Erie

Erie, indigenous people of North America

Erie (ĭr`ē), indigenous people of North America of the Iroquoian branch of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). In the Iroquoian language the word erie means "long tail" (i.e., cat), and, therefore, the Erie were referred to as the Cat Nation. In the 17th cent. they inhabited the region E and SE of Lake Erie in the present states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. They then numbered some 14,000. Although they were sedentary farmers of the Eastern Woodlands area, they exhibited some Southeastern cultural traits, such as the use of poisoned arrows and the building of palisaded villages. They were traditional enemies of the Iroquois Confederacy, and in 1656, after one of the most relentless and destructive Indian wars, the Erie were almost exterminated by the Iroquois. The surviving captives were either adopted or enslaved by the confederacy.

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Erie, city, United States

Erie, city (1990 pop. 108,718), seat of Erie co., NW Pa., on Lake Erie; inc. as a city 1851. Pennsylvania's only port on the Great Lakes, Erie is a busy shipping point for coal, iron ore, grain, petroleum, machinery, and lumber. Its manufactures include hospital equipment; locomotives; paper, food, plastic, and wood products; and industrial heaters. Fort Presque Isle was built in 1753 by the French, occupied and rebuilt in 1760 by the English, and destroyed during Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763. A peace conference between the British and Native Americans was held in 1764, but the town was not laid out until 1795. Oliver Hazard Perry's fleet was launched at Crystal Point before his victory over the British during the battle of Lake Erie in 1813. Gannon Univ., Mercyhurst College, Villa Maria College, and a branch of Pennsylvania State Univ. are in the city. Many historic buildings remain in Erie; nearby is Presque Isle State Park.

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Erie

City (pop., 2000: 103,717), northwestern Pennsylvania, U.S. Named for the Erie Indians, it was the site of a French fort (1753) on Lake Erie. The site was acquired by the U.S. in 1795, when the town was laid out. Nearby naval shipyards built most of the fleet that defeated the British at the Battle of Lake Erie (1813) in the War of 1812. Economic development began with the opening (1844) of the Erie and Pittsburgh Canal and with railway construction in the 1850s. Pennsylvania's only port on the St. Lawrence Seaway, it is a shipping point for many products, including lumber, coal, and petroleum. While early industries were largely agricultural, manufactures, including electrical equipment and construction machinery, are now well diversified.

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Erie

1. Lake. a lake between the US and Canada: the southernmost and the shallowest of the Great Lakes; empties by the Niagara River into Lake Ontario. Area: 25 718 sq. km (9930 sq. miles)

2. a port in NW Pennsylvania, on Lake Erie. Pop.: 101 373 (2003 est.)