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However, an early report by the project reflected

However, an early report by the project reflected local attitudes about the Everglades as a priority to people in nearby developed areas: "The aesthetic appeal of the Park can never be as strong as the demands of home and livelihood. The manatee and the orchid mean something to people in an abstract way, but the former cannot line their purse, nor the latter fill their empty bellies."^[81] HP Pavilion dv6-3049tx CPU Fan Establishment of the C&SF made Everglades National Park completely dependent upon another political entity for its survival.^[82] One of the C&SF's projects was Levee 29, laid along the Tamiami Trail on the northern border of the park. Levee 29 featured four flood control gates that controlled all the water entering Everglades National Park; before construction, water flowed in through open drain pipes. ACER Aspire 5730Z Series CPU Fan The period from 1962 to 1965 was one of drought for the Everglades, and Levee 29 remained closed to allow the Biscayne Aquifer—the fresh water source for South Florida—to stay filled.^[83] Animals began to cross Tamiami Trail for the water held in WCA 3, and many were killed by cars. Biologists estimate the population of alligators in Everglades National Park was halved; otters nearly became extinct.^[78] HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan The populations of wading birds had been reduced by 90 percent from the 1940s.^[84] When park management and the U.S. Department of the Interior asked the C&SF for assistance, the C&SF offered to build a levee along the southern border of Everglades National Park to retain waters that historically flowed through the mangroves and into Florida Bay. HP Pavilion dv5-2135dx CPU Fan Though the C&SF refused to send the park more water, they constructed Canal 67, bordering the east side of the park and carrying excess water from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic. The C&SF established 470,000 acres (1,900 km²) for the Everglades Agricultural Area—27 percent of the Everglades before development.^[85] In the late 1920s, agricultural experiments indicated that adding large amounts of manganese sulfate to Everglades muck produced profitable vegetable harvests. Toshiba Satellite L650-1MT CPU Fan Adding 100 pounds (45 kg) of the compound was more cost effective than adding 1 short ton (0.91 t) of manure.^[86] The primary cash crop in the EAA is sugarcane, though sod, beans, lettuce, celery, and rice are also grown. Sugarcane became more consolidated an industry than did any other crop; in 1940 the coalition of farms was renamed U.S. Sugar and this produced 86 percent of Everglades sugar.^[87] SONY Vaio VGN-NW350F CPU Fan During the 1930s the sugarcane farmers' coalition came under investigation for labor practices that bordered on slavery. Potential employees—primarily young black men—were lured from all over the U.S. by the promise of jobs, but they were held financially responsible for training, transportation, room and board and other costs. Quitting while debts were owed was punishable with jail time. Toshiba Satellite M35X-S329 CPU Fan By 1942, U.S. Sugar was indicted for peonage in federal court, though the charges were eventually dismissed on a technicality. U.S. Sugar benefited significantly from the U.S. embargo on Cuban goods beginning in the early 1960s.^[88] In 1958, before the Castro regime, 47,000 acres (190 km²) of sugarcane were harvested in Florida; by the 1964–1965 season, 228,000 acres (920 km²) were harvested. SONY Vaio VGN-TX2XP/B CPU Fan From 1959 to 1962 the region went from two sugar mills to six, one of which in Belle Glade set several world records for sugar production.^[89] Fields in the EAA are typically 40 acres (16 ha), on two sides bordered by canals that are connected to larger ones by which water is pumped in or out depending on the needs of the crops. HP G62-b04SL CPU Fan The water level for sugarcane is ideally maintained at 20 inches (51 cm) below the surface soil, and after the cane is harvested, the stalks are burned.^[90] Vegetables require more fertilizer than sugarcane, though the fields may resemble the historic hydrology of the Everglades by being flooded in the wet season. Sugarcane, however, requires water in the dry season. Dell Vostro 3500 CPU Fan The fertilizers used on vegetables, along with high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus that are the by-product of decayed soil necessary for sugarcane production, were pumped into WCAs south of the EAA, predominantly to Everglades National Park. The introduction of large amounts of these let exotic plants take hold in the Everglades.^[91] DELL Inspiron N3010 Series CPU Fan One of the defining characteristics of natural Everglades ecology is its ability to support itself in a nutrient-poor environment, and the introduction of fertilizers began to change this ecology. A turning point for development in the Everglades came in 1969 when a replacement airport was proposed as Miami International Airport outgrew its capacities. HP 550 CPU Fan Developers began acquiring land, paying $180 an acre in 1968, and the Dade County Port Authority (DCPA) bought 39 square miles (100 km²) in the Big Cypress Swamp without consulting the C&SF, management of Everglades National Park or the Department of the Interior. Park management learned of the official purchase and agreement to build the jetport from The Miami Herald the day it was announced.^[82] HP 646578-001 CPU Fan The DCPA bulldozed the land it had bought, and laid a single runway it declared was for training pilots. The new jetport was planned to be larger than O'Hare, Dulles, JFK, and LAX airports combined; the location chosen was 6 miles (9.7 km) north of the Everglades National Park, within WCA 3. The deputy director of the DCPA declared: "This is going to be one of the great population centers of America. DELL Vostro A860 CPU Fan We will do our best to meet our responsibilities and the responsibilities of all men to exercise dominion over the land, sea, and air above us as the higher order of man intends."^[93] The C&SF brought the jetport proposal to national attention by mailing letters about it to 100 conservation groups in the U.S.^[82] Initial local press reaction condemned conservation groups who immediately opposed the project. HP Pavilion dv6-3125ej CPU Fan Business Week reported real estate prices jumped from $200 to $800 an acre surrounding the planned location, and Life wrote of the expectations of the commercial interests in the area.^[82] The U.S. Geological Survey's study of the environmental impact of the jetport started, "Development of the proposed jetport and its attendant facilities ... will inexorably destroy the south Florida ecosystem and thus the Everglades National Park".^[94] Compaq Presario A916NR CPU Fan The jetport was intended to support a community of a million people and employ 60,000. The DCPA director was reported in Time saying, "I'm more interested in people than alligators. This is the ideal place as far as aviation is concerned."^[95] HP 532614-001 CPU Fan When studies indicated the proposed jetport would create 4,000,000 US gallons (15,000,000 L) of raw sewage a day and 10,000 short tons (9,100 t) of jet engine pollutants a year, the national media snapped to attention. Science magazine wrote, in a series on environmental protection highlighting the jetport project, "Environmental scientists have become increasingly aware that, HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan without careful planning, development of a region and the conservation of its natural resources do not go hand in hand".^[96] The New York Times called it a "blueprint for disaster",^[97] and Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson wrote to President Richard Nixon voicing his opposition: "It is a test of whether or not we are really committed in this country to protecting our environment."^[95] SONY VAIO PCG-6L2L CPU Fan Governor Claude Kirk withdrew his support for the project, and the 78-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas was persuaded to go on tour to give hundreds of speeches against it. She established Friends of the Everglades and encouraged more than 3,000 members to join. Initially the U.S. Department of Transportation pledged funds to support the jetport, but after pressure, Nixon overruled the department. HP 489126-001 CPU Fan He instead established Big Cypress National Preserve, announcing it in the Special Message to the Congress Outlining the 1972 Environmental Program.^[98] Following the jetport proposition, restoration of the Everglades became not only a statewide priority, but an international one as well. HP Envy 17-2290nr CPU Fan In the 1970s the Everglades were declared an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention,^[99][100] making it one of only three locations on earth that have appeared on all three lists. HP Pavilion dv6-2170us CPU Fan,HP G42-221BR CPU Fan,HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan

