Georgia is one of
the fifty states that, along with Washington D.C., make up the
United States. Its capital and most populated city is Atlanta.
It is located in the Southern region of the country, South
Atlantic division, bordering to the north with Tennessee and
North Carolina, to the east with the Savannah River - which
separates it from South Carolina - to the south with Florida and
to the west with Alabama (the southern half of this boundary is
formed by the Chattahoochee River). With 9,687,653 inhabitants
in 2010, it is the ninth most populated state, behind
California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania,
Ohio and Michigan. It was admitted to the Union on January 2,
1788, as the 4th state.
Georgia's population growth is
one of the highest in the country in recent decades. Its
population grew by around 26% between 1990 and 2000, from
6,478,216 in 1990 to 8,186,453 in 2000. Most of Georgia is
covered by forests, mainly pine, peach, and magnolia. The
northern territory of the state is fundamentally mountainous,
while its southern area is flatter and less rugged. The natural
aspects of Georgia were and still are very important to the
state. Culturally, the natural beauties inspired various artists
who grew up there. Economically, they make tourism and the
logging industry important sources of income for Georgia. The
state is one of the national leaders in timber production. Its
forests gave it the nickname The Peach State and a popular
saying, Tall as Georgia Pine.
The region that currently
constitutes Georgia was in dispute during the end of the 17th
century and the beginning of the 18th century, between the
United Kingdom and Spain. From the British point of view,
Georgia was then part of a colony called the Carolinas, which
also included the current states of North Carolina and South
Carolina. However, for Spain, Georgia was part of Spanish
Florida, keeping the dispute alive with some intensity until the
end of the Seven Years' War, in 1763. In 1724, the British
created the colony of Georgia. On February 12, 1733, the first
British settlers settled in the region, in what is now Savannah.
Georgia was the last of the Thirteen Colonies created by the
British.
Georgia prospered beginning in the 1750s with
the cultivation of rice and corn, becoming a leader in the
agrarian industry of the Thirteen Colonies. After the American
victory in the American War of Independence, Georgia became the
fourth American state on January 2, 1788. Georgia seceded from
the Union in 1861, and became part of the Confederate States of
America. Georgia was one of the states hardest hit by the Civil
War (a stage in Georgia history that inspired the immortal novel
Gone with the Wind). Until the beginning of the 20th century,
the state's economy depended on agriculture and livestock. From
then on, manufacturing became the state's main source of income,
and more recently the finance sector has also become one of its
main sources of income.
Northwest - the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains.
Center
- historic heart of the state including the greater Atlanta area.
Coast - Islands and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
Southwest -
Rivers and Plains.
1 Albany
2 Athens - University of Georgia
3 Atlanta - capital
and birthplace of Coca Cola
4 Augusta
5 Chatsworth
6 Columbus
7 Decatur
8 Helen - Small village with an alpine look
9 Lafayette
10 Macon
11 Marietta
12 Savannah - Seaside town
13 Valdosta
Fort Frederica National Monument is an open air museum of the British fort located on St. Simons Island, Georgia in United States. It was constructed in 1736- 1748 by British General James E. Oglethorpe and covers an area 241 acres.
Fort Pulaski National Monument houses old American fortress that was constructed in 1829 under orders of Major General Babcock who was later replaced by Second Lieutenant Robert E. Lee.
Ocmulgee National Monument is famous for massive earth works of the Native American near Macon, Georgia state of United States.
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport internet (IATA:
ATL), 6000 N Terminal Pkwy, Atlanta, GA 30320. It served 107.4
million passengers in 2018, making it the world's busiest
airport. Feature: WiFi.
Interstate:
I20: From
Tuscaloosa to Atlanta and Augusta and on to Columbia
I16:
From Macon to Pembroke and Savannah
I75: From Tampa via Macon
to Atlanta and on to Chattanooga
I85: From Auburn to Atlanta
and on to Greenville
I95: From Jacksonville to Savannah and
on to Florence.
The north of the state is in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The state's highest point is Brasstown Bald (1458 m). The length of the Atlantic coastline is 161 km.
Georgia has a west-east width of 370 km between 81°W and 85°53'W and a north-south length of 480 km between 30°31'N and 35°N.
Georgia is bordered by the Atlantic
Ocean to the east, the US state of South Carolina
to the northeast, the
states of North Carolina and
Tennessee to the north, the state of
Alabama to the west, and the state of
Florida to the south.
