Connecticut - The US Explained

connecticut by area it's the third smallest state in the entire united states yet is home to millions of residents an old and historic state it's today a center of the u.s financial industry despite its small size connecticut has a unique culture divided between new england and the new york metro area home to a beautiful coastline densely populated urban areas as well as plenty of countryside connecticut is the fifth place i will talk about in the us explained a 56 part series on every state territory and federal district in the country by order of admission one quick side note sorry that i haven't uploaded a us explain video in a while in the future i will try to pick up the pace on uploading while also keeping them high quality hello and welcome to that is interesting i'm your host carter this is the u.s explained episode 5 connecticut connecticut sits in the humid continental climate region which gives it four seasons with summers being hot and winter's cold and snow according to the kept in climate classification which breaks down the world into regions based on their climate located in the northeast it on average has a colder temperature and gets more rain than the rest of the us connecticut is nicknamed the constitution state while you might think this name comes from the u.s constitution it in fact originates from another document called the fundamental orders which was potentially the first colonial constitution in what would eventually become the united states the u.s constitution in turn was inspired in part by the fundamental orders giving the state its nickname early european settlers in connecticut also became known for selling fake nutmeg made of wood this was potentially due to customers trying to crack the nutmeg open instead of grading it whether the story is true or not connecticut became associated with nutmeg and the state is today unofficially nicknamed the nutmeg state with residents sometimes half jokingly referred to as nutmeggers the word connecticut is an anglicized version of a mohegan word for the region which translates to the place of the long tidal river the river it refers to bears the same name the connecticut river and is the longest and arguably one of the most important rivers in new england it begins in new hampshire in a tiny pond just below the border of quebec and flows south making up nearly all of the new hampshire vermont border it then continues through massachusetts and connecticut leaving behind a flat agricultural river valley home to important new england cities like springfield and hartford before entering long island sound between the connecticut towns of old saybrook and old line town that has the unfortunate distinction of giving its name to lyme disease connecticut's flag is one of many to use elements of the state seal on a dark blue background despite it not being exactly like the state seal placing its three grapevines on a shield instead of an oval connecticut's flag can be difficult to distinguish from the many other state flags with a similar look the three grapevines represent either the three british colonies that connecticut was formed from connecticut new haven and sabrook or the three original towns in the connecticut colony hartford windsor and weathersfield in my opinion they add a pretty unique look to the flag leaving it less cluttered and giving it a better look than many of the other dark blue state flags connecticut takes up a land area of just 4842 square miles or 12 542 square kilometers a similar area to vanuatu qatar or jamaica this makes it the third smallest state in the entire country larger than just delaware and rhode island in fact a stunning 63 counties in the united states take up more land than connecticut and that isn't even counting alaska's enormous boroughs and census areas as the state doesn't have counties which would bring the number up to 84. however many of the new england states located around connecticut such as massachusetts and rhode island also take up a similarly small amount of land so it isn't completely engulfed by its neighbors in terms of population however connecticut is home to 3.557 million people giving it a greater population than 21 other states as well as the us territories and the district of columbia despite its small size more people live in connecticut than states like nevada utah and iowa which are far larger in terms of area this contributes to the state having one of the highest population densities in the country 741 people per square mile or 286 per square kilometer a similar density to the uk or vietnam only three other states massachusetts rhode island and new jersey and 30 countries have a greater population density than connecticut the state is located in the northeastern united states in the region of new england it borders only three other states to its east lies rhode island which it shares a small maritime border with an offshore sandbar called sandy point island is actually divided between the two states the connecticut rhode island border then heads inland at the mouth of the plockatuck river following the river upstream for about 10 miles or 16 kilometers before leaving it and turning north in a mostly straight line for about 41 miles or 66 kilometers most of connecticut's eastern border is shared with rhode island saved for the northernmost mile which it shares with massachusetts massachusetts though primarily sits on connecticut's northern border which is about 86 miles or 139 kilometers in length while it appears at first to be a straight line take a closer look at the connecticut massachusetts border and you'll see what appears to be two notches carved out of connecticut the largest of them is called the southwick jog and was formed due to a bad 17th century surveying job long story short the border was placed too far to the south giving massachusetts land that should have belonged to connecticut connecticut wasn't happy with it and it led to a long-standing dispute about where the border between the two states should be located connecticut eventually prevailed but settlers from massachusetts had already founded several towns in land that massachusetts had claimed at the time but had since been agreed on as part of connecticut connecticut