Georgia (U.S. state)

The Paleoindian Period in Georgia began about 13,000 years ago, and the Clovis culture is the earliest documented group in the state. Permanent settlements such as Stallings Island appeared in the Late Archaic period around 3000 B.C.; the Woodland Period lasted from 1000 B.C. to A.D. 900, with the Kolomoki Mounds built around A.D. 500; and the Mississippian Period ran from A.D. 800 to 1600.⁠[1]

The Ayllón expedition of 1526 lasted about six weeks, and from the mid-1500s to the 1660s Spanish expeditions moved through the region, among them the de Soto expedition of 1540. Spanish Catholic missions operated on the coast from 1568 to 1684, including Santa Catalina de Guale. In the mid-1600s English settlers from present-day South CarolinaSouth CarolinaSouth Carolina (officially the State of South Carolina) is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Ocean bordering Georgia and North Carolina; its capital is Columbia and its most populous city is Charleston. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on May 23, 1788, the eighth state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 5,118,425.Open the full entry crossed into northeastern Georgia.⁠[1]

Georgia was established in 1732 under a Board of Trustees and founded on February 12, 1733, as the 13th colony. Settlers occupied Savannah in 1733, and Jewish arrivals were allowed to stay.⁠[1][2]

Slavery was banned at the colony’s outset; rum was legalized in 1742 and slavery in 1751. From 1752 to 1776 Georgia was ruled by royally appointed governors.⁠[1]

On July 4, 1776, three Georgians signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1779 came the siege of Savannah and the Battle of Kettle Creek, and the capital was moved to Augusta.⁠[1]

A form of representative government has existed in Georgia since January 1751. The Georgia General Assembly was created in 1777, shortly after the outbreak of the American Revolution, and has operated continuously since, making it older than the U.S. Congress; in its earliest days it met in Savannah and later in Augusta, Louisville and Milledgeville.⁠[3][4]

In 1787 Abraham Baldwin and William Few signed the U.S. Constitution for Georgia.⁠[1]

In the 1790s the Yazoo land fraud dominated state politics, and in 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in Georgia.⁠[1]

A gold rush took place in the north Georgia mountains in the 1830s. In 1832 the U.S. Supreme Court decided Worcester v. Georgia. In 1838–1839 the Cherokees were forcibly removed, an episode known as the “Trail of Tears.”⁠[1]

Atlanta was founded in 1837, originally as Terminus.⁠[1]

In 1860 Georgia was the most populous Southern state. On January 19, 1861, it seceded from the Union, the fifth state to do so.⁠[1]

In 1864 Union forces under Sherman campaigned against Atlanta, which fell that September; Sherman then led the March to the Sea and occupied Savannah in December.⁠[1]

In 1868 Atlanta replaced Milledgeville as the state capital. That year the legislature expelled 27 Black Republican members, and the Camilla Massacre followed. Georgia’s congressmen were seated on July 15, 1870, completing the state’s readmission to the Union, and by late 1871 Democratic “Redeemers” had regained full control of state government.⁠[1]

In 1880, 45% of Georgia’s farmers were tenants. Between 1889 and 1918 there were more lynchings in Georgia than anywhere else in the United States. The Atlanta race massacre took place in September 1906, and a 1908 constitutional amendment restricted voting. In August 1915 Leo Frank was lynched near Marietta, and late that year the Ku Klux Klan was ceremonially revived atop Stone Mountain.⁠[1]

In 1907 Ben Epps flew the first airplane in Georgia, and in 1923 Charles Lindbergh made his first solo flight at Souther Field in Americus. Hartsfield Airport was established in 1925 and grew into a national airport in the 1950s and 1960s; Delta Air Lines moved its headquarters to Atlanta in 1941.⁠[1]

The boll weevil reached Georgia in 1915, and by 1923 cotton production had fallen to about one-fourth of its 1918 level. Between 1910 and 1930 nearly half of the state’s agricultural workers left farming; in 1920 two-thirds of farmers worked land they did not own. In the 1920s more than 400,000 residents, almost all of them Black, left the state.⁠[1]

