Georgia is a state in the Southeastern United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution.
It was the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established as a colony, in 1733. It was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788.
It seceded from the Union on January 21, 1861 and was one of the original seven Confederate states.
It was the last state readmitted to the Union, on July 15, 1870. Georgia is the ninth-largest state in the nation by population, with an estimated 9,544,750 residents as of July 1, 2007.
It is also the third fastest-growing state in terms of numeric gain and fifth in terms of percent gain, adding 202,670 residents at a rate of 2.2%.www.census.gov From 2005 to 2006, Georgia had a nation-leading 14 counties among the 100 fastest-growing counties.
Georgia is also known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South. Atlanta is the largest city (by population), and the capital.
Georgia is bordered on the south by Florida; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina; on the west by Alabama and by Florida in the extreme southwest; and on the north by Tennessee and North Carolina.
The northern part of the state is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a mountain range in the vast mountain system of the Appalachians. The central piedmont extends from the foothills to the fall line, where the rivers cascade down in elevation to the continental coastal plain of the southern part of the state.
The highest point in Georgia is Brasstown Bald, 4,784 feet (1,458 m); the lowest point is sea level.
With an area of 59,424 square miles (153,909 km²), Georgia is ranked 24th in size among the 50 U.S. states. Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi River in terms of land area, although it is the fourth largest (after Michigan, Florida, and Wisconsin) in total area, a term which includes expanses of water claimed as state territory.
Geography
Beginning from the Atlantic Ocean, the state's eastern border with South Carolina runs up the Savannah River, northwest to its origin at the confluence of the Tugaloo and Seneca rivers.
It then continues up the Tugaloo (originally Tugalo) and into the Chattooga River, its most significant tributary.
These bounds were decided in the 1787 Treaty of Beaufort, and tested in the U.S. Supreme Court in the two Georgia v. South Carolina cases in 1922 and 1989.
The border then takes a sharp turn around the tip of Rabun County, at latitude 35°N, though from this point it diverges slightly south (possibly due to later resurveying with better accuracy).
This originally was the Georgia and North Carolina border all the way back to the Mississippi River, until Tennessee was divided from North Carolina, and Alabama and Mississippi (the Yazoo Lands) were taken from Georgia.
The state's western border then departs in another straight line south-southeastward, at a point southwest of Chattanooga, to meet the westernmost point of the Chattahoochee River near West Point, Georgia. It continues down to the point where it ends at the Flint River (the confluence of the two forming Florida's Apalachicola River), and goes almost due east and very slightly south, in a straight line to the origin of the Saint Mary's River, which then forms the remainder of the boundary back to the ocean.
It should be noted that the water boundaries are still set to be the original thalweg of the rivers. Since then, several have been inundated by man made lakes, including the Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint point now under Lake Seminole.
In 2008, Georgia state legislators claimed that the state's border with Tennessee had been erroneously placed one mile further south than intended in an 1818 survey, and proposed that the border should be corrected.
This would allow Georgia, in the midst of a significant drought, to access water from the Tennessee River.
Georgia is divided into five geologic regions. These include the Ridge and Valley, the Blue Ridge, the Piedmont, the Coastal Plain, and the Appalachian Plateau.
Each region has its own distinctive characteristics. For instance the Ridge and Valley, which lies in the northwest corner of the state, includes limestone, sandstone, shale and other sedimentary rocks, which have yielded construction-grade limestone, barite, ochre and small amounts of coal.
The Blue Ridge Mountains of northeast Georgia are made up of metamorphic rock as well as granite and diabase. The geology of the Piedmont includes schist, amphibolite, gneiss, migmatite, and granite while the primary resource of the Coastal Plain is kaolin.
Climate
The majority of Georgia is primarily a humid subtropical climate tempered somewhat by occasional polar air masses in the winter.
Hot and humid summers are typical, except at the highest elevations. The entire state, including the north Georgia mountains, receives moderate to heavy precipitation, which varies from 45 inches (1143 mm) in central Georgia to approximately 75 inches (1905 mm) around the Northeast part of the state.
The degree to which the weather of a certain area of Georgia is subtropical depends not just on the latitude, but also on how close it is to the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico and the altitude.
This is especially true in the mountainous areas in the northern part of the state, which are further away from ocean waters and can be up to 4500 feet (1350 m) or higher above sea level.
The areas near the Florida/Georgia border, extending from the entire Georgia coastline west to the Florida panhandle, experiences the most subtropical weather, similar to that of Florida: hot, humid summers with frequent afternoon thunderstorms and mild, somewhat drier winters. These areas experience snow much less frequently than other parts of Georgia.
The Georgia Piedmont area is somewhat cooler in winter than the coastal areas. The Southern areas of the Piedmont may receive snow every other year, while areas close to the foothills get snow several times a year. This part of Georgia is especially vulnerable to ice storms.
The mountains of Georgia have the coolest climate and most frequent snowfall in the state, although snowfall is less than any other part of the Appalachian Mountains.
In spite of having moderate weather compared to many other states, Georgia has occasional extreme weather. The highest temperature ever recorded is 112 °F (44.4 °C), while the lowest ever recorded is -17 °F (-27.2 °C).
Georgia is one of the leading states in incidents of tornadoes. The areas closest to the Florida border get the same small F0 and F1 tornadoes associated with summer afternoon thunderstorms. However, it is very uncommon for tornadoes to become severe (over F3).
