From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| [show]Massachusetts State Symbols |
|
| Living Symbols |
| -Bird |
Black-capped Chickadee, Wild Turkey |
| -Fish |
Cod |
| -Flower |
Mayflower |
| -Insect |
Ladybug |
| -Mammal |
Right whale, Morgan horse, Tabby cat, Boston Terrier |
| -Reptile |
Garter snake |
| -Tree |
American Elm |
| Beverage |
Cranberry Juice |
| Colors |
Blue, Green, Cranberry |
| Dance |
Square Dance |
| Food |
Cranberry, Corn muffin, Navy bean, Boston cream pie, Chocolate chip cookie, Boston cream donut |
| Fossil |
Mastodon |
| Gemstone |
Rhodonite |
| Mineral |
Babingtonite |
| Poem |
"Blue Hills of Massachusetts" |
| Rock |
Roxbury Puddingstone |
| Shell |
Wrinkled Whelk |
| Ship(s) |
Schooner Ernestina |
| Slogan(s) |
Make It Yours,
The Spirit of America |
| Soil |
Paxton |
| Song(s) |
All Hail to Massachusetts,
Massachusetts,
The Road to Boston,
Massachusetts (Because of You Our Land is Free),
The Great State of Massachusetts,
Say Hello to Someone from Massachusetts,
Ode to Massachusetts |
| Sport |
Basketball |
| Route Marker(s) |
|
| Quarter |
2000
|
| See Also |
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (IPA: /ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɨts/) is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north. Most of its population of 6.4 million live in the Boston metropolitan area. The eastern half of this relatively small state is mostly urban and suburban. Massachusetts is the most populous of the six New England states and ranks third in overall population density and fourth by GDP per capita.
Massachusetts has been significant throughout American history. Plymouth
was the second permanent English settlement in North America. Colonists
from England founded many towns and villages in the present-day
territory of Massachusetts very early in the nation's history in the
1620s and 1630s. The Boston area became known as the "Cradle of
Liberty" for the ferment there which led to the American Revolution and the independence of the United States from Great Britain. Massachusetts was the first U.S. state to abolish slavery and was a center of the temperance movement and abolitionist activity in the years leading to the American Civil War. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to recognize same-sex marriage. The state has contributed many prominent politicians to national service, including the Adams family and, more recently, the Kennedy family.
Originally dependent on agriculture and trade with Europe, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution.
Migration of factories to the lower-wage Southern states caused
economic stagnation during the first half of the 20th century. The
economy of Massachusetts was revived after World War II, and today is prominent in higher education, health care, and high technology.
Name
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was named after the indigenous population, the Massachuset, whose name can be segmented as mass-adchu-s-et, where mass- is "large", -adchu- is "hill", -s- is a diminutive suffix meaning "small", and -et is a locative
suffix, identifying a place. It has been translated as "near the great
hill," "by the blue hills" "at the little big hill," or "at the range
of hills," referring to the Blue Hills, or in particular, Great Blue Hill, located on the boundary of Milton and Canton, to the southwest of Boston.[4][5][6] (c.f. the Narragansett name Massachusêuck;[5] Ojibwe misajiwensed, "of the little big hill").[7]
Massachusetts is officially a "commonwealth."
Colloquially, it is often referred to simply as "the Commonwealth,"
although "state" is used interchangeably. While this designation is
part of the state's official name, it has no practical implications.
Massachusetts has the same position and powers within the United States
as other states and a similar form of internal government.
Geography
-
Prominent roads and cities in Massachusetts
Massachusetts is bordered on the north by New Hampshire and Vermont; on the west by New York; on the south by Connecticut and Rhode Island; and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the state is uplands of resistant metamorphic rock that were scraped by Pleistocene glaciers that deposited moraines and outwash on a large, sandy, arm-shaped peninsula called Cape Cod and the islands Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket to the south of Cape Cod. Upland elevations increase to the north and west and the highest point in the state is Mount Greylock at 3,491 feet (1,064 m) near the state's northwest corner.
The uplands are interrupted by the downfaulted Pioneer Valley along the Connecticut River and further west by the Housatonic Valley separating the Berkshire Hills from the Taconic Range along the western border with New York.
Boston is located at the innermost point of Massachusetts Bay, at the mouth of the Charles River, the longest river entirely within Massachusetts. Most of the population of the Boston metropolitan area
(approximately 4.4 million) does not live in the city proper; eastern
Massachusetts on the whole is fairly densely populated and largely suburban as far west as Worcester.
Central Massachusetts encompasses Worcester County, and includes the cities of Worcester, Fitchburg, Leominster, Gardner, Southbridge and small upland towns, forests, and small farms. The Quabbin Reservoir borders the western side of the county, and is the main water supply for the eastern part of the state.[8][9]
The Pioneer Valley along the Connecticut River in Western Massachusetts is urbanized from the Connecticut border (and greater Hartford) to north as far as Northampton, and includes Springfield, Chicopee, West Springfield, Westfield, and Holyoke.
Pioneer Valley economy and population was influenced by agriculturally
productive Connecticut River Valley land in the 17th and 18th century,
water power for the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century and expansion of higher education in the 20th century.
The remainder of the state west of Pioneer Valley is mainly uplands,
a range of small mountains known as the Berkshires, summer home to the
Boston Symphony Orchestra (Lenox), Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the
Norman Rockwell Museum (Stockbridge), Monument Mountain and Mount
Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts. It largely remained in
aboriginal hands until the 18th century when Scotch-Irish settlers
arrived and found the more productive lands already settled.
Availability of better land in western New York and then the Northwest Territory
soon put the upland agricultural population into decline. Available
water power led to 19th century settlement along upland rivers. Pittsfield and North Adams grew into small cities and there are a number of smaller mill towns along the Westfield River.
The geographic center of the state is in the town of Rutland, in Worcester county. The
Classical
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