The
border with South Carolina is formed by the Savannah River, starting at
the Atlantic Ocean - to the point where the Tugaloo River and Seneca
River meet to form the Savannah River. To the west, the Tugaloo forms
the border between Georgia and South Carolina. The other border with
South Carolina is the Chattooga River, a tributary of the Tugaloo. The
Savannah River is dammed at several reservoirs, especially in its upper
reaches. Originally, the valley path of the river formed the border
between Georgia and South Carolina, but due to the damming of the lakes
it is no longer visible in many places. The border with South Carolina
is Georgia's only delimited by water and was established in the 1797
Treaty of Beaufort (Treaty of Beaufort).
In the northeasternmost
county, Rabun County, begins the border with North Carolina, which from
there runs strictly west along the 35th parallel. This northern border
of the state of Georgia is formed approximately half by the border with
North Carolina and the other half by that with Tennessee, which was a
territory of North Carolina until independence. Georgia borders directly
on Chattanooga in the northwest. A little further west the border makes
a sharp turn to the south. West of the border is Alabama. In the
northern half, the boundary runs in a straight line south-southeast
until it meets the Chattahoochee River at West Point, which henceforth
forms the boundary in the southern half. This is also the border between
two time zones: Eastern Time applies in Georgia and Central Time in
Alabama.
The southern border with Florida extends east from the
confluence of the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers (which continues south
on the Florida side as the Apalachicola River). At first the border is
straight, to the east it follows the course of the St. Mary's River into
the Atlantic.
outline
Georgia is divided into 159 counties.
This makes Georgia the state with the second highest number of counties
after Texas with 254 counties.
The National
Park Service designates Georgia as a National Scenic Trail, a National
Historic Trail, a National Recreation Area, a National Seashore and
three National Heritage Areas:
Appalachian Trail
path of tears
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area
Cumberland Island
National Seashore
Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area
Augusta
Canal National Heritage Area
Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage
Corridor
There are also eleven National Natural Landmarks (as of
September 30, 2017).
Georgia has three
National Monuments, a National Military Park, a National Battlefield
Park, two National Historic Sites and a National Historical Park:
Fort Frederica
Fort Pulaski
Ocmulgee
Chickamauga and
Chattanooga National Military Park
Kennesaw Mountain National
Battlefield Park
Andersonville National Historic Site
Jimmy Carter
National Historic Site
Martin Luther King Jr National Historical Park
There are also 49 National Historic Landmarks and 2,141 structures
and sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places as of
September 30, 2017.
Native Americans lived in the region where the state of Georgia is located thousands of years before the arrival of the first Europeans. In 1540, Hernando de Soto was the first European to visit the area. The first Native Americans to settle in the region were a prehistoric tribe called mound builders for building small mounds of earth for ritual ceremonies. Some centuries before the arrival of the first European explorers, the Creeks and the Cherokee settled in the region, in the north and south, respectively, of the current state of Georgia, gradually taking the place of the mound builders. The Creeks lived further south. Archaeological remains have been discovered, about 1,100 years old, of a Mayan city in the mountains of this state, which is believed to have been built by this people fleeing wars, famine or natural disasters that hit Central America.
The first European settlement on American territory was founded in
1526, by the Spanish Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón. The location of this
settlement is not known with certainty, whether it was founded on the
Atlantic coast of South Carolina or Georgia. Six months after its
founding, the settlement was abandoned due to bad weather and disease.
In 1540, the Spanish Hernando de Soto, leaving the then Spanish
colony of Florida in the direction of the Mississippi River, explored
parts of the current state of Georgia. In that area, Soto made contact
with the mound builders, being the only European known to have sighted
this indigenous group. Mound builders are believed to have died out
during the 1560s.
The definitive conquest was made after the
French Huguenots founded a colony on the Atlantic coast (Fort Caroline)
in 1564, which, abandoned shortly after, was restored by order of
Admiral Coligny, even though the Queen of France had news from her
daughter, Isabel. of Valois, that her husband, Philip II, would not
consent to the presence of heretics in his territories. The intention
was to attack the Indies fleet when crossing the Bahamas channel;
transfer the religious wars to the New World and confront French opinion
against Spain. Menéndez de Avilés was in charge of putting an end to
these problems and he did so by carrying out the orders that he received
from the monarch. The French were expelled in 1565, and then, several
forts were founded on the Atlantic coast of the present-day United
States, one of which was built in present-day Georgia, in 1566, on the
island of St. Catherines.
Jesuits from La Florida established
themselves in 1570, completely alone (without Spanish troops), in the
mission of Ajacán (present-day Virginia), where they were martyred, with
only one child escaping doctrine. In 1572 the Company of Jesus abandoned
the missions in this area, being replaced by the Order of Saint Francis.
The first Franciscan decade was a turbulent time in which missionary
posts were abandoned, although they were later reoccupied.