As it is on the Atlantic coast, Georgia is also vulnerable to hurricanes, although the Georgia coastline only rarely experiences a direct hurricane strike.
More common are hurricanes which strike the Florida panhandle, weaken over land, and bring strong tropical storm winds and heavy rain to the Georgia interior, as well as hurricanes that come close to the Georgia coastline, brushing the coast on their recurvature on the way up to hit The Carolinas.
In 2006 and 2007, however, Georgia has had severe droughts, especially in 2007. Temperatures over 100 degrees have been recorded.
History
The local moundbuilder culture, described by Hernando de Soto in 1540, completely disappeared by 1560.
Early on, in the course of European exploration of the area, a number of Spanish explorers visited the inland region of Georgia.
The conflict between Spain and England over control of Georgia began in earnest in about 1670, when the English founded the Carolina colony in present-day South Carolina.
Nearly a century earlier, the Spanish of Spanish Florida had established the missionary provinces of Guale and Mocama on the coast and Sea Islands of present-day Georgia.
After decades of fighting, the Carolinians and allied Indians permanently destroyed the Spanish mission system during the invasions of 1702 and 1704.
After 1704, Spanish control was limited to St. Augustine and Pensacola. The Florida peninsula was subjected to raids as far as the Florida Keys.
The coast of Georgia was occupied by now British-allied Indians such as the Yamasee until the Yamasee War of 1715-1717, after which the region was depopulated, opening up the possibility of a new British colony. In 1724, it was first suggested the British colony there be called Province of Georgia in honor of King George II.
British interest in establishing a colony below South Carolina came from varied sources. Spanish Florida was a threat to South Carolina and a haven for runaway slaves.
The French in the 1720s established a fort near present-day Montgomery, Alabama, also a threat to British interests in the region. Traders from Charleston, South Carolina, had established trading posts as far west as the Ocmulgee River, near present-day Macon, Georgia. The British trading network kept the Creek Indians allied with them; the French move threatened to wrest these Indians' trade away from the British.
These strategic interests made the British government interested in establishing a new colony that would reinforce the British influence in the border country that had been open to Spanish and French penetration.
Meanwhile, many members of the British Parliament had become concerned about the plight of England's debtors.
A parliamentary committee investigated and reported on conditions in Britain's debtor prisons. A group of philanthropists organized themselves to establish a colony where the "worthy poor" of England could reestablish themselves as productive citizens.
This goal was seen as both philanthropic, helping these distressed people, and patriotic, simultaneously relieving Britain of the burden of the imprisoned debtors and augmenting Britain's vital mercantile empire by planting new, industrious subjects to strengthen her trade.
This goal went unfulfilled as Georgia was ultimately not settled by debtors or convicts.
In 1732, a group of these philanthropists were granted a royal charter as the Trustees of the Province of Georgia.
They carefully selected the first group of colonists to send to the new colony. On 12 February 1733, 113 settlers landed in the HMS Anne at what was to become the city of Savannah.
This day is now known as Georgia Day, which is not a public holiday but is mainly observed in schools and by some local civic groups.
James Edward Oglethorpe, one of the trustees of the colony, traveled with the first group of colonists, laid out the design of the town of Savannah, and acted as governor of the colony, although technically under the trustees there was no "governor."
Oglethorpe acted as the only trustee present in the colony. When he returned to Britain, a series of disputes ended his tenure governing the colony; Georgia was then led by a series of presidents named by the trustees. In 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown. Georgia became a crown colony, with a governor appointed by the British king.
Georgia was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution by signing the 1776 Declaration of Independence, despite a large population of people loyal to the crown. During the war, nearly one-third of the slaves, more than 5,000 enslaved African Americans, exercised their desire for independence by escaping and joining British forces, where they were promised freedom. Some went to Great Britain or the Caribbean; others were resettled in Canada provinces.
Following the war, Georgia became the fourth state of the United States of America after ratifying the United States Constitution on 2 January 1788. Georgia established its first state constitution in 1777. The state established new constitutions in 1788, 1799, 1861, 1865, 1868, 1877, 1945, 1976, and 1983, for a total of 10 — more constitutions than any other state, except for Louisiana, which has had 11.
On January 18, 1861, Georgia joined the Confederacy and became a major theater of the American Civil War.
Major battles took place at Chickamauga, Kennesaw Mountain, and Atlanta.
In December 1864, a large swath of the state from Atlanta to Savannah was destroyed during General William Tecumseh Sherman's March to the Sea.
This event served as the historical background for the 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and the 1939 film of the same name.
On July 15, 1870, following Reconstruction, Georgia became the last former Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union.
Georgia has had five official state capitals: colonial Savannah, which later alternated with Augusta; then for a decade at Louisville (pronounced Lewis-ville), and from 1806 through the American Civil War, at Milledgeville.
In 1868, Atlanta became the fifth capital of the state.
The state's legislature also met at other temporary sites, including Macon, especially during the Civil War.
Economy
Georgia's 2006 total gross state product was $380 billion. Its per capita personal income for 2005 put it 10th in the nation at $40,155.
If Georgia were a stand-alone country, it would be the 18th largest economy in the world.
There are 15 Fortune 500 companies and 26 Fortune 1000 companies with headquarters in Georgia, including such names as Home Depot, UPS, Coca Cola, Delta Air Lines, AFLAC, Southern Company, and SunTrust Banks. Georgia has over 1,700 internationally headquartered facilities representing 43 countries, employing more than 112,000 Georgians with an estimated capital investment of $22.7 billion.
