129-744: Lehigh Mountain is a mountain in Lehigh County , Pennsylvania . The main peak rises to 843 feet (257 m) and is located in Salisbury Township . Lehigh Mountain is located on the right bank of the Lehigh River , and is separated from South Mountain by the headwaters of Trout Creek. It is part of the Reading Prong of the Appalachian Mountains . This Lehigh County, Pennsylvania state location article
258-827: A European power during the remainder of the nineteenth century, and that war did not lead to territorial changes in the Americas. However, the British Empire continued to engage in wars such as the First Opium War against China; it also put down rebellions such as the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , the Canadian Rebellions of 1837–1838 , and the Jamaican Morant Bay rebellion of 1865. A strong abolition movement had emerged in
387-692: A Puritan leader who was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony after he advocated for a formal split with the Church of England . As New England was a relatively cold and infertile region, the New England Colonies relied on fishing and long-distance trade to sustain the economy. In 1632, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore founded the Province of Maryland to the north of Virginia. Maryland and Virginia became known as
516-549: A base for the privateers. After Gilbert's death, Walter Raleigh took up the cause of North American colonization, sponsoring an expedition of 500 men to Roanoke Island . In 1584, the colonists established the first permanent English colony in North America, but the colonists were poorly prepared for life in the New World, and by 1590, the colonists had disappeared. There are a variety of theories as to what happened to
645-764: A colony in Guiana in 1604 lasted only two years and failed in its main objective to find gold deposits. Colonies in St Lucia (1605) and Grenada (1609) also rapidly folded. Encouraged by the success of Virginia, in 1627 King Charles I granted a charter to the Barbados Company for the settlement of the uninhabited Caribbean island of Barbados . Early settlers failed in their attempts to cultivate tobacco, but found great success in growing sugar . The success of colonization efforts in Barbados encouraged
774-905: A crown colony in 1752. In 1754, the Ohio Company started to build a fort at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River . A larger French force initially chased the Virginians away, but was forced to retreat after the Battle of Jumonville Glen . After reports of the battle reached the French and British capitals, the Seven Years' War broke out in 1756; the North American component of this war
903-598: A head with the Nootka Crisis in 1789. Both sides mobilised for war, and Spain counted on France for support but when France refused, Spain had to back down and capitulated to British terms leading to the Nootka Convention . The outcome of the crisis was a humiliation for Spain and a triumph for Britain, for the former had practically renounced all sovereignty on the North Pacific coast. This opened
1032-832: A permanent break with Britain, the delegates adopted a Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776 for the United States of America. The French formed a military alliance with the United States in 1778 following the British defeat at the Battle of Saratoga . Spain joined France in order to regain Gibraltar from Britain. A combined Franco-American operation trapped a British invasion army at Yorktown, Virginia , forcing them to surrender in October 1781. The surrender shocked Britain. The king wanted to keep fighting, but he lost control of Parliament and peace negotiations began. In
1161-550: A rural agricultural area dominated by German -speaking people into an urbanized industrialized area and expanded the city's commercial and industrial capacity greatly. With this, Lehigh County underwent significant industrialization , ultimately becoming a major 20th century center for heavy industry and manufacturing and one of several hubs for the Industrial Revolution . Following the Union Army 's defeat at
1290-715: A second company, the Company of the City of London for the Plantacion of The Somers Isles (better known as The Somers Isles Company ) was spun-off from the London Company in 1615, and continued to administer Bermuda after the London Company's Royal Charter was revoked in 1624 (The Somers Isles Company's Royal Charter was similarly revoked in 1684). Bermuda pioneered tobacco cultivation as the engine for its economic growth, but as Virginia's tobacco agriculture outstripped it in
1419-610: A third after the Patience returned again, then departed for England (it had been meant to return to Jamestown after gathering more food in Bermuda), ensuring that Bermuda remained settled, and in the possession of England and the London Company from 1609 to 1612, when more settlers and the first Lieutenant-Governor arrived from England following the extension of the Royal Charter of the London Company to officially add Bermuda to
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#17327915477881548-1523: Is Lehigh Valley International Airport ( IATA : ABE , ICAO : KABE ), located in Hanover Township in the county. The county is also served by Allentown Queen City Municipal Airport , a two-runway general aviation facility located off Lehigh Street in Allentown used predominantly by private aviation. Public bus service in Lehigh County is available through LANta . Several private bus lines, including Trans-Bridge Lines , provide bus service from Allentown to New York City 's Port Authority Bus Terminal , Philadelphia 's Greyhound Terminal and 30th Street Station , Atlantic City 's Bus Terminal , and other regional locations. The Morning Call (in Allentown ), The Express-Times (in Easton ), and The Times News (in Lehighton ) each cover Lehigh County. Lehigh County-area radio stations include WAEB-AM in Allentown ( talk and news ), B104 in Allentown ( contemporary hits ), WZZO in Bethlehem ( classic rock ), WHOL in Allentown ( rhythmic contemporary ), and others. Some major New York City stations and every major Philadelphia station are received in
1677-485: Is 82.3 centimetres (32.4 in) per year, with the months of January and February receiving the most now with just over 22.86 centimetres (9.00 in) in each of these months. Rainfall is generally spread throughout the year with eight to twelve wet days per month, at an average annual rate of 110.54 centimetres (43.52 in). The hardiness zone in the majority of the county has increased from 6b to 7a. 6b still exists in some northern and higher areas. [1] As of
1806-478: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Lehigh County ( Pennsylvania Dutch : Lechaa Kaundi ) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . As of the 2020 census , the county's population was 374,557. Its county seat is Allentown , the state's third-largest city after Philadelphia and Pittsburgh . Along with Northampton County to its east,
1935-1482: Is held annually in May on the campus of Cedar Crest College in Allentown. Lehigh County is home to multiple golf courses, including Brookside Country Club in Macungie , Lehigh Country Club on Cedar Crest Boulevard in Allentown , Olde Homestead Golf Club in New Tripoli , Saucon Valley Country Club in Upper Saucon Township , Shepherd Hills Golf Club in Wescosville , and Wedgewood Golf Course in Coopersburg . The county has several museums, including Allentown Art Museum , America on Wheels , Da Vinci Science Center , George Taylor House , Lehigh County Historical Society at Trout Hall , Museum of Indian Culture , The 1803 House , and others. Lehigh County also has 25 acres (100,000 m ) of public parks, including: Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities: cities , boroughs , townships , and, in only one case, towns . The following cities, boroughs, and townships are located in Lehigh County: Census-designated places are geographical areas designated by