The
region of present-day Georgia would continue to be little explored by
Europeans until the beginning of the 18th century; The Spanish crown,
focused mainly on the search for reserves of precious metals, barely
built a few defensive forts and left this mountainous and forested
terrain in the hands of the missionaries. In 1629, the English began to
claim the region. This year, King Charles I of England created a colony,
the Carolina Colony, of which he wanted Georgia to be a part. In 1721,
the British created a fort near the Altamaha River, abandoning it in
1727, due to its high maintenance cost.
In 1730, a group of British established plans for the creation of a
colony in the unexplored southern Carolinas. This colony was called
Georgia, in homage to the then monarch of the United Kingdom, King
George II of Great Britain, George in English. This authorized the
creation of the new colony through the segregation of the southern
region of the Carolinas. Initially, this group of British planned to
send prisoners or people in debt to that area. This plan, however, was
abandoned, and only a few indebted people were sent there, people who
were never heard from again after their departure from the United
Kingdom.
In 1732, King George II granted a license to operate the
new colony of Georgia for 21 years to a corporation called Trustees for
the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America. ), whose
objective was to finance and supply the recruitment and transportation
of settlers between Europe and Georgia. Despite the protests of the
Spanish, who claimed the region, the first British settlers, led by
James Oglethorpe, were sent to Georgia on November 17, 1732, departing
from the United Kingdom, aboard the HMS Anne. On February 12, 1733,
these settlers landed in the region where the city of Savannah is
currently located. These settlers had the collaboration of Tomochichi,
an Indian chief of a Creek tribe, who helped the settlers build adequate
shelters and grow corn and rice, and persuaded other Indian tribes not
to attack the new settlers. In the twenty-one years that Georgia was
controlled by the Trustees, more than four thousand settlers settled in
Georgia, half of whom had their travel expenses paid for by the
Corporation.
Both the United Kingdom and Spain claimed Georgia.
This issue, plus the fact of the existence of illegal trade between
British merchants and Spanish colonies in America, caused Spain and the
United Kingdom to go to war (War of the Seat) in 1739. In this war,
Oglethorpe attempted to annex the Spanish colony of Florida, although he
did not succeed. In 1742, after the capture of a significant Spanish
military force on St. Simons Island, Georgia, by Oglethorpe and his
troops, the war ended. However, the question of Georgia's claim
continued.
During the period when Georgia was under the control
of the Corporation, the colonists had various limitations imposed by the
British crown, which did not apply to the rest of the Thirteen Colonies.
For example, they could not use slave labor. While the economies of
North Carolina and South Carolina prospered from the cultivation of corn
and rice, Georgia's economy suffered from low exports and high prices
for imported goods, leading many to resort to smuggling of products.
Spaniards via Florida. In 1752, the Corporation opened its hands on the
conditions of its licence, and George II reorganized the colony as a
colonial province, in 1754, removing the restrictions previously imposed
on the colony. Georgia then prospered economically, and its population
began to grow rapidly.
The first conflict in Georgia in the
United States War of Independence was the attempt to capture eleven
ships loaded with rice in the port of Savannah in 1776, managing to
capture only two. On July 24, 1778, Georgia ratified the Articles of
Confederation, the father of the Constitution of the United States of
America. Savannah was conquered by the British in December 1779. In late
September 1779, American naval forces, with the help of the French Navy,
took the city, after laying siege to it for three weeks. Despite the
city's recapture, most of Georgia was under British control by the end
of 1779. It was only in 1782 that British troops present in Georgia
would leave the colony. After the end of the American Revolution in
1783, and under the terms of the Treaty of Paris, the United States took
control of all British colonies south of the Great Lakes, north of the
Gulf of Mexico, and east of the Mississippi River.
The region that currently constitutes the states of Alabama and
Mississippi was annexed to Georgia. It became the fourth American state
on January 2, 1788.
During the 1790s, cotton cultivation became
the state's main source of income, thanks to the invention of equipment
that easily separated the cotton thread from the seed. The new industry,
however, did not significantly increase the demand for land in most of
Georgia, relatively isolated from the rest of the country because of the
mountains, forests and swamps of the north of the state. Private
companies purchased large amounts of land from the Georgia government,
for only about four cents per hectare, thanks to the bribery of state
government officials. These lands also included parts of Alabama and
Missouri. However, the discovery of this case of corruption, known as
the Yazoo Fraud, led the state's population to elect new legislators in
the gubernatorial elections of 1795. The new government rejected the
sale, although many refused to return the lands. This problem was
resolved in the 1800s. In 1802, Georgia sold all of its land west of the
Chattahoochee River to the federal government. In 1810, the Supreme
Court of the United States of America ruled that the sale was legal, and
in 1814, the US Congress approved the grant of $4.2 million to be
distributed between landowners and the government of Georgia.