Some burned off the sawgrass

Some burned off the sawgrass or other vegetation only to discover that the underlying peat continued to burn. Animals and tractors used for plowing got mired in the muck and were useless. When the muck dried, it turned to a fine black powder and created dust storms.^[38] Settlers encountered rodents, skinks, and biting insects, and faced dangers from mosquitoes, poisonous snakes and alligators. DELL Vostro 1014 Laptop Keyboard Though at first crops sprouted quickly and lushly, they just as quickly wilted and died, seemingly without reason.^[39] It was discovered later that the peat and muck lacked copper and other trace elements. The USDA released a pamphlet in 1915 that declared land along the New River Canal would be too costly to keep drained and fertilized; people in Ft. Lauderdale responded by collecting all of the pamphlets and burning them.^[40] SONY Vaio PCG-K215S Laptop Keyboard With the increasing population in towns near the Everglades came hunting opportunities. Even decades earlier, Harriet Beecher Stowe had been horrified at the hunting by visitors, and she wrote the first conservation publication for Florida in 1877: "[t]he decks of boats are crowded with men, whose only feeling amid our magnificent forests, seems to be a wild desire to shoot something and who fire at every living thing on shore."^[41] Lenovo 45N2141 laptop keyboard Otters and raccoons were the most widely hunted for their skins. Otter pelts could fetch between $8 and $15 each. Raccoons, more plentiful, only warranted 75 cents each in 1915. Hunting often went unchecked; on one trip, a Lake Okeechobee hunter killed 250 alligators and 172 otters. Wading birds were a particular target. Their feathers were used in women's hats from the late 19th century until the 1920s. HP Pavilion dv6-2133ee laptop keyboard In 1886, five million birds were estimated to have been killed for their feathers.^[43] They were usually shot in the spring, when their feathers were colored for mating and nesting. Aigrettes, as the plumes were called in the millinery business, sold in 1915 for $32 an ounce, also the price of gold.^[42] Millinery was a $17-million-a-year industry^[44] HP COMPAQ NX6320 laptop keyboard that motivated plume harvesters to lie in wait at the nests of egretsand other large birds during the nesting season, shoot the parents with small-bore rifles, and leave the chicks to starve.^[42] Many hunters refused to participate after watching the gruesome results of a plume hunt.^[42][45] Still, plumes from Everglades wading birds could be found in Havana, New York City, London, and Paris. ASUS X85S laptop keyboard A dealer in New York paid at least 60 hunters to provide him with "almost anything that wore feathers, but particularly the Herons, Spoonbills, and showy birds". Hunters could collect plumes from a hundred birds on a good day.^[46] Plume harvesting became a dangerous business. The Audubon Society became concerned with the amount of hunting being done in rookeries in the mangrove forests. ASUS X53S laptop keyboard In 1902, they hired a warden, Guy Bradley, to watch the rookeries around Cuthbert Lake. Bradley had lived inFlamingo within the Everglades, and was murdered in 1905 by one of his neighbors after he tried to prevent him from hunting.^[47]Protection of birds was the reason for establishing the first wildlife refuge when President Theodore Roosevelt set Pelican Island as a sanctuary in 1903. LENOVO AEQA1STU010 laptop keyboard In the 1920s, after birds were protected and alligators hunted nearly to extinction, Prohibition created a living for those willing to smuggle alcohol into the U.S. from Cuba. Rum-runners used the vast Everglades as a hiding spot: there were never enough law enforcement officers to patrol it.^[48] The advent of the fishing industry, the arrival of the railroad, Lenovo 3000 G530 4151 laptop keyboard and the discovery of the benefits of adding copper to Okeechobee muck soon created unprecedented numbers of residents in new towns like Moore Haven, Clewiston, and Belle Glade. By 1921, 2,000 people lived in 16 new towns around Lake Okeechobee.^[3] Sugarcane became the primary crop grown in south Florida and it began to be mass-produced. COMPAQ Presario CQ40-133TU laptop keyboard Miami experienced a second real estate boom that earned a developer in Coral Gables $150 million and saw undeveloped land north of Miami sell for $30,600 an acre.^[49] Miami became cosmopolitan and experienced a renaissance of architecture and culture. Hollywood movie stars vacationed in the area and industrialists built lavish homes. Miami's population multiplied fivefold, and Ft. Lenovo 3000 Y500 laptop keyboard Lauderdale and Palm Beach grew many times over as well. In 1925, Miami newspapers published editions weighing over 7 pounds (3.2 kg), most of it real estate advertising.^[50] Waterfront property was the most highly valued. Mangrove trees were cut down and replaced with palm trees to improve the view. Acres of south Florida slash pine were taken down, some for lumber, but the wood was found to be dense and it split apart when nails were driven into it. HP Mini 110-3519la laptop keyboard It was also termite-resistant, but homes were needed quickly. Most of the pine forests in Dade County were cleared for development. The canals proposed by Wright were unsuccessful in making the lands south of Lake Okeechobee fulfill the promises made by real estate developers to local farmers. The winter of 1922 was unseasonably wet and the region was underwater. HP COMPAQ 486654-001 laptop keyboard The town of Moore Haven received 46 inches (1,200 mm) of rain in six weeks in 1924.^[52]Engineers were pressured to regulate the water flow, not only for farmers but also for commercial fishers, who often requested conflicting water levels in the lake. Fred Elliot, who was in charge of building the canals after James Wright retired, commented: "A man on one side of the canal wants it raised for his particular use and a man on the other side wants it lowered for his particular use".SONY VAIO VGN-CS17G/R laptop keyboard The 1920s brought several favorable conditions that helped the land and population boom, one of which was an absence of any severe storms. The last severe hurricane, in 1906, had struck the Florida Keys. Many homes were constructed hastily and poorly as a result of this lull in storms.^[54] However, on September 18, 1926, a storm that became known as the 1926 Miami Hurricane struck with winds over 140 miles per hour (230 km/h), TOSHIBA Satellite L755-S5357 laptop keyboard and caused massive devastation. The storm surge was as high as 15 feet (4.6 m) in some places. Henry Flagler's opulent Royal Palm Hotel was destroyed along with many other hotels and buildings. Most people who died did so when they ran out into the street in disbelief while the eye of the hurricane passed over, not knowing the wind was coming in from the other direction. SONY N860-7676-T101 laptop keyboard "The lull lasted 35 minutes, and during that time the streets of the city became crowded with people", wrote Richard Gray, the local weather chief. "As a result, many lives were lost during the second phase of the storm."^[55] In Miami alone, 115 people were counted dead—although the true figure may have been as high as 175, because death totals were racially segregated.^[54] More than 25,000 people were homeless in the city.DELL E141395 laptop keyboard The town of Moore Haven, bordering Lake Okeechobee, was hardest hit. A levee built of muck collapsed, drowning almost 400 of the town's entire 1,200 residents.^[56] The tops of Lake Okeechobee levees were only 18 to 24 inches (46 to 61 cm) above the lake itself and the engineers were aware of the danger. Two days before the hurricane, an engineer predicted, "[i]f we have a blow, even a gale, Moore Haven is going under water". HP 518965-001 laptop keyboard The engineer lost his wife and daughter in the flood. The City of Miami responded to the hurricane by downplaying its effects and turning down aid. The Miami Herald declared two weeks after the storm that almost everything in the city had returned to normal. The governor supported the efforts to minimize the appearance of the destruction by refusing to call a special legislative session to appropriate emergency funds for relief. Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 laptop keyboard As a result, the American Red Cross was able to collect only $3 million of $5 million needed.^[54] The 1926 hurricane effectively ended the land boom in Miami, despite the attempts at hiding the effects. It also forced drainage commissioners to re-evaluate the effectiveness of the canals. A $20 million plan to build a dike around Lake Okeechobee, to be paid by property taxes, was turned down after a skeptical constituency sued to stop it;^[58] LENOVO IdeaPad S10 20015 laptop keyboard more than $14 million had been spent on canals and they were ineffective in taking away excess water or delivering it when needed. The weather was unremarkable for two years. In 1928, construction was completed on the Tamiami Trail, named because it was the only road spanning between Tampa and Miami. DELL Inspiron N4050 laptop keyboard The builders attempted to construct the road several times before they blasted the muck down to the limestone, filled it with rock and paved over it.