Georgia (GA).

• Region: Southeast coast
• Population: 10,912,876 (ranked 8th) (2022 estimate)
• Capital: Atlanta (pop. 499,127) (2022 estimate)
• Largest city: Atlanta (pop. 499,127) (2022 estimate)
• Number of counties: 159
• State nickname: Peach State; Empire State of the South
• State motto: Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation
• State flag: Three horizontal stripes (red, white, and red) with a blue canton at the top of the hoist (left) side, in which a gold state seal is centered and surrounded by a circle of thirteen white stars representing the thirteen original colonies

Located in the Sunbelt region of the southeastern United States, Georgia is bordered by Alabama to the west, Florida to the south, South Carolina to the east, and North Carolina and Tennessee to the north. The state is bordered to the east by the Atlantic coastline. It is one of the largest states east of the Mississippi River.

Georgia was the fourth of the original thirteen colonies and joined the Union on January 2, 1788. It seceded as part of the Confederate States of America, and was readmitted following the US Civil War in 1870. Georgia was long primarily an agricultural state, specializing in cotton and other cash crops, but it underwent significant industrialization during the mid-twentieth century. Its capital, Atlanta, has become an important urban center in the South.

State Name: Georgia was named in honor of England's King George II, who signed the royal charter that established the colony in 1732. It is sometimes referred to as the Peach State because of the importance of peach farming in the state. In 1995, the peach was designated as the official state fruit. Unofficially, the state is sometimes known as the Empire State of the South, or the Goober State, in reference to another major field crop, the peanut.

Capital: Georgia's capital city, Atlanta, is located in the central part of the state, on the site of a Creek settlement called Standing Peachtree. In 1813, Lieutenant George Gilmer built a fort and the area eventually grew to become a settlement. It was founded as a city in 1837 and was originally named Terminus, since it was situated at the end of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Burned to the ground during the Civil War, Atlanta was declared the state capital in 1868 and has since become a major industrial, cultural, and transportation center. Previous capitals included Savannah, Augusta, and Louisville.

Flag: Georgia's state flag features a band of red across the top, a band of white across the center, and a band of red across the bottom. A blue canton is situated on the top of the hoist (left) side, in which the state seal centered in gold. A circle of thirteen white stars representing the thirteen original colonies surrounds the seal. The flag was adopted in 2003. An earlier state flag, which was used from 1956 to 2001, was discontinued due to controversy over its prominent display of the Confederate battle flag.

Official Symbols

• Flower: Cherokee rose
• Bird: Brown thrasher
• Tree: Live oak
• Fish: Largemouth bass
• Song: "Georgia on My Mind" by Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael

State and National Historic Sites

• Andersonville National Historic Site (Andersonville)
• Chief Vann House Historic Site (Chatsworth)
• Dahlonega Gold Museum Historic Site (Dahlonega)
• Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site (Cartersville)
• Fort King George Historic Site (Darien)
• Fort Morris Historic Site (Midway)
• Hardman Farm Historic Site (Sautee Nacoochee)
• Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation Historic Site (Brunswick)
• Jarrell Plantation Historic Site (Juliette)
• Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site (Fitzgerald)
• Jimmy Carter National Historic Site (Plains)
• Lapham-Patterson House Historic Site (Thomasville)
• Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park (Atlanta)
• New Echota Historic Site (Calhoun)
• Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park (Macon)
• Pickett's Mill Battlefield Historic Site (Dallas)
• Robert Toombs House Historic Site (Washington)
• Roosevelt's Little White House Historic Site (Warm Springs)
• Traveler's Rest Historic Site (Toccoa)
• Wormsloe Historic Site (Savannah)

DEMOGRAPHICS

• Population: 10,912,876 (ranked 8th) (2022 estimate)
• Population density: 185.6/sq mi (2020 estimate)
• Urban population: 74.1% (2020 estimate)
• Rural population: 25.9% (2020 estimate)
• Population under 18: 23.0% (2022 estimate)
• Population over 65: 15.1% (2022 estimate)
• White alone: 59.0% (2022 estimate)
• Black or African American alone: 33.1% (2022 estimate)
• Hispanic or Latino: 10.5% (2022 estimate)
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 0.6% (2022 estimate)
• Asian alone: 4.8% (2022 estimate)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 0.1% (2022 estimate)
• Two or More Races: 2.4% (2022 estimate)
• Per capita income: $34,516 (ranked 32nd, 2021)
• Unemployment: 3.0% (2022 estimate)