2064-578: Is known as the French and Indian War . After the Duke of Newcastle returned to power as Prime Minister in 1757, he and his foreign minister, William Pitt , devoted unprecedented financial resources to the transoceanic conflict. The British won a series of victories after 1758, conquering much of New France by the end of 1760. Spain entered the war on France's side in 1762 and promptly lost several American territories to Britain. The 1763 Treaty of Paris ended
2193-472: Is land and 3.1 square miles (8.0 km ) (0.9%) of which is water. Lehigh County borders two Appalachian mountain ridges. To the north, the county borders Blue Mountain , which has an altitude of 1,300 to 1,604 feet (396 to 489 m). To the south, it is bordered by South Mountain , which has an altitude of 700 to 1,100 feet (210 to 340 m) and cuts through the southern portions of both Lehigh and Northampton counties. The Lehigh County's highest point
2322-631: Is near Germansville at Bake Oven Knob , a mass of Tuscarora conglomeratic rocks that rise about 100 feet (30 m) above the main Blue Mountain ridge in northwestern Heidelberg Township . Lehigh County is part of the Delaware River watershed . Most of the county is drained by the Lehigh River and its tributaries, though the Schuylkill River also drains regions in the county's south through Perkiomen Creek and (in
2451-418: Is still politically competitive. Lehigh County and neighboring Northampton County are part of Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional district . The 7th Congressional district is a contentious swing district with neither Republicans nor Democrats winning the district consistently. Voters elected Republican Charlie Dent in 2004, 2006, and 2008 and, previously, Republican Pat Toomey in 1998, 2000, and 2002. In 2004,
2580-532: Is the oldest continuously occupied structure in both Lehigh County and Lehigh Valley and among the oldest still-standing building structures in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania . Some of the first resistance to British colonialism , which led ultimately to the American Revolutionary War , began in present-day Lehigh County. On December 21, 1774, patriots in the area formed one of the colonies ' first Committee of Observations . Following
2709-587: The 2020 census , the county's population was 374,557. The county's population growth of 7.2% since 2010 is among the fastest in the state. The racial makeup of the county, as of the 2020 census, was 60.8% White , 26% Hispanic or Latino , 6.12% Black or African American , 3.66% Asian , 3.33% from other or mixed races , 0.02% Pacific Islander , and 0.1% Native American . As of March 4, 2024, there were 243,427 registered voters in Lehigh County: Lehigh County leans Democratic, but
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#17327915477882838-598: The 47th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment . On October 19, 1899, a monument in honor of the Lehigh County men killed in their volunteer service to preservation of the Union , the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, was erected at Seventh and Hamilton streets in Center City Allentown , where it still stands. Lehigh County has a total area of 348 square miles (900 km ), 345 square miles (890 km ) of which
2967-750: The Anglo-Spanish War . Spain acknowledged English possession of Jamaica and the Caiman Islands in the 1670 Treaty of Madrid . England captured Tortola from the Dutch in 1670, and subsequently took possession of the nearby islands of Anegada and Virgin Gorda ; these islands would later form the British Virgin Islands . During the 17th century, the sugar colonies adopted the system of sugar plantations successfully used by
3096-683: The Battle of Fort Sumter and Lincoln's April 15, 1861, proclamation calling for state militia to provide 75,000 volunteer troops to defend the nation's capital of Washington, D.C. , Allentown deployed the Allen Infantry, also known as the Allen Guards and composed of volunteers from Allentown and its surrounding suburbs. The unit mustered in for duty on April 18, 1861. As the Civil War progressed, multiple Union Army units were drawn from Lehigh County, including roughly seventy percent of
3225-597: The Chesapeake Colonies , and experienced similar immigration and economic activities. Though Baltimore and his descendants intended for the colony to be a refuge for Catholics, it attracted mostly Protestant immigrants, many of whom scorned the Calvert family's policy of religious toleration. In the mid-17th century, the Chesapeake Colonies, inspired by the success of slavery in Barbados, began
3354-548: The Colony of Virginia . Virgineola —settled unintentionally by the shipwreck of the Virginia Company's Sea Venture in 1609, and renamed The Somers Isles —is still known by its older Spanish name, Bermuda . In 1620, a group of mostly Pilgrim religious separatists established a second permanent colony on the mainland, on the coast of Massachusetts. Several other English colonies were established in North America during
3483-787: The Council for New England sponsored several colonization projects, including a colony established by a group of English Puritans , known today as the Pilgrims . The Puritans embraced an intensely emotional form of Calvinist Protestantism and sought independence from the Church of England . In 1620, the Mayflower transported the Pilgrims across the Atlantic, and the Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony on Cape Cod . The Pilgrims endured an extremely hard first winter, with roughly fifty of
3612-577: The Declaration of Independence , patriot militas pressured Tories out of Allentown and the surrounding area, and the colonial government in the area began to break down. After Washington and the Continental Army were defeated at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia was left defenseless and Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council ordered that eleven Philadelphia bells, including
3741-740: The French Revolution , a Royal Naval Dockyard was established at Bermuda in 1795, which was to alternate with Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax (Bermuda during the summers and Halifax during the winters) as the Royal Navy headquarters and main base for the River St. Lawrence and Coast of America Station (which was to become the North America Station in 1813, the North America and Lakes of Canada Station in 1816,
3870-651: The French Revolutionary Wars and then in the Napoleonic Wars . During the wars, Britain took control of many French, Spanish, and Dutch Caribbean colonies. Tensions between Britain and the United States escalated during the Napoleonic Wars, as the United States took advantage of its neutrality to undercut the British embargo on French-controlled ports, and Britain tried to cut off that American trade with France. The Royal Navy, which