^[60] Hard rains in the summer caused Lake Okeechobee to rise several feet; this was noticed by a local newspaper editor who demanded it be lowered. However, on September 16, 1928 came a massive storm, now known as the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. HP Mini 1151NR laptop keyboard Thousands drowned when Lake Okeechobee breached its levees; the range of estimates of the dead spanned from 1,770 (according to the Red Cross) to 3,000 or more.^[61] Many were swept away and never recovered.^[54][62] The majority of the dead were black migrant workers who had recently settled in or near Belle Glade. The catastrophe made national news, and although the governor again refused aid, SONY KFRMBA220A laptop keyboard after he toured the area and counted 126 bodies still unburied or uncollected a week after the storm, he activated the National Guard to assist in the cleanup,^[54] and declared in a telegram: "Without exaggeration, the situation in the storm area beggars description". The focus of government agencies quickly shifted to the control of floods rather than drainage. HP Pavilion DV7-3078nr laptop keyboard The Okeechobee Flood Control District, financed by both state and federal funds, was created in 1929. President Herbert Hoover toured the towns affected by the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane and, an engineer himself, ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to assist the communities surrounding the lake.^[64] Toshiba Satellite L550-20W CPU Fan Between 1930 and 1937, a dike 66 miles (106 km) long was built around the southern edge of the lake, and a shorter one around the northern edge. It was 34 feet (10 m) tall and 3.5 feet (1.1 m) thick on the lake side, 3 feet (0.91 m) thick on the top, and 2 feet (0.61 m) thick toward land. Control of the Hoover Dike and the waters of Lake Okeechobee were delegated to federal powers: SONY Vaio VPC-EB3E1R/BQ CPU Fan the United States declared legal limits of the lake to be 14 feet (4.3 m) and 17 feet (5.2 m).^[12] A massive canal 80 feet (24 m) wide and 6 feet (1.8 m) deep was also dug through the Caloosahatchee River; when the lake rose too high, the excess water left through the canal to the Gulf of Mexico. Exotic trees were planted along the north shore levee:Australian pines, Australian oaks, willows, and bamboo.^[12] Dell Precision M4500 CPU Fan More than $20 million was spent on the entire project. Sugarcane production soared after the dike and canal were built. The populations of the small towns surrounding the lake jumped from 3,000 to 9,000 after World War II. The effects of the Hoover Dike were seen immediately. An extended drought occurred in the 1930s, and with the wall preventing water leaving Lake Okeechobee and canals and ditches removing other water, the Everglades became parched. HP G71-340US CPU Fan Peat turned to dust, and salty ocean water entered Miami's wells. When the city brought in an expert to investigate, he discovered that the water in the Everglades was the area's groundwater—here, it appeared on the surface. Draining the Everglades removed this groundwater, which was replaced by ocean water seeping into the area's wells.^[66] In 1939, 1 million acres (4,000 km²) of Everglades burned, and the black clouds of peat and sawgrass fires hung over Miami. Toshiba Satellite L675D-S7016 CPU Fan Underground peat fires burned roots of trees and plants without burning the plants in some places.^[67]Scientists who took soil samples before draining had not taken into account that the organic composition of peat and muck in the Everglades was mixed with bacteria that added little to the process of decomposition underwater because they were not mixed with oxygen. HP Pavilion dv5-2135dx CPU Fan As soon as the water was drained and oxygen mixed with the soil, the bacteria began to break down the soil. In some places, homes had to be moved on to stilts and 8 feet (2.4 m) of topsoil was lost. Conservationists concerned about the Everglades have been a vocal minority ever since Miami was a young city. HP Envy 17-3000er CPU Fan South Florida's first and perhaps most enthusiastic naturalist was Charles Torrey Simpson, who retired from the Smithsonian Institution to Miami in 1905 when he was 53. Nicknamed "the Sage of Biscayne Bay", Simpson wrote several books about tropical plant life around Miami. His backyard contained a tropical hardwood hammock, which he estimated he showed to about 50,000 people. HP Envy 17 Series CPU Fan Though he tended to avoid controversy regarding development, in Ornamental Gardening in Florida he wrote, "Mankind everywhere has an insane desire to waste and destroy the good and beautiful things this nature has lavished upon him".^[69] Although the idea of protecting a portion of the Everglades arose in 1905, a crystallized effort was formed in 1928 when Miami landscape designer Ernest F. HP 532614-001 CPU Fan Coe established the Everglades Tropical National Park Association. It had enough support to be declared a national park by Congress in 1934, but there was not enough money during the Great Depression to buy the proposed 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km²) for the park. It took another 13 years for it to be dedicated on December 6, 1947. ^[70] HP Envy 17-3000er CPU Fan One month before the dedication of the park, the former editor of The Miami Herald and freelance writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas published her first book, The Everglades: River of Grass. After researching the region for five years, she described the history and ecology of the south of Florida in great detail, characterizing the Everglades as a river instead of a stagnant swamp.^[15] HP 532614-001 CPU Fan Douglas later wrote, "My colleague Art Marshall said that with [the words "River of Grass"] I changed everybody's knowledge and educated the world as to what the Everglades meant".^[71] The last chapter was titled "The Eleventh Hour" and warned that the Everglades were approaching death, although the course could be reversed.^[72] Its first printing sold out a month after its release. HP 532614-001 CPU Fan Coinciding with the dedication of Everglades National Park, 1947 in south Florida saw two hurricanes and a wet season responsible for 100 inches (250 cm) of rain, ending the decade-long drought. Although there were no human casualties, cattle and deer were drowned and standing water was left in suburban areas for months. Agricultural interests lost about $59 million. HP KSB06105HA CPU Fan The embattled head of the Everglades Drainage District carried a gun for protection after being threatened. In 1948 Congress approved the Central and Southern Florida Project for Flood Control and Other Purposes (C&SF) and consolidated the Everglades Drainage District and the Okeechobee Flood Control District under this.^[74] The C&SF used four methods in flood management: HP 493001-001 CPU Fan levees, water storage areas, canal improvements, and large pumps to assist gravity. Between 1952 and 1954 in cooperation with the state of Florida it built a levee 100 miles (160 km) long between the eastern Everglades and suburbs from Palm Beach to Homestead, and blocked the flow of water into populated areas.^[75] Between 1954 and 1963 it divided the Everglades into basins. Toshiba BFB0605HA CPU Fan In the northern Everglades were Water Conservation Areas (WCAs), and the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) bordering to the south of Lake Okeechobee. In the southern Everglades was Everglades National Park. Levees and pumping stations bordered each WCA, which released water in drier times and removed it and pumped it to the ocean or Gulf of Mexico in times of flood. HP Pavilion dv5-1174ca CPU Fan The WCAs took up about 37 percent of the original Everglades.^[76] During the 1950s and 1960s the South Florida metropolitan area grew four times as fast as the rest of the nation. Between 1940 and 1965, 6 million people moved to south Florida: 1,000 people moved to Miami every week.^[77] Urban development between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s quadrupled. Much of the water reclaimed from the Everglades was sent to newly developed areas.^[78] Toshiba Satellite A110-101 CPU Fan With metropolitan growth came urban problems associated with rapid expansion: traffic jams; school overcrowding; crime; overloaded sewage treatment plants; and, for the first time in south Florida's urban history, water shortages in times of drought.^[79] The C&SF constructed over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of canals, and hundreds of pumping stations and levees within three decades. HP Pavilion dv5-1174ca CPU Fan It produced a film, Waters of Destiny, characterized by author Michael Grunwald as propaganda, that likened nature to a villainous, shrieking force of rage and declared the C&SF's mission was to tame nature and make the Everglades useful.^[80] Everglades National Park management and Marjory Stoneman Douglas initially supported the C&SF, as it promised to maintain the Everglades and manage the water responsibly. HP 535442-001 CPU Fan

