Fraternity-Testvériség, 1966 (44. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1966-05-01 / 5. szám
12 FRATERNITY ROBERT E. PEARY — DISCOVERER OF THE NORTH POLE Robert E. Peary, Arctic explorer and the first man to reach the North Pole, was born in Pennsylvania on May 6, 1856. As an engineer in the United States Navy, he surveyed routes in Nicaragua for a canal to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 1886, he made his first expedition to the Arctic. After more than twenty years of experience in this region, Peary started on his expedition to the North Pole on July 6, 1908. Nine months later, on April 5, 1909, he arrived within a short distance of his goal after a dogsled dash across 125 miles of ice, accomplished in five days, with Eskimos and an American Negro as companions. The next day he reached what he regarded as the North Pole. Here he remained 30 hours, making various observations to verify his position. When Peary returned to the United States, he found that Dr. Frederick A. Cook was claiming previous discovery of the Pole. The controversy ended in a Congressional investigation, which supported Peary’s claims. He was promoted to Rear Admiral and received many medals from geographical societies. Peary died in 1920. — (A.C.N.S.) German-born Peter Minuit, representing the Dutch West India Company, on May 6, 1626, bought Manhattan Island from the Canarsie Indians for $24.00 worth of beads and trinkets. The Island, which was to become New York City, had been discovered in 1524 by Verrazano, an Italian sailing in the French service, and Diego Gomes, a Portuguese sailing in the service of Spain. In 1609 it was visited by Henry Hudson, an Englishman exploring for the Dutch. His account of the fine fur pelts he had seen there spurred his employers to establish a trading post on Manhattan Island. The first white settlers on the Island were Captain Christaensen and his six comrades, who in 1614 were put in charge of trading operations with the Indians. About ten years later other families came from Holland and founded homesteads. The name of the Island stems from the Indian tribe known as Manhattoes. After the purchase, the Manhattoes tribe, which had a more valid claim to the Island than the Canarsie Indians, demanded and received additional payments from the Dutch. — (A. C. N. S.) THE PURCHASE OF MANHATTAN ISLAND
