Ellis Island (United States)

Any American knows the answer to the question of where Ellis Island is located. This is not surprising, because, according to statistics, almost every citizen of the United States has in the pedigree of a person who once got into the country through him. Thanks to the Immigration Museum located here, this piece of sushi is known all over the world.

Name

Ellis Island is located in the middle of the Hudson River in the city of New York. Nearby is the southern cape of Manhattan. During the Civil War, this land was purchased by Samuel Ellis, who opened a tavern for local fishermen. It was his name and the island.

Military fortress

The State of New York in 1808 acquired this land from the heirs of the owner, and immediately sold it to the Federal Government for $ 10,000. Later Ellis Island (USA) was used mainly as a fortress and an arsenal, for which barracks were built here. He played this role for eighty years. Whatever it was, for all this time he has never been used to protect the city.

Bastion of immigrants

Since 1814, this place was overtaken by the first mass wave of immigrants. They were not stopped by the terrible poverty, nor by the difficult conditions of crossing the ocean. People were just looking for a better life. From year to year the number of settlers was steadily growing, and in this connection in 1892 the authorities decided to open an immigration center. The main task of its employees was to register people who came in, who had to meet a number of requirements related to health, financial status and work experience. The original building was burned down in 1897. Some time later, local architects built a larger center with a hospital, a dining room and a laundry. This was facilitated by an increase in the area of the island from 12 to 14.8 hectares. This fact is due to the fact that during the construction of the subway in New York, they dug out the dug earth.

Registration of immigrants

All the settlers who arrived on Ellis Island, were waiting for the final decision on their future fate under rather difficult conditions. Many of them died without waiting for the results of the inspection. This is not surprising, because in one stuffy room at the same time could be several thousand people who underwent a medical check. According to statistics, one in five of them was considered to be weak-minded, and many were excluded as potential carriers of tuberculosis.

For all the years of work of the immigration center, a total of more than twelve million people have been checked. According to statistics, an average of 5 thousand immigrants came to Ellis Island daily. For many immigrants from this place began the embodiment of a dream into reality. Along with this, more than 3,500 people (almost half of whom are children) died in a local hospital without becoming residents of the United States.

The Museum

The Immigration Museum on Ellis Island was inaugurated on September 9, 1990. In it, the local authorities managed to preserve the history of one of the most large-scale periods of people's resettlement. It is the only landmark on this stretch of land. However, many Americans consider this tourist site sacred, so there are always a lot of visitors. Everyone has the opportunity to look at more than two thousand exhibits, among them unique photographs, ship magazines with lists of settlers, audio recordings with eyewitnesses' memories and others. Many of the Americans come here in search of traces of their ancestors. Among other things, there is a stone slab on which the copper plates bear the names of people arriving at Ellis Island at different times. There are 470 tablets.

The main idea that the local authorities wanted to convey to all visitors, opening the museum, is that anyone who works hard and works hard can achieve great success on their own. This is true, because this island, in fact, has become a symbolic beginning of the embodiment of the American dream for many immigrants.

Interesting Facts

According to one of the local legends, the names of many European immigrants who arrived at different times to Ellis Island were reduced, warped or improperly recorded by immigration officials. In this regard, for some Americans sometimes it becomes very difficult to find in the lists of their ancestors.

Territorially, the island is closer to the state of New Jersey, but it refers to New York. After the artificial enlargement of Ellis Square, the authorities of the first of the mentioned American administrative districts presented the rights to this territory. The Supreme Court on the fact of the proceedings in this matter it was decided that this land site should be simultaneously under the jurisdiction of two states. It still works today.

Many people erroneously confuse this land area in the Hudson River because of a similar name with other parts of the earth that bear the names of Gilbert and Ellis. These islands are British property and are located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. Their total area is 956 square kilometers. They consist of 37 large atolls and islets. The number of local population does not exceed the mark of 56 thousand people. The basis of the local economy is the extraction of phosphites, as well as the cultivation of coconut palms and the manufacture of copra. They have nothing in common with the American island of Ellis.

The Immigration Museum is one of the most popular tourist destinations in New York. To visit it is very simple. Ferries, the cost of travel at which is 17 dollars, sent in his direction every 20 minutes. Moreover, during the trip, travelers can see the Statue of Liberty from a short distance .