Draining and development of the Everglades

http://www.all-laptopfan.com/,http://www.all-keyboard.com/,http://www.laptopbattery-shop.co.uk/ The history of draining and development of the Everglades dates back to the 19th century. During the Second Seminole Warbeginning in 1836, the United States military's mission was to seek out Seminole people in the Everglades and capture or kill them. Those missions gave the military the opportunity to map land that seemed to frustrate and confound them at every turn. French Macaron Pillow ,Creative Cushion - Matty's A national push for expansion and progress toward the latter part of the 19th century stimulated interest in draining theEverglades for agricultural use. According to historians, "From the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, the United States went through a period in which wetland removal was not questioned. Indeed, it was considered the proper thing to do."^[1] French Macaron Pillow ,Creative Cushion - Matty's A pattern of political and financial motivation, and a lack of understanding of the geography and ecology of the Everglades have plagued the history of drainage projects. The Everglades are a part of a massive watershed that originates near Orlando and drains into Lake Okeechobee, a vast and shallow lake. SONY VAIO PCG-81111V battery As the lake exceeds its capacity in the wet season, the water forms a flat and very wide river, about 100 miles (160 km) long and 60 miles (97 km) wide. As the land from Lake Okeechobee slopes gradually to Florida Bay, water flows at a rate of half a mile (0.8 km) a day. Before human activity in the Everglades, the system comprised the lower third of the Florida peninsula. SONY VAIO PCG-81211V battery The first attempt to drain the region was made by real estate developerHamilton Disston in 1881. Disston's sponsored canals were unsuccessful, but the land he purchased for them stimulated economic and population growth that attracted railway developer Henry Flagler. Flagler built a railroad along the east coast of Florida and eventually to Key West; towns grew and farmland was cultivated along the rail line. SONY VAIO PCG-51111V battery During his 1904 campaign to be elected governor, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward promised to drain the Everglades, and his later projects were more effective than Disston's. Broward's promises sparked a land boom facilitated by blatant errors in an engineer's report, pressure from real estate developers, and the burgeoning tourist industry throughout south Florida. SONY VAIO PCG-51111M battery The increased population brought hunters who went unchecked and had a devastating impact on the numbers of wading birds (hunted for their plumes), alligators, and other Everglades animals. Severe hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 caused catastrophic damage and flooding from Lake Okeechobee that prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to build a dike around the lake. SONY VAIO PCG-51112M battery Further floods in 1947 prompted an unprecedented construction of canals throughout southern Florida. Following another population boom after World War II, and the creation of the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control Project, the Everglades was divided into sections separated by canals and water control devices that delivered water to agricultural and newly developed urban areas. SONY VAIO PCG-51211M battery However, in the late 1960s, following a proposal to construct a massiveairport next to Everglades National Park, national attention turned from developing the land to restoring the Everglades. American involvement in the Everglades began during the Second Seminole War (1836–42), a costly and very unpopular conflict. SONY VAIO PCG-51212M battery The United States spent between $30 million and $40 million and lost between 1,500 and 3,000 lives. The U.S. military drove the Seminoles into the Everglades and were charged with the task of finding them, defeating them, and moving them to Oklahoma Indian territory. Almost 4,000 Seminoles were killed in the war or were removed.^[2][3] SONY PCG-7134M battery The U.S. military was completely unprepared for the conditions they found in the Everglades. They tore their clothes on sawgrass, ruined their boots on the uneven limestone floor, and were plagued by mosquitoes. Soldiers' legs, feet, and arms were cut open on the sawgrass and gangrene infection set in, taking many lives and limbs. Many died of mosquito-borne illness. SONY PCG-7131M battery After slogging through mud, one private died in his tracks of exhaustion in 1842.^[3] General Thomas Jesup admitted the military was overwhelmed by the terrain when he wrote to the Secretary of War in 1838, trying to dissuade him from prolonging the war.^[3] Opinion about the value of Florida to the Union was mixed: some thought it a useless land of swamps and horrible animals, while others thought it a gift from God for national prosperity.^[4] Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/W Battery In 1838 comments in The Army and Navy Chronicle supported future development of southern Florida: The] climate [is] most delightful; but, from want of actual observation, [it] could not speak so confidently of the soil, although, from the appearance of the surrounding vegetation, a portion of it, at least, must be rich. Whenever the aborigines shall be forced from their fastnesses, as eventually they must be, Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G Battery the enterprising spirit of our countrymen will very soon discover the sections best adapted to cultivation, and the now barren or unproductive everglades will be made to blossom like a garden. It is the general impression that these everglades are uninhabitable during the summer months, by reason of their being overflowed by the abundant rains of the season; Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/B Battery but if it should prove that these inundations are caused or increased by obstructions to the natural courses of the rivers, as outlets to the numerous lakes, American industry will remove these obstructions. The military penetration of southern Florida offered the opportunity to map a poorly understood part of the country. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/L Battery As late as 1823, official reports doubted the existence of a large inland lake, until the military met the Seminoles at the Battle of Lake Okeechobee in 1837.^[6] To avenge repeated surprise attacks on himself and ammunition stores, Colonel William Harney led an expedition into the Everglades in 1840, to hunt for a chief named Chekika. With Harney were 90 soldiers in 16 canoes. Sony VAIO PCG-5N1M battery One soldier's account of the trip in theSt. Augustine News was the first printed description of the Everglades available to the general public. The anonymous writer described the hunt for Chekika and the terrain they were crossing: "No country that I have ever heard of bears any resemblance to it; it seems like a vast sea filled with grass and green trees, and expressly intended as a retreat for the rascally Indian, from which the white man would never seek to drive them".^[7] Sony VAIO PCG-5S1M battery The final blame for the military stalemate was determined to lie not in military preparation, supplies, leadership, or superior tactics by the Seminoles, but in Florida's impenetrable terrain. An army surgeon wrote: "It is in fact a most hideous region to live in, a perfect paradise for Indians, alligators, serpents, frogs, and every other kind of loathsome reptile."^[8] Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/W Battery The land seemed to inspire extreme reactions of wonder or hatred. In 1870, an author described the mangrove forests as a "waste of nature's grandest exhibition to have these carnivals of splendid vegetation occurring in isolated places where it is but seldom they are seen."^[9] A band of hunters, naturalists, and collectors ventured through in 1885, taking along with them the 17-year-old grandson of an early resident of Miami. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/P Battery The landscape unnerved the young man shortly after he entered the Shark River: "The place looked wild and lonely. About three o'clock it seemed to get on Henry's nerves and we saw him crying, he would not tell us why, he was just plain scared."^[10] In 1897, an explorer named Hugh Willoughby spent eight days canoeing with a party from the mouth of the Harney River to the Miami River. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/R Battery He wrote about his observations and sent them back to the New Orleans Times-Democrat. Willoughby described the water as healthy and wholesome, with numerous springs, and 10,000 alligators "more or less" in Lake Okeechobee. The party encountered thousands of birds near the Shark River, "killing hundreds, but they continued to return".^[11] Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/L Battery Willoughby pointed out that much of the rest of the country had been mapped and explored except for this part of Florida, writing, "(w)e have a tract of land one hundred and thirty miles long and seventy miles wide that is as much unknown to the white man as the heart of Africa." As early as 1837, a visitor to the Everglades suggested the value of the land without the water: Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/P Battery Could it be drained by deepening the natural outlets? Would it not open to cultivation immense tracts of rich vegetable soil? Could the waterpower, obtained by draining, be improved to any useful purpose? Would such draining render the country unhealthy? ... Many queries like these passed through our minds. They can only be solved by a thorough examination of the whole country. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/R Battery Could the waters be lowered ten feet, it would probably drain six hundred thousand acres; should this prove to be a rich soil, as would seem probable, what a field it would open for tropical productions! What facilities for commerce!^[3] Territorial representative David Levy proposed a resolution that was passed in Congress in 1842: "that the Secretary of War be directed to place before this House such information as can be obtained in relation to the practicability and probable expense of draining the everglades of Florida."^[3] Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1M battery From this directive Secretary of the Treasury Robert J. Walker requested Thomas Buckingham Smith from St. Augustine to consult those with experience in the Everglades on the feasibility of draining them, saying that he had been told two or three canals to the Gulf of Mexico would be sufficient. Smith asked officers who had served in the Seminole Wars to respond, and many favored the idea, promoting the land as a future agricultural asset to the South.Sony VAIO PCG-7171M battery A few disagreed, such as Captain John Sprague, who wrote he "never supposed the country would excite an inquiry, other than as a hiding place for Indians, and had it occurred to me that so great an undertaking, one so utterly impracticable, as draining the Ever Glades was to be discussed, I should not have destroyed the scratch of pen upon a subject so fruitful, Sony PCG-61211M battery and which cannot be understood but by those who have waded the water belly deep and examined carefully the western coast by land and by water."^[3] Nevertheless, Smith returned a report to the Secretary of the Treasury asking for $500,000 to do the job.^[13] The report is the first published study on the topic of the Everglades, and concluded with the statement: Sony PCG-71213M battery The Ever Glades are now suitable only for the haunt of noxious vermin or the resort of pestilent reptiles. The statesman whose exertions shall cause the millions of acres they contain, now worse than worthless, to teem with the products of agricultural industry; that man who thus adds to the resources of his country ... will merit a high place in public favor, not only with his own generation, but with posterity. He will have created a State!