Georgia was admitted to the Union on January 2, 1788. It is named after
King George II (1683–1760) of England and claims Atlanta as its capital. Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi River in terms of
land area (i.e., excluding expanses of water) and is bordered by Florida,
Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the
Atlantic Ocean.
Georgia was once inhabited by several Native American tribes, the
most notable among them being the Creek and the Cherokee. The Creek
were expelled in 1826 by the English, who ascended to power and
wanted the state to “belong” to Europeans. The Cherokee wanted to
avoid expulsion, so they learned the ways of the Europeans. When gold
was found on their land in the early 1830s, they were forced to move to
Oklahoma. Thousands died on that journey, which is known today as
the Trail of Tears. Georgia was a prosperous state in the late 1700s, due largely to the
cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney (1765–1825). As the American
Civil War (1861–65) loomed near, Georgia followed South Carolina
and withdrew from the Union in 1860. (See Secession.) Four years later,
Atlanta was captured by General William Sherman (1820–1891). In
November 1864, he presented the key military city of Savannah to
President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; served 1861–65) as a
Christmas present.
Georgia was readmitted to the Union on July 15, 1870. Democrats
took control of the state in 1871, and business interests controlled politics. Georgia was a highly segregated (separated according to race) state,
and its racism would remain an emotional issue throughout the twentieth century.
Atlanta was the home base for the civil rights movement in the
1960s. The following decade was one of great economic development for
Georgia, as it focused on building its service industries. By the early
1990s, however, the entire state entered a recession (a time of less consumer spending and higher unemployment rates).
The 1996 Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta. An explosion on
July 27 killed one person and cast a pall over the celebration of the onehundred-year anniversary of the modern Olympics.
Georgia’s population in mid-2006 was 62.5 percent white and 29.3
percent African American, with smaller percentages of Asian and Native
American. It was one of the poorer states in the nation in 2004, ranking
thirty-sixth in terms of personal income. Georgia’s economy is based on
transportation, chemical, food processing, apparel, and textile industries.
Its most famous product appeared in 1886, when Coca-Cola was introduced to the country.