The state

Georgia, State, southeastern U.S. Area: 59,425 sq mi (153,911 sq km).
Population: (2020) 10,711,908; (2022 est.) 10,912,876. Capital: Atlanta.


Georgia is bordered by Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Alabama; the Atlantic Ocean lies to the southeast.
Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi River.
The area was inhabited by the Creek and Cherokee Indians when Spanish missionaries arrived in the 16th century.
English settlement began in 1733 at Savannah when James Oglethorpe established a refuge for debtors.
It was the last of the original 13 English colonies. European settlement accelerated after the American Revolution, and the last of the Indians were forcibly removed in the 1830s.
Georgia seceded from the Union in 1861, and the American Civil War was particularly hard on the state. It was the last former Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union in 1870.
Its landscape sweeps from the Blue Ridge in the north to the Okefenokee Swamp (which it shares with Florida) in the south.
For most of the 19th century it was the capital of the cotton empire of the South; in the 20th century industry predominated.
The state’s population grew throughout the 20th century, with Atlanta especially attracting national corporations.


In many ways Georgia’s history is integrally linked to that of the rest of the South and the rest of the nation. But as the largest state east of the Mississippi, the youngest and southernmost of the thirteen colonies, and by 1860 the most populous southern state, Georgia is in certain respects historically distinctive.




Government of Georgia U.S. state



The state government of Georgia is the U.S. state governmental body established by the Georgia State Constitution. It is a republican form of government with three branches: the legislature, executive, and judiciary. Through a system of separation of powers or "checks and balances", each of these branches has some authority to act on its own, some authority to regulate the other two branches, and has some of its own authority, in turn, regulated by the other branches. The seat of government for Georgia is located in Atlanta.


The National Register of Historic Places is our nation’s official list of historic properties that are worthy of preservation. The National Register was established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and is maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Properties listed in the National Register include buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts (see: Historic Resources) that are significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture. As Georgia’s state historic preservation office (SHPO), the Historic Preservation Division (HPD) administers the National Register of Historic Places program in Georgia. To be listed on the National Register, properties must be documented and evaluated according to uniform standards called the National Register Criteria for Evaluation (pdf). To be eligible for listing in the National Register, generally, a property or majority of properties in a district must be 50 years old or older; retain historic integrity in location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association; and meet at least one of the National Register Criteria for Evaluation. National Register of Historic Places listing does not place restrictions on the use, treatment, transfer, or disposition of private property. HPD's National Register Fact Sheet provides an overview of the program including what the National Register does and does not do. The National Register establishes uniform standards to evaluate and document historic properties. However, each SHPO may have different policies and procedures for administering the program. The Georgia Register of Historic Places uses the same criteria and documentation procedures as the National Register of Historic Places. Properties listed in the National Register are automatically listed in the Georgia Register. The Georgia Register is the state designation referenced by state laws and regulations regarding state grants, property tax abatements, the Georgia Environmental Policy Act, the State-owned Historic Properties Act, and other state preservation and environmental programs.



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