American Indians: The pre-colonial history of American Indians in what is today Georgia stretches back thousands of years, including various stages of the civilizations known as mound builders. The Mississippian culture was widespread by the time Europeans arrived in the Americas but soon all but disappeared, likely in part due to the spread of new diseases. Other groups emerged, and in the sixteenth century the Muscogee (Creek) controlled most of Georgia. By 1650, however, forty thousand Cherokees had moved south into the Appalachian Mountains, and by the latter part of the century, they had forced many of the Creek to the southernmost regions of Georgia.

After years of bloody battles and fraudulent negotiations, White settlers and the United States government forced the entire Creek Nation from Georgia in 1827. The Cherokee Nation still occupied parts of northern Georgia and was increasingly centrally organized, with a constitution drafted in 1827. The Cherokee Phoenix, first published in New Echota in 1828, was the first US newspaper printed in both English and the Cherokee language. However, an 1835 treaty forced the Cherokee to cede their remaining land to White settlers and relocate to Oklahoma, part of the traumatic removal known as the Trail of Tears.

ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY

• Total area: 59,425 sq mi (ranked 24th)
• Land area: 57,513 sq mi (96.8% of total area)
• Water area: 1,912 sq mi (3.2% of total area)
• Shoreline: 2,344 miles
• National parks: 11
• Highest point: Brasstown Bald Mountain (4,784 feet)
• Lowest point: Atlantic Ocean (sea level)
• Highest temperature: 112° F (Louisville; Greenville, July 24, 1952; August 20, 1983)
• Lowest temperature: –17° F (CCC Camp F-16, January 27, 1940)

Topography: Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi River. Generally speaking, the northern area of the state, bordering Tennessee and North Carolina, is mountainous, while the southeast region is coastal plain. The state is divided into six distinct geographic areas: the Appalachian Plateau, the Appalachian Ridge and Valley, the Piedmont, the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the East Gulf Coastal Plain, and the Blue Ridge Region.

The Blue Ridge Region in the northeast is mountainous and covered in forests of both pine and hardwood trees. The state's highest mountains can be found in this area, which ranges from 2,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level. In the farthest western corner is the Appalachian Plateau with its narrow valleys and wooded ridges. The Appalachian Ridge and Valley is the vast fertile land beneath the plateau. The central region of the state is referred to as the Piedmont and is characteristically hilly, with higher elevations in the north and dropping off toward the southern regions of the state.

Southeastern Georgia is dominated by the Atlantic Coastal Plain. A flat area, this region is where the famous Okefenokee Swamp is located, and the land meets the sea featuring sandy beaches. Finally, the East Gulf Coastal Plain refers to the southwest corner of Georgia. Swampy and flat, the Suwanee River flows through the plain and empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

Major Lakes

• Carters Lake
• Lake Allatoona
• Lake Hartwell
• Lake Seminole
• Lake Sidney Lanier
• Lake Sinclair
• West Point Lake

Major Rivers

• Altamaha River
• Chattahoochee River
• Etowah River
• Ocmulgee River
• Ogeechee River
• Oostanaula River
• Satilla River
• Savannah River
• Suwannee River
• Tallapoosa River

State and National Parks: Georgia contains eleven areas managed by the National Park Service (NPS), including the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta and several national monuments. There are also about fifty state parks and more than a dozen historic sites spread throughout the state. In the Highlands Region, visitors can explore Cloudland Canyon State Park (Rising Fawn), Fort Mountain State Park (Chatwsorth), James H. Floyd State Park (Summerville), or Red Top Mountain State Park (Cartersville). The Piedmont Region of Georgia has Sweetwater Creek State Park (Lithia Springs), Hard Labor Creek State Park (Rutledge), and Elijah Clark State Park (Lincolnton). Other popular Georgia parks include Seminole State Park (Donalsonville), Indian Springs State Park (Flovilla), Skidaway Island State Park (Savannah), Crooked River State Park (St. Mary's), and Little Ocmulgee State Park (Helena).