allowed some of these communities including one called southwick which became the southwick jog to remain a part of massachusetts giving the state an oddly shaped northern border to connecticut's west it borders new york most of the border is a slightly diagonal line that eventually turns inward before making a sharp turn to the southwest and another to the southeast running perpendicular to long island sound until it meets the byram river which it follows for just a mile and a half to the ocean this creates the connecticut panhandle a distinctive section of the state jutting out into new york its existence is due to a border dispute between the two from their time as colonies both claimed much of the area around what is today the two states borders including the connecticut panhandle eventually a line was agreed upon however many settlers from connecticut were living in a coastal area west of the new border in what was decided to be part of new york in towns like greenwich these towns whose residents identified with connecticut did not want to be part of new york so in response the two colonies agreed to change the border giving connecticut what became the panhandle and giving new york the town of rye a coastal town founded by settlers from connecticut as well as a thin stretch of land called the oblong that sat directly beside the connecticut new york border essentially pushing the borders slightly to the east this geographic anomaly has turned out to be pretty influential for connecticut while small the connecticut panhandle is home to around 320 000 people or just under 10 of the state population finally to the south connecticut sits on long island sound at times just six miles from long island the most populous island in the country as well as the largest in the contiguous due to long island's presence across the sound connecticut shares a maritime border with new york to the south fisher's island sitting just two miles off the connecticut coastline is also a part of new york due to this maritime boundary interestingly connecticut actually claimed ownership of part of long island as well as a thin strip of land extending from the other side of new york in what is now northeastern pennsylvania all the way to the pacific their claims were never successful but people from connecticut actually settled in pennsylvania's wyoming valley the area where scranton is located as well as a large section of northern ohio along lake erie where cleveland is today they called it the connecticut western reserve and today case western reserve university located in cleveland is named after it as a colony connecticut even went to war for 30 years with pennsylvania over control of the territory they both claimed known as the panamite yankee war however the 30-year-long conflict only saw three deaths the state is divided into just eight counties four in the northern part of the state and four in the southern part only rhode island hawaii and delaware have fewer the northwestern part of the state is more mountainous home to ranges of the appalachians or appalachians like the taconics and the berkshires which the green mountains are known as outside of vermont this part of the state is home to connecticut's highest point which is actually not a mountain peak but a slope of a mountain whose summit sits across the state line in massachusetts the appalachian trail runs through connecticut and due to the presence of the appalachians in connecticut and some of its neighbors much of the state is covered in hills which are generally smaller in its eastern and southern parts further from the mountains overall though connecticut's mountains aren't as tall as some other new england states further to the north such as maine new hampshire and vermont the flattest section of the state in addition to the coastline is the connecticut river valley which cuts from north to south down the center of the state and is the heart of new england's agricultural industry in addition to farmland the area around the connecticut river is also a major urban center home to connecticut's capital city hartford an urban area home to over 900 000 people most of the hills in connecticut are foothills of mountain ranges further to the north in vermont and new hampshire as such most of its rivers flow north to south and many such as the connecticut housatonic and thames thames in connecticut not thames begin in other states and much of the water that falls in new england meets the ocean in connecticut this coupled with the state's hilly topography contributes to a jagged coastline filled with bays rocks and small islands it lies within the northeast megalopolis a string of urban areas stretching from washington dc to boston which due to early settlement from european colonists as well as numerous bays and rivers which made it a suitable location for trade and industry led the northeastern u.s connecticut included to grow into a highly developed and urbanized region as well as a large population many of these states divided up early on as colonies are much smaller in terms of area than states located further to the west it's no surprise that the seven most densely populated states in the u.s are all located in the northeast megalopolis connecticut is also unique in that it lacks an obvious population center while many northeastern states such as massachusetts rhode island or new york have one clear urban core connecticut is home to multiple small and medium-sized cities whose urban areas frequently overlap in the state's southwest is its most populous county fairfield county which includes the connecticut panhandle it directly borders new york and sits just 10 miles or 16 kilometers from the city limits of new york city it's a suburban area with many residents commuting by train into new york often referred to as the gold coast some of the wealthiest americans live in fairfield county and the coastal suburban area is incredibly well off however it is also home to some of the highest income inequality in the us in fact in only five counties in the entire country is the ratio between the wealthiest one percent of residents and the rest of the population higher than in fairfield county cities in fairfield county like greenwich norwalk fairfield danbury