Connecticut

The state describes the Pequot, Mohegan, Paugusset and Schaghticoke as having lived on the land now called Connecticut for more than 12,000 years; after Europeans reached New England waters in the 1500s, they traded axes, hoes, kettles, mirrors and bells for beaver pelts.⁠[1]

The original occupants of Connecticut were Algonquian-speaking Native peoples, who comprised about 16 separate tribes with some 5,000 to 7,000 members.⁠[2]

In 1614 Adriaen Block sailed up the Connecticut River. In 1633 the Dutch built the House of Hope on the site of present-day Hartford, and in the same year Plymouth sent William Holmes to found a trading post at Windsor, where the first English settlers arrived in 1634. Settlers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony founded Wethersfield in 1634, and in 1636 a group led by Thomas Hooker founded Hartford.⁠[3]

Between 1635 and 1638 settlers also occupied the coastal strip from Saybrook to New Haven.⁠[4]

In 1637 Captain John Mason led the colonists to a decisive victory in the Pequot War.⁠[3]

The war grew out of smaller conflicts and was won by the English and their Native allies. The state describes the Treaty of Hartford of 1638 as the first Indian treaty, followed soon after by the first Indian reservations in North America.⁠[1]

Inspired by Thomas Hooker’s sermon of May 31, 1638, the Connecticut General Court adopted the Fundamental Orders on January 14, 1639; the document itself is dated 1638 because of the calendar convention of the time. Probably drafted by Roger Ludlow of Windsor, the Orders applied to Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield and provided the framework of the colony’s government from 1639 to 1662, with the General Court holding legislative, executive, judicial and administrative authority.⁠[5]

John Haynes became the colony’s first governor.⁠[3]

In 1662 John Winthrop Jr. obtained a charter for Connecticut, and the union with the New Haven Colony was completed in 1665. In 1687 Andros assumed rule over the colony, and the Charter Oak episode took place.⁠[3]

The royal charter of 1662 combined the Connecticut and New Haven colonies and provided for near self-government.⁠[6]

In 1701 the General Assembly authorized the Collegiate SchoolYale UniversityYale University is a research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Its predecessor, the Collegiate School, received a charter in 1701. Trustees chose New Haven in 1716; the institution became Yale College in 1718 and Yale University in 1887. Yale provides undergraduate, graduate and professional education and has 14 undergraduate residential colleges. As of October 2026, its president was Maurie McInnis, who took office in July 2024. In 2026, Yale expanded aid for incoming undergraduates and celebrated its 325th anniversary.Open the full entry, which moved to New Haven in 1717 and was named Yale the following year.⁠[3]

In 1775 several thousand Connecticut militiamen took part in the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The state’s arms and manufacturing industries supported the war effort, earning it the nickname “Provisions State,” and Governor Jonathan Trumbull played a key role in the war. In September 1776 Nathan Hale, who had volunteered to spy for George Washington, was hanged by the British.⁠[6]

In 1776 Samuel Huntington, Roger Sherman, William Williams and Oliver Wolcott signed the Declaration of Independence for Connecticut. British General Tryon raided Danbury in 1777 and New Haven, Fairfield and Norwalk in 1779; in 1781 Benedict Arnold attacked New London and Groton, and a massacre took place at Fort Griswold.⁠[3]

At Fort Griswold about 80 defenders were killed after they had surrendered.⁠[6]

In 1784 slavery in Connecticut was first attacked by legislation. In the early 1830s Prudence Crandall’s attempt to open a school for Black girls in Canterbury was abandoned after strong opposition, and in 1839 the trial in New Haven of the African captives of the Amistad mutiny drew national attention. Slavery was completely abolished in Connecticut in 1848.⁠[6]

Oliver Ellsworth, William Samuel Johnson and Roger Sherman represented Connecticut at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where Sherman and Ellsworth proposed the Connecticut (or Great) Compromise: a bicameral Congress with one house apportioned by population and the other giving each state equal representation.⁠[7][6]

On January 4, 1788, Ellsworth addressed the ratifying convention, arguing that without a federal system Connecticut paid heavy import duties to New York and was in effect a tributary of its neighbors. Less than a week later the convention at Hartford approved the Constitution by a vote of 128 to 40.⁠[7][3]

Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1794 and later turned to machine-made gun parts, building a factory in Hamden with the help of a federal musket order. In 1802 Eli Terry of Plymouth applied the principle of interchangeable parts to clockmaking. Textile factories were established after 1800, and by 1850 manufacturing employment exceeded agricultural employment.⁠[6]

In 1818 a convention in Hartford adopted a new state constitution, which voters approved, ending the established church.⁠[3]

The constitution disestablished the Congregational church and established the separation of powers.⁠[6]

More than 50,000 Connecticut troops fought in the Civil War, and nearly half of them were killed, wounded or captured. The state was a major supplier of war materiel, and firms such as Colt and Winchester became well known.⁠[6]

