Georgia - The US Explained

georgia it's home to tall mountains and vast swamps farm after farm as well as one of the largest cities in the country long suffering some of the worst racism in the u.s it played a central role in the civil rights movement and is today a center of black art music and business georgia is a unique and fascinating state and is the fourth place i will talk about in the u.s explained a 56-part series on every state territory and federal district in the country by order of admission hello and welcome to that is interesting i'm your host carter this is the u.s explained episode 4 georgia georgia is nicknamed the peach state because it grows lots of peaches and georgia peaches are famous for tasting very good they've become a symbol of the state so much there's even a county in georgia called peach county a neighborhood in downtown atlanta is named peachtree center and peachtree street is one of the city's most prominent roads there's a suburb of atlanta called peachtree corners and another called peachtree city where most of the residents actually get around using golf carts as the city is filled with golf cart paths and most people have a golf cart in their garage a lot of the peach tree names come from a city called standing peach tree built by the muskogee people on the site of atlanta there are simply way too many things the name of their peaches in georgia for me to list but you should be able to tell how much of a symbol of the state the fruit has become the state is also known for growing vaidea onions pecans and peanuts georgia's governor and the only president from the state jimmy carter was a peanut farmer before beginning his political career georgia is named after king george ii the grandfather and predecessor of king george iii george ii ruled britain in 1733 when georgia was founded as a colony so it was named in his honor the state's name can sometimes be confusing as there is a country that also has the name georgia the country of georgia sits in the caucasus and the black sea and between turkey russia azerbaijan and armenia it's unclear whether the name of the state and country have the same origin the word george the country's name comes from the word persians used to refer to the country's inhabitants but some people believe the term comes from the farsi word for wolf while others believe it originates from saint george those who live in the country of georgia though call their country sock art velo which the us might want to consider using as well to avoid confusion when referring to either the country or the state of georgia back to the state georgia's flag is modeled after the first confederate national flag many people outside the state likely don't know that about georgia's flag as the confederate flag most people are familiar with is the confederate battle flag but georgia's flag is nearly identical to the confederacy's official emblem the only differences being the number of stars on it as well as the presence of georgia state seal though mississippi's recently changed flag was the most infamous of them several southern states unfortunately still use elements of confederate flags in their own state flags before the current flag georgia used what is widely considered to be one of the worst flags ever made consisting of the state seal on a blue background with five other flags beneath it in the words of the north american vexillological association it quote violates all the principles of good flag design that flag was so despised that it only made it two years and the governor who implemented it lost re-election in large part due to how much georgians disliked it georgia sits around the middle of the 50 states in terms of land area coming in at number 21 with a land area of 57 000 square miles or 149 square kilometers similar to tunisia greece or bangladesh although by that metric it isn't among the country's largest states most of the states that are larger than georgia sit in the western u.s in fact believe it or not georgia takes up more land than any other state located fully to the east of the mississippi by population the state is even larger home to 10.6 million people it is the eighth most populous state in the entire country with more people living in georgia than states like north carolina michigan or new jersey it's located in the southern us more specifically the deep south and borders five other states georgia's northern border which it shares with north carolina and tennessee appears to be a straight line but in fact one section of the border is located slightly to the north of the rest creating something known as montgomery's corner this seemingly meaningless anomaly is actually due to a border dispute between georgia and tennessee and has had some pretty significant impacts on the state today unlike most border disputes between states the tennessee georgia border dispute is still happening georgia's northern border was supposed to sit on the 35th parallel however a surveying error in the early 1800s placed it too far to the south by about a mile another survey was held which gave a different line further to the north instead of switching to the new line they used parts of both connecting the two and creating montgomery's corner between north carolina and georgia because of this tennessee was given slightly more land than they were originally intended to have this would have been much of a problem if it hadn't been for the tennessee river the tennessee is one of the largest rivers in the u.s in one of the south's major waterways it cuts very close to georgia but doesn't actually cross into the state the creation of a dam on the river brought the water even closer to georgia just 144 feet or 44 meters away however if the georgia tennessee border had been correctly located on the 35th parallel a small part of the river belonged to georgia allowing the state to use its water supply for its large and fast growing population because of this the two states are still arguing over this small section of land and more importantly water to this day right at the section where the tennessee river comes closest to georgia the state's western border with alabama begins about half of the border is a slightly diagonal line running north to south and ending the towns of west point georgia and lynette alabama where it meets the chattahoochee river the border then follows the river south passing through the city