3999-659: The Liberty Bell (then known as the State House Bell), be taken down and moved to present day Allentown (then called Northampton Towne) and hidden in the basement of Zion Reformed Church on present day West Hamilton Street to protect them from being melted down by the British Army for use as munitions. The opening of the Lehigh Canal beginning in 1827 transformed Allentown and Lehigh County from
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4128-405: The Massachusetts Bay Colony , and by 1635 roughly ten thousand English settlers lived in the region between the Connecticut River and the Kennebec River . After defeating the Pequot in the Pequot War , Puritan settlers established the Connecticut Colony in the region the Pequots had formerly controlled. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was founded by Roger Williams ,
4257-412: The New World , beginning the European colonization of the Americas . France and England , the two other major powers of 15th-century Western Europe , employed explorers soon after the return of Columbus's first voyage. In 1497, King Henry VII of England dispatched an expedition led by John Cabot to explore the coast of North America, but the lack of precious metals or other riches discouraged both
4386-401: The Nine Years' War , while the powerful Iroquois declared their neutrality. War between France and England continued in Queen Anne's War , the North American component of the larger War of the Spanish Succession . In the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht , which ended the War of Spanish Succession, the British won possession of the French territories of Newfoundland and Acadia , the latter of which
4515-457: The North American fur trade . During mid-1585 Bernard Drake launched an expedition to Newfoundland which crippled the Spanish and Portuguese fishing fleets there from which they never recovered. This would have consequences in terms of English colonial expansion and settlement. In the Caribbean Sea , English sailors defied Spanish trade restrictions and preyed on Spanish treasure ships . The English colonization of America had been based on
4644-411: The Northwest Territories ), British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island joined Canada by the end of 1873, but Newfoundland would not join Canada until 1949. Like other British dominions such as Australia , New Zealand , and South Africa , Canada enjoyed autonomy over its domestic affairs but recognized the British monarch as head of state and cooperated closely with Britain on defense issues. After
4773-456: The Plymouth Company and the London Company for the purpose of establishing permanent settlements in North America. In 1607, the London Company established a permanent colony at Jamestown on the Chesapeake Bay , but the Plymouth Company's Popham Colony proved short-lived. Approximately 30,000 Algonquian peoples lived in the region at the time. The colonists at Jamestown faced extreme adversity, and by 1617 there were only 351 survivors out of
4902-406: The Province of Canada . Responsible government was first granted to Nova Scotia in 1848, and was soon extended to the other British North American colonies. With the passage of the British North America Act, 1867 by the British Parliament , Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia were formed into the confederation of Canada . Rupert's Land (which was divided into Manitoba and
5031-509: The Royal African Company in West Africa , though others came from Madagascar . These slaves soon came to form the majority of the population in Caribbean colonies like Barbados and Jamaica, where strict slave codes were established partly to deter slave rebellions . Following the success of the Jamestown and Plymouth Colonies, several more English groups established colonies in the region that became known as New England . In 1629, another group of Puritans led by John Winthrop established
5160-526: The Sea Venture , flagship of the English London Company , a division of the Virginia Company , bearing Admiral Sir George Somers and the new Lieutenant-Governor for Jamestown, Sir Thomas Gates , was deliberately driven onto the reef off the archipelago of Bermuda to prevent its foundering during a hurricane on the 25th of July. The 150 passengers and crew built two new ships, the Deliverance and Patience and most departed Bermuda again for Jamestown on 11 May 1610. Two men remained behind, and were joined by
5289-422: The Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic , ensured that England and its colonies would come into conflict with the French empire of Louis XIV after 1689. Under the leadership of Samuel de Champlain , the French had established Quebec City on the St Lawrence River in 1608, and it became the center of French colony of Canada . France and England engaged in a proxy war via Native American allies during and after
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5418-437: The Third Anglo-Dutch War , but surrendered its claim to the territory in the 1674 Treaty of Westminster , ending the Dutch colonial presence in North America. In 1664, the Duke of York , later known as James II of England , was granted control of the English colonies north of the Delaware River. He created the Province of New York out of the former Dutch territory and renamed New Amsterdam as New York City . He also created
5547-399: The U.S. Census Bureau for the purposes of compiling demographic data. They are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law. Other unincorporated communities, such as villages, may be listed here as well. Lehigh County's largest cities, townships, boroughs, and other communities, based on the 2020 census , include: † county seat Since its founding in 1812, Lehigh County has been
5676-417: The "first" and "second" empires, in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific, and later Africa. Influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith , Britain also shifted away from mercantile ideals and began to prioritize the expansion of trade rather than territorial possessions. During the nineteenth century, some observers described Britain as having an "unofficial" empire based on
5805-506: The 1620s, and new colonies in the West Indies also emulated its tobacco industry, the price of Bermudian tobacco fell and the colony became unprofitable for many of the company's shareholders, who mostly had remained in England while managers or tenants farmed their land in Bermuda with the labour of indentured servants. Bermuda's House of Assembly held its first session in 1620 (Virginia's House of Burgesses having held its first session in 1619), but with no landowners resident in Bermuda there
5934-400: The 1690s. Between immigration, the importation of slaves, and natural population growth, the colonial population in British North America grew immensely in the 18th century. According to historian Alan Taylor, the population of the Thirteen Colonies (the British North American colonies which would eventually form the United States) stood at 1.5 million in 1750. More than ninety percent of
6063-461: The 1700 colonists who had been transported to Jamestown. After the Virginians discovered the profitability of growing tobacco , the settlement's population boomed from 400 settlers in 1617 to 1240 settlers in 1622. The London Company was bankrupted in part due to frequent warring with nearby American Indians, leading the English crown to take direct control of the Colony of Virginia , as Jamestown and its surrounding environs became known. In 1609,