In 1875 Hartford became Connecticut’s only capital city.⁠[3][8]

In 1900 the Electric Boat Co. built the submarine Holland for the U.S. Navy. The Coast Guard Academy moved to New London in 1910, and in 1917 the Navy Submarine School was established at the New London Naval Base in Groton.⁠[3]

In 1905 Connecticut passed a public accommodations act requiring full and equal service. The Inter-Racial Commission, established in 1943, is recognized as the nation’s first statutory civil rights agency, and the Fair Employment Practices Act of 1947 outlawed job discrimination.⁠[3]

About 67,000 Connecticut men served in World War I (1917–1918), about 210,000 in World War II (1941–1945) and about 52,000 in the Korean War (1950–1952); about 104,000 Connecticut men and women served during the Vietnam War era, 1962–1975.⁠[3]

In 1936 floods caused enormous damage in the Connecticut River Valley, and in 1938 a hurricane and floods caused heavy loss of life and property; the first section of the Merritt Parkway opened the same year. In 1944 the Ringling Brothers circus tent fire in Hartford killed 168 people.⁠[3]

In 1954 the Nautilus, the world’s first atomic-powered submarine, was launched at Groton.⁠[3]

The 129-mile Connecticut Turnpike opened in 1958. In 1959 the General Assembly voted to abolish county government, effective 1960, and local justice courts, and to create district courts.⁠[3]

In 1965 Connecticut held a constitutional convention, and voters approved a new state constitution replacing the much-amended document of 1818. The first elections for the reapportioned General Assembly under the new constitution took place in 1966, and in 1972, under a 1970 amendment, the General Assembly held its first annual session since 1886.⁠[3][6]

In 1974 Ella Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman elected governor of any U.S. state in her own right.⁠[6][3]

In 1982 a constitutional amendment created the Appellate Court, effective July 1, 1983.⁠[3]

Connecticut led in armament manufacturing for much of the 20th century. When defense spending fell sharply after the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the state responded by increasing export sales and passing diversification legislation.⁠[6]

In 2005 Connecticut became the first state to adopt civil unions for same-sex couples without being directed to do so by a court.⁠[3]

Under the apportionment based on the 2020 census, Connecticut has 5 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, unchanged from 2010, with an average of 721,660 persons per seat. The state has 7 electoral votes in the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.⁠[9][10]

The state government has executive, legislative and judicial branches. Voters elect six state officers to four-year terms: the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of the State, Treasurer, Comptroller and Attorney General. As of November 2026 the governor is Ned LamontNed LamontNed Lamont is an American Democratic politician and businessman who has served as the 89th governor of Connecticut since 2019, after founding Campus Televideo, a provider of cable and satellite services to college campuses. In November 2026 he won a third term as governor.Open the full entry, the 89th governor of Connecticut, who was sworn in on January 9, 2019, and began his second term on January 4, 2023; the lieutenant governor is Susan Bysiewicz.⁠[11][12][13]

The legislature, the Connecticut General Assembly, consists of a 36-member Senate and a 151-member House of Representatives, elected from population-based districts to two-year terms in November of even-numbered years. Regular sessions run from January to June in odd-numbered years and from February to May in even-numbered years. The State Capitol is at 210 Capitol Avenue, Hartford.⁠[14][11]

The judicial branch consists of the Superior, Appellate and Supreme courts. Except for probate judges, who are elected by the voters of their town or district, judges are nominated by the governor and appointed by the General Assembly, and judges of the Supreme, Appellate and Superior courts serve eight-year terms. There is no county government; below the state the governing units are cities and towns.⁠[11][15]

In the Census Bureau’s State Area Measurements, Connecticut has a total area of 5,543 square miles (14,357 square kilometers), of which 4,842 square miles (12,542 square kilometers) is land and 701 square miles (1,816 square kilometers) is water, including 171 square miles of inland water and 530 square miles of coastal water.⁠[16]

Connecticut ranks 48th among the 50 states in total area.⁠[17]

Connecticut is the second-smallest and southernmost state in New England, bordered by New York StateNew York (state)New York is a state in the eastern United States; its capital is Albany and its largest city is New York City. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on July 26, 1788, becoming the 11th state to join the Union, and its population in the 2020 census was 20,201,249.Open the full entry to the west, Rhode IslandRhode IslandRhode Island (officially the State of Rhode Island) is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Ocean; its capital and largest city is Providence. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on May 29, 1790, the last of the original 13 to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 1,097,379.Open the full entry to the east, MassachusettsMassachusettsMassachusetts (officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States; its capital and largest city is Boston. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on February 6, 1788, the sixth state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 7,029,917.Open the full entry to the north and Long Island Sound to the south. The Connecticut River flows south through the state, dividing it roughly in half. The coastal plain and central valley are relatively flat and contain most of the larger cities, the northwest corner has the highest altitudes, and the rest of the state is hilly, with hills largely covered by hardwood forests.⁠[18]