of columbus georgia eventually the border with alabama changes to the border with florida and a small section of florida actually sits to the west of georgia just 21 miles to the south the chattahoochee river and another river in georgia the flint river flow together to form the apalachicola river at their confluence the border between the two states begins to run east to west with florida to the south and georgia to the north it runs directly to the okefenoke swamp until it reaches the headwaters of the saint mary's river which it follows to its mouth in the atlantic not far north of the florida city of jacksonville georgia's coast in the atlantic continues northeast to the mouth of the savannah river in the city of savannah the river and its tributaries make up georgia's entire border with south carolina the northern part of georgia is very mountainous with the appalachian or appalachian mountains cutting through it though the mountains continue in alabama the appalachian trail either begins or ends depends which way you're going on springer mountain in georgia going the whole way to mount katahdin in maine and cutting through 14 states making it the longest hiking trail on earth one of the most prominent ranges of the appalachians the blue ridge mountains ends in georgia and to its west it's the appalachian plateau a hilly region to the west of the mountains called the allegheny plateau in the northern u.s and the cumberland plateau in the south between these two sits a region of long ridges and valleys because of this even though northern georgia is very mountainous different sections of the mountains act as different regions with very different geography from one another some of the valleys are home to a pretty large population just across the state line in tennessee sits the city of chattanooga many of its suburbs stretch into the ridge and valley region of georgia in addition smaller cities like rome dalton and cartersville are located in the northwestern corner of the state the appalachians are where most of georgia's major rivers begin such as the chattahoochee flint oconee okmulgee and savannah to the south of the mountains it's the piedmont a region of foothills stretching about halfway down the state while much of the appalachians are forested the piedmont is a mix of tree cover and farmland and is home to many towns and cities the georgia piedmont is dominated by georgia's capital and largest city atlanta whose urban area home to 5 million people around half of the entire state's population sprawls across much of the hilly region other smaller cities such as athens georgia's 8th largest urban area are located in the piedmont as well as the rivers continue south and widen the piedmont changes to a flatter more agricultural coastal plain at an area known as the fall line the piedmont is higher up than the low-lying coastal plain frequently creating waterfalls where rivers cross the line because of this the fall line is typically as far as boats can travel on any given river and waterfalls are also useful for creating mills meaning that lots of towns and cities across the u.s and in similar locations in other countries have been created on fall lines in georgia this is no exception three of georgia's five largest cities sit in the fall line columbus on the chattahoochee river macon on the okmulgee river and augusta on the savannah river georgia's coastal plain takes up much of the southern part of the state it's flatter and more agricultural though it is very forested as well especially along rivers and creeks in fact 67 of georgia is covered in trees and only eight states have a higher percentage of tree cover than georgia due to the fact that much of neighboring florida is a peninsula some of georgia's rivers flow directly into the atlantic while others flow into the gulf of mexico in fact parts of southwestern georgia are less than 40 miles from the gulf coast smaller cities like albany thomasville and valdosta dot the inland coastal plains of georgia in addition it's home to the sparsely populated okefenokee swamp a large inland swamp that it shares with florida much of the okafonoki is protected home to many species of birds as well as snakes alligators and even bears the coast of georgia itself is a marshy low-lying wetland area where many of the state's rivers meet the atlantic a string of barrier islands known as the sea islands stretch from in between the south carolina cities of charleston and myrtle beach all the way to jacksonville florida in georgia they're home to two major population centers savannah georgia's third largest urban area home to about 260 000 people sits at the mouth of the savannah river across the state line from south carolina further to the south sits brunswick home to just over 50 000 people in its urban area four of the sea islands around brunswick saint simons island jekyll island sea island and little saint simons island are known as the golden isles and are a popular tourist destination unlike most of the other sea islands in georgia the golden isles around brunswick and the islands around savannah are all home to a large population what is now georgia was originally inhabited by numerous indigenous peoples in the mountainous north of the state ending at what is now the northern suburbs of atlanta live the cherokee much of the south including parts of georgia alabama mississippi tennessee north carolina south carolina kentucky virginia and west virginia were home to the cherokee the yuchi people lived in a similar area to the cherokee in northern georgia the rest of the state along with much of alabama and the panhandle of florida were home to the muskogee also known as the creek who inhabited the enormous oak moggy mounds outside of macon people known as the westow were thought to have been pushed south from virginia by colonial expansion to the savannah river around what is now augusta also along the savannah river primarily on the south carolina side as well as on the georgia coast all the way from savannah to the florida border or the yamasee finally tamukua lived in much of southeastern georgia and northeastern florida the tuqua were decimated by diseases brought from europe such as smallpox and many that survived died at the hands of colonists and other native people the british and yamasi went to war in 1715 and in 1717 the yamasi were pushed into florida which was under spanish control they were