6192-422: The 1783 Treaty of Paris , Britain ceded all of its North American territory south of the Great Lakes , except for the two Florida colonies, which were ceded to Spain. With their close ties of blood and trade with the continental colonies, especially Virginia and South Carolina, Bermudians leaned towards the rebels during the American War of Independence , supplying them with privateering ships and gunpowder, but
6321-439: The 17th and 18th centuries. With the authorization of a royal charter, the Hudson's Bay Company established the territory of Rupert's Land in the Hudson Bay drainage basin . The English also established or conquered several colonies in the Caribbean , including Barbados and Jamaica . England captured the Dutch colony of New Netherland in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the mid-17th century, leaving North America divided amongst
6450-471: The 1815 defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars . In the mid- 19th century , Britain began the process of granting self-government to its remaining colonies in North America. Most of these colonies joined the Confederation of Canada in the 1860s or 1870s, though Newfoundland would not join Canada until 1949 . Canada gained full autonomy following the passage of the Statute of Westminster 1931 , though it retained various ties to Britain and still recognizes
6579-426: The 1846 Oregon Treaty , the United States and Britain agreed to split Oregon Country along the 49th parallel north with the exception of Vancouver Island , which was assigned in its entirety to Britain. After warring throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in both Europe and the Americas, the British and French reached a lasting peace after 1815. Britain would fight only one war (the Crimean War ) against
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#17327915477886708-426: The Americas was established by Norse people around 1000 AD in what is now Newfoundland , called Vinland by the Norse. Later European exploration of North America resumed with Christopher Columbus 's 1492 expedition sponsored by Spain. English settlement began almost a century later. Sir Walter Raleigh established the short-lived Roanoke Colony in 1585. The 1607 settlement of the Jamestown colony grew into
6837-620: The Atlantic coast supplied the Atlantic market with beaver fur and deerskins, and sought to preserve their independence by maintaining a balance of power between the French and English. By 1770, the economic output of the Thirteen Colonies made up forty percent of the gross domestic product of the British Empire. Prior to 1660, almost all immigrants to the English colonies of North America had migrated freely, though most paid for their passage by becoming indentured servants . Improved economic conditions and an easing of religious persecution in Europe made it increasingly difficult to recruit labor to
6966-414: The Atlantic coast. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, and Maryland all lay claim to the land in the Ohio River valley, and the colonies engaged in a scramble to expand west. Following the 1684 revocation of the Somers Isles Company's Royal Charter, seafaring Bermudians established an inter-colonial trade network, with Charleston, South Carolina (settled from Bermuda in 1670 under William Sayle, and on
7095-539: The British Empire after 1783 as the "Second British Empire"; this period saw Britain increasingly focus on Asia and Africa instead of the Americas, and increasingly focus on the expansion of trade rather than territorial possessions. Nonetheless, Britain continued to colonize parts of the Americas in the 19th century, taking control of British Columbia and establishing the colonies of the Falkland Islands and British Honduras . Britain also gained control of several colonies, including Trinidad and British Guiana , following
7224-461: The British Empire. Meanwhile, seeking to avoid another expensive war with Native Americans, Britain issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , which restricted settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains . However, it was effectively replaced five years later thanks to the Treaty of Fort Stanwix . The Thirteen Colonies became increasingly divided between Patriots , opposed to parliamentary taxation without representation, and Loyalists , who supported
7353-451: The British monarch as head of state . Following the onset of the Cold War , most of the remaining British colonies in the Americas gained independence between 1962 and 1983. Many of the former British colonies are part of the Commonwealth of Nations , a political association chiefly consisting of former colonies of the British Empire. Following the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, Spain and Portugal established colonies in
7482-437: The British were saddled with huge debts following the French and Indian War. As much of the British debt had been generated by the defense of the colonies, British leaders felt that the colonies should contribute more funds, and they began imposing taxes such as the Sugar Act of 1764. Increased British control of the Thirteen Colonies upset the colonists and upended the notion many colonists held: that they were equal partners in
7611-480: The Caribbean, Britain retained Grenada , St. Vincent , Dominica , and Tobago , but returned control of Martinique , Havana , and other colonial possessions to France or Spain. The British subjects of North America believed the unwritten British constitution protected their rights and that the governmental system—with the House of Commons , the House of Lords , and the monarch sharing power—found an ideal balance among democracy, oligarchy, and tyranny. However,
7740-406: The Commander-in-Chief in Halifax, and naval and ecclesiastic links between Bermuda the Maritimes also remained; The military links were severed by Canadian confederation at the end of the 1860s, which resulted in the removal of the British Army from Canada and its Commander-in-Chief from Halifax when the Canadian Government took responsibility for the defence of Canada; The naval links remained until
7869-401: The Crown and were subjected to the measures laid out in An Act for prohibiting Trade with the Barbadoes, Virginia, Bermuda and Antego until Parliament was able to force them to acknowledge its sovereignty. Bermudian anger at the policies of the Somers Isles Company ultimately saw them take their complaints to the Crown after The Restoration , leading to the Crown revoking the Royal Charter of
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#17327915477887998-502: The Dutch colony of New Netherland , with a capital at New Amsterdam . In 1657, New Netherland expanded through conquest of New Sweden , a Swedish colony centered in the Delaware Valley . Despite commercial success, New Netherland failed to attract the same level of settlement as the English colonies. In 1664, during a series of wars between the English and Dutch, English soldier Richard Nicolls captured New Netherland. The Dutch briefly regained control of parts of New Netherland in
8127-433: The English colonization of Ireland, specifically the Munster Plantation, England's first colony, using the same tactics as the Plantations of Ireland . Many of the early colonists of North America had their start in colonizing Ireland, including a group known as the West Country Men . When Sir Walter Raleigh landed in Virginia, he compared the Native Americans to the wild Irish. Both Roanoke and Jamestown had been based on
