Georgia (U.S. state)

State of Georgia
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): Peach State, Empire State of the South
Motto(s): Wisdom, Justice, Moderation
State song(s): “Georgia on My Mind“
Official language	English
Spoken languages	English, Spanish(7.42%)
Demonym	Georgian
Capital (and largest city)	Atlanta
Largest metro	Metro Atlanta
Area	Ranked 24th
• Total	59,425 sq mi (153,909 km2)
• Width	230 miles (370 km)
• Length	298 miles (480 km)
• % water	2.6
• Latitude	30.356 – 34.985° N
• Longitude	80.840 – 85.605° W
Population	Ranked 8th
• Total	10,429,379 (2017 est.)[1]
• Density	165/sq mi (65.4/km2) Ranked 18th
• Median household income	$50,768[2] (39th)
Elevation
• Highest point	Brasstown Bald[3][4] 4,784 ft (1,458 m)
• Mean	600 ft (180 m)
• Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean[3] Sea level
Before statehood	Province of Georgia
Admission to Union	January 2, 1788 (4th)
Governor	Nathan Deal (R)
Lieutenant Governor	Casey Cagle (R)
Legislature	Georgia General Assembly
• Upper house	State Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
U.S. Senators	Johnny Isakson (R) David Perdue (R)
U.S. House delegation	10 Republicans 4 Democrats (list)
Time zone	Eastern: UTC −5/−4
ISO 3166	US-GA
Abbreviations	GA, Ga.
Website	www.georgia.gov

Georgia is a state in the Southeastern United States. It began as a British colony in 1733, the last and southernmost of the original Thirteen Colonies to be established.^[5] Named after King George II of Great Britain,^[6] the Province of Georgiacovered the area from South Carolina down to Spanish Florida and New France along Louisiana (New France), also bordering to the west towards the Mississippi River. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788.^[7] In 1802–1804, western Georgia was split to the Mississippi Territory, which later split to form Alabama with part of former West Florida in 1819. Georgia declared its secession from the Union on January 19, 1861, and was one of the original seven Confederate states.^[7] It was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15, 1870.^[7] Georgia is the 24th largest 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.^[8] Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South.^[7] Atlanta, the state’s capital and most populous city, has been named a global city.

Georgia is bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina, to the northeast by South Carolina, to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by Florida, and to the west by Alabama. The state’s northernmost part is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains system. The Piedmont extends through the central part of the state from the foothills of the Blue Ridge to the Fall Line, where the rivers cascade down in elevation to the coastal plain of the state’s southern part. Georgia’s highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet (1,458 m) above sea level; the lowest is the Atlantic Ocean. Of the states entirely east of the Mississippi River, Georgia is the largest in land area.^[9]

Boundaries[edit]

Beginning from the Atlantic Ocean, the state’s eastern border with South Carolina runs up the Savannah River, northwest to its origin at the confluence of the Tugaloo and Seneca Rivers. It then continues up the Tugaloo (originally Tugalo) and into the Chattooga River, its most significant tributary. These bounds were decided in the 1797 Treaty of Beaufort, and tested in the U.S. Supreme Court in the two Georgia v. South Carolina cases in 1923 and 1989.

The border then takes a sharp turn around the tip of Rabun County, at latitude 35°N, though from this point it diverges slightly south (due to inaccuracies in the original survey). This northern border was originally the Georgia and North Carolina border all the way to the Mississippi River, until Tennessee was divided from North Carolina, and the Yazoo companies induced the legislature of Georgia to pass an act, approved by the governor in 1795, to sell the greater part of Georgia’s territory presently comprising Alabama and Mississippi.^[18]

The state’s western border runs in a straight line south-southeastward from a point southwest of Chattanooga, to meet the Chattahoochee River near West Point. It continues downriver to the point where it joins the Flint River (the confluence of the two forming Florida’s Apalachicola River); the southern border goes almost due east and very slightly south, in a straight line to the St. Mary’s River, which then forms the remainder of the boundary back to the ocean.

The water boundaries are still set to be the original thalweg of the rivers. Since then, several have been inundated by lakes created by dams, including the Apalachicola/Chattahoochee/Flint point now under Lake Seminole.

Georgia state legislators have claimed that in an 1818 survey, the state’s border with Tennessee was erroneously placed one mile (1.6 km) farther south than intended, and they proposed a correction in 2010. The state was then in the midst of a significant drought, and the new border would allow Georgia access to water from the Tennessee River.^[19]