and to the state's most populous stamford and bridgeport all sit well within the orbit of new york city contributing to a cultural divide in the state between the greater new york area and new england not far east of bridgeport the continuous string of coastal connecticut cities ends with new haven a city on long island sound with over half a million residents in its urban area while mid-sized satellite cities of new york dominate the coastline until that point from new haven on the connecticut coast is more rural home to small coastal towns and villages i've only been to connecticut one time and just passed through on the train so its coastline was the only part of the state that i've seen but it was an incredibly beautiful and scenic area the largest cities in the more rural eastern part of connecticut are the coastal town of new london and norwich which sits further upstream on the thames one of the state's most prominent waterways the northeastern and northwestern parts of connecticut are significantly more rural home to small towns and farms in the state's many hills and valleys in fact windham county in northeastern connecticut is sometimes referred to as the quiet corner a rare rural stretch in the highly urbanized northeast megalopolis in the north central section of the state the connecticut river valley is a major center of both agriculture and population it's home to hartford connecticut's capital and the anchor of the largest urban area located completely within the state home to nearly 1 million people as well as smaller cities like middletown and new britain string of cities extending from new york to new haven continues northeast through the valley to hartford around 25 miles away from new haven through the valley to the north the suburbs of springfield the second largest urban area in massachusetts when over 600 000 people sprawl across the border into connecticut adding to the already large population of the connecticut river valley despite taking up a relatively small area connecticut was home to numerous native peoples the nipmuck lived in the state's northeast mohegan pequot and western nahantic in the southeast the part of connecticut are on the thames river southwestern connecticut was home to the wappinger the lenape lived near what is today connecticut's border with new york as well as the connecticut panhandle outside of the panhandle southwest connecticut was inhabited by the poguet pequonock mohikin quinnipiak and haman assets the pocumtuk mostly lived in what is now western massachusetts but inhabited parts of northern connecticut as well the area around hartford the connecticut river valley was home to many indigenous peoples as well such as the massacos tunxis wong gunks podunks and paquanic as european colonists began settling and was down north and south america they spread diseases like smallpox that the native people of the americas had not been exposed to which in addition to violent colonial expansion was responsible for the deaths of millions connecticut was home to one of the most horrific atrocities committed against the native people of north america the mystic massacre which occurred during the brutal pequot war hundreds of pequot people were killed most of whom were civilians who were not involved at all in the war after colonial forces set fire to a fortified pequot village with hundreds of people trapped inside near what is today the coastal town of mystic not far from new london today the pequot people along with the nipmuc long quinnipiac mohegan and poguset still reside in connecticut many of connecticut's other indigenous tribes no longer exist some survivors from those tribes banded together and became known as the scotticoat people who live today in western connecticut along the new york border the first european colony to send colonists to connecticut was the netherlands with dutch settlers establishing several settlements in the area including a fort known as the hedge to hope in what is now hartford although new netherland claimed much of what is today western connecticut they were unable to hold on to it for very long and never gained as strong a foothold in connecticut as in new york some settlers living in the british colonies of massachusetts bay and plymouth wanted to leave the increasingly crowded boston area and began leaving for more rural parts of new england they established numerous towns in the fertile connecticut river valley as well as along both shores of long island sound the land claimed by new netherland three of these towns windsor wethersfield and hartford were founded by a puritan creature named thomas hooker who referred to them as the river colony and later the connecticut colony connecticut wasn't the only colony in the area founded by settlers leaving massachusetts and plymouth at the mouth of the connecticut river set the colony of saybrook and centered around a large inlet on long island sound was new haven which also controlled settlements in what is now connecticut's gold coast near new york and on long island connecticut bought sabra in 1644 and though the new haven colony lasted longer the coastal colonies lack of good agricultural areas made it a challenge to survive on its own and it joined connecticut in 1664 forming the predecessor of the state we know today the site of the new haven colony is today the modern city of the same name in 1687 britain merged the colonies located in new england as well as new york and new jersey together into the dominion of new england taking away the charters that established each as a colony this infuriated connecticut's leaders one of whom captain joseph wadsworth during a tense meeting with a royal official ran out and hid the charter in a hole inside a nearby oak tree the tree known as the charter oak is today a common symbol of connecticut on january 9 1788 connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the u.s constitution and join the united states just one week after the previous state to do so georgia during the constitutional convention two of connecticut's delegates resolved disagreements over how each state should be represented in the legislative branch in what was known as the connecticut compromise giving the u.s the bicameral legislature it has today with