8256-407: The English, Spanish , and French empires . After decades of warring with France, Britain took control of the French colony of Canada and France's territory east of the Mississippi River , as well as several Caribbean territories, in 1763. Many of the North American colonies gained independence from Britain through victory in the American Revolutionary War , which ended in 1783. Historians refer to
8385-419: The French and British communities, and implemented governmental systems similar to those employed in Britain, with the intention of asserting imperial authority and not allowing the sort of popular control of government that was perceived to have led to the American Revolution. The British also expanded their mercantile interests in the North Pacific. Spain and Britain had become rivals in the area which came to
8514-399: The French. In 1695, the Parliament of Scotland granted a charter to the Company of Scotland , which established a settlement in 1698 on the Isthmus of Panama . Besieged by neighbouring Spanish colonists of New Granada , and afflicted by malaria , the colony was abandoned two years later. The Darien scheme was a financial disaster for Scotland—a quarter of Scottish capital was lost in
8643-446: The Irish plantation model. In the late sixteenth century, Protestant England became embroiled in a religious war with Catholic Spain. Seeking to weaken Spain's economic and military power, English privateers such as Francis Drake and Humphrey Gilbert harassed Spanish shipping. Gilbert proposed the colonization of North America on the Spanish model, with the goal of creating a profitable English empire that could also serve as
8772-405: The Islands of Bermuda, where the spin-off Somers Isles Company still administered, the company and its shareholders in England only earned profits from the export of tobacco, placing them increasingly at odds with Bermudians for whom tobacco had become unprofitable to cultivate. As only those landowners who could attend the company's annual meetings in England were permitted to vote on company policy,
8901-468: The Islands of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, Prince Edward and Bermuda were under the Command of Lieutenant-General Sir John Coape Sherbrooke . Below Sherbrooke, the Bermuda Garrison was under the immediate control of the Lieutenant- Governor of Bermuda , Major-General George Horsford (although the Lieutenant-Governor of Bermuda was eventually restored to a full civil Governorship, in his military role as Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda he remained subordinate to
9030-462: The Jerseys. Penn named this land the Province of Pennsylvania . Penn was also granted a lease to the Delaware Colony , which gained its own legislature in 1701. A devout Quaker , Penn sought to create a haven of religious toleration in the New World. Pennsylvania attracted Quakers and other settlers from across Europe, and the city of Philadelphia quickly emerged as a thriving port city. With its fertile and cheap land, Pennsylvania became one of
9159-423: The Massachusetts Bay Colony were reorganized as royal colonies, with a governor appointed by the king. Maryland, which had experienced a revolution against the Calvert family, also became a royal colony, though the Calverts retained much of their land and revenue in the colony. Even those colonies that retained their charters or proprietors were forced to assent to much greater royal control than had existed before
9288-510: The Portuguese in Brazil , which depended on slave labour. The English government valued the economic importance of these islands over that of New England. Until the abolition of its slave trade in 1807, Britain was responsible for the transportation of 3.5 million African slaves to the Americas, a third of all slaves transported across the Atlantic . Many of the slaves were captured by
9417-720: The Royal Navy withdrew from Halifax in 1905, handing its dockyard there over to the Royal Canadian Navy ; The established Church of England in Bermuda , within which the Governor held office as Ordinary , remained linked to the colony of Newfoundland under the same Bishop until 1919). In response to the Rebellions of 1837–1838, Britain passed the Act of Union in 1840, which united Upper Canada and Lower Canada into
9546-527: The Sea Venture were thriving, before moving to St. George's Island where they established the town of New London , which was soon renamed to St. George's Town (the first actual town successfully established by the English in the New World as Jamestown was really James Fort , a rudimentary defensive structure, in 1612). Bermuda was soon more populous, self-sufficient and prosperous than Jamestown and
9675-543: The Somers Isles Company and taking over direct administration of Bermuda in 1684. From that date, Bermudians abandoned agriculture, diversifying their maritime industry to occupy many niches of inter-colonial trade between North America and the West Indies. Bermudians limited landmass and high birth rate meant that a steady outflow from the colony contributed about 10,000 settlers to other colonies, notably
9804-669: The Spanish and English from permanently settling in North America during the early 17th century. Later explorers such as Martin Frobisher and Henry Hudson sailed to the New World in search of a Northwest Passage between the Atlantic Ocean and Asia, but were unable to find a viable route. Europeans established fisheries in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland , and traded metal, glass, and cloth for food and fur, beginning
9933-671: The United Kingdom in the late-eighteenth century, and Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807. In the mid-nineteenth century, the economies of the British Caribbean colonies would suffer as a result of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 , which abolished slavery throughout the British Empire, and the 1846 Sugar Duties Act , which ended preferential tariffs for sugar imports from the Caribbean. To replace
10062-681: The United States began the American War of 1812 with the invasion of the Canadas, but the British Army mounted a successful defence with minimal regular forces, supported by militia and native allies, while the Royal Navy blockaded the United States of America's Atlantic coastline from Bermuda, strangling its merchant trade, and carried out amphibious raids including the Chesapeake Campaign with its Burning of Washington . As
10191-407: The United States failed to make any gains before British victory against France in 1814 freed British forces from Europe to be wielded against it, and as Britain had no aim in its war with its former colonies other than to defend its remaining continental territory, the war ended with the pre-war boundaries reaffirmed by the 1814 Treaty of Ghent , ensuring Canada's future would be separate from that of
10320-556: The United States to Canada. The 14,000 Loyalists who went to the Saint John and Saint Croix river valleys, then part of Nova Scotia , felt too far removed from the provincial government in Halifax, so London split off New Brunswick as a separate colony in 1784. The Constitutional Act of 1791 created the provinces of Upper Canada (mainly English-speaking) and Lower Canada (mainly French-speaking ) to defuse tensions between
10449-567: The United States. Following the final defeat of French Emperor Napoleon in 1815, Britain gained ownership of Trinidad , Tobago, British Guiana , and Saint Lucia, as well as other territories outside of the Western Hemisphere. The Treaty of 1818 with the United States set a large portion of the Canada–United States border at the 49th parallel and also established a joint U.S.–British occupation of Oregon Country . In
