Georgia

The state of Georgia has a total area of 152,750 sq km (58,977 sq

mi), including 2618 sq km (1011 sq mi) of inland water and 122 sq km

(47 sq mi) of coastal waters over which the state has jurisdiction.

The state is the 24th largest in the country and has the largest land

area of any state east of the Mississippi River. Georgia has a top

range north to south of 515 km (320 mi) and east to west of 441 km

(274 mi). The mean elevation is about 180 m (about 600 ft). Georgia

occupies parts of six natural regions, or physiographic provinces.

They are the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Gulf Coastal Plain, the

Piedmont, the Blue Ridge province, the Ridge and Valley province, and

the Appalachian Plateaus.

Almost the whole area of Georgia was forested in early colonial times,

and about three-fifths of the land is still covered by forests and

woodlands. Mixed forests of deciduous and coniferous trees cover

most of the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountain areas. Normal trees

in these areas include species of ash, beech, birch, hemlock, hickory,

poplar, sweetgum, sycamore, red oak, white oak, and Virginia,

shortleaf, and loblolly pines. Pines which dominate on the Piedmont

are loblolly and shortleaf pine trees. On the coastal plains, slash,

loblolly, and longleaf pines are found. The live oak, the state tree,

thrives in the southern part of the coastal plains. Palmettos are found

in areas of sandy soil, and bald cypresses and tupelo gums are

commonly found in swampy and badly drained areas. Spanish moss

festoons many of the cypresses in Okefenokee Swamp. Other trees

that are found in the state include the red maple, sweet bay, black

cherry, butternut, sassafras, southern magnolia, cottonwood, locust,

and elm. Flowering plants grow in great abundance in Georgia. Those

natural to the state include the trillium, galax, bellwort, hepatica,

mayapple, bloodroot, violet, columbine, lady slipper, and Cherokee

rose, which is the stte of Georgia's state flower. Among the many

shrubs and tiny flowering trees common in Georgia are species of

laurel, mimosa, redbud, flowering dogwood, rhododendron, and flame

azalea. White-tailed deer are the most common of the larger

mammals found in the state. There are black bears in the northern

mountains and in Okefenokee Swamp, and bobcats roam many of the

rural areas. Red foxes, gray foxes, muskrats, raccoons, opossums,

flying squirrels, foxes and gray squirrels are abundant in the forested

areas, and otter and beaver are met in many swamps and rivers.

In the mid-1990s there was about 43,000 farms in Georgia. Only

about two-fifths had annual sales of $10,000 or more. Many of the

rest of the farms were hobbies for operators who held different jobs.

Farmland occupied 4.9 million hectares (12.1 million acres), of which

less than one-third was harvested. The rest was mostly pasture or

woodland.

The sale of livestock and livestock products accounts for about

three-fifths of total yearly farm income. The sale of produce

accounts for the rest. Broilers (young chickens raised for meat) are

the state's most valuable farm product, followed by peanuts and beef

cattle. The state's other important farm products include eggs, hogs,

milk, vegetables, greenhouse seedlings, tobacco, soybeans, corn,

pecans, and cotton. Georgia leads all other states in the production

of peanuts and pecans and is second after Arkansas in the producing

of broilers.

Until the Civil War, nearly all the cotton during most of the 19th

century, cotton was the main crop. Itwas grown on plantations by

black slaves, who picked it by hand. After slavery was abolished most

blacks, having no land of their own, became sharecroppers, who got

their farm and family supplies on credit from the planters and were in

assumption paid a share of the crop income. Under this system,

cotton dominated the economy more than ever. However, during the

1920s the boll weevil, a tiny beetle that eats the growing cotton boll,

devastated much of the cotton crop and infested great areas of the

cotton-growing lands of the South. Moreover, at about that same

time, crop yields began to fall, and it became clear that nearly 200

years of constant cotton cultivation had ruined the soil. Efforts were

made to vary the state's farm economy. As a result, many cotton

lands were planted in other crops or switched over to pasture.

Cotton cultivation was resumed after methods were found to control

the boll weevil, but cotton acreage was greatly reduced.