More land was acquired through the removal of Native Americans from the
region, forcing them to migrate beyond west of the Mississippi River—a
region that was not yet part of the United States. In 1827, all the
Creek tribes of Georgia agreed to sell their lands to the government,
and emigrated to the Oklahoma Territory. In 1829, gold was discovered in
Georgia, attracting thousands of white settlers from other states, which
caused the inhabitants of the state to pressure the government to expel
the Cherokees, who owned land rights to large areas of Georgia, they had
their own government and did not recognize the authority of the Georgian
government. In 1830, with the Indian Removal Act, the Cherokee and all
Native American tribes living in the region were forced to retreat to
the Oklahoma Territory, and thus, the last Cherokee tribe to migrate to
Oklahoma did so in 1838.
Georgia's economy, throughout the first
half of the 19th century, depended largely on the cultivation,
processing, and export of cotton to European countries. However, for the
sale of cotton at low and competitive prices in the European market, the
use of slave labor was necessary. After the election of abolitionist
Abraham Lincoln in 1861, Governor Joseph Y. Brown went on to lead a
movement for Georgia's separation from the United States. On January 19,
1861, Georgia became the fifth American state to secede from the Union,
joining the Confederate States of America. Ironically, a politician who
was previously against Georgia's secession from the Union, Alexander H.
Stephens, was elected vice president of the Confederacy.
Later,
during the beginning of the American Civil War, the Union Navy blockaded
the entire Georgia coast, placing various ships around the state's main
port, Savannah, thus interrupting the state's cotton export to European
countries. In September 1863, Union troops led by William T. Sherman
defeated a Confederate force at the Battle of Chattanooga, one of the
Union's first major victories, achieved in the extreme northwest of the
state. In May 1864, Sherman would advance southeast, capturing Atlanta
in September, burning the city in November. Sherman then continued
advancing toward Savannah. Along his way, Sherman ordered the
destruction of any valuable property—such as factories, railroads, and
public structures; and stealing supplies from farms and the cities they
passed through, causing damage estimated at 100 million dollars.
Savannah would finally be conquered by Sherman on November 20, 1864.
Georgia was one of the states of the Confederacy that suffered the
most from the war. The great destruction caused by Sherman's advance in
the American Civil War, the great casualties suffered by the state—more
than any other state in the Confederacy except Virginia—and the economy
in pieces caused a great depression, not only economic but also social,
in Georgia. American troops occupied the state until 1870. In 1868,
Georgia was readmitted to the Union as an American state. However, in
1869, she was expelled for refusing to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment to
the US Constitution, which gave the right to vote to any male person of
legal age - regardless of race. At the time, more than half of Georgia's
population was black. It was only in 1870 that Georgia would ratify this
amendment, and readmitted to the Union on July 15, becoming the last
state of the former Confederacy to be admitted.
In the final
decades of the 19th century, secondary industry increasingly became an
important source of income for the state. At the same time, several
railroad lines were built in the state, and gradually, cotton ceased to
be the most important source of income for Georgia farmers, who began to
diversify their crops. In the 1890s, the state dramatically increased
state budgets for education and social and economic assistance. At the
beginning of the 20th century, manufacturing became Georgia's most
important source of income. The First World War further increased the
state's industrial and agricultural production.
In 1922, Rebecca
Latimer Felton became the first woman to serve as United States Senator
(and, as of 2008, remains the only female Senator from Georgia in the
United States Senate), holding the office for just one day. During the
early 1920s, beetles wreaked havoc on the state's cotton fields, causing
a major recession in Georgia's agricultural sector, with many farmers
losing their entire crops, falling into debt, and being forced to sell
their farms. .
Georgia was hard hit by the Great Depression,
where the recession in the state's agricultural sector worsened, and
many factories and business establishments closed or laid off thousands
of workers. The effects of the recession would be minimized through
government assistance programs beginning in 1933, but the recession
would end only with the country's entry into World War II. During the
war, the migration of large numbers of people from rural areas to the
state's cities increased dramatically. In 1943, Georgia became the first
American state to allow people over 18 years of age to vote in elections
- previously, only people over 21 years of age could vote.
Georgia's industry grew strongly in the years following World War II,
thanks to relatively low operating costs. In 1950, for the first time in
the state's history, more people worked in the industrial sector than in
the agricultural sector. Migration of the rural population to the city
also increased, and in 1960, Georgia's urban population surpassed its
rural population. At the same time, the large emigration of African
Americans from the Southern Region of the United States towards the
industrialized states of the north decreased the proportion of blacks in
the state's population. Currently, about 28.7% of the state's population
is black.