10578-600: The West Indies where colonies like Barbados grew tobacco to the exclusion of subsistence crops. As the company's magazine ship would not carry their food exports to the West Indies, Bermudians began to build their own ships from Bermuda cedar , developing the speedy and nimble Bermuda sloop and the Bermuda rig . Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, the British shipped an estimated 50,000 to 120,000 convicts to their American colonies. Meanwhile,
10707-573: The advent of metal hulls and steam engines, were to slowly strangle Bermuda's maritime economy, while its newfound importance as a Royal Navy and British Army base from which the North America and West Indies Station could be controlled meant increasing interest from the British Government in its governance. Bermuda was grouped with British North America, especially Nova Scotia and Newfoundland (its closest British neighbours), following United States Independence. When war with France followed
10836-540: The apparent weakness of Spanish rule in Florida , Barbadian planter John Colleton and seven other supporters of Charles II of England established the Province of Carolina in 1663. Settlers in the Carolina Colony established two main population centers, with many Virginians settling in the north of the province and many English Barbadians settling in the southern port city of Charles Town . In 1712, Carolina
10965-521: The birthplace or home to several notable Americans, including: 40°37′N 75°35′W / 40.61°N 75.59°W / 40.61; -75.59 British colonization of the Americas The British colonization of the Americas is the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by England , Scotland , and, after 1707, Great Britain . Colonization efforts began in
11094-606: The colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries. Partly due to this shortage of free labor, the population of slaves in British North America grew dramatically between 1680 and 1750; the growth was driven by a mixture of forced immigration and the reproduction of slaves. In the Southern Colonies, which relied most heavily on slave labor, the slaves supported vast plantation economies lorded over by increasingly wealthy elites. By 1775, slaves made up one-fifth of
11223-506: The colonists lived as farmers, though cities like Philadelphia, New York, and Boston flourished. With the defeat of the Dutch and the imposition of the Navigation Acts, the British colonies in North America became part of the global British trading network. The colonists traded foodstuffs, wood, tobacco, and various other resources for Asian tea, West Indian coffee, and West Indian sugar, among other items. Native Americans far from
11352-587: The colonists there. The most popular theory is that the colonists left in search of a new area to settle in the Chesapeake, leaving stragglers to integrate with local Native American tribes. A separate colonization attempt in Newfoundland also failed. Despite the failure of these early colonies, the English remained interested in the colonization of North America for economic and military reasons. In 1606, King James I of England granted charters to both
11481-531: The company worked to suppress the developing maritime economy of the colonists and to force the production of tobacco, which required unsustainable farming practices as more was required to be produced to make up for the diminished value. As many of the class of moneyed businessmen who were adventurers in the company were aligned to the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War , Bermuda
11610-417: The continental colonies were confederated into Canada ) than to the West Indies, and the nearest landfall is North Carolina. Following the independence of the United States, this would make Bermuda of supreme importance to Britain's strategic control of the region, including its ability to protect its shipping in the area and its ability to project its power against the Atlantic seaboard of the United States, as
11739-455: The county narrowly voted for John Kerry over George W. Bush for President . In 2008, all statewide Democratic candidates won the county with significant leads and, in the presidential election , Barack Obama won the county, 57.1% to 41.5%, over John McCain . In the 2012 presidential election , Obama again carried the county but by a narrower margin, 53.17% to 45.52%. School districts include: Lehigh County's primary commercial airport
11868-421: The county's north and South Mountain to its south. Lehigh County borders Montgomery County to its south, Bucks County to its southeast, Northampton County to its east, Carbon County to its north, Schuylkill County to its northwest, and Berks County to its southwest. The county is located 64 miles (103 km) northwest of Philadelphia and 93 miles (150 km) west of New York City . Lehigh County
11997-546: The county's northwest) through Maiden Creek . Lehigh County's climate falls in the humid continental climate zone. The variety is hot-summer ( Dfa ) except in the county's higher elevation areas, where it is warm-summer ( Dfb ). Summers are typically hot and muggy, fall and spring are generally mild, and winter is cold. Precipitation is almost uniformly distributed throughout the year. In Allentown , January lows average −6 °C (21 °F) and highs average 1.3 °C (34.3 °F). The lowest officially recorded temperature
12126-1568: The county. Lehigh County is part of the Philadelphia broadcast media market, the nation's fourth-largest media market . Numerous New York City radio and television stations are also carried in the county. Three television stations are based in the county, WBPH-TV Channel 60 , WLVT Channel 39 (the Lehigh Valley 's PBS affiliate), and WFMZ Channel 69 (an independent television station). The four major Philadelphia-based network stations serving Lehigh County are KYW-TV (the CBS affiliate), WCAU (the NBC affiliate), WPVI (the ABC affiliate), and WTXF (the Fox affiliate). The four major New York City -based network stations serving Lehigh County are WABC (the ABC affiliate), WCBS-TV (the CBS affiliate), WNBC (the NBC affiliate), and WNYW (the Fox affiliate). The four major Scranton-Wilkes-Barre -based network stations serving Lehigh County are WNEP-TV (the ABC affiliate), WBRE-TV (the NBC affiliate), WYOU (the CBS affiliate), and WOLF-TV (the Fox affiliate). From 1947 until 1994, Lehigh County
12255-619: The crown's authority over colonial affairs. James was deposed by the new joint monarchy of William and Mary in the Glorious Revolution , but William and Mary quickly reinstated many of the James's colonial policies, including the mercantilist Navigation Acts and the Board of Trade . The Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony and the Province of Maine were incorporated into the Province of Massachusetts Bay , and New York and
12384-680: The early 1800s and pushed into the wilderness territories of the Rocky Mountains and Interior Plateau and all the way to the Strait of Georgia on the Pacific Coast expanding British North America Westward. In 1815, Lieutenant-General Sir George Prevost was Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over the Provinces of Upper-Canada, Lower-Canada, Nova-Scotia, and New~Brunswick, and their several Dependencies, Vice-Admiral of