Natural Resources: As a leading agricultural state, Georgia relies on the land, including its vast forests and fertile soil, for much of its economic success. For example, Georgia is a leader in clay mining in the United States, especially in coastal and Piedmont regions. Kaolin clay is used to make rubber, paints, and plastics. Among the state's valuable minerals are bauxite, marble, gold, iron, granite, talc, feldspar, and coal. Other leading non-fuel minerals that Georgia produces are crushed stone, sand, and gravel for use in construction.

Plants and Animals: A variety of animals inhabit the diverse terrain of Georgia. The Atlantic waters off Georgia's coast are home to five different sea turtle species and also serve as the winter calving ground for the northern right whale. Saltwater fish found off the coast of Georgia include black sea bass, snapper, grouper, and mackerel. In addition, many species of birds may be seen near the coast of Georgia, including roseate spoonbills, sanderlins, American oystercatchers, ospreys, and eagles.

Georgia's swamps and marshes are home to turtles, snakes, and alligators, as well as native wood storks, wood thrush, and warblers. The forest and mountainous regions are the habitat of whitetail deer, black bear, wild boar, and wild turkeys.

Georgia has approximately 3,600 different plant species. In the spring, blooming dogwood trees and azaleas provide spectacular explosions of color. Early spring also brings flowers to trillium, violets, woodland phlox, Virginia bluebells, and crested iris. Later blooms include wild strawberries, pink and yellow ladyslippers, coral bells, lily of the valley, and forget-me-nots. In February and March the peach trees begin to bloom in the southern half of the state, with the middle regions blooming later.

Climate: Georgia's climate is characterized by hot, humid summers and milder, more temperate winters. The northern elevations of the state receive more rain (50–80 inches annually) and can have freezing temperatures and occasional snowfall. The southeast region of the state is drier, with annual rainfall averaging 48 to 51 inches. Summer temperatures hover around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, while the winter brings temperatures in the mid-forties.

Georgia's geographic location places the state in the path of some hurricanes, although initial direct landfall in the state is relatively rare. In 1881, seven hundred people were killed when a hurricane destroyed Savannah and Augusta. Georgians also face the threat of tornadoes. One of the deadliest tornadoes in recorded US history hit Gainesville, Georgia, on April 6, 1936. It killed 203 people and injured some 1,600 others. The state averages thirty tornadoes each year.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Major Colleges and Universities

• Albany State University (Albany)
• Augusta University (Augusta)
• Berry College (Mount Berry)
• Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta)
• Clayton State University (Morrow)
• Columbus State University (Columbus)
• Dalton State College (Dalton)
• Emmanuel College (Franklin Springs)
• Emory University (Atlanta)
• Georgia College and State University (Milledgeville)
• Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta)
• Georgia Southern University (Statesboro, Savannah, and Hinesville)
• Georgia State University (Atlanta)
• Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw)
• Middle Georgia State University (Macon)
• Morehouse College (Atlanta)
• Oglethorpe University (Atlanta)
• Paine College (Augusta)
• Shorter University (Rome)
• Spelman College (Atlanta)
• University of Georgia (Athens)

Major Museums

• Callanwolde Fine Arts Center (Atlanta)
• Columbus Museum (Columbus)
• Fernbank Museum of Natural History (Atlanta)
• Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia (Athens)
• High Museum of Art (Atlanta)
• Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University (Atlanta)
• Telfair Museums (Savannah)
• Tellus Science Museum (Cartersville)

Major Libraries

• Atlanta-Fulton Public Library (Atlanta)
• Georgia Historical Society Library (Savannah)
• Jimmy Carter Presidential Library (Atlanta)
• Mary Willis Free Library (Washington)
• Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University (Atlanta)

Media

Major newspapers in Georgia include the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Gwinnett Daily Post, and the Augusta Chronicle. The state is also the birthplace of the television networks CNN and TBS, both headquartered in Atlanta. Other national television and radio networks maintain various Georgia affiliates.