Until the early 1960s, all Georgia schools were
segregated. In 1954, a US Supreme Court decision ordered all states that
required or permitted racial segregation in schools to integrate all of
their educational districts. It was only in 1960 that the Georgia
government began integration, after a mandate from the United States
government to integrate or close its schools. In 1961, for the first
time in state history, African American children attended previously
white-only schools for the first time. The process of racial integration
in schools was slow, with only about a fifth of Georgia's educational
districts being integrated in 1965. In 1969, a new order from the
federal government made it mandatory to accelerate the integration
process in all schools in the state.
During the 1970s, Rap was
created in Holly Springs but many whites moved from areas mostly
inhabited by African Americans, moving to regions where blacks were less
numerous, causing a large increase in the proportion of blacks in the
population of numerous big cities - especially Atlanta. Today, about
two-thirds of Atlanta's population is African American. Georgia's
population growth skyrocketed thereafter, and today, Georgia is one of
the fastest growing American states in the country.
Georgia is bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina, to
the northeast and east by South Carolina, to the east by the Atlantic
Ocean, to the south by Florida, and to the west by Alabama. Georgia is
the largest state in the country east of the Mississippi River, since
West Virginia separated from Virginia in 1863. The rugged terrain of the
northern region of the state makes waterfalls common in the region. The
highest are Amicalola, with its 222 meters high, and Toccoa, with 57
meters. The main rivers that flow through Georgia are the Altamaha,
Chattahoochee (the longest in the state), Suwannee and the Savannah. The
state's coastline has a total length of 161 kilometers - which rises to
3,772 kilometers, if we include all the regions bathed by the sea, the
coastline along the oceanic islands, bays and estuaries. About 60% of
Georgia is covered by forests,
Georgia can be divided into six
distinct geographic regions:
The Appalachian Plateau occupies a small
area in the northwest corner of Georgia. It is characterized by its
rugged and mountainous terrain, located at an altitude between 550 and
600 meters. It is also characterized by its narrow parallel chains of
mountains, with also narrow valleys.
The Appalachian Valley and
Mountains Region, characterized by its relatively uneven terrain, with
large valleys - with very fertile soil - and by its wide mountain
ranges. It envelops the Appalachian Highlands region.
The Blue Ridge
occupies the eastern ridge of northern Georgia, located immediately east
of the Appalachian Valley and Sierra Region. It is characterized by its
rugged and very mountainous terrain, varying between 600 and more than
1,200 meters. The region has the highest point in Georgia, Mount
Brassmount, at 1,458 meters above sea level.
Piemonte, located south
of the three regions mentioned above, is characterized by its relatively
flat and uneven terrain, with an average altitude of 450 meters in the
north, gradually decreasing as one travels south. The south of Piemonte
has an average altitude of 120 meters. Five of the state's largest
cities - Atlanta, Athens, Augusta, Columbus and Macon are located in
this region, the most populated in the state.
The Eastern Gulf Coast
Plains occupy all of southwestern Georgia, and are located immediately
south of the Piemonte. It is characterized by its flat terrain and very
little hilly, relatively sandy soil - where most of the state's peanut,
onion, potato and watermelon cultivation takes place.
The Atlantic
Coast Plains occupy all of southeastern Georgia, located immediately
south of the Piemonte and east of the Eastern Gulf Coast Plains. It is
characterized by its slightly rugged terrain, low altitude - 0 meters on
the state's coastline with the Atlantic Ocean - and by its very fertile
soil.
Georgia has a subtropical climate, relatively pleasant in winter and
hot in summer. Temperatures are more pleasant near the Atlantic Ocean.
The average annual temperature of the state is 18°C.
The
temperature during winter reduces as you travel north. Southern Georgia
averages 11°C in winter, while northern Georgia averages 5°C. In winter,
the average minimum is 7 °C in the south and 0 °C in the north. The
average of the maximum temperatures is 17 °C and 10 °C respectively. The
extremes vary between -10°C and 20°C. The lowest temperature recorded in
Georgia was -27°C on January 27, 1940, in Floyd County.
In
summer, the temperature variation in the state is minimal, basically
depending on the altitude of the terrain - the higher it is, the lower
the average temperature. In summer, the average minimum temperature in
the state is 22 °C, and the average maximum temperature is 33 °C. The
highest temperature recorded in Georgia was 44°C, recorded on August 20,
1983, in Greenville.
Georgia's average annual rainfall
precipitation rates is 1270 millimeters per year. The annual average is
higher in the north of the state — where it reaches 150 centimeters
annually — and smaller in the central region of the state, which
receives about 115 centimeters annually. The wettest months of the year
in Georgia are July and August, and the driest months are October and
November. Snow is scarce in the state. The average annual snowfall rate
is very low: it receives about 2.5 centimeters of snow per year, most of
it in the north of the state.