Connecticut’s highest point is on the south slope of Mount Frissell at the state line, in Litchfield County, at 2,380 feet; its lowest point is Long Island Sound, at sea level.⁠[19]

On average about 12 days a year exceed 90°F (32°C) and about six days fall to zero or below; the first killing frost generally comes in mid-October and the last in mid-April. The northern hills can be as much as 10 degrees cooler than the central valley throughout the year.⁠[18]

The state has 8 counties (without county government), 169 towns, 21 cities and 9 boroughs.⁠[8]

The Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimate puts Connecticut’s population at 3,688,496 on July 1, 2025, up 2.2% from the April 1, 2020, estimates base of 3,607,750. Population density in 2020 was 744.7 persons per square mile, with a land area of 4,842.37 square miles.⁠[20]

Of the July 1, 2025, estimated population, 5.0% were under 5, 19.5% under 18 and 20.4% aged 65 and over, and 51.4% were female. By race, 75.2% were White alone, 13.6% Black alone, 5.5% Asian alone, 1.3% American Indian and Alaska Native alone and 4.3% of two or more races; 19.9% were Hispanic or Latino and 60.9% White alone, not Hispanic or Latino.⁠[20]

In 2020–2024, 15.7% of residents were foreign-born and 23.4% of those aged 5 and over spoke a language other than English at home; among those aged 25 and over, 91.5% were high school graduates and 42.5% held a bachelor’s degree or higher. Median household income was $95,781 and per capita income $55,915 (in 2024 dollars), and 10.2% of persons lived in poverty.⁠[20]

At the 2010 census, Bridgeport had 144,229 residents, New Haven 129,779, Hartford 124,775, Stamford 122,643 and Waterbury 110,366.⁠[8]

From 1790 to 1840 Connecticut’s population grew by between 4 and 8 percent per decade; between 1900 and 1980 it grew faster than the national rate in every decade but one, and since then its growth has been about one-third of the national average. Since 1950 people have generally moved out of the three largest cities, Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven, to suburbs and former farm hill towns.⁠[2]

Connecticut’s 2024 nominal GDP was $365,723 million in preliminary U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data, and its real GDP grew 2.6%, ranking 23rd among the states.⁠[21]

The state lists insurance, submarines and inventors such as Charles Goodyear, Elias Howe, Eli Whitney and Eli Terry among the things Connecticut is famous for.⁠[8]

The University of Connecticut, founded in 1881, is located at Storrs.⁠[15]

Hartford has the homes of Harriet Beecher Stowe (1871) and Mark TwainMark TwainMark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, an American humorist, journalist, lecturer and novelist. He is known for his travel narratives and for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, novels set in the Mississippi River world of his boyhood.Open the full entry (1874) and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art; New Haven has the Yale University Art Gallery, the Yale Center for British Art and the Peabody Museum of Natural History, and the Yale School of Drama was founded in 1925. Other cultural venues include Mystic Seaport in Mystic, the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven and the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam.⁠[4]

The state notes that The Hartford Courant has been published since October 29, 1764, that Noah Webster published his first dictionary in 1783 and that the Litchfield Law School was founded in 1784.⁠[22]

The name comes from the Mohegan term “Quinnehtukqut,” meaning “Long River Place” or “Beside the Long Tidal River.”⁠[8]

In 1959 the General Assembly officially designated Connecticut “the Constitution State” on the basis of the Fundamental Orders.⁠[5][23]

The state motto is the Latin “Qui Transtulit Sustinet,” meaning “He Who Transplanted Still Sustains.” The state seal was provided for in the Constitution of 1818.⁠[23]

On May 29, 1895, Governor O. Vincent Coffin, prompted by a memorial from the Anna Warner Bailey Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, introduced the first proposal to adopt a state flag, and the General Assembly that day appointed a special committee to designate the flag already generally accepted as official. The General Assembly of 1897 provided the official description: an azure blue silk field bearing a shield of argent white silk with the armorial bearings in natural colors and a border embroidered in gold and silver; below the shield, a white streamer cleft at each end bears the motto in dark blue. The flag is five feet six inches long and four feet four inches wide.⁠[24]

The state bird is the robin (adopted 1943), the state flower the mountain laurel (1907), the state tree the white oak (1947) and the state animal the sperm whale (1975); the state song is “Yankee Doodle” (1978), the state hero Nathan Hale (1985) and the state dinosaur Dilophosaurus (2017).⁠[23]

State of Connecticut: Official website: https://portal.ct.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[25]

Office of Governor Ned Lamont: Official website: https://portal.ct.gov/governor (opens in a new window).⁠[13]

Connecticut General Assembly: Official website: https://www.cga.ct.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[14][11]