The Hudson is to New York what the Seine is to Paris: a driving force without which the cityscape would be unrecognizable. It is this very river, the Hudson, that LEC has chosen to tell you about today, on the occasion of your teen language study trip to New York. Let’s take a closer look.
The Hudson, a river in New Jersey and New York State
The Hudson River, which you should be sure to call the Hudson River during your next teen language study trip to New York, is a river in the northeastern United States. Unlike the Mississippi, for example, which flows through no fewer than 10 states, the Hudson flows through only two states in the United States:
- New Jersey
- New York State
The Hudson, a river stretching over 500 kilometers
The Hudson River originates in the Adirondacks, a crystalline mountain range that extends from the Appalachians, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It stretches for 507 kilometers; by way of comparison, this is just a little less than the length of the French territory through which the Garonne flows.
A river that flows into the Great Lakes and Canada
The Hudson River, which you’ll have plenty of opportunity to observe during a teen language study trip to New York, is connected by a canal to Lake Erie—a vast body of water bordered by the United States and Canada—as well as to the St. Lawrence River, a Canadian river that originates in Lake Ontario. Construction materials, petroleum products, and coal make up the bulk of its cargo.
The Legacy of Henry Hudson
But where, exactly, does the name of this iconic New York City river come from? The answer: it was an English explorer who named it. It was Henry Hudson—an adventurer born in London in the 16th century and who died 46 years later—who discovered the bay and strait that would bear his name.