The current Georgia Constitution was adopted in 1982. Older
constitutions were adopted in 1777, 1789, 1799, 1861, 1865, 1868, 1877,
1945, 1976. In total, ten constitutions were created, more than any
other American state. Amendments to the constitution are proposed by the
Legislative Branch of Georgia, and to be approved, they need at least
the approval of 51% of the Senate and the House of Representatives of
the state, in two successive votes, and subsequently by 51% or more of
Georgia's voting population, in a referendum. Amendments can also be
proposed and introduced by constitutional conventions, which need to
receive the approval of at least 67% of the votes of both chambers of
the Legislature and 51% of the state's electors in a referendum.
The chief executive officer of Georgia is the governor. He is elected by
the state's voters for terms of up to four years. A person can serve as
governor only twice. The governor of Georgia administers the state
budget, therefore, the governor has great power over the state's
finances. In addition to that, the governor has the responsibility of
appointing more than a thousand different officials to positions in the
state government, one of the largest in the country. These appointments
need to be approved by the Georgia Legislature.
The Legislative
Branch of Georgia is made up of the Senate and the House of
Representatives. The Senate has a total of 56 members, while the House
of Representatives has a total of 180 members. Georgia is divided into
56 senatorial districts and 180 representative districts. The voters of
each district elect a senator/representative, who will represent that
district in the Senate/House of Representatives. Until 1960, these
districts were organized so that each was the same size. However, the
large population growth of the state's cities came to indicate that
Georgia's dwindling rural population had the power to elect government.
In 1960, the government reorganized these districts so that each had a
similar population. The term of office of senators and representatives
is two years. There is no limit to the number of mandates that a given
person can serve.
The highest court in the Georgia Judicial
Branch is the Georgia Supreme Court, composed of seven justices. Georgia
also has a Court of Appeals, composed of nine judges. The state is also
divided into 45 judicial districts, each with a Superior Court (regional
in nature), having between one and twelve judges depending on the
population of the District. All judges of the Judiciary are elected by
the population of the state (in the case of judges of the Supreme Court
and the Court of Appeals) or by the population of the judicial districts
(in the case of judges of these districts). for terms of up to six years
in duration, with the exception of the judicial district of Atlanta,
where the term of office is eight years.
Georgia is divided into
159 counties, more than any other American state except Texas. The vast
majority of these counties (149) are governed by boards of
commissioners, composed of between three and eleven members. The other
ten are administered by a single commissioner. All commissioners are
elected by the population of the respective counties, for terms of two,
four or six years in duration—in most Georgia counties, the term of
office of the commissioners is four years. These commissioners have
legislative and executive authority over the county.
Most of
Georgia's 536 cities are governed by a mayor and city council. All of
these cities are considered main cities (cities), and there are no
secondary cities (towns) or towns, nor independent cities. Georgia
possessed five different state capitals throughout its history. Savannah
was the first capital of Georgia, during the American colonial period,
alternating with Augusta. For a decade the state capital was Louisville.
Between 1806 until the American Civil War, Milledgeville served as the
state capital. In 1868, Atlanta became the fifth capital of Georgia,
remaining the state capital to this day. The state Legislature held
meetings in other temporary locations, such as Macon, especially during
the Civil War.
About half of Georgia's government budget is
generated by state taxes, and the remainder comes from budgets received
from the federal government and loans. In 2002, the state government
spent 30,053 million dollars, having generated 24,847 million dollars.
Georgia's government debt is $8,243 billion. The debt per capita is
$965, the value of state taxes per capita is $1,612, and the value of
government expenditures per capita is $3,517. Georgia has one of the
smallest government debts per capita of any American state, behind only
Arizona, Kansas and Tennessee.
Politically, in current times,
most of the state is dominated by the Republican Party. However, between
the end of the American Civil War, when the US government imposed
Republican governors in the state, until the 1960s, all of the state's
governors were Democrats. Republicans have since gained increasing
political strength in the state. In federal elections, until 1964, the
population of Georgia has voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, although
since then the US presidential elections have been very varied in
Georgia. Of course, while in rural areas the Republican vote is
overwhelmingly majority, the Democratic vote remains very consolidated
in urban areas, especially in the Atlanta area. In the 2020 United
States presidential election, Democrats achieved their first victory in
the state since 1992.
According to the 2000 United States Census from the United States
Census Bureau, the population of Georgia was 8,186,453, a growth of
25.8% relative to the state's 1990 population. of 6,508,419 inhabitants.
A 2007 estimate put Georgia's population at 9,544,750, a growth of 46.6%
relative to the state's population in 1990, 16.6% relative to the
state's population in 2000, and 6.9% in relation to the estimated
population in 2005.
