My Journey on the Half Moon
When we set sail from Amsterdam, we were well provisioned and optimistic that we would find a
passage around the North Cape to Cathay. Fierce storms, with blinding snow, in late May, forced
our retreat, however, and we changed course altogether. Whether it was a mutiny or a
Site and situation of the Hudson river:
The Hudson empties a small watershed, surrounded by the Adirondack Mountains, the Mohawk
Valley, the Catskills, and the Taconic Highlands. The hemlock and conifer trees in these
mountains make the water brown; the granit and gneiss bedrock keep the water clear and slightly
acidic. Despite its small watershed, the river flows with abundant water: the region is humid year
round, because of mountains that catch the rainfall and coastal influences that keep moisture
abundant. Warm air from the mid-Atlantic coast sweeps north to encounter cold Canadian air, or
hot summer air encounters cooler Atlantic air in the summer.
With the cool conditions, moist hemlock forests grow tall and dense. Birds are abundant, and bear
and deer are numerous, but the dense forests are so expansive that these large animals re not
abundant everywhere.
Would you prefer to do a creative writing exercise or a descriptive/explanatory exercise?
1 = your account of the voyage of the half moon, writing home to mother;
2 = explanation of the site and situation of the Hudson River
Look at maps in atlas: global maps are about as good as N.Am. map.
If you want to understand Hudson R. in 1609. to pick it apart beyond “trees, hills, and Indians,”
then what other evidence could you find?
there’s indians and trade goods in book.
there’s very general veg description
there’s climate, which is what you can find in the atlas.
climate is non-trivial. In a hierarchy of natural forces, it’s about the biggest.
So how do we describe climate?
temperature and precip.
A = tropical, wet
B = dry
C = subtropical, wet (mesothermal)
D = cold, wet (microthermal)
E = polar.
then there are nuances of how cold it is, which months are wet.
climagraphs: inland one is closest to NY, but let’s read it.
explain climate in four locations: Hudson River, Hudson Bay, Amsterdam/London, and mouth of
the Amazon (Belem)
why does it rain there, how much does it rain?
Why does it rain generally?
rising air cools. Cooling air loses moisture. If air is wet to begin with, loses lots of moisture.
why is air wet? evaporation: oceans, forests, esp. warm forests.
why does air rise? convection (heating air), mountains (terrain), meeting fronts.
Fronts meet where high and low pressure zones meet, where winds blow.
Alternative mode of explanation: genetic climates
can I ask them to explain what it was like? based on climate? vegetation descriptions and foods
offered by indians? number of people they met? fish? temperature ranges and abundant precip?
this is jumping scales a lot.
local: veg and people and foods
regional: mountains, seasons, climate, currents and fish
global: climate
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So today:
1. size of ship: in yard. What was it like on the ship?
2. what was it like in the hudson valley? what can you learn from your atlases?
not much in detail. Maybe you can extrapolate from general conditions.
there’s veg, topography (you’ve seen more than this)
there’s climate. Let’s talk climate.
3. traditional view of climate: Koppen classification.
a,b,c,d,e plus sub-variables. Not so hard to learn.
4. genetic climate classifications: subsidence, frontal, instability.
to understand this, you need to know why it rains.
rising air, moisture.
topography
colliding fronts
convection. ( ITCZ)
http://geography.uoregon.edu/envchange/clim_animations/gifs/prate_web.gif
Mean Sea-Level Pressure and Wind Vector
Mean Sea-Level Pressure and Winds for Jan and Jul
Flash | .gif
.gif
So this leads to precipitation patterns.
5. Given climate ideas, add on what you read in text: what was it like in the river area?
explain in terms of it situation only, why the Hudson River was a good place for the Dutch to
establish a trading colony. (in small groups: list 8 factors to consider, including climate)
6. read on to Hudson Bay now. Assignment: write to mother to tell her about your trip on the
Discovery, on Henry Hudson’s last voyage (ch. 5).
-----------Next Tuesday: talk about their essay? what are the challenges of writing a creative essay instead of
an expository one? Then in groups, using maps,
Ask that people explain 4 or 5 different locations in terms of climate and veg.
Hudson River, Hudson Bay, Belem, London/Amsterdam, Java (other Dutch colony), South
Georgia Island. How much precip and what are causes of precip? Currents? Temperatures? Effects
on economies of the area?
explain the above using atlases. And talk about the difference between types of essays.
Next Thursday:
read Cook, talk about what he did, visit Lasker collection: maps before and after Cook
Write an essay: why was Cook’s voyage to antarctica of importance? (or something like this,
instead of revising Hudson essay. See writing center.)
Maybe write about what were the differences in material culture between the two continents at that
time?
Assignment for Tuesday:
Write a letter to your poor, dear mother in London about your voyage on the Discovery with
Henry Hudson, from which you have just returned.
Use events and locations in the journals to fill out your account.
Length: 2 pages
Take a draft of your essay to the Writing Center to have someone look it over and sign it.
Then revise your draft and hand it in, with the original, on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Assignment for Tuesday:
Write a letter to your poor, dear mother in London about your voyage on the Discovery with
Henry Hudson, from which you have just returned.
Use events and locations in the journals to fill out your account.
Length: 2 pages
Take a draft of your essay to the Writing Center to have someone look it over and sign it.
Then revise your draft and hand it in, with the original, on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Assignment for Tuesday:
Write a letter to your poor, dear mother in London about your voyage on the Discovery with
Henry Hudson, from which you have just returned.
Use events and locations in the journals to fill out your account.
Length: 2 pages
Take a draft of your essay to the Writing Center to have someone look it over and sign it.
Then revise your draft and hand it in, with the original, on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Assignment for Tuesday:
Write a letter to your poor, dear mother in London about your voyage on the Discovery with
Henry Hudson, from which you have just returned.
Use events and locations in the journals to fill out your account.
Length: 2 pages
Take a draft of your essay to the Writing Center to have someone look it over and sign it.
Then revise your draft and hand it in, with the original, on Tuesday, Sept. 23.