Beginning in the 1940s, thousands of farms were consolidated and

mechanized and the demand for farm workers decreased. As farms

consolidated their size got larger, and by the mid-1990s each

averaged 114 hectares (281 acres). Most farms are owner-operated.

Georgia is divided into 159 counties, most governed by boards of

elected commissioners. In the others, local government is the

responsibility of the probate court judge. The most common type of

municipal government in Georgia is the mayor and council plan.

Government by council and manager has become increasingly popular.

A few cities still use a modified version of the commission form of

municipal government. Georgia elects 11 representatives to the U.S.

House of Representatives and two senators. The state has 13

electoral votes.

Some famous Georgians were Griffin Bell, James Bowie, James Brown,

Erskine Caldwell, Jimmy Carter, Ray Charles, Lucius D. Clay, Ty Cobb,

John C. Fremont, Newt Gingrich, Joel Chandler Harris, Martin Luther

King, Jr., Gladys Knight, Sidney Lanier, Juliette Gordon Low, Margaret

Mitchell, Flannery O'Connor, Otis Redding, Jackie Robinson, Alice

Walker, Joseph Wheeler. Atlanta, with a population in 1990 of

394,017 in the city and an estimated 3,143,000 in the metropolitan

area in 1992, is the capital, biggest city, and leading economic center

of the state, and the main city of the entire southeastern United

States. Increase in the white-collar service economy, led by

enlargement of corporate headquarters and services such as giving

legal advice, computing, and advertising, makes up for a large part of

Atlanta's recent expansion. The metropolitan area centered on the

city now contains three suburban cores in addition to the original

central business district. These suburban cities, sometimes called

edge cities, each possess an impressive skyline of tall buildings and

major retail shopping centers. The Atlanta region's economy was also

backed when the city hosted the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

Georgia's second largest city is Columbus, with 179,278 people, which

grew formerly as a Fall Line industrial city. Fort Benning, a large

United States Army infantry base, is near the city. Savannah, with a

population of 137,560, was the largest city in Georgia until the rise of

Atlanta in the 20th century. A bustling economic center and seaport,

Savannah is the first city in the state and has retained much of the

aura of its favorable past. Other major cities include Macon, with

106,612 inhabitants, Albany, with 78,122 people, and Augusta, with

44,639 inhabitants.

Slavery was one of the most divisive political issues in Congress in

the 19th century. Many Congress members from the Northern states

pressed to end slavery, both because it was considered corrupt and

because white labor could not compete with unpaid black labor.

Members from the Deep South (North Carolina, South Carolina,

Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida) believed that

slavery was necessary to their cotton-based agricultural system and

that the North was trying to rule the national economy. By the

1850s, the Southern states were united in bitter hate to proposed

congressional legislation excluding slavery from the country's new

Western territories. Many in the South were coming to believe that

secession from the Union was the only way to protect "Southern

rights," including the right to own slaves. Yet many of Georgia's

leaders urged agreement. Largely through the labor of three

Georgians, Representatives Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs,

and Howell Cobb, the Southern states accepted the Compromise

Measures of 1850, a series of acts that temporarily settled the issue.

The Georgia state motto is wisdom, justice and moderation. The

Georgia state flower is the Cherokee rose. The Georgia state bird

isthe Brown thrasher. The Georgia state tree is the Live oak. The

Georgia state son is Georgia On My Mind. It was the fourth of the 13

original states to ratify the Constitution, Jan. 2, 1788The population

of Georgia 1994 was 7,055,336 It ranks 11. The net change from

1990-94 was 8.9%. The population density was 116.6 per sq m

Georgia has and area of 58,876 sq mi (152,489 sq km). Georgia has a

population of (1990) 6,478,216, an 18.6% increase over 1980 pop.

The capitol is Atlanta. It became a state onJan. 2, 1788 (fourth of

original 13 states to ratify the Constitution). It's highest point was

Brasstown Bald, 4,784 ft (1,459 m) Its lowest point is, sea level. Its

nicknames is the Empire State of the South.