attacked again by the british just 10 years later and most were killed many yamasi that did survive joined local native tribes in florida the westow were nearly wiped out in war with colonists from the carolinas and many that did survive joined the muskogee pressured by colonists to abandon their traditional way of life the cherokee formed an agricultural society created a central government in a written language and built a capital city called new ochota in northwest georgia georgia was actually the final of the 13 colonies to be founded as it was created in 1732 just over four decades before the american revolution it was founded by a british member of parliament named james oglethorpe oglethorpe envisioned a place where british people who were imprisoned due to unpaid debts could resettle and work as farmers and he banned slavery in the colony however not very many debtors actually ever settled in georgia it was seen as a buffer zone between more heavily populated british colonies like the carolinas and the spanish colonies of east and west florida after a british merchant named robert jenkins had his ear cut off by sailors from spain the two countries went to war and georgia's status as a buffered province between the two empires was put to the test as spain invaded georgia the colony however was able to successfully push spanish troops back to florida in 1752 georgia came under direct control of the british monarchy just a few years earlier georgia's leaders had ended the ban on slavery and the colony began bringing in thousands of enslaved people primarily from the western coast of africa the toil away on georgia plantations during the revolutionary war georgia was controlled for quite a while by british forces and didn't fully wind up in american control until 1781 it became the fourth state to ratify the us constitution doing so on january 2nd 1788 a few weeks after the first three states delaware pennsylvania and new jersey had ratified and would be the first of many states to join the union in 1788 initially georgia stretched all the way to the mississippi river taking up most of what is today alabama and mississippi except for the two states coastal areas however an incident called the yazoo land fraud resulted in georgia losing a lot of territory the state government sold much of its western lands called the yazoo lands to other politicians for incredibly cheap prices after georgia later tried to undo the corrupt policy the supreme court decided that it was too late and the sold land could not be taken back leading georgia to then sell the entire western and central two-thirds of the state to the u.s government which eventually became mississippi and alabama creating the state borders that georgia has to this day at the time of the revolution georgia having been a primarily agricultural colony meant to protect other colonies from possible invasion from spain had a very low population it was home to fewer people than any of the other 13 colonies just 23 000 in the 1770s even fewer than far smaller states like delaware and rhode island this changed in 1829 when gold was discovered in the mountains of northern georgia starting off a gold rush that brought thousands of settlers into the state and even a branch of the u.s mint by the 1800s many native people in georgia and much of the southern u.s had either been killed by disease or forced west the cherokee in muskogee however still inhabited much of the state although many muskogee lands have been taken by the us during the creek war waged by andrew jackson and the few yucci that were still alive formed an alliance with the muskogee but the cherokee and muskogee's adoption of a lifestyle similar to that of the american settlers including becoming involved in the horrible practice of slavery still wasn't enough to protect them or their land as the gold rush led to a massive increase in the state's population under the direction of presidents andrew jackson and martin van buren despite the supreme court ruling the action unconstitutional the cherokee muskogee seminole choctaw chickasaw and many other native tribes of the southeast as well as the black people that enslaved were sent on a long forced march called the trail of tears to a place known as the indian territory what is now oklahoma 46 000 people were sent on this forced mass migration four thousand cherokee people alone died on the trail of tears and estimates vary but thousands more native people died in total today the cherokee and muskogee are mostly in oklahoma only 623 yuchi people are alive today and many are officially members of the muskogee nation today around 88 332 americans are muskogee giving them the ninth highest population of any native people in the us the cherokee have by far the highest population of any indigenous people in the country as 819 105 americans are cherokee today much of the city of tulsa oklahoma is divided between muskogee and cherokee lands and 9.2 percent of tolson's are native people the second highest proportion of any major city in the us after anchorage alaska slavery dominated georgia before the civil war in some counties in the state well over 70 percent of the population was enslaved though it existed across the early united states as the 1800s progressed northern states began prohibiting the horrible practice states in the agricultural south however would not abolish slavery and as the u.s expanded to the west whether or not the practice would be permitted in new states became a major source of contention in months after abraham lincoln was elected president in 1860 georgia along with 10 other southern states seceded from the union and formed the confederacy in an attempt to hold on to slavery beginning the civil war several major battles occurred in the state such as the battle of chickamauga which was fought in the northwest corner of georgia near chattanooga tennessee southwestern georgia was a site of the andersonville prison camp where confederate troops imprisoned 46 000 union soldiers nearly a third of whom perished in the prison's brutal conditions union general william tecumseh sherman wanted to destroy not only confederate troops but their industrial power as well in order for the union to get the upper hand sherman set fire to atlanta destroying much of the city before heading to savannah in his march to the sea the goal of which was to deal a major blow to the confederate economy by leveling