ECONOMY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

• Gross domestic product (in millions $USD): 755,697.9 (ranked 8th) (2022 estimate)
• GDP percent change: 2.8%

Major Industries: By the early 2020s the largest industry in Georgia was the finance, insurance, real estate, rentals, and leasing industry, accounting for over 20 percent of the state's GDP. Among the top manufacturing sectors in Georgia, in terms of value, are aerospace and transportation equipment; machinery; chemicals; textile products; and paper products. The Atlanta metropolitan area is home to a number of major corporate headquarters, including Delta Airlines, United Parcel Service (UPS), The Home Depot, and the Coca-Cola Company. The state is home to several Fortune 500 companies.

Tourism: As one of the largest industries in the state, tourism generates tens of billions of dollars each year and sustains hundreds of thousands of jobs. As in other states, the global COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020 severely impacted the tourist industry as the number of visitors plummeted. However, the industry soon recovered and even posted new record numbers.

Georgia's historic involvement in the Civil War draws many visitors to related sites throughout the state, including the Confederate prison in Andersonville and several brick forts and battlefields. Other popular tourist attractions include various antebellum homes, the mysterious and murky Okefenokee Swamp, the Blue Ridge Mountains in the north, and the gorgeous white sand beaches and barrier islands along the coast. Each April, the Masters Golf Tournament is held at Augusta National Golf Course.

Energy Production: In 2021, Georgia’s two nuclear power plants generated 27 percent of the state’s net electricity. Natural gas–fired plants generated 49 percent, coal-fired plants generated 15 percent, and renewable energy generated 12 percent. The state is a national leader in biomass fuel manufacturing capacity, including wood pellets.

Agriculture: Georgia's major cash crops include cotton, peanuts, corn, pecans, hay, and fruits such as blueberries, melons, and peaches. Broiler chickens and eggs are also a major product of Georgia's farms. The state's forests are also an important agricultural resource, supporting a healthy lumbering and wood processing industry.

Airports: Three international airports serve the state of Georgia. Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport serves the coast of Georgia as well as South Carolina. In Atlanta, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is a major hub for domestic air travel and is often considered the busiest passenger airport in the world, seeing more than 100 million passengers each year. Cobb County International Airport-McCollum Field is located outside Atlanta. Other major airports in the state include August Regional Airport, Columbus Metropolitan Airport, and Valdosta Regional Airport.

Seaports: There are two deep-water seaports along Georgia's relatively short coastline, the Port of Brunswick and the Port of Savannah. The Port of Savannah handles miscellaneous cargo and containers while the Port of Brunswick is responsible for automobiles, machinery and agriculture. The Port of Savannah is among the busiest terminals by tonnage for the export of American products and among the busiest container terminals in the United States. The Georgia Ports Authority also operates two inland ports, Port Bainbridge and Port Columbus, located on the Apalachicola River and Chattahoochee River, respectively.

GOVERNMENT

• Governor: Brian Kemp (Republican)
• Present constitution date: July 1, 1983
• Electoral votes: 16
• Number of counties: 159
• Violent crime rate: 326.6 (per 100,000 residents)(2020 estimate)
• Death penalty: Yes

Constitution: Georgia's present constitution was adopted in 1983 and has been amended several times since. Over the years, the state has been governed by nine different constitutions, beginning in 1777. The 1983 constitution is the third based on the post-Reconstruction document of 1877. Amendments are proposed either by the legislature or by constitutional convention and must be approved by a majority of the state's voters in a general election.

Branches of Government

Executive: The state's constitution allows for a governor to serve up to two four-year terms in office. The governor serves as the chief officer of the state and as the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard. The governor is assisted by a lieutenant governor, who is also elected to a four-year term. Other elected executive officials include the secretary of state, attorney general, state school superintendent, the commissioner of insurance, commissioner of agriculture and commissioner of labor. All of executive branch officials serve four-year terms.

Legislative: Georgia's legislature, also called the General Assembly, consists of a 56-member senate and a 180-member house of representatives. All state congressional officers are elected to two-year terms.

Judicial: The judicial branch consists of municipal courts, magistrate courts, probate courts, juvenile courts, state courts, superior courts, the court of appeals, and the supreme court. The Supreme Court of Georgia is made up of seven justices who elect a chief justice from their own ranks. The decisions of this court supersede all other court decisions in the state.