^[3] Sony PCG-71311M battery Smith suggested cutting through the rim of the Everglades (known today as the Atlantic Coastal Ridge), connecting the heads of rivers to the coastline so that 4 feet (1.2 m) of water would be drained from the area. The result, Smith hoped, would yield farmland suitable for corn, sugar, rice, cotton, and tobacco.^[14] In 1850 Congress passed a law that gave several states wetlands within their state boundaries. Sony PCG-71212M battery The Swamp and Overflowed Lands Act ensured that the state would be responsible for funding the attempts at developing wetlands into farmlands.^[14] Florida quickly formed a committee to consolidate grants to pay for such attempts, though attention and funds were diverted owing to the Civil War and Reconstruction. Not until after 1877 did attention return to the Everglades. Sony PCG-71313M battery After the Civil War, an agency named the Internal Improvement Fund (IIF), charged with using grant money to improve Florida's infrastructure through canals, rail lines, and roads, was eager to be rid of the debt incurred by the Civil War. IIF trustees found aPennsylvania real estate developer named Hamilton Disston who was interested in implementing plans to drain the land for agriculture. Sony VAIO PCG-31111M battery Disston was persuaded to buy 4,000,000 acres (16,000 km²) of land for $1 million in 1881.^[15] The New York Times declared it the largest purchase of land ever by any individual.^[16] Disston began building canals near St. Cloud to lower the basin of the Caloosahatchee andKissimmee Rivers. His workers and engineers faced conditions similar to those of the soldiers during the Seminole Wars; Sony VAIO PCG-31112M battery it was harrowing, backbreaking labor in dangerous conditions. The canals seemed at first to work in lowering the water levels in the wetlands surrounding the rivers. Another dredged waterway between the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Okeechobee was built, opening the region to steamboattraffic.^[17] Disston's engineers focused on Lake Okeechobee as well. Sony VAIO PCG-31113M battery As one colleague put it, "Okeechobee is the point to attack"; the canals were to be "equal or greater than the inflow from the Kissimmee valley, which is the source of all the evil."^[18] Disston sponsored the digging of a canal 11 miles (18 km) long from Lake Okeechobee towards Miami, but it was abandoned when the rock proved denser than the engineers had expected. Sony VAIO PCG-31114M battery Though the canals lowered the groundwater, their capacity was inadequate for the wet season. A report that evaluated the failure of the project concluded: "The reduction of the waters is simply a question of sufficient capacity in the canals which may be dug for their relief".^[19] Though Disston's canals did not drain, his purchase primed the economy of Florida. Sony VAIO PCG-31111V battery It made news and attracted tourists and land buyers alike. Within four years property values doubled, and the population increased significantly.^[15] One newcomer was the inventor Thomas Edison, who bought a home inFort Myers.^[20] Disston opened real estate offices throughout the United States and Europe, and sold tracts of land for $5 an acre, establishing towns on the west coast and in central Florida. English tourists in particular were targeted and responded in large numbers.^[21] Sony VAIO PCG-31112V battery Florida passed its first water laws to "build drains, ditches, or water courses upon petition of two or more landowners" in 1893. Due to Disston's purchase, the IIF was able to sponsor railroad projects, and the opportunity presented itself when oil tycoon Henry Flagler became enchanted with St. Augustine during a vacation. He built the opulent Ponce de León Hotel in St. Sony VAIO PCG-31113V battery Augustine in 1888, and began buying land and building rail lines along the east coast of Florida, first from Jacksonville to Daytona, then as far south as Palm Beach in 1893. Flagler's establishment of "the Styx", a settlement for hotel and rail line workers across the river from the barrier island containing Palm Beach, became West Palm Beach.^[23] Sony VAIO PCG-31114V battery Along the way he built resort hotels, transforming territorial outposts into tourist destinations and the land bordering the rail lines into citrus farms.^[24] The winter of 1894–1895 produced a bitter frost that killed citrus trees as far south as Palm Beach. Miami resident Julia Tuttle sent Flagler a pristine orange blossom and an invitation to visit Miami, to persuade him to build the railroad farther south. Sony VAIO PCG-GRS100 battery Although he had earlier turned her down several times, Flagler finally agreed, and by 1896 the rail line had been extended to Biscayne Bay.^[25] Three months after the first train arrived, the residents of Miami, 512 in all, voted to incorporate the town. Flagler publicized Miami as a "Magic City" throughout the United States and it became a prime destination for the extremely wealthy after the Royal Palm Hotel was opened. Sony VAIO PCG-41111M battery Despite the sale of 4,000,000 acres (16,000 km²) to Disston and the skyrocketing price of land, by the turn of the 20th century the IIF was bankrupt due to mismanagement.^[27] Legal battles ensued between the State of Florida and the railroad owners about who owned the rights to sell reclaimed land in the Everglades. In 1904 gubernatorial campaigning, the strongest candidate, Sony VAIO PCG-41112M battery Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, made draining the Everglades a major plank. He called the future of south Florida the "Empire of the Everglades" and compared its potential to that of Holland and Egypt: "It would indeed be a commentary on the intelligence and energy of the State of Florida to confess that so simple an engineering feat as the drainage of a body of land above the sea was above their power", he wrote to voters.^[28] Sony VAIO PCG-41111V battery Soon after his election, he fulfilled his promise to "drain that abominable pestilence-ridden swamp"^[29] and pushed the Florida legislature to form a group of commissioners to oversee reclamation of flooded lands. They began by taxing counties that would be affected by the drainage attempts, at 5 cents an acre, and formed the Everglades Drainage District in 1907.^[3] SONY VAIO PCG-6Q1L CPU Fan Broward asked James O. Wright—an engineer on loan to the State of Florida from the USDA's Bureau of Drainage Investigations—to draw up plans for drainage in 1906. Two dredges were built by 1908, but had cut only 6 miles (9.7 km) of canals. The project quickly ran out of money, so Broward sold real estate developer Richard J. Bolles a million dollars worth of land in the Everglades, 500,000 acres (2,000 km²), SAMSUNG N150 Laptop Keyboard before the engineer's report had been submitted.^[30] Abstracts from Wright's report were given to the IIF stating that eight canals would be enough to drain 1,850,000 acres (7,500 km²) at a cost of a dollar an acre.^[31] The abstracts were released to real estate developers who used them in their advertisements, and Wright and the USDA were pressed by the real estate industry to publicize the report as quickly as possible.^[31] HP Pavilion DV9243EA Laptop Keyboard Wright's supervisor noted errors in the report, as well as undue enthusiasm for draining, and delayed its release in 1910. Different unofficial versions of the report circulated—some that had been altered by real estate interests—and a version hastily put together by Senator Duncan U. Fletchercalled U.S. Senate Document 89 included early unrevised statements, causing a frenzy of speculation. FUJITSU Lifebook E8110 Laptop Keyboard Wright's initial report concluded that drainage would not be difficult. Building canals would be more cost effective than constructing a dike around Lake Okeechobee. The soil would be fertile after drainage, the climate would not be adversely affected, and the enormous lake would be able to irrigate farmland in the dry season.^[1] Wright based his conclusions on 15 years of weather data since the recording of precipitation began in the 1890s. Lenovo 3000 Y500 Laptop Keyboard His calculations concentrated on the towns of Jupiter and Kissimmee. Since weather data had not been recorded for any area within the Everglades, none was included in the report. Furthermore, the heaviest year of rain on record, Wright assumed, was atypical, and he urged that canals should not be constructed to bear that amount of water due to the expense. HP Pavilion DV8310CA Laptop Keyboard Wright's calculations for what canals should be able to hold were off by 55 percent.^[32] His most fundamental mistake, however, was designing the canals for a maximum rainfall of 4 inches (10 cm) of water a day, based on flawed data for July and August rainfall, despite available data that indicated torrential downpours of 10 inches (25 cm) and 12 inches (30 cm) had occurred in 24-hour periods.^[1] Lenovo 0A62039 Laptop Keyboard Though a few voices expressed skepticism of the report's conclusions—notably Frank Stoneman, the editor of the Miami News-Record (the forerunner of The Miami Herald)—the report was hailed as impeccable, coming from a branch of the U.S. government.^[33] In 1912 Florida appointed Wright to oversee the drainage, and the real estate industry energetically misrepresented this mid-level engineer as the world's foremost authority on wetlands drainage, DELL Vostro 3450 Laptop Keyboard in charge of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.^[1] However, the U.S. House of Representativesinvestigated Wright since no report had officially been published despite the money paid for it. Wright eventually retired when it was discovered that his colleagues disagreed with his conclusions and refused to approve the report's publication. One testified at the hearings: TOSHIBA Mini NB 505-SP0160 Laptop Keyboard "I regard Mr. Wright as absolutely and completely incompetent for any engineering work".^[34] Governor Broward ran for the U.S. Senate in 1908 but lost. Broward and his predecessor, William Jennings, were paid by Richard Bolles to tour the state to promote drainage. Broward was elected to the Senate in 1910, but died before he could take office. Lenovo 3000 G530 4151 Laptop Keyboard He was eulogized across Florida for his leadership and progressive inspiration. Rapidly growing Fort Lauderdale paid him tribute by naming Broward County after him (the town's original plan had been to name it Everglades County). Land in the Everglades was being sold for $15 an acre a month after Broward died.^[35] Meanwhile, Henry Flagler continued to build railway stations at towns as soon as the populations warranted them. HP G61-400SP Laptop Keyboard News of the Panama Canal inspired him to connect his rail line to the closest deep water port. Biscayne Bay was too shallow, so Flagler sent railway scouts to explore the possibility of building the line through to the tip of mainland Florida. The scouts reported that not enough land was present to build through the Everglades, so Flagler instead changed the plan to build to Key West in 1912. COMPAQ Presario CQ40-133TU Laptop Keyboard Real estate companies continued to advertise and sell land along newly dug canals. In April 1912—the end of the dry season—reporters from all over the U.S. were given a tour of what had recently been drained, and they returned to their papers and raved about the progress.^[36] Land developers sold 20,000 lots in a few months. But as news about the Wright report continued to be negative, land values plummeted, and sales decreased. HP 317443-001 Laptop Keyboard Developers were sued and arrested for mail fraud when people who had spent their life savings to buy land arrived in south Florida expecting to find a dry parcel of land to build upon and instead found it completely underwater.^[37] Advertisements promised land that would yield crops in eight weeks, but for many it took at least as long just to clear. HP HDX18-1200 CTO Laptop Keyboard