nearly everything in his path in 1870 nearly five years after the confederacy's defeat and after every other state that had seceded rejoined georgia was readmitted to the union even after the end of the civil war and the abolition of slavery racism was still very prevalent in georgia many black georgians while no longer enslaved had no land or money and worked as sharecroppers for little pay for the plantation owners they'd just been emancipated from racist jim crow laws restricted the rights of black americans across the south and legal segregation endured for decades white supremacist groups terrorized black people and in the century after the civil war hundreds of black georgians were lynched more than almost any other state in forsyth county in 1912 a racist mob drove thousands of black residents out of the county until only two percent of the county's black citizens had stayed even today very few black people live in forsyth county around the time of the civil war nearly half of georgia's population was black but finding little opportunity in the jim crow south over several decades six million black southerners fled north as jobs opened up during the world wars in what is known as the great migration bringing georgia's black population down to 26 nearly half of what it had been before today racism is far from over but in the 1960s significant progress towards equality was achieved during the civil rights movement which georgia played a central role in the movement's most prominent figure was martin luther king jr perhaps the most famous and well-respected figure in american history who never held the presidency or indeed any political office mlk the most prominent leader of the civil rights movement was born and raised in atlanta and began his career as a minister at the city's ebenezer baptist church he of course delivered i have a dream potentially the most famous speech in u.s history and organized massive protests such as the montgomery bus boycott and the march on washington king and other atlanta civil rights leaders such as ralph david abernathy and john lewis who went on to represent georgia and congress pushed to end segregation and won over many americans to their message of equality and in doing so fundamentally transformed georgia the south the united states and the world today black georgians have a large influence on the state and make up around 32.6 percent of its population a percentage surpassed by only two other states in the country mississippi and louisiana in the sea islands and coastal parts of the state live an ethnic group known as the gola or gichi descendants of former enslaved people who isolated geographically developed a unique culture and creole dialect of english today georgia is dominated by the city of atlanta which sits in the piedmont on the upper reaches of the chattahoochee river not only is it the state's capital and largest city but it's the ninth largest urban area in the entire country home to five million people in its urban area about half of georgia's entire population it is a sprawling metropolis with atlanta and its suburbs stretching over many different counties such as fulton the cobb gwinnett cobb and clayton just to name a few a look at a population map of georgia will give you a good idea of just how huge atlanta is compared to some of the state's other major cities if you then inflate each county by population you can see just how many georgians live in the atlanta area like i mentioned earlier it is a major center of civil rights history the king center is located there home to the resting place of mlk and coretta scott king as well as the national center for civil and human rights the georgia aquarium also in atlanta is the largest aquarium in the western hemisphere and the third largest on earth even more impressive considering the city is over 200 miles from the coast and the atlanta botanical garden contains some spectacular outdoor exhibitions the jimmy carter presidential library is located there along with the carter center a major non-profit focused on human rights democracy and eradication of disease in addition atlanta is home to the cdc the centers for disease control it hosted the olympics in 1996 and the city's main airport the hartsfield-jackson atlanta international airport is the busiest on earth it has been for the past two decades with over 110 million passengers passing through in 2019 more so than far larger cities like beijing los angeles tokyo or london many large companies are located in atlanta such as coca-cola which was first sold there in 1886 home depot delta and ups while most people think of la when they think of the film industry many major film studios are located in atlanta and the city has been used as a film location for countless movies and shows the city has also played a major role in the american music scene many different genres of music have thrived in atlanta such as rock gospel seoul and country and today it's a center of hip-hop home to many successful rappers downtown atlanta is long and spread out and is home to many towering skyscrapers such as the bank of america plaza which at 1023 feet or 312 meters is the tallest building in the entire south only nine cities in the entire country have more skyscrapers than atlanta and only three other u.s cities besides new york and chicago contain a building taller than the bank of america plaza the federal reserve bank is split into 12 regional districts each served by a bank headquartered in a different city atlanta is one of the 12 u.s cities home to a federal reserve bank and it serves much of the south in fact the federal reserve system was created at a secretive meeting of prominent bankers on jekyll island one of georgia's golden isles because so many people move to atlanta from around the country and the world it is rare part of the deep south that doesn't have as much of the southern culture that is prevalent in the rest of georgia where traditional southern foods like grits cornbread seafood dumplings and barbecue are popular in addition southern accents and dialects though very different across the state are also less common in atlanta besides atlanta georgia is home to several other cities that while not as large still play an important role in the state georgia's second most populous city is augusta with over 386 thousand people sitting in its urban area it sits on the fall line on the savannah