Georgia's natural population growth between
2000 and 2006 was 438,939 — 849,414 births minus 410,475 deaths — growth
caused by immigration was 228,415, while interstate migration increased
by 378,258. Between 2000 and 2006, Georgia's population grew by
1,177,125 inhabitants, and between 2005 and 2006, by 231,388
inhabitants. Georgia's population growth rates are one of the highest in
the country, and the state is currently the ninth most populous in the
United States.
About 90.1% of Georgia's population over the age
of 5 have English as their first language, and 5.6% have Spanish. French
is the third most spoken language in the state, with 0.6% of the
population, followed by German and Vietnamese, each with 0.4%. 7.3% of
the state's population is under 5 years of age, 26.5% is under 18 years
of age, and 9.6% is 65 years of age or older.
Georgia's gross domestic product was $320 billion in 2003. The
state's per capita income, meanwhile, was $29,000. The unemployment rate
was 4.6%.
The primary sector accounts for 2% of Georgia's GDP.
The state has 50,000 farms, covering approximately 30% of Georgia.
Together, agriculture and livestock account for 1.85% of the state's
GDP, and employ approximately 120 thousand people. The state has large
herds of cattle and sheep. The main agricultural products produced in
the state are chickens and their derivatives, eggs and meat, of which
Georgia is one of the national leaders in annual production. Bovine and
sheep meat and milk are also important products of state livestock
farming. The main products grown in Georgia are walnuts and peanuts. The
state is the national leader in the production of these two products.
Other cultivated products important to Georgia's economy are cotton,
peaches, tobacco, rice and corn. Fishing and forestry together account
for 0.15% of the state's GDP, employing nearly ten thousand people.
The secondary sector contributes 21% of Georgia's GDP. Secondary
industry accounts for 16.5% of the state's GDP and employs approximately
608 thousand people. The total value of products manufactured in the
state is $59 billion. The main industrialized products manufactured in
the state are industrialized foods, transportation equipment, chemical
products, textiles, machinery, wood products, and advertising material.
The construction industry accounts for 4% of the state's GDP, employing
approximately 270 thousand people. Mining accounts for 0.5% of Georgia's
GDP, employing about 9 thousand people. The main mineral products in the
state are bauxite, marble, granite and magnesium.
The tertiary
sector accounts for 77% of Georgia's GDP. About 19% of the state's GDP
comes from community and personal services. This sector employs more
than 1.3 million people. Wholesale and retail trade accounts for 18% of
the state's GDP, and employs approximately one million people. Financial
and real estate services contribute about 16% of the state's GDP,
employing approximately 307 thousand people. Government services account
for 12% of Georgia's GDP, employing approximately 680 thousand people.
Transportation, telecommunications and public services employ about 272
thousand people, and account for 12% of Georgia's GDP. 65% of the
electricity generated in the state is produced in coal-fired
thermoelectric plants, and 30% in nuclear plants, and the remainder is
generated in hydroelectric plants.
The first educational centers in Georgia were created during the 18th
century. These rustic schools, small structures, were built by rural
communities, on plots provided by one of the community's landowners.
These schools operated through the hiring of "traveling teachers," who
were paid to teach for a short period, and traveled from one rural
community to another. For this reason, community education at the time
was irregular. These rustic schools were maintained by the local
community, and freely accessible to any white child. The rich
landowners, for their part, hired teachers from the north of the country
as private tutors for their children.
At the beginning of the
19th century, Georgia built some public schools in the main cities of
the state, however they did not provide budgets for these schools after
their founding, so these schools were forced to charge for the provision
of educational services. Some cities and counties assumed the costs of
public education, however the majority was private, with some of these
schools allowing students to study if they agreed to work on farms
controlled by the school. It was only in the 1870s that Georgia created
a statewide system of public education. This system, maintained by the
state government, provided budgets for any elementary school in the
state. Starting in 1912, the state's public education system also began
to provide funds for secondary schools.
Currently, all
educational institutions in Georgia need to adhere to the rules and
regulations issued by the Georgia State Board of Education. This Board
directly controls the state's public school system, which is divided
into different school districts. Each major city (city), various
secondary cities (towns) and each county are served by a school
district. In cities, the responsibility for managing schools lies with
the municipal school district, while in less densely populated regions,
this responsibility lies with school districts operating throughout the
county as a whole. Georgia allows the operation of "charter schools",
independent public schools, which are not managed by school districts,
but which depend on public budgets for their operation. School
attendance is mandatory for all children and adolescents over seven
years of age, until the completion of secondary education or up to
sixteen years of age.
In 1999, the state's public schools served
nearly 1.48 million students, employing approximately 90.6 thousand
teachers. Private schools served about 116.4 thousand students,
employing approximately 10.7 thousand teachers. The state's public
school system consumed about $8.537 billion, and public school spending
was approximately $6.5 thousand per student. About 85.1% of the state's
inhabitants over 25 years of age have a high school diploma.
