The adirondacks and the catskills are both areas of high elevation.?

Question

the adirondacks and the catskills are both areas of high elevation. Why are the adirondacks classified as a mountain landscape, whereas the catskills are classified as a plateau landscape?

Answer 1

It all has to do with the cat killing.  There is a little history, a little etymology, and a little geography here for you, but it is a fascinating and little-told tale.

The Catskills were once very much like the Adirondacks.  The major difference was that the Catskills were populated by the prolific Makupali Indian tribe.  The Makupali cat-killing ritual both gave these mountains their name, and their unique geographic quality.  

Makupali believed that the Great Spirit was pleased when they captured a wildcat and sacrificed it on a leveled mountaintop.  Each time they performed a sacrifice, they levelled a little bit more of a mountaintop, until each mountaintop in the Catskill range was completely flat on top, making it a plateau.  Of course, the Catskill range draws its name from the many thousands of wildcats killed there over the years by the Makupali Indians.

The Adirondacks, on the other hand, were populated by Mohawk indians, who did not sacrifice wildcats and did not flatten the mountaintops.  The Adirondack mountains typically have rounded peaks.

There are other areas of high elevation, like the Empire State Building and the Space Needle, but these are not mountains or plateaus, and draw their names from other things (namely, "the Empire State" and "space").

Ron B:  A little Eurocentric maybe?  No fun!  You're one of those "Columbus discovered America" guys, aren't you?  Check out the Makupali Indian website, folks, if you are skeptical.

Answer 2

I can't help it..."kill" is dutch for creek, hence the towns of Fishkill, Peekskill, etc in N.Y. state. "Cat" sacrifice? "Makupali" Indians?

Just google the Catskills and Adirondacks you'll be much better off.

Answer 3

because the catskills r really wide and flat on top.

Answer 4

plateau is a large raised area, mountains are like a high ridge