Again, prison break became the next event with John V and Manuel escaping Constantinople

Again, prison break became the next event with John V and Manuel escaping Constantinople, offering the Ottoman Sultan higher tribute than normally paid, in return for help in taking over Constantinople.^[22] Andronikos IV, having been beaten yet again, evaded capture and slipped into the Genoese district of Galata with his family and hostages. SONY VAIO PCG-51111M battery

John V, only interested in securing his throne and stability, came to conclude a pact with Andronikos IV in 1381, recognizing him as heir with John VII as heir apparent,^[22] thus removing Manuel from the line of succession.

Naturally, Manuel felt betrayed by this move which demoted him from co-emperor. Returning to Thessalonica in 1382, he rebelled and established his rule over Thessaly and Epirus, thus "expanding" the Empire, at least nominally, SONY VAIO PCG-51112M battery

and thereby catching the Ottoman Sultan's attention.^[22] Murad I besieged Thessalonica in 1383, beginning a siege that would last until 1387. Meanwhile, Andronikos IV died and his son, John VII, began quarreling with his grandfather, John V.

With Thessalonica surrendering in 1387 and his position rather hopeless, Manuel returned to John V and, with the Sultan's assent, began making conciliatory offers to his father.^[23] SONY VAIO PCG-51211M battery John V realized that accepting his second son back would cause his grandson to rebel in turn, and therefore he simply kept Manuel in exile in Lemnos.^[23] Eventually, John VII did rebel against his grandfather — news of Manuel's arrival at Constantinople and John V's reconciliation talks with him prompted John VII to head to Genoa and then to the new Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid the Thunderbolt, to seek aid in order to topple John V. SONY VAIO PCG-51212M battery John VII's rebellion succeeded initially, taking Constantinople from John V,^[23] but Manuel countered by rousing the rest of the empire and its few remaining military assets and turned them against John VII. Manuel also received aid from the Knights of St. John stationed at Rhodes, where he "donated" religious relics made of precious metals to them for their support.^[23] SONY PCG-7134M battery

John refused to give up his right to rule as Emperor of Byzantium until his death in 1408. By then however, the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid had recognized Manuel II Palaiologos as co-emperor of Byzantium alongside his father John V, and finally, when John V died in 1391, as sole Emperor.

Manuel II's reign saw another temporary respite for the Byzantines. For an Empire in such trouble, he succeeded in retaking some territory and held it to the end of his reign. SONY PCG-7131M battery

His limited success largely came through the resurrection of Mongol Power in the East and the great friendship achieved between Manuel II and Mehmed I. However, he lived long enough to see his son undo much of his achievements.

Manuel II's first priority was to establish an agreement with Bayezid the Thunderbolt. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13/W Battery John VII was a favorite of Bayezid so Manuel II was in a dangerous position. He eventually sealed an agreement. However, the Ottoman Sultan became infuriated by Manuel II's attempts to reconcile his nephew John VII.^[24] Manuel was concerned that John VII might once again launch a coup against him so wished to end the threat diplomatically. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G Battery

Bayezid ordered Manuel's execution, but then reduced his furious response and instead demanded that Constantinople build another Mosque and that a colony of Turks be established.

Manuel's next steps were bold and seemingly foolish — not only did he refuse to pay the Sultan tribute, he refused to answer the Sultan's messages and Bayezid set about laying siege to Constantinople.^[24Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/B Battery ^] In 1394, his siege began and would continue for 8 years. Manuel II realized that whilst the City could endure a half-hearted blockade, it did not have the military assets to man the walls of Constantinople. At first, the situation was not so dire — a massive counter-attack by the West was to be launched as the Crusade of Nicopolis.^[26] In a titanic battle, Bayezid force-marched his army to a stunning yet costly victory. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/L Battery

Thousands were killed, but now Bayezid was able to turn his armies fully against Constantinople.