During World War II, shipyards in Savannah and Brunswick produced nearly 200 Liberty ships in 1942–1945, and the Bell Bomber plant in Marietta built B-29s in 1943–1945. Annual personal income in Georgia rose from under $350 in 1940 to over $1,000 in 1950.⁠[1]

After the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in BrownBrown UniversityBrown University is a private nonprofit research university in Providence, Rhode Island, and a member of the Ivy League. Chartered by Rhode Island's colonial legislature in 1764, it is known for its undergraduate Open Curriculum, which has no common required core. Christina H. Paxson, president since July 2012, announced on August 3, 2026, that the 2026–27 academic year would be her last in office. As of October 1, 2026, the search for Brown's 20th president remained underway.Open the full entry v. Board of Education, the General Assembly in 1956 adopted a state flag bearing the Confederate battle emblem, during a session largely devoted to opposing school integration.⁠[5][1]

In 1960 the Sibley Commission recommended a local option on schools, and in January 1961 Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter were admitted to the University of Georgia. The Albany Movement took place in 1961–1962, and in 1962 a federal court struck down the county unit system. The Voting Rights Act was signed in 1965; between 1960 and 1970 the number of registered Black voters doubled, and between 1962 and 1970 the number of Black elected officials rose from 3 to 30.⁠[1]

The present Constitution of Georgia was ratified by voters at the general election of November 2, 1982, and took effect on July 1, 1983.⁠[6]

Georgia has adopted ten constitutions since 1777.⁠[7]

In 1996 Atlanta hosted the Centennial Olympic Games.⁠[1]

Between 1950 and 2000 Georgia’s farm population fell from about 1 million to about 63,000, and rural counties lost about 98,000 manufacturing jobs between 1997 and 2005. Atlanta added nearly 900,000 residents between 2000 and 2006, and by 2007 its metropolitan area covered 28 counties. Kia broke ground in Troup County in 2006, and a film tax incentive was passed in 2008.⁠[1]

In January 2001 the House and Senate passed a new flag bill, which Governor Roy Barnes signed. On May 8, 2003, Governor Sonny Perdue signed a new flag law that took effect immediately, giving Georgia its third state flag in twenty-seven months; in a statewide referendum on March 2, 2004, more than 73 percent of voters chose the new design over the 2001 flag.⁠[5]

Under the apportionment based on the 2020 census, Georgia has 14 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, unchanged from 2010, with an average of 766,091 persons per seat. The state has 16 electoral votes in the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.⁠[8][9]

As of November 2026 the governor is Brian P. Kemp, who was sworn in as Georgia’s 83rd governor on January 14, 2019, at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion and is serving his second term.⁠[10][11]

The legislature, the Georgia General Assembly, consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The state constitution provides for no more than 56 senators and no fewer than 180 representatives, elected from districts to two-year terms. The state describes it as one of the largest state legislatures in the nation; it meets from January until late March to set the annual operating budget and consider legislation, and the State Capitol is at 206 Washington St SW, Atlanta.⁠[12][13]

The lieutenant governor also serves as President of the Senate. The General Assembly is required by law to convene on the second Monday of January each year and meets for no more than 40 legislative days, which need not be consecutive. A senator must be at least 25 years old, a U.S. citizen, a citizen of Georgia for at least two years and a resident of the senatorial district for at least one year before election.⁠[4][3]

In the Census Bureau’s State Area Measurements, Georgia has a total area of 59,425 square miles (153,910 square kilometers), of which 57,513 square miles (148,959 square kilometers) is land and 1,912 square miles (4,951 square kilometers) is water, including 1,412 square miles of inland water, 46 square miles of coastal water and 453 square miles of territorial water.⁠[14]