The
first library in Georgia was created in 1736. The first public library,
for its part, was created in 1888. Georgia currently has 57 public
library systems, which annually move an average of 4.6 books per
inhabitant.
The first institution of higher education founded in
Georgia was the University of Georgia, founded in 1785 in Athens, it was
the first state-commissioned public university in the United States.
This university is currently part of the University System of Georgia,
which operates about 35 different colleges and universities. Currently,
the state has about 124 higher education institutions, of which 74 are
public and 50 are private. Of these institutions, about 30 were
universities, and the rest were faculties.
Transportation
Georgia is currently the main communications center
for the Southern Region of the United States. The state's major paved
highways were inaugurated at the beginning of the 20th century, and the
vast majority of smaller state highways were paved in the decades
following World War II. Atlanta is the main transportation center in
Georgia. In 2003, the state had 187,543 kilometers of public roads, of
which 2,004 kilometers were interstate highways, considered part of the
United States federal highway system.
The state has an extensive
railway network. Atlanta, in addition to being the main railway center
of the state, is also the main railway center of the Southern region of
the United States. In 2002, Georgia had 7,530 kilometers of railway
tracks.
Atlanta currently has the busiest airport in the world,
in terms of number of passengers served, Hartsfield-Jackson
International Airport, which moves nearly 82 million passengers a year.
Savannah is the main port center of Georgia, and is one of the most
modern ports in operation in the country.
The first newspaper published in Georgia was the Georgia Gazette,
first published in Savannah in 1763. The oldest newspaper in the state
still in publication, meanwhile, is the Augusta Chronicle, of Augusta,
first published in 1785. In 1828, the Cherokee Phoenix first American
Indian newspaper was published in New Echota, published in English and
the Cherokee language. Currently, 256 newspapers are published in
Georgia, of which 32 are daily newspapers.
Georgia's first radio
station was founded in 1922, in Atlanta. This radio station, code WSW,
was the first to operate in the South, and also the first to offer
regular evening programs. The WSW slogan, which still exists today, was
"The Voice of the South." The first television station was founded in
1948, in Atlanta. Currently, the state has 257 radio stations—of which
127 are AM radio and 130 are FM—and 32 television stations. Atlanta is
home to several major and world-renowned television companies, such as
CBS, CNN, TBS and TNT.
Georgia was the birthplace of a large number of big names in cinema such as Kim Basinger, Julia Roberts, sisters Elle Fanning and Dakota Fanning, Laurence Fishburne, Chloë Grace Moretz, Spike Lee and Steven Soderbergh. It was also the birthplace of great musical figures such as Ray Charles, Otis Redding or R.E.M.. But Georgia is above all the native state of Martin Luther King, civil rights activist.
The four major professional sports leagues in the United States have
featured Georgia teams since the 1960s: the Atlanta Braves of Major
League Baseball, the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League,
Atlanta United FC of Major League Soccer, and the Atlanta Hawks of the
National Basketball Association. In the National Hockey League there
were two Georgia teams: the Atlanta Flames, and the Atlanta Thrashers.
The Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are two
prominent teams in college football, having won multiple national titles
and bowl titles. College football's Chick-fil-A Bowl has been played in
Georgia since 1968.
Atlanta Motor Speedway is an oval where the
NASCAR Cup has raced since 1960. Meanwhile, the Road Atlanta road course
opened in 1970 has hosted IMSA GT Championship races, CanAm, Trans-Am,
NASCAR Busch Series and currently the Petit Endurance race Le Mans of
the United SportsCar Championship. In the 2000s, the Tour de Georgia, a
road cycling race of the UCI America Tour, was run.
The 1996
Olympic Games were held in Atlanta. The Augusta Masters, one of the four
major men's golf tournaments, has been played annually at Augusta
National Golf Club since 1934. Since 1998, most editions of the Tour
Championship have been held at East Lake.
Amphibian: green frog (Hyla cinerea)
Tree: oak (Quercus
virginiana)
Butterfly: Papilio glaucus
Drink Coca Cola
Nicknames:
Empire State of the South
Peach State
Flower: rose
(Rosa laevigata)
Fossil: shark tooth
Fruit: peach (Prunus persica)
Insect: bee
Motto: Wisdom, justice, and moderation
Mammal: right
whale (Eubalaena)
Mineral: staurolite
Music: Georgia on my Mind.
Bird: rufous thrasher (Toxostoma rufum)
Fish: black sea bass
(Micropterus salmoides)
Reptile: Gopherus polyphemus
Rock: quartz
Tagline: Georgia on My Mind