shared Pennsylvania's provincial governor until the two colonies separated on June 15, 1776, and they remained separate as states after the establishment of the United States. The name "Delaware" also came to be used as
6873-836: The two religions appear externally similar to a Muslim merchant. This may also have been the genesis of the Prester John myth. To resolve the China – Cathay controversy, the India Jesuits sent a Portuguese lay brother, Bento de Góis , on an overland expedition north and east, with the goal of reaching Cathay and finding out once and for all whether it is China or some other country. Góis spent almost three years (1603–1605) crossing Afghanistan , Badakhshan , Kashgaria , and Kingdom of Cialis with Muslim trade caravans . In 1605, in Cialis , he, too, became convinced that his destination
6960-468: The usual modern name for China. In Javanese , the word ꦏꦠꦻ ( Katai , Katé ) exists, and it refers to "East Asian", literally meaning "dwarf" or "short-legged" in today's language. In Uyghur, the word "Xitay (Hitay)" is used as a derogatory term for Ethnic Han Chinese. In the English language , the word Cathay was sometimes used for China, although increasingly only in a poetic sense, until
7047-778: The west of China, who told Ricci that now they were living in the Great Cathay. This all made them quite convinced that Cathay was indeed China. China-based Jesuits promptly informed their colleagues in Goa (Portuguese India) and Europe about their discovery of the Cathay–China identity. This was stated e.g. in a 1602 letter of Ricci's comrade Diego de Pantoja , which was published in Europe along with other Jesuits' letters in 1605. The Jesuits in India, however, were not convinced, because, according to their informants (merchants who visited
7134-495: The words of Henry Yule , it was his expedition that made " Cathay ... finally disappear from view, leaving China only in the mouths and minds of men". Ricci's and de Gois' conclusion was not, however, completely convincing for everybody in Europe yet. Samuel Purchas , who in 1625 published an English translation of Pantoja's letter and Ricci's account, thought that perhaps Cathay still can be found somewhere north of China. In this period, many cartographers were placing Cathay on
7221-621: The writings of Giovanni da Pian del Carpine (c. 1180–1252) (as Kitaia ), and William of Rubruck (c. 1220–c. 1293) (as Cataya or Cathaia ). Travels in the Land of Kublai Khan by Marco Polo has a story called "The Road to Cathay". Rashid-al-Din Hamadani , ibn Battuta , and Marco Polo all referred to Northern China as Cathay, while Southern China, ruled by the Song dynasty , was Mangi , Manzi , Chin , or Sin . The word Manzi (蠻子) or Mangi
7308-459: Was Mangi , a term still used in maps in the 16th century. The division of China into northern and southern parts ruled by, in succession, the Liao , Jin and Yuan dynasties in the north, and the Song dynasty in the south, ended in the late 13th century with the conquest of southern China by the Yuan dynasty. While Central Asia had long known China under names similar to Cathay , that country
7395-436: Was fruit, carried by 490 ships, followed by petroleum, and containers, with 410 and 381 ships, respectively. The biggest category of exports was of shipping was containers, with 470 ships. In 2016, 2,427 ships arrived at Delaware River port facilities. Fruit ships were counted at 577, petroleum at 474, and containerized cargo at 431. At one time it was a center for petroleum and chemical products and included facilities such as
7482-435: Was known to the peoples of Southeast Asia and India under names similar to China (cf. e.g. Cina in modern Malay). Meanwhile, in China itself, people usually referred to the realm in which they lived on the name of the ruling dynasty, e.g. Da Ming Guo ("Great Ming state") and Da Qing Guo ("Great Qing state"), or as Zhongguo (中國, lit. Middle Kingdom or Central State ); see also Names of China for details. When
7569-521: Was the ignorance of the fact that "China" is the mighty "Cathay" of Marco Polo that allowed the Dutch governor of East Indies Jan Pieterszoon Coen to embark on an "unfortunate" (for the Dutch) policy of treating the Ming Empire as "merely another 'oriental' kingdom". The last nail into the coffin of the idea of there being a Cathay as a country separate from China was, perhaps, driven in 1654, when
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