Portal:Georgia (U.S. state)

The Georgia (U.S. state) Portal

Seal of Georgia

Seal of Georgia

Georgia /ˈɔːrə/ is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. Named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 21, 1861, and was one of the original seven Confederate states. It was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15, 1870.

Georgia is the 24th most extensive and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States. From 2007 to 2008, 14 of Georgia's counties ranked among the nation's 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South. Atlanta is the state's capital and its most populous city.

Georgia is bordered on the south by Florida; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina; on the west by Alabama; 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 Appalachian Mountains system. 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 the Atlantic Ocean.

Georgia is the most extensive state east of the Mississippi River in terms of land area, although it is the fourth most extensive (after Michigan, Florida, and Wisconsin) in total area, a term which includes expanses of water which are part of state territory.

More about Georgia...

The Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply center of Atlanta, Union forces commanded by William T. Sherman overwhelmed and defeated Confederate forces defending the city under John B. Hood. Union Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson was killed during the battle. Despite the implication of finality in its name, the battle occurred midway through the campaign and the city did not fall until September 2, 1864, after a Union siege and various attempts to seize railroads and supply lines leading to Atlanta. After taking the city, Sherman's troops headed south-southeastward toward Milledgeville, the State capital, and on to Savannah with the March to the Sea. The fall of Atlanta was especially noteworthy for its political ramifications. In the 1864 election, former Union General George B. McClellan, a Democrat, ran against President Lincoln on a peace platform calling for truce with the Confederacy. The capture of Atlanta and Hood's burning of military facilities as he evacuated were extensively covered by Northern newspapers, significantly boosting Northern morale, and Lincoln was reelected by a large margin.

Selected picture - show another

The Georgia State Capitol Building in Atlanta with the distinctive gold dome.
The Georgia State Capitol Building in Atlanta with the distinctive gold dome.
Credit: Autiger

The Georgia State Capitol, in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States, is an architecturally and historically significant building. It has been named a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the main office building of Georgia's government. The offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state are on the second floor, while the General Assembly meets on the third floor from January to April. There are also visitors' galleries and a museum on the fourth floor.

State facts

State symbols:

Selected biography - show another

John Mayer

John Clayton Mayer (/ˈm.ər/ MAY-ər; born October 16, 1977) is an American pop and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his skills and gained a following, and he now lives in New York City. His first two studio albums, Room for Squares and Heavier Things, did well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland." Mayer began his career performing mainly acoustic rock, but gradually began a transition towards the blues genre in 2005 by collaborating with renowned blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton, and by forming the John Mayer Trio. The blues influence can be heard throughout his 2005 live album Try! with the John Mayer Trio and his third studio album Continuum, released in September 2006. At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007 Mayer won Best Pop Vocal Album for Continuum and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". He released his fourth studio album, Battle Studies, in November 2009. He has sold over 10 million albums in the U.S. and 20 million albums worldwide.

Selected anniversaries for January

Did you know?


  • ...that the highest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. state of Georgia is 112 °F (44 °C), while the lowest ever recorded is -17 °F (-27 °C)?



Categories

Categories

Select [►] to view subcategories


WikiProjects

You are invited to participate in WikiProject Georgia of the United States, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about the State of Georgia.
Parent projects
North AmericaUnited States
Main project
Georgia (U.S. state)
Sub-projects
WikiProjects
WikiProjects
AtlantaEducation in GeorgiaGeorgia State RoutesGeorgia TechSouth Georgia
Related projects
U.S. RoadsGeographyAlabamaFloridaNorth CarolinaSouth CarolinaTennessee

What are WikiProjects?

Selected panorama

Panoramic view of Fort James Jackson
Panoramic view of Fort James Jackson
Credit: Ebyabe

Fort James Jackson (usually shortened to Fort Jackson) is a restored nineteenth-century fort located one mile east of Savannah, Georgia, on the Savannah River. It hosts the Fort Jackson Maritime Museum. Fort Jackson was constructed between 1808 and 1812 to protect the city of Savannah from attack by sea. During the American Civil War, it became one of three Confederate forts that defended Savannah from Union forces (the other two were Fort McAllister and Fort Pulaski). In 1862, Fort Jackson came under shelling from a ship captained by an escaped slave, Robert Smalls.

Selected quote

Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood... I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today...
Martin Luther King Jr., American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the Civil Rights Movement

Quality content

A-Class articles

Topics

Things you can do

edit · history · watch · purge


Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals

Purge server cache