The Hudson river’s ancient name is MohiKonTok. Who is Hudson? The Dutch East India Company financed English navigator Henry Hudson in his search for the Northwest Passage. During the search, Hudson decided to sail his ship up the river that would later be named after him. When the navigator Henry Hudson arrived in New York in 1609, he did not know that the name of the river was given MohiKonTok by the early Americans.
When the river was born. A group of people believes that the lake Tears of Cloud was a moving river of ice. It was created during the last Ice Age in the Hudson Valley. The most recent ice age, the North American glaciation existed approximately between 20,000 to 30,000 years BC. The other group of people named it, in geological terms, a drowned river. The rising sea levels, after the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciation, have resulted in a marine incursion that drowned the coastal plain and brought saltwater above the mouth of the river.
The Hudson River is about 315 miles long. It is 4,322 feet above sea level. The river is as deep as 200 feet in places. During the maximum point of the last ice age, glaciers covered about 32 percent of the total land of North America. The Hudson River is not a typical river. Hudson is actually a tidal estuary where saltwater from the ocean combines with fresh water from the northern tributaries. Saltwater travels from the mouth of NY harbor to the Federal Dam in Troy, Albany, approximately 153 miles. The area around the Hudson River was inhabited by indigenous peoples ages before Europeans arrived. The Algonquins lived along the river, with the three subdivisions of that group being the Lenape (also known as the Delaware Indians), the Wappingers, and the Mahicans. They named it MohiKontok. The meaning of the word “Mohikontok” is that river that flows two ways in the Algonquin language. The river was called Ca-ho-ha-ta-te-a (“the river”) by the Iroquois, and it was known as Muh-he-kun-ne-tuk (“river that flows two ways”) by the Mohican tribe who formerly inhabited both banks of the lower portion of the river.
The lake “Tears of Cloud” is located on the second-highest peak among the Adirondack mountains. The river runs along the borderline of New York, and New Jersey. It is a habitat for many sea animals. Hudson Canyon is a rich fishing area.
What lives in the river? You can catch Striped Bass, Weakfish, Porgy, Eels, and Summer founder from May to November. A Stripped Bass may weigh more than 40 pounds. The Hudson River is much cleaner than in the past. Humpback Whales have made a comeback in New York City.