Among the states east of the Mississippi River, Georgia ranks fourth in total area and first in land area. It is bordered by TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state in the southeast-central United States, with its capital at Nashville. It was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 6,910,840 residents.Open the full entry and North CarolinaNorth CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state in the South Atlantic region of the United States; its capital is Raleigh and its largest city is Charlotte. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on November 21, 1789, becoming the 12th state, and its population in the 2020 census was 10,439,388.Open the full entry to the north, South Carolina to the east along the Savannah River, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a U.S. state occupying mainly the Florida peninsula, with its capital at Tallahassee; its most populous city is Jacksonville. It entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state, and had a population of 21,538,187 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry to the south (the two states share the Okefenokee Swamp) and AlabamaAlabamaAlabama is a U.S. state in the Southeast on the Gulf of Mexico, with its capital at Montgomery. It was admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819, as the 22nd state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 5,024,279 residents.Open the full entry to the west along the Chattahoochee River. From north to south its terrain comprises the Blue Ridge, the Ridge and Valley area in the northwest, the Piedmont and the Coastal Plain; the Fall Line runs east to west through Augusta, Milledgeville, Macon and Columbus. The highest point, Brasstown Bald in the Blue Ridge, rises to 4,784 feet (1,458 meters).⁠[15]

Georgia is about 300 miles long and 230 miles wide, with about 100 miles of coastline, and has 159 counties.⁠[2]

The Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimate puts Georgia’s population at 11,302,748 on July 1, 2025, up 5.5% from the April 1, 2020, estimates base of 10,713,861; it is the eighth most populous state, and its population grew by 98,540 between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, the fourth-largest numeric gain among the states. Population density in 2020 was 185.6 persons per square mile, with a land area of 57,716.96 square miles.⁠[16][17]

Of the July 1, 2025, estimated population, 5.7% were under 5, 22.7% under 18 and 15.7% aged 65 and over, and 51.3% were female. By race, 58.3% were White alone, 33.1% Black alone, 5.2% Asian alone, 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native alone and 2.6% of two or more races; 11.6% were Hispanic or Latino and 48.8% White alone, not Hispanic or Latino.⁠[16]

In 2020–2024, 11.2% of residents were foreign-born and 15.5% of those aged 5 and over spoke a language other than English at home; among those aged 25 and over, 89.2% were high school graduates and 34.9% held a bachelor’s degree or higher. Median household income was $77,353 and per capita income $40,924 (in 2024 dollars), and 12.6% of persons lived in poverty.⁠[16]

Georgia’s 2024 nominal GDP was $882,535 million in preliminary U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data, and its real GDP grew 3.4%, ranking 12th among the states.⁠[18]

By the early 21st century Georgia’s prosperity was concentrated mainly in the service sector, largely in and around Atlanta, because of the city’s rail and air connections.⁠[19]

The University of Georgia was chartered in 1785 and opened in 1801. Wesleyan College was founded in Macon in 1836.⁠[1]

Georgia’s nicknames include the “Empire State of the South” and the “Peach State,” and its motto is “Wisdom, justice, and moderation.”⁠[2]

The state seal was adopted under the Constitution of 1798; it shows three pillars representing the legislative, judicial and executive branches and a man with a drawn sword defending the Constitution. In 1914 the date on the seal was changed from 1799 to 1776.⁠[20]

The current state flag, adopted under H.B. 380 of 2003, is based on the first Confederate national flag, the “Stars and Bars”: in a blue canton, thirteen white stars form a circle that the amendment says represents the thirteen original colonies, enclosing the state coat of arms in gold and the words “In God We Trust.”⁠[20][5]

The state bird, the brown thrasher, was chosen by governor’s proclamation on April 6, 1935, and designated by the legislature in 1970; the state flower is the Cherokee rose (1916), the state wildflower the azalea (1979), the state tree the live oak (1937), the state fruit the peach (1995), the state crop the peanut (1995) and the state marine mammal the right whale (1985). The state song, “Georgia On My Mind,” with music by Hoagy Carmichael and lyrics by Stuart Gorell, was designated on April 24, 1979, and the state pledge was adopted in 1951.⁠[20]

State of Georgia: Official website: https://georgia.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[13]

Governor Brian P. Kemp Office of the Governor: Official website: https://gov.georgia.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]

Georgia State Senate: Official website: https://www.senate.ga.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4]