HISTORY

ca. 700 American Indians of the Muskogean (also known as Muskhogean or Muscogee) language group settle in present-day central and western Georgia.

1526 Lucas Vázquez de Ayllon establishes a settlement on Sapelo Island.

1540 Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto travels through what is now known as Georgia.

1566 Georgia's first fort is built on Santa Catalina (later St. Catherine's) Island by Spanish captain Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.

1629 England's King Charles I grants Sir Robert Heath a charter that includes a stretch of land from present-day North Carolina south to the coast of Georgia.

1650 Cherokees occupy a 40,000-square-mile area in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

1665 A second royal charter is granted that extends further south from Georgia into the area now known as Florida.

1681 The Spanish leave St. Catherine's and move to Sapelo Island, where they construct a new fort.

1721 Fort King George, the first British settlement in Georgia, is built at the mouth of Altamaha River.

1730James Oglethorpe petitions King George II for a charter to establish a colony in the area southwest of Carolina.

1732 In April, George II approves Oglethorpe's charter. In July, twelve trustees meet at Old Palace Yard in Westminster to plan the new colony. Oglethorpe and 114 colonists depart England for Charles Town, Carolina, in November.

1733 Oglethorpe's group arrives at Charles Town in January. In February, Savannah is founded as the first permanent English settlement in Georgia. Georgia Close, the first recorded English birth in the territory, is born in March.

1735 The Trustees of Georgia rule that slavery and rum are prohibited and that traders must purchase licenses before trading with local tribes. The slavery ban is lifted in 1749. The city of Augusta is founded along the Savannah River.

1740 Oglethorpe invades Florida and attempts to take St. Augustine. After three weeks, he turns back due to the oppressive heat and lack of provisions.

1741 Georgia is divided into two counties.

1752 The trustees hold their final meeting before disbanding. In October, John Reynolds arrives from England and assumes his post as the colony's first royal governor.

1756 The first of 6,000 French Acadians arrive in Georgia.

1758 John Reynolds resigns his position as governor, and Henry Ellis is appointed as his replacement.

1760 Ellis becomes ill and steps down as governor. His lieutenant governor, James Wright, assumes the position as governor.

1763 The first newspaper in Georgia, the Georgia Gazette, is published in Savannah.

1766 The Townshend Revenue Act imposes taxes on tea, glass, paint, oil, lead, and paper imported into the colonies; Savannah colonists riot in protest of the Stamp Act.

1769 Colonists in Savannah boycott British goods in opposition of unfair taxes.

1774 The First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia with twelve of the nineteen colonies in attendance. Georgia, still predominantly loyal to the British crown, does not attend.

1776 The Declaration of Independence is approved and declares the colonies to be free and independent from British rule.

1777 Georgia's first constitution is adopted by the legislature.

1778 British troops capture Savannah in December.

1779 British troops seize Augusta, Georgia. Colonial forces lay siege to Savannah with the help of French troops.

1780 Heard's Fort is declared the capital of Georgia.

1782 British troops evacuate Savannah.

1788 On January 21, Georgia officially becomes the fourth US state.

1793 The cotton gin is invented by Eli Whitney near Savannah.

1808 The United States government bans the importation of enslaved persons.

1814 The Creek are forced by General Andrew Jackson to cede a portion of their land in Georgia; the Creek are stripped of their remaining lands by the US government in 1826.

1817 The First Seminole War begins just north of the Florida border and ends the following year.

1828 Gold is discovered in Dahlonega, Georgia, triggering the country's first gold rush.

1834 The SS John Randolph is launched in Savannah. It is the first iron steam ship.

1835 The Second Seminole War begins, and the battles of Brush Creek, Chickasawachee Swamp, and Echowachaway Creek ensue.

1837 The Seminole are defeated at the Okeechobee Swamp by Zachary Taylor.

1838 Cherokee and Creek Indians are forced to leave the state of Georgia. During the march west, known as the Trail of Tears, approximately four thousand American Indians die.