12513-561: The enterprise—and ended Scottish hopes of establishing its own overseas empire. The episode also had major political consequences, persuading the governments of both England and Scotland of the merits of a union of countries, rather than just crowns. This occurred in 1707 with the Treaty of Union , establishing the Kingdom of Great Britain . After succeeding his brother in 1685, King James II and his lieutenant, Edmund Andros , sought to assert
12642-604: The establishment of more Caribbean colonies, and by 1660 England had established Caribbean sugar colonies in St. Kitts , Antigua , Nevis , and Montserrat , English colonization of the Bahamas began in 1648 after a Puritan group known as the Eleutheran Adventurers established a colony on the island of Eleuthera . England established another sugar colony in 1655 following the successful invasion of Jamaica during
12771-468: The export of goods and financial investments around the world, including the newly independent republics of Latin America. Though this unofficial empire did not require direct British political control, it often involved the use of gunboat diplomacy and military intervention to protect British investments and ensure the free flow of trade. From 1793 to 1815, Britain was almost constantly at war, first in
12900-783: The first starting out in 1792, and a year a later he became the first European to reach the Pacific overland north of the Rio Grande reaching the ocean near present-day Bella Coola . This preceded the Lewis and Clark Expedition by twelve years. Shortly thereafter, Mackenzie's companion, John Finlay , founded the first permanent European settlement in British Columbia , Fort St. John . The North West Company sought further explorations firstly by David Thompson , starting in 1797, and later by Simon Fraser . More expedition took place in
13029-849: The king. In the British colonies nearest to the Thirteen Colonies, however, protests were muted, as most colonists accepted the new taxes. These provinces had smaller populations, were largely dependent on the British military, and had less of a tradition of self-rule. At the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the Patriots repulsed a British force charged with seizing militia arsenals. The Second Continental Congress assembled in May 1775 and sought to coordinate armed resistance to Britain. It established an impromptu government that recruited soldiers and printed its own money. Announcing
13158-548: The labor of former slaves, British plantations on Trinidad and other parts of the Caribbean began to hire indentured servants from India and China. Despite its defeat in the American Revolutionary War and shift towards a new form of imperialism during the nineteenth century, the British Empire retained numerous colonies in the Americas after 1783. During and after the American Revolutionary War, between 40,000 and 100,000 defeated Loyalists migrated from
13287-562: The largest amusement and water parks on the U.S. East Coast, is located in South Whitehall Township in the county. It is open May through the end of October. The Great Allentown Fair , one of the nation's largest and longest ongoing city fairs, is held annually at Allentown Fairgrounds on North 17th Street in Allentown the end of August and beginning of September. Mayfair Festival of the Arts , an arts and festival fair,
13416-634: The late 16th century with failed attempts by England to establish permanent colonies in the North. The first of the permanent English colonies in the Americas was established in Jamestown, Virginia , in 1607. Colonies were established in North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Though most British colonies in the Americas eventually gained independence, some colonies have remained under Britain's jurisdiction as British Overseas Territories . The first documented settlement of Europeans in
13545-460: The mass importation of African slaves . Though many early slaves eventually gained their freedom, after 1662 Virginia adopted policies that passed enslaved status from mother to child and granted slave owners near-total domination of their human property. 640 miles (1,030 km) East-South-East of Cape Hatteras , in the Virginia Company's other former settlement, the Somers Isles, alias
13674-587: The most attractive destinations for immigrants in the late 17th century. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware became known as the Middle Colonies . In 1670, Charles II incorporated by royal charter the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), granting it a monopoly on the fur trade in the area known as Rupert's Land . Forts and trading posts established by the HBC were frequently the subject of attacks by
13803-621: The nation. The county is named for the Lehigh River , a 109-mile-long (175 km) tributary of the Delaware River , which flows through Lehigh County. During the Industrial Revolution , the Lehigh River served a vital role in the nation's development by offering one of the first transportation and trading routes for mining products, including anthracite , iron , manganese , limestone , and ultimately manufactured steel products . Lehigh County falls geographically between two Pennsylvania Appalachian mountain ridges, Blue Mountain to
13932-605: The one hundred colonists dying. In 1621, Plymouth Colony was able to establish an alliance with the nearby Wampanoag tribe, which helped the Plymouth Colony adopt effective agricultural practices and engaged in the trade of fur and other materials. Farther north, the English also established Newfoundland Colony in 1610, which primarily focused on cod fishing. The Caribbean would provide some of England's most important and lucrative colonies, but not before several attempts at colonization failed. An attempt to establish
14061-529: The passage of the 1931 Statute of Westminster , Canada and other dominions were fully independent of British legislative control; they could nullify British laws and Britain could no longer pass laws for them without their consent. United States independence, and the closure of its ports to British trade, combined with growing peace in the region which reduced the risk to shipping (resulting in smaller evasive merchantmen, such as those that Bermudian shipbuilders turned out, losing favour to larger clippers ), and
14190-504: The population of the Thirteen Colonies but less than ten percent of the population of the Middle Colonies and New England Colonies. Though a smaller proportion of the English population migrated to British North America after 1700, the colonies attracted new immigrants from other European countries, including Catholic settlers from Ireland and Protestant Germans. As the 18th century progressed, colonists began to settle far from
14319-625: The power of the Royal Navy on the surrounding Atlantic left no possibility of their joining the rebellion, and they eventually availed themselves of the opportunities of privateering against their former kinsmen. Although often mistaken for being in the West Indies, Bermuda is nearer to Canada (and was initially grouped within British North America , retaining close links especially with the Nova Scotia and Newfoundland until
14448-402: The provinces of West Jersey and East Jersey out of former Dutch land situated to the west of New York City, giving the territories to John Berkeley and George Carteret . East Jersey and West Jersey would later be unified as the Province of New Jersey in 1702. Charles II rewarded William Penn , the son of distinguished Admiral William Penn , with the land situated between Maryland and
