Quick Facts: Georgia

Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. 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.

ABBREVIATION: GA
NICKNAME: The Peach State
POPULATION: 11,180,878 (2024 est.)
CAPITAL: Atlanta
STATE BIRD: Brown Thrasher
STATE FLOWER: Cherokee Rose
AREA: 59,425 sq. mi.
TIME ZONE: Eastern
ENTERED UNION: Jan. 2, 1788
ALTITUDE: High, 4,784 ft. Brasstown Bald
CLIMATE: Humid. Hot summers, mild winters. Heavy rainfall in northeast.

In 1732, when King George II chartered the American colony named for him, he ordered each settler to plant mulberry trees so Georgia could furnish England with all the silk she needed. Although silk turned out to be an uneconomical industry for the colony, the settlers very quickly discovered resources far more vital to a maritime empire; tar, pitch and other naval stores from the region’s vast forests of pine.

To this day Georgia still produces a large part of the world’s rosin-now used more for plastics, soft drinks, chewing gums and pharmaceuticals than for sealing ships. In the last century the timber itself, supplying the raw materials for pulp and paper mills, lumber, and furniture, became increasingly important.

The newly established state came into its first great prosperity after Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793. To run its cotton mills, Georgia needed power. Fortunately the shape of the land provided the means. Where the coastal plain met the Piedmont Plateau at the Fall Line, streams dropped rapidly enough to furnish water power for industry. This natural phenomenon accounts for the location of some of the Southeast’s leading manufacturing cities, such as Columbus and Augusta.

Cotton field in southern Georgia

With the coming of the railroad, Georgia entered a new phase, for its position on the South Atlantic seaboard made it the logical distribution center for all of the South. As one railroad after another was built, Atlanta, founded in 1836, became a hub of trade and transportation. After many years of steady growth, the city attained a position as the commercial, financial, and manufacturing center for the entire Southeast.

Fun Facts:

Coca-Cola was invented in 1886 in Atlanta by Dr. John Pemberton and was first sold at the soda fountain in a local pharmacy. First-year sales averaged nine drinks a day, for a year-end earning of $50.
The first gold rush in the United States took place in 1828 at Dahlonega.
Martin Luther King Jr., charismatic African-American civil rights leader and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was born in Atlanta in 1929.
In 1912, Juliette Gordon, founded the Girl Scouts in Savannah.
The carvings of Confederate leaders Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis on Stone Mountain near Atlanta make up the world’s largest high relief sculpture.
Delta Airlines started as a company that dusted crops for boll weevils and later developed into one of the country’s leading commercial airlines.

History:

Georgia’s history is one of dramatic transformation, from its colonial beginnings as a British experiment to its role in the American Revolution, Civil War, Civil Rights Movement, and modern economic growth. Located in the southeastern United States, Georgia has played a crucial role in shaping the nation’s identity and values.

Before European contact, Georgia was inhabited by Native American cultures such as the Creek and Cherokee. These tribes had established advanced societies with farming, trade, and political systems. They lived throughout the region’s fertile valleys, forests, and rivers, and their presence shaped Georgia’s early history.

In 1733, British general James Oglethorpe founded the colony of Georgia, naming it after King George II. It was the last of the original 13 colonies. Oglethorpe envisioned Georgia as a place for debtors and the poor to start anew, and also as a buffer between British South Carolina and Spanish Florida.

The colony originally banned slavery and limited land ownership to prevent the rise of plantations, but these restrictions were lifted in the 1750s, leading to the growth of a slave-based economy centered on rice, indigo, and later cotton.

Georgia played a significant role in the American Revolution. Despite early divisions between Loyalists and Patriots, Georgia joined the fight for independence. The state ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788, becoming the fourth state in the Union.

During the early 19th century, Georgia expanded westward, fueled by the cotton boom and the invention of the cotton gin. This expansion led to the forced removal of Native American tribes, most notably the Cherokee. The infamous Trail of Tears, beginning in 1838, saw thousands of Cherokee people removed from Georgia to lands west of the Mississippi River, resulting in immense suffering and death.

In 1861, Georgia seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America. It was a major battleground during the Civil War, with the fall of Atlanta in 1864 marking a turning point.

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s “March to the Sea” devastated the state’s economy and infrastructure. After the war, Georgia endured a long and difficult Reconstruction period, marked by poverty, racial conflict, and political change.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw Georgia rebuild and modernize. The state developed textile mills, railroads, and agricultural industries. However, it also enforced strict segregation laws and witnessed the rise of the Jim Crow system, which denied civil rights to African Americans.

Georgia played a central role in the Civil Rights Movement. Atlanta became a hub of activism and progress, home to key figures like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and institutions like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The movement helped dismantle segregation and expand voting rights across the South.

In recent decades, Georgia has emerged as a major economic and cultural force. Atlanta is now a center for business, transportation, film production, and technology. Politically and socially, Georgia continues to reflect the dynamic tensions and possibilities of the American South.

Georgia’s rich and complex history is one of resilience, conflict, and progress—deeply rooted in the past, yet always evolving.