a house of representatives based on population and a senate in which each state has two senators though northeastern states like connecticut were some of the earliest outlaws slavery with connecticut banning the slave trade shortly before it became a state it only abolished slavery very gradually with some black people still suffering enslavement in connecticut as late as 1857. in 1839 a group of mendy people from sierra leone were imprisoned in new haven they'd been kidnapped and forced on a boat called la amistad headed to a life of enslavement in the caribbean while on board led by a man named sang bay pier or ck they'd freed themselves and taken control of the ship though senke ordered the ship back to sierra leone the slave traders navigating la amistad took it to connecticut the plight of the amistad's captives whose enslavement the u.s supreme court ruled to be illegal helped further the cause of abolition and emancipation today a replica of the amistad as well as a memorial slave people on board it are both located in new haven connecticut was an industrial powerhouse with its factories and textile mills playing a major role in the industrial revolution in addition its long coastline is dotted with excellent bays and harbors along with rivers that cut deep into new england such as the housatonic quinnipiac thames and connecticut this has led the state to become a center of shipbuilding and seafaring producing thousands of ships and has developed a maritime culture connecticut was a major location for whaling specifically in the city of new london not far from new london in the town of groton sits uss nautilus the world's first nuclear submarine nearby mystic is home to the mystic seaport a full-scale replica of an old connecticut port town in addition the first helicopter ever flown did so in the town of stratford just east of bridgeport while you likely don't think of connecticut when it comes to gambling the state is home to the foxwoods resort casino owned by the pequot the second largest casino in the united states and the fourth largest in the world a massive complex far larger than any casino in famous gambling cities like las vegas reno or atlantic city as well as the slightly smaller mohegan sun owned by the mohegan people which is the united states third largest casino though it doesn't always have that reputation connecticut is one of the more diverse states in the country with black and latino americans making up a large percentage of connecticut's population located not far from ellis island the historical center of immigration into the east coast connecticut has become home to many immigrants to the u.s from countries like jamaica india the dominican republic poland ecuador and italy with more of western connecticut's residents tracing their ancestry back to italian immigrants than those from any other country in addition 3.28 of connecticut's residents are jewish giving only four states a higher jewish population than connecticut though no urban areas centered in connecticut have surpassed 1 million people the state is still one of the most densely populated in the country due to both its smaller size relative to other states as well as the presence of many small and mid-sized cities throughout the parts of connecticut located within the northeast megalopolis by just population within the city limits connecticut's largest city is bridgeport home to 144 000 people followed by new haven stamford and hartford but in terms of population within the entire urban area the capital city of hartford slightly surpasses it home to 924 000 people compared with the bridgeport stanford urban areas total population of 923 000. this makes hartford not just the most populous urban area in connecticut but the third most populous in new england after boston and providence as well as the 47th in the country its location in the agricultural connecticut river valley and along the connecticut river has made hartford one of connecticut's most prominent cities since the state's founding it's one of the oldest houses in the state as well as the entire country connecticut's largest newspaper the hartford current has been continuously published longer than any other paper in the united states starting in 1764 though the new hampshire gazette is older it's been connecticut's capital since before connecticut was even a state up to its founding as a colony though it shared capital status with new haven for several decades today hartford is a center of the insurance industry with many major insurance companies such as cigna aetna and the hartford having their headquarters in the city or suburbs this helps give hartford by far the most prominent skyline in the state out of the 25 tallest buildings connecticut 18 are located in hartford one of those seven exceptions is the otis elevator test tower in bristol a town not far from hartford that's also home to espn the otis elevator test tower is an entire skyscraper devoted to testing the safety of elevators the state capitol in downtown hartford is consistently ranked among the most beautiful state houses in the country hartford suffers from a declining population an issue facing much of the state connecticut is one of just six states to have had a lower population in 2020 than it did in 2010 and in terms of population decline it is surpassed by only two other states illinois and west virginia despite neighborhoods in the state that are among the wealthiest in the u.s other areas including parts of hartford are far less well-off and face issues with poverty and crime connecticut's second largest urban area just smaller than hartford with a population of 923 thousand is a string of cities not far from one another on the southwestern shore of connecticut known as the gold coast these cities many of which function as satellite cities of new york include bridgeport stamford norwalk and greenwich and they're home to many residents who work in new york city and commute across state lines using public transit many of these towns such as greenwich are quite wealthy home to some of new york's richest people this contributes to giving connecticut a higher per capita income than any other state in the country but that is not always the case bridgeport like hartford has major