river with many of its suburbs sitting across the river in south carolina while it doesn't have anything the size of some of atlanta's skyscrapers augusta's downtown does have some decently tall buildings music legend james brown grew up in the city and in the early 1900s it was home to many resorts today hundreds of thousands of people visit augusta every year to watch the masters golf tournament georgia's third largest urban area savannah is home to 260 thousand people in it and its suburbs it sits like augusta on the savannah river where the river meets the atlantic despite sitting across from south carolina there really aren't any suburbs directly across the river from the city it's home to the busiest port in georgia and the 23rd busiest in the country in old and historic coastal city savannah is famous for its beautiful architecture and is frequently voted as one of the best cities in the u.s savannah was georgia's original capital city it was then moved to augusta then louisville millageville and atlanta which is of course still the capital city today only slightly smaller than savannah at 253 000 people is columbus which sits on the chattahoochee river downstream from atlanta and on the fall line at this point the river is the border between georgia and alabama and the alabama town of phoenix city sits directly across from downtown columbus the city has an industrial feel to it as it was an important center of the textile industry with mills surrounding the river rapids formed by the fall line due to the rapids formed on the chattahoochee columbus is also home to a white water rafting horse the longest one in the world that's located in the city nearby sits fort benning a major military base as well as a spectacular providence canyon franklin delano roosevelt vacationed regularly in nearby warm springs where he constructed a polio treatment center and it was at warm springs where he died in office in 1945. macon home to 153 000 people sits in the middle of the state sitting on the fall line on the okmulgee river home to beautiful architecture in a large downtown for a city of its size the oakmoly mounts a spectacular native american earthen pyramid sit just outside the city not far to the south sits the city of warner robins home to robin's air force base the last two cities i'm going to talk about are athens and albany athens sits in the piedmont east of atlanta and is home to the university of georgia the city's name coming from the greek city of educators like plato and aristotle the band rem is from athens and the city has had an outsized influence on american music albany sits in southwestern georgia in a largely agricultural part of the state the city played an important role in the civil rights movement with a group known as the albany movement founded in the city it's also the birthplace of famous musician ray charles there are many more fascinating cities and towns in georgia that i unfortunately don't have time to go in depth on like rome valdosta cartersville hinesville brunswick and dalton the carpet capital of the world georgia is a very interesting state politically for most of its history it like much of the south has been very conservative typically voting for the democratic party and then switching to the republican party as the democrats became more liberal and the republicans more conservative by the 1960s and 1970s following the democratic party's support for the civil rights act georgia began consistently voting republican with three exceptions each a time when the democratic party nominated a southern candidate in 1972 every county in georgia had voted republican for richard nixon but the following election in every county voted democrat for georgia's former governor jimmy carter despite carter's liberal views on civil rights carter easily won the state in his 1980 bid for re-election despite losing much of the country in 1992 georgia voted blue once more for another southerner arkansas governor bill clinton this time though the race was very close with incumbent george h.w bush losing by less than one percent it was also likely influenced by the fact that third party candidate ross perot won over 13 percent of georgia voters unlike carter clinton did not win the state in his bid for re-election of course though georgia has voted blue once again supporting democratic nominee joe biden in the 2020 election by an incredibly narrow margin less than a quarter of one percent the sheer competitiveness of a traditionally conservative state has been seen by many as a sign that georgia is now up for grabs a purple state that could play a big role in swinging upcoming elections the growth of atlanta coupled with the work of 2018 gubernatorial candidate stacey abrams to increase voter turnout among black voters created a result that caught many people by surprise and as of now the state is engaged in two senate runoffs that will determine which party has a majority in the us senate these races are also both surprisingly competitive a sign that georgia once taken for granted by both major parties will now be an important state to win in order to secure the white house there was a lot to talk about with georgia and i definitely miss some things but i tried my best to include as much as possible about this fascinating state i want to give a big thank you to everyone from georgia who helped give me information for this video i received hundreds of comments on the community post and on the discord server your help made this video possible the next video in the us explained will be on connecticut i haven't spent too much time in connecticut so if you're from there 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 me include about your home state i also really appreciate the 175 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 discussing these videos interact with fellow viewers and help provide information about upcoming states in this series i also want to thank all my patrons on 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 outs in my videos 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 [Music] you

Channel: That Is Interesting

Views: 72,160

Rating: 4.873589 out of 5

Keywords: georgia, senate runoff, jon ossoff, raphael warnock, kelly loeffler, david perdue, atlanta, savannah, augusta, the US explained, every state

Id: i2m9N37uXLI

Length: 33min 3sec (1983 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2020