14577-422: The role, including religious Independent and Parliamentarian William Sayle ) by force of arms and elected John Trimingham to replace him. Many of Bermuda's religious Independents, who had sided with Parliament, were forced into exile. Although some of the newer continental colonies settled largely by anti-Episcopalian Protestants sided with Parliament during the war, Virginia and other colonies like Bermuda supported
14706-442: The same latitude as Bermuda, although Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, is the nearest landfall to Bermuda) forming a continental hub for their trade (Bermuda itself produced only ships and seamen). The widespread activities and settlement of Bermudians has resulted in many localities named after Bermuda dotting the map of North America. The Glorious Revolution and the succession of William III, who had long resisted French hegemony as
14835-481: The same, Lieutenant-General and Commander of all His Majesty's Forces in the said Provinces of Lower Canada and Upper-Canada, Nova-Scotia and New-Brunswick, and their several Dependencies, and in the islands of Newfoundland, Prince Edward, Cape Breton and the Bermudas, &c. &c. &c. Beneath Prevost, the staff of the British Army in the Provinces of Nova-Scotia, New-Brunswick, and their Dependencies, including
14964-589: The southern continental colonies (including Carolina Province , which was settled from Bermuda in 1670), as well as West Indian settlements, including the Providence Island colony in 1631, the Bahamas (settled by Eleutheran Adventurers , Parliament-allied Civil War exiles from Bermuda, under William Sayle in the 1640s), and the seasonal occupation of the Turks Islands from 1681. Encouraged by
15093-406: The territory of Virginia. The archipelago was officially named Virgineola , though this was soon changed to The Somers Isles , which remains an official name though the archipelago had already long been infamous as Bermuda , and the older Spanish name has resisted replacement. The Lieutenant-Governor and settlers who arrived in 1612 briefly settled on Smith's Island, where the three left behind by
15222-527: The two counties combine to form the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, the third-largest metropolitan area of Pennsylvania with a population of 861,889 as of 2020. Lehigh County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Pennsylvania and the more highly populated of the two counties. Both counties are part of the Philadelphia television market, the fourth-largest television market in
15351-549: The war, and France surrendered almost all of the portion of New France to the east of the Mississippi River to the British. France separately ceded its lands west of the Mississippi River to Spain, and Spain ceded Florida to Britain. With the newly acquired territories, the British created the provinces of East Florida , West Florida , and Quebec , all of which were placed under military governments. In
15480-642: The way to British expansion in that area, and a number of expeditions took place; firstly a naval expedition led by George Vancouver which explored the inlets around the Pacific NorthWest, particularly around Vancouver Island . On land, expeditions took place hoping for a discovery of a practicable river route to the Pacific for the extension of the North American fur trade (the North West Company ). Sir Alexander Mackenzie led
15609-462: Was consequently no property qualification , unlike the case with the House of Commons . As the bottom fell out of tobacco, many absentee shareholders (or Adventurers ) sold their shares to the occupying managers or tenants, with the agricultural industry quickly shifting towards family farms that grew subsistence crops instead of tobacco. Bermudians soon found they could sell their excess foodstuffs in
15738-685: Was desperately short of trained seamen and constantly losing deserters who sought better-paid work under less draconian discipline aboard American merchant vessels, boarded American ships to search for deserters, sometimes resulting in the Impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy. The United States, at the same time, coveted the acquisition of Canada, which Britain could ill afford to lose as its naval and merchant fleets had been constructed largely from American timber before United States independence, and from Canadian timber thereafter. Taking advantage of Britain's absorption in its war with France,
15867-544: Was divided into the crown colonies of North Carolina and South Carolina . The colonies of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina (as well as the Province of Georgia , which was established in 1732) became known as the Southern Colonies . Beginning in 1609, Dutch traders had established fur trading posts on the Hudson River , Delaware River , and Connecticut River , ultimately creating
15996-422: Was first settled around 1730 and was formed in 1812 when Northampton County was divided into two counties. The county is named after the Lehigh River , a 109-mile-long (175 km) river that runs through the county and whose name is derived from the Lenape Indian term Lechauweki or Lechauwekink, meaning "where there are forks." Shelter House , constructed in Emmaus in 1734 by Pennsylvania German settlers,
16125-420: Was one of the colonies that sided with the Crown during the war , being the first to recognise Charles II after the execution of his father. With control of their Assembly and the militia and volunteer coastal artillery , the Royalist majority deposed the company-appointed Governor (by the 1630s, the company had ceased sending Governors to Bermuda and had instead appointed a succession of prominent Bermudians to
16254-437: Was renamed Nova Scotia . In the 1730s, James Oglethorpe proposed that the area south of the Carolinas be colonized to provide a buffer against Spanish Florida, and he was part of a group of trustees that were granted temporary proprietorship over the Province of Georgia . Oglethorpe and his compatriots hoped to establish a utopian colony that banned slavery, but by 1750 the colony remained sparsely populated, and Georgia became
16383-540: Was served exclusively by the 215 area code . With the county's growing population, area code 610 was also allocated to the county in 1994. Today, Lehigh County is covered largely by the 610 area code. An overlay area code , 484, was added to the 610 service area in 1999. A plan to introduce area code 835 as an additional overlay was rescinded in 2001. It has since been reintroduced and will begin use once 610 and 484 extensions are exhausted, possibly as early as September 2022. Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom , one of
16512-406: Was to be shown during the American War of 1812 . Having defeated a combined Franco-Spanish naval force at the decisive 1782 Battle of the Saintes , Britain retained control of Gibraltar and all its pre-war Caribbean possessions except for Tobago. Economically, the new nation became a major trading partner of Britain. The loss of a large portion of British America defined the transition between
16641-516: Was −26.7 °C (−16.1 °F) in 1912. July lows average 17.6 °C (63.7 °F) and highs average 29.2 °C (84.6 °F) with an average relative humidity of 82%. The highest temperature on record was 40.6 °C (105.1 °F) in 1966. Early fall and mid-winter are generally driest with October being the driest month with only 74.7 mm of average precipitation. Snowfall is variable with some winters bringing light snow and others bringing numerous significant snowstorms. Average snowfall
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