struggles with poverty crime and job loss and only one other state has worse income inequality than connecticut its neighboring state of new york a port city on long island sound bridgeport which is home to more people in its city limits than any other connecticut city was also the birthplace of the frisbee which started off as a pie tin produced by a local pie shop called the frisbee pie company though one of connecticut's largest cities it has far fewer skyscrapers than hartford with many of its residents working in new york sitting on long island sound stamford's downtown is located just five miles from the border with new york the city is wealthy and highly developed and unlike much of connecticut is actually growing pretty quickly it's home to numerous high rises and has perhaps the state's tallest skyline outside of hartford and new haven fairfield county's proximity to new york and the fact that many of its residents work and spend time in the city has given the gold coast and western connecticut overall a strong cultural connection to new york city whereas eastern connecticut has more ties to the rest of new england this overlap between the influence of new york and new england creates a unique cultural divide within the state exemplified by the support for either the new york yankees or boston red sox within connecticut the southwestern part of the state strongly favors the yankees and the northeast the red sox in between support is divided between the two based for the most part on how close each town is to the respective corners of the state connecticut's third largest urban area home to 562 thousand people is new haven home to connecticut's busiest port and the 57th busiest in the country the city sits on new haven harbor a large bay in long island sound where one of connecticut's longest rivers the quinnipiac meets the ocean it's home to a decently large skyline centered around the new haven green a beautiful park in the center of the city it's famous as the home of yale one of the most prestigious universities on earth which helps power the new haven economy the city is sometimes referred to as connecticut's cultural capital and it isn't hard to see why the first burger in the u.s was made in new haven and it is home to its very own style of pizza out of all the comments all of you left providing information on connecticut the state's pizza scene was probably brought up in most of it new haven pizza also known as ibiza is very popular in connecticut and stamford has a major pizza culture as well as connecticut is located in new england seafood is popular there and many people in the state refer to the sandwich most americans call a sub as a grinder a term that's pretty common across new england the university of connecticut or yukon is famous for its basketball teams and its women's team is considered one of the best in the country politically connecticut solidly supports the democratic party democrats tend to do better among voters living in cities and connecticut is a pretty urbanized densely populated state the cook partisan voting index gives it a partisan voting index or pvi of d plus six this means that in recent elections connecticut tends to vote blue by about six percent more than the rest of the country on average as of now the state's governor both senators and all five representatives are all members of the democratic party however it's a lighter shade of blue than the rest of its neighbors perhaps due to southwestern connecticut's suburban nature and one of its most well-known politicians joe lieberman who represented connecticut in the senate and nearly became vice president as al gore's running mate won election first as a member of the democratic party and later as what he called an independent democrat the only president born in connecticut was george w bush whose political positions are pretty different from those of his state of birth though he was born in new haven and later attended yale bush's family moved to texas when he was two the president with probably the strongest connection to connecticut was his father george h.w bush who though born in massachusetts grew up in greenwich and spent much of his young life there before deciding to move to texas his father prescott bush started the family's career in politics representing connecticut in the senate sorry again that this video took so long in the future i'll try to get them out on a bit of a quicker schedule but they can take a while to produce so hopefully it was worth the wait i tried to be pretty thorough but i know there were definitely things i missed in this video as there was a lot to talk about i want to give a big thank you to everyone from connecticut who helped give me information for this video leaving detailed and informative comments on youtube as well as discord i truly would not have been able to make this video without all your help my next video in the series will be on massachusetts there will definitely be a lot to go over and i've only actually been there one time so i'll need all the help i can get if you're from massachusetts please respond to my community post or my comment here or leave something in the discord server to let me know what you'd like to see included about your home state i especially want to thank everyone who has already joined my patreon through my patreon you can access different things such as behind the scenes videos an exclusive discord q a with me ad free content and shout out to my videos which will be shown here i also really appreciate the nearly 250 of you who have already joined my discord server if you haven't joined the discord server yet it's a great place to continue conversations about the topics discussed in these videos interact with fellow viewers and help provide information about upcoming states in the series i'll put links to both the patreon and the discord in the comments thank you for watching this video and i hope you learned something new subscribe for more content like this i cover the countries cities people and places of the world and beyond these videos will leave you saying that is interesting you

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Length: 33min 16sec (1996 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 28 2021