The situation was dire; so much so that John VII, Manuel' dire opponent, was left in charge of Constantinople. He made one grand tour of Europe in 1399, stopping atVenice, Padua, Milan, Paris and London, where he met the English King Henry IV; Sony VAIO PCG-5N1M battery

in England, he was well received^[26] and treated to a jousting tournament. However, Manuel was unable to secure any help from Western Christendom.

In the end, it would be Eastern Islam that would come to Constantinople's aid — Timur, the Khan of the Chagatai Mongols led his army deep into Anatolia, decisively defeating Bayezid and his exhausted army in 1402 near Ankara. Sony VAIO PCG-5S1M battery

The defeat caused a panic amongst the Turks in Anatolia, who frantically began crossing over to Europe, albeit with hired Byzantine ships.

Manuel, who was still in Europe, arrived in 1403 to a welcoming sight — Constantinople free from Ottoman siege. John VII remained loyal, handing back the capital and even taking Thessalonica back from the Ottomans. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/W Battery The defeat of the Ottomans considerably changed the mood within Constantinople. The rewards reaped by the Empire were outstanding considering that only a short time had passed since the city (and possibly the Empire itself) stood on the brink of destruction. John VII appeared to have achieved numerous other benefits for Byzantium. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/P Battery The first was a non-aggression treaty between the local Christian powers (who were also free from Ottoman servitude), meaning that the disasters of Andronikos III's later rule would not be repeated. Next were a treaty between Byzantium and the successor of Bayezid, Suleyman who was in Asia Minor, confirming Byzantium's freedom from paying tribute. The Empire also gained Mount Athos and coastal land of the Black Sea from Constantinople to Varna. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13G/R Battery

As an added bonus, Imperial authority was asserted over a number of Aegean Islands. The importance of the latter should not be underestimated as these would serve in the future as refuge for any seeking to escape Ottoman expansion, even if only as a temporary refuge.

Bayezid's sons lost no time fighting each other for their father's shattered realm. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/L Battery

By 1413, Mehmed I had emerged as the victor. However, the Byzantines had made sure to support the victor and Mehmed I did not forget the kindness of the Byzantines and was able to "control" his Turk subjects from expanding into Byzantine territory.

Manuel II Palaiologos was 70 years of age in 1421 and believed that the time had come for him to retire and give his eldest son, Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/P Battery

John VIII, the opportunity to rule with a more aggressive manner than he had done so. At the same time, a far less restrained Murad II, son of Mehmed I, came to the Ottoman throne in May of that year. With two un-diplomatic men on thrones of Byzantium and the Ottoman Sultanate, war was inevitable.

The Byzantines were the first to make a move when John VIII and his advisors made a risky decision by inciting a rebellion within the Ottoman Empire. Sony Vaio VGN-CR13T/R Battery In August 1421, they backed a man named Mustafa who claimed to be a long lost son of Bayezid the Thunderbolt. In Europe, Mustafa's rebellion worked well and he gathered some support. However in August 1422, Murad II had this rebellion crushed and Mustafa received the traditional execution (hanging) shortly after, something any rebel would have expected. Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1M battery Murad II was enraged and had an army sent to Constantinople and to Thessalonika, the latter falling in 1430. Murad II was unable to take Constantinople by force. Nonetheless, the situation in the Capital was dire enough for Manuel II to come out of retirement and incite yet another rebellion in Asia Minor under Murad II's brother, Kucuk Mustafa. Sony VAIO PCG-7171M battery

Initial rebel success, including a siege of Brusa was too much for Murad II to ignore so the siege of Constantinople was lifted to deal with this threat, and to the Byzantines' greatest despair, dealt with it indeed.

Manuel II was now out of tricks to save the erroneous rule of his son, John VIII. In September 1423, Sony PCG-61211M battery Thessalonika was surrendered to the Venetians, no doubt hoping to draw in the Western Powers into crusading mode and, if not, at least their wealth would enable them to defend it better. In February 1424, Manuel II Palaiologos re-established Byzantium as a vassal of the Ottomans — 300,000 silver coins were to be paid to the Sultan on annual basis. Sony PCG-71213M battery That the Empire managed to accomplish this at its lowest ebb is remarkable. Nonetheless until c. 1450, the Ottomans would not make any concerted efforts to overcome the walls of Constantinople; the city retained a tenuous security for the next two decades. Sony PCG-71311M battery,Sony PCG-71212M battery,Sony PCG-71313M battery

His attempts came close to fruition

His attempts came close to fruition, but the many hostile neighbors of Byzantium eventually took their toll on an Empire in decline.His first concern was that of Asia Minor. Nicaea, until 1261 the capital of the Empire, was under siege by Ottoman Turks. In the summer of 1329, Andronikos III launched a relief attempt which culminated in a defeat at the Battle of Pelekanon on June 10,^[15] and in 1331, the city fell. Sony VAIO PCG-5R2L battery Not wishing to see Nicomedia or the other few remaining forts in Asia Minor suffer the same fate, Andronikos III sought to pay off the Ottomans with tribute — the Ottomans did not stop at this and seized Nicomedia as well in 1337. Despite this, Andronikos III scored a few successes as well in the Aegean: in 1329, Chios was recovered,^[15]and in 1335, Andronikos arranged an alliance involving financial indemnities with the Turkic Emir Bahud-din Umur, Sony VAIO PCG-5S1L battery Bey of Aydin, and was able to recover Lesbos and Phocaea from the Latins.^[15] In Europe, Andronikos III had mixed results; Thessaly returned to Imperial rule in 1333, but Serbia once again began expanding southwards: led by the Byzantine renegade Syrgiannes Palaiologos, Serbian forces took five key forts from Byzantium in 1334 and forced it to recognize the new borders.^[15] Sony VAIO PCG-5S2L battery Nevertheless, Andronikos was able to bring back Epirus into the fold in 1341 through the use of diplomacy.^[15] The result was that whilst the Empire was reduced to its European territories, it had succeeded in bringing much of Greece under its control. Unfortunately for the newly expanded Byzantium, Stephen Dusan (ruling Serbia from 1331) decided to take these lands as well from Byzantium. Sony VAIO PCG-5S3L battery The death of Andronikos III and the resulting chaos left the Empire in no position to fight back. Though ultimately unsuccessful, the reign of Andronikos III was one of the last bright spots in Byzantine history, as the Empire's position was becoming increasingly precarious. Diplomacy became less useful, as Byzantium's enemies realized that the Emperor had not the military or even economic might to back his word. Sony VAIO PCG-5T2L battery Whilst there was a general decline in the Empire's fortunes, Andronikos III's death would be the coup de grâce for the Empire — his 10-year-old son was led by a regency that was torn apart in dynastic rivalries which would lead to a civil war from which Byzantium would never recover. The Byzantine Empire entered into a new era of decay in 1341. Sony VAIO PCG-5T3L battery The Empire was ravaged by every possible disaster^[16] — alongside wars and civil wars, renewed epidemics of bubonic plague swept through its diminished lands. The first outbreak occurred in 1347, and between the 1360s and 1420s, eight further outbreaks of plague are recorded. Cities were full of social unrest between the corrupt wealthy (who had been exploiting the tax system for their own benefit) Sony VAIO PCG-5T4L battery and the countless landless peasants burdened by the demands of the government.^[16] Religious controversy, the cancer of Byzantium in the 7th and 8th centuries, once again emerged in the form of the Hesychasm controversy,^[16] which eventually became a doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox church. There were numerous earthquakes, destroying Byzantium's infrastructure — the fortress of Sony VAIO PCG-61111L battery Gallipoli was destroyed in 1354 by such an earthquake^[16] and the Ottoman Turks lost no time in taking it and establishing a bridgehead in Europe. Meanwhile, the Serbs continued pressing south, removing any nominal Imperial control in Epirus. The Empire shrunk in size and when the civil war ended, Byzantium would be a petty city state, hanging on to life through the respites of her foes, and soon to-be protectors. Sony VAIO PCG-61112L battery