1847 Atlanta is incorporated as a city.

1861 Georgia secedes from the Union at the outset of the Civil War. There are thirty-one battles on Georgia soil during the course of the war.

1863 The Confederate army wins a victory over Union forces at the Battle of Chickamauga.

1864 Union General William Shermanadvances on Atlanta with an army of 100,000. In September, the Union army captures Atlanta and begins its march to the sea, reaching Savannah in December.

1867 Georgia is placed under military rule as Reconstruction commences; The state refuses to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment granting citizenship and equal protection to African Americans.

1870 Georgia is readmitted to the Union.

1886 John Styth Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, develops the formula for Coca-Cola.

1891Jim Crow laws are enacted in Georgia and other Southern states. The laws legalize racial segregation by denying African Americans access to public places and employment.

1893 Public hangings are abolished in Georgia.

1912Girl Scouts of America is founded in Savannah by Juliette Gordon Low.

1921Boll weevils devastate Georgia's cotton crop.

1934 The first Masters Golf Tournament is held at Augusta.

1943 Georgia becomes the first state to lower the voting age to eighteen.

1945 US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies in Warm Springs.

1961Desegregation begins in the state's schools, and African Americans are admitted for the first time to the University of Georgia.

1968 After Atlanta native Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, riots erupt in Albany, Macon, and Savannah.

1973Maynard Jackson Jr. is elected Atlanta's first African American mayor.

1976 Georgia's death penalty is upheld by the US Supreme Court in Gregg. v. Georgia.

1976 Plains native and former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter is elected the thirty-ninth president of the United States.

1986 A severe drought, the state's worst in more than a century, approaches crisis levels.

1987 Approximately ten thousand civil rights demonstrators descend on the Ku Klux Klan stronghold town of Cumming, in Forsyth County. It is the state's largest such demonstration since the 1960s.

1992 The state legislature votes to remove the controversial image of the Confederate battle flag on Georgia's state flag, which is later redesigned.

1996 Atlanta hosts the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. On July 27, more than one hundred people are injured and one woman is killed when a bomb explodes at Olympic Park.

2003 On June 25, former governor Lester Maddox dies from pneumonia at the age of eighty-seven. A notorious segregationist, he was famous for preventing African Americans from entering his restaurant by guarding the door with a pistol.

2004 In January, Georgia state school superintendent Kathy Cox proposes striking the word “evolution” from the state science curriculum and replacing it with the phrase “biological changes over time.” The Board of Education later votes to keep the word “evolution” in the curriculum.

2007 Toward the end of 2006 and into 2007, Georgia and other southeastern states suffer one of the worst droughts in regional history. Meteorologists report that 2007 was the driest year in over 113 years. Watering bans and water rationing initiatives are instituted in Georgia and other states. In addition, states begin using emergency water supplies and importing water from neighboring regions.

2011 Governor Nathan Deal’s office releases a lengthy investigative report on what becomes known as the Atlanta cheating scandal. The report alleges that, over the course of a decade, 178 public school employees changed answers on their students’ standardized tests in order to improve scores and thus receive performance-based bonuses.

2013 A Fulton County grand jury issues indictments against retired Atlanta school superintendent Beverly Hall and thirty-four other school system employees for their alleged roles in the Atlanta cheating scandal.

2014 The National Center for Civil and Human Rights, a museum commemorating the civil rights movement as well as worldwide human rights movements, opens in Atlanta.

2018 Hurricane Michael, a category 5 storm, is the first major hurricane to hit Georgia directly in nearly 130 years.

2020 On February 23, Ahmaud Arbery, a twenty-five-year-old Black man, is murdered while out jogging in Glynn County, Georgia, by three White men in what is later revealed to be a racially motivated killing. Although the three men responsible for Arbery's death are not initially arrested, in 2021 they are found guilty of murder and given life sentences. (In 2022 they are also federally convicted of committing a hate crime and receive second life sentences.)

The global COVID-19 pandemic reaches Georgia, causing major social and economic disruption.

Georgia is won by Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, helping him win the presidency. However, incumbent Republican Donald Trump refuses to accept the results and draws much criticism for seeking to overturn the election.

