Georgia- Heart of the Old South, and the New South
Georgia's early years foreshadowed the journey that lay ahead. Alone among the thirteen original colonies, Georgia served as an outpost of Spain's new world empire and became the battleground where Spanish dreams of conquering and colonizing the Atlantic coast came to an ignominious end. Unlike the other colonies, Georgia was not created for riches or religious liberty. Instead it was founded in 1733 by an English aristocrat, James Edward Oglethorpe, for the seemingly incongruous purposes of establishing both a military buffer and humanitarian society where slavery was initially outlawed.
Georgia, and its capital and largest city, Atlanta are centers of the New South and of banking and commerce. Georgia however has many historic sites, being one of the original thirteen colonies.
The city of Elberton has been called the Granite Capital of the world. The Elberton granite deposit is 35 miles long and 6 miles wide. Elberton is a city that processes this raw granite, the hardest stone after diamond into monuments for graveyards, and into building materials for other uses. There is also some textile and other manufacturing industries in Georgia.
Atlanta and its metropolitan area has a population of about 5 million, which is over half of the state's population. Atlanta is a major banking center, with its Bank of America Plaza building the largest building in the Southern United States at 1,023 feet and is also the location of the Atlanta branch of the Federal Reserve. Atlanta has also been a center of tourism going back to colonialism as well as more recently.
The Sweet Auburn district has been preserved as a historical site of much of the activity and preaching of the civil rights figure, Dr. Martin Luther King. Each year 650,000 visitors see the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violence in Atlanta. It has an extensive library and gift shop as well as the final resting place of Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King.
Atlanta has a unique museum, the "World of Coca-Cola", and Coca-Cola to this day has its headquarters in Atlanta. Atlanta airport is one of the busiest airports in the world and has become a hub for both Delta Airlines and for AirTran. Home Depot is headquartered in the region, and it helped to build the Atlanta Aquarium, which is located near Olympic Park. Several domestic auto production plants have been shut down in the area.
Gainesville, Georgia, in the northern part of the state is a center for chicken production and chicken processing. Other large cities include Augusta and Savannah. The port of Savannah is still an important port, and formerly was also a center of ship construction.
Athens Georgia is the traditional state college town of Georgia, and was formed for this purpose in 1806. The University of Georgia started there as Franklin College, named after Benjamin Franklin. The town, with a population of 100,000 is also a center of art, music and the intellectual scene. The city also had the advantage of not being in the path of General Sherman's march to the sea during the Civil War, so its neo-classical buildings escaped damage. It is the location of the State of Georgia Museum, and the state botanical garden of Georgia.
Despite its uniqueness, however, the story of Georgia is typically southern. The growth of the Cotton Kingdom, the devastation of the Civil War, the political campaigns of the Solid South, the racial oppression of Jim Crow, and the economic rebirth and revitalization of the post-World War II era are all part of both the Georgia and the southern experience.
About the Author Howard Giske writes about how to get your Georgia Incorporation and other business info at http://www.incparadise.com
|