John V, ten years old at his ascension, was guided by a regency consisting of his mother, Anna of Savoy, John VI Kantakouzenos and the Patriarch of Constantinople (John XIV Kalekas).^[16]

The Patriarch, aided by the ambitious Alexios Apokaukos, sparked the civil conflict when he convinced the Empress that John V's rule was threatened by the ambitions of Kantakouzenos. Sony VAIO PCG-61411L battery In September 1341, whilst Kantakouzenos was in Thrace, Kalekas declared himself as regent and launched a vicious attack on Kantakouzenos, his supporters and family.^[16] In October, Anna ordered Kantakouzenos to resign his command.^[17] Kantakouzenos not only refused, but declared himself Emperor atDidymoteichon, allegedly to protect John V's rule from Kalekas. Sony VAIO PCG-71111L battery

Whether or not Kantakouzenos wished to be Emperor is not known, but the provocative actions of the Patriarch forced Kantakouzenos to fight to retain his power and started the civil war.

There were not nearly enough troops to defend Byzantium's borders at the time and there certainly was not enough for the two factions to split; consequently, foreigner mercenaries were brought in. Sony VAIO PCG-7141L battery Kantakouzenos hired Turks and Serbs — his main supply of Turkish mercenaries came from the Bey of Aydin, a nominal ally established by Andronikos III. The Regency of John V relied on Turkish mercenaries as well. However, Kantakouzenos began to draw support from the Ottoman Sultan Orkhan, who wed Kantakouzenos' daughter in 1345. By 1347, Kantakouzenos had triumphed and entered Constantinople. Sony VAIO PCG-7142L battery

However, in his hour of victory, he came to an accord with Anna and her son, John V: John V (now 15 years of age) and Kantakouzenos would rule as co-emperors, though John V would be the junior in this relationship.^[18] This unlikely partnership was not destined to last long.

Kantakouzenos had a son, Matthew Kantakouzenos — and any hope of keeping peace between John V and Matthew became more remote as the two grew older and more independent. Sony VAIO PCG-81113L battery

John V wed Kantakouzenos' daughter, thus becoming his son in law,^[18]in a move designed to bind the two families, but it was destined to fail.

In 1353, Kantakouzenos was still hopeful that peace would be maintained, but in that year, John V launched a military attack on Matthew,^[18] thereby re-igniting the civil war. John V was demoted and exiled to the island of Tenedos, one of the few islands in the Aegean still under Byzantine control, Sony VAIO PCG-81114L battery while Kantakouzenos made his son Matthew co-emperor. John V would not give up so easy however, and in 1354 Ottoman troops began crossing over into Thrace in his support. The citizens of Constantinople became gripped with fear and in November of that same year, John V launched a successful coup with Genoan aid. Kantakouzenos now abdicated and retired to a monastery, where he would write his memoirs and thoughts until his death in 1383.^[19] Sony VAIO PCG-81115L battery Matthew Kantakouzenos, no doubt disappointed with his father's failure, continued to resist John V. Since the Ottoman Sultan Orkhan was his brother-in-law, he was able to obtain troops from him, but had barely begun his campaign when he was captured in the summer of 1356. He was forced to renounce his claims in 1357 and exiled to the Morea sometime between 1361 and 1383,^[19] though other sources indicate 1391 a possible date. Sony VAIO PCG-81214L battery

At 25 years, John V had managed to establish himself firmly as ruler of the Empire, at the cost of bleeding out all its resources.The lands ravaged and depopulated by the civil war were filled up by arriving Turks who colonised the land through a mixture of conquest and trade.^[19] Sony VAIO PCG-81312L battery

The result was that Byzantium's power was undermined beyond all recovery — two hundred years ago Byzantium could rely on the people living in the lands of Anatolia, Greece, Macedonia and several large islands like Cyprus and Crete. Now the population under its control was limited to the few remaining cities in Byzantine possession, namely Thessalonica and Constantinople and the surrounding countryside, and the Despotate of the Morea. Sony VAIO PCG-8131L battery

The immigration of Turks would be decisive in the survival of the Empire as it gave her most dire enemy, the Ottomans, a new power base, not in Asia but now in Europe.

Like his predecessors Alexios I Komnenos and Michael VIII, John V now turned to the Pope and offered the promise of a Union of the two Churches in the hopes of receiving military assistance. Sony VAIO PCG-8141L battery As a guarantee of compliance, John V offered his son, Manuel. In the past, Byzantium's cry for assistance were answered with mixed results — pillaging Crusaders would sack both friend and foe but the First Crusade had been largely beneficial and no doubt John V envisioned a repeat of such a Crusade. This time, however, the Papacy was unmoved by the calamity facing the Byzantine Empire.^[20] Sony VAIO PCG-8152L battery Fortunately for John V, he had other European connections — his mother was Anna of Savoy, and her nephew (being John V's cousin) was concerned for the safety of his Greek counterpart.^[20] Sailing from Venice in June 1366 with dreams of initiating yet another Crusade, Amadeo VI of Savoy arrived at and seized the fortress of Gallipoli from the Ottomans and handed it back to the Byzantines, Sony VAIO PCG-8161L battery hoping that this would stem the tide of Turkish emigration into Thrace.^[20] However, the Turks had by now firmly established themselves in Thrace. Amadeo and John spent much time between 1367 and 1369 thinking of ways to stave off defeat. Amadeo returned to Europe via Rome and brought with him Byzantine envoys. The Pope again was uninterested, but called for John V to visit him.^[20] Sony VAIO PCG-9131L battery

In 1369, when the Ottomans finally captured Adrianople (though some sources indicate 1365),^[20] John V rushed to Rome and confessed his Catholic faith both privately and at a public spectacle.^[20]

Nevertheless, in 1371 John V returned empty-handed, having humiliated himself and done nothing to improve the deteriorating situation in the Balkans. Sony VAIO PCG-3E1M battery In 1371, the Serbs mustered their strength and prepared to launch an attack to drive back the Turks from Thrace. In a crushing victory, the Ottomans annihilated the Serbian army at the Battle of Maritsa,^[20] and in its aftermath, many surviving lords submitted to the Ottoman Sultan Murad I. Byzantium was in no better position and after taking Serres from the defeated Serbs, John V swore allegiance as a vassal to Murad. Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1L battery John V's rule was an unhappy one, resulting in his vassalage to Murad I. However, it must have been all the more worse when his eldest son and heir to the throne Andronikos IV Palaiologos rebelled against his father in 1373.^[21] Curiously, this rebellion coincided with the rebellion of Murad I's son, Savci Celebi^[21] and the two worked towards fomenting revolution in their peoples. SONY VAIO PCG-81111V battery Consequently, both the Byzantine and Ottoman rulers were facing their sons and as a result, coordinated efforts were made to defeat both.^[21] John V had his eldest son, Andronikos IV, along with the latter's son, John VII, partially blinded, while Murad I defeated his son, Savci, and had him executed.^[22] Manuel, the second son of John V, was made co-emperor and heir to the throne. SONY VAIO PCG-81211V battery Unfortunately for John V, Andronikos IV and his son John VII escaped. With Genoan and Turkish aid, they returned to Constantinople and succeeded in overthrowing John V, imprisoning him and Manuel.^[22] In exchange for Ottoman aid, Andronikos IV handed the fortress of Gallipoli over to the Ottomans, thus rendering the only genuine European aid, provided by Amadeoof Savoy, useless. SONY VAIO PCG-51111V battery