2023 Former president Donald Trump is indicted in Fulton County on felony charges accusing him of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

FAMOUS PEOPLE

Conrad Aiken, 1889–1973 (Savannah): Poet.

Jimmy Carter, 1924– (Plains): Thirty-ninth president of the United States.

Ray Charles, 1930–2004 (Albany): Singer.

Lucius D. Clay, 1897–1978 (Marietta): US soldier, Republican Party activist.

Ty Cobb, 1886–1961 (Narrows): Baseball player.

Charles Coburn, 1877–1961 (Macon): Actor.

James Dickey, 1923–77 (Atlanta): Poet, novelist.

Laurence Fishburne, 1961– (Augusta): Actor.

Amy Grant, 1960– (Augusta): Singer.

Oliver Hardy, 1892–1957 (Harlem): Comedian, entertainer.

Hulk Hogan, 1953– (Augusta): Professional wrestler, entertainer.

John Henry "Doc" Holliday, 1851–87 (Griffin): Gambler, gunfighter.

Larry Holmes, 1949– (Cuthbert): Boxer.

Jasper Johns, 1930– (Augusta): Artist.

Bobby Jones, 1902–71 (Atlanta): Professional golfer.

Stacy Keach, 1941– (Savannah): Actor.

Martin Luther King Jr., 1929–68 (Atlanta): Civil rights leader.

Gladys Knight, 1944– (Atlanta): Singer.

Spike Lee, 1957– (Atlanta): Director, producer, actor.

Carson McCullers, 1917–67 (Columbus): Writer.

Margaret Mitchell, 1900–1949 (Atlanta): Author, "Gone With the Wind" (1936).

Ma Rainey, 1886–1939 (Rome): Singer.

Otis Redding, 1941–67 (Dawson): Singer.

Burt Reynolds, 1936–2018 (Waycross): Actor.

Little Richard, 1935–2020 (Macon): Singer, musician.

Julia Roberts, 1967– (Smyrna): Actor.

Jackie Robinson, 1919–72 (Cairo): Baseball player.

Dean Rusk, 1909–94 (Cherokee City): Former US secretary of state.

Nipsy Russell, 1924–2005 (Atlanta): Comedian.

Ray Stevens, 1939– (Clarkdale): Singer, songwriter.

Clarence Thomas, 1948– (Savannah): US Supreme Court justice.

Alice Walker, 1944– (Eatonton): Author, The Color Purple (1982).

Kanye West, 1977– (Atlanta): Musician, music producer.

Hosea Williams, 1926–2000 (Attapulgus, GA): Civil rights activist; state politician.

Joanne Woodward, 1930– (Thomasville): Actor.

Trisha Yearwood, 1964– (Monticello): Country music singer.

Jason Aldean, 1977– (Macon): Country music singer.

TRIVIA

• Georgia did not have a Republican governor from 1872, when Benjamin Conley left office, until 2003, when George E. “Sonny” Perdue took office.
• The "Chicken Capital of the World" is located in Gainesville, Georgia, where it is against the law to eat chicken with utensils. The state also hosts the International Poultry Trade Show each year.
• Blackbeard Island, off the coast of Savannah, is named for the infamous British pirate Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, who reportedly made his home there for a brief period. Today, the island is a 3,000-acre wildlife refuge.
• Cordele, Georgia, is known as the watermelon capital of the world.
• Berry College, in Mount Berry, has the world's largest contiguous college campus and was a shooting location for films such as Remember the Titans and Sweet Home Alabama.
• The North Georgia State Fair was canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The last time it had been called off was during World War II.

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"Georgia." QuickFacts, US Census Bureau, 1 July 2022, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/GA/PST045222. Accessed 15 Sept. 2023.

"Georgia: 2020 Census." US Census Bureau, 25 Aug. 2021, www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/georgia-population-change-between-census-decade.html. Accessed 5 Oct. 2022.

"Georgia: State Profile and Energy Estimates." US Energy Information Administration, 19 Jan. 2023, www.eia.gov/state/?sid=GA. Accessed 15 Sept. 2023.

"Unemployment Rates for States, 2022 Annual Averages." Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, 1 Mar. 2023, www.bls.gov/lau/lastrk22.htm. Accessed 15 Sept. 2023.