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Portal:Georgia (U.S. state)

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The Georgia (U.S. state) Portal

Georgia /ˈɔːrə/ is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. Named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 21, 1861, and was one of the original seven Confederate states. It was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15, 1870.

Georgia is the 24th most extensive 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. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South. Atlanta is the state's capital and its most populous city.

Georgia is bordered on the south by Florida; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina; on the west by Alabama; and on the north by Tennessee and North Carolina. The northern part of the state is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a mountain range in the vast Appalachian Mountains system. The central piedmont extends from the foothills to the fall line, where the rivers cascade down in elevation to the continental coastal plain of the southern part of the state. The highest point in Georgia is Brasstown Bald, 4,784 feet (1,458 m); the lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean.

Georgia is the most extensive state east of the Mississippi River in terms of land area, although it is the fourth most extensive (after Michigan, Florida, and Wisconsin) in total area, a term which includes expanses of water which are part of state territory.

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The 1898 Georgia hurricane was the most recent major hurricane to hit the U.S. state of Georgia, as well as the strongest on record in the state. It was first known to exist on September 29, although modern researchers estimated that it developed four days earlier to the east of the Lesser Antilles. The hurricane maintained a general northwest track throughout its duration, and it reached peak winds of 135 mph (215 km/h) on October 2. That day, it made landfall on Cumberland Island in Camden County, Georgia, causing record storm surge flooding. The hurricane caused heavy damage throughout the region, and killed at least 179 people. Impact was severest in Brunswick, where a 16 ft (4.9 m) storm surge was recorded. Overall damage was estimated at $1.5 million (1898 USD), most of which occurring in Georgia. In extreme northeastern Florida, strong winds nearly destroyed the city of Fernandina, while light crop damage was reported in southern South Carolina. After moving ashore, the hurricane quickly weakened and traversed much of North America; it continued northwestward until reaching the Ohio Valley and turning northeastward, and it was last observed on October 6 near Newfoundland.

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The Averitt Center for the Arts, downtown Statesboro.
The Averitt Center for the Arts, downtown Statesboro.
Credit: Richard and Elaine Chambers

Statesboro is a city in southeast Georgia, United States, and is the county seat and most populous city of Bulloch County.

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Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich (/ˈɡɪŋɡrɪ/; born Newton Leroy McPherson; June 17, 1943) is an American politician, author, and political consultant, who served as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. He represented Georgia's 6th congressional district as a Republican from 1979 until his resignation in 1999. He is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination. Born in south central Pennsylvania, Gingrich was adopted in infancy by his stepfather, a career soldier. Gingrich received his undergraduate degree from Emory University and then earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from Tulane University. In the 1970s he taught history and geography at West Georgia College. During this period he ran several times for the United States House of Representatives before winning in November 1978. He served as House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995. A co-author and architect of the "Contract with America", Gingrich was a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional election. In 1995, Time named him "Man of the Year" for his role in ending 40 years of majority control by the Democratic Party. While he was House speaker, the House enacted welfare reform, passed a capital gains tax cut in 1997, and in 1998 passed the first balanced budget since 1969. As House speaker his popularity declined in Congress gradually due to controversies he was attached to. In 1997 84 House ethics charges made were made against Gingrich; all of which but one were dropped when he received a reprimand for making inaccurate statements to a fourteen-month House investigation of his alleged misuse of tax-exempt donations. The poor showing of Republican candidates in the 1998 Congressional election and pressure from Republican colleagues preceded Gingrich's November 5, 1998, resignation from the speakership and from the House, effective January 3, 1999. Since leaving the House, Gingrich has remained active in public policy debates and worked as a political consultant. He founded and chaired several policy think tanks, including American Solutions for Winning the Future and the Center for Health Transformation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has written or co-authored 27 books. In May 2011, he announced his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Gingrich converted to Roman Catholicism in 2009, after being raised Lutheran and spending most of his adult life as a Southern Baptist. He has been married three times, with the first two marriages ending in divorce. He has two children from his first marriage and has been married to Callista (Bisek) Gingrich since 2000.

Selected anniversaries for June

  • June 1, 1980 - The Cable News Network (CNN) is officially launched.
  • June 8, 2004 - The G8 Summit takes place over the next 2 days on Sea Island, in Georgia, United States.
  • June 20, 1908 - The Georgia Tech Alumni Association is chartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
  • June 29, 1981 - Morris Edwin Robert, armed with a machine gun, holds hostages in the FBI section at the Atlanta, Georgia, Federal Building. After three hours the hostages are rescued and Robert is killed in a shootout with federal agents.
Did you know?


  • ...that the highest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. state of Georgia is 112 °F (44 °C), while the lowest ever recorded is -17 °F (-27 °C)?



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You are invited to participate in WikiProject Georgia of the United States, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about the State of Georgia.
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Georgia (U.S. state)
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AtlantaEducation in GeorgiaGeorgia State RoutesGeorgia TechSouth Georgia
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U.S. RoadsGeographyAlabamaFloridaNorth CarolinaSouth CarolinaTennessee

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Lapham-Patterson House
Lapham-Patterson House
Credit: Ebyabe

The Lapham-Patterson House is a historic site in Thomasville, Georgia. The house, built between 1884-85 as a winter cottage for businessman C.W. Lapham of Chicago, is a significant example of Victorian architecture. It has a number of architectural details, such as fishscale shingles, an intricately designed porch, long-leaf pine inlaid floors, and a double-flue chimney. Inside, the house was well-appointed with a gas lighting system, hot and cold running water, indoor plumbing, and modern closets. Its most significant feature is its completely intentional lack of symmetry. None of the windows, doors, or closets are square. The house is a Georgia Historic Site and is also a National Historic Landmark, which also puts it on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Most Nobel Laureates have carried out our work in safety, but there are others who have acted with great personal courage. None has provided more vivid reminders of the dangers of peacemaking than two of my friends, Anwar Sadat and Yitzak Rabin, who gave their lives for the cause of peace in the Middle East.

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