Atlanta

/at lan"teuh/, n.

a city in and the capital of Georgia, in the N part. 425,022.

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City (pop., 2000: 416,474; metro. area pop.: 4,112,198), capital of Georgia, U.S. Lying in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Atlanta is Georgia's largest city.

In 1837 a spot was selected there for a railroad terminus that would serve the southeastern U.S. First named Terminus and later Marthasville, it was given the name Atlanta in 1845. An important supply depot during the American Civil War, it was burned by Union forces under William T. Sherman. Atlanta became the state capital in 1868. As it recovered from the war's destruction, it began to epitomize the spirit of the "New South" in seeking reconciliation with the North. It was the home of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the first major Southern city to elect a black mayor (1970). It is the principal trade and transportation centre of the southeastern U.S.

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(as used in expressions)

Atlanta Campaign

Atlanta Compromise

Atlanta Journal Constitution

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▪ Georgia, United States

Introduction

 city, capital (1868) of Georgia, U.S., and seat (1853) of Fulton county (but also partly in DeKalb county), in the northwestern part of the state. It lies in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just southeast of the Chattahoochee River. Atlanta is Georgia's largest city and the principal trade and transportation centre of the southeastern United States. It is the centre of an extensive metropolitan area that includes 20 counties and cities such as Decatur, East Point, and Marietta. Pop. (2000) city, 416,474; Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Marietta MSA, 4,247,981; (2006 est.) city, 486,411; (2007 est.) Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Marietta MSA, 5,278,984.

History

      Atlanta owes its existence to the railroads (railroad), the routes of which were determined by geography. Lying as it does at the southern extremity of the Appalachian Mountains, it became the gateway through which most overland traffic had to pass between the southern Atlantic Seaboard (Eastern Seaboard) and regions to the west. In 1837 a spot near what is now Five Points, in the centre of the present-day city, was selected for the southern terminus of a railroad that was subsequently built northward to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The location was known first as Terminus and then as Marthasville; in 1845 it was renamed Atlanta for the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Several other rail lines had converged on the city by 1860.

 During the American Civil War Atlanta became a supply depot, a site of Southern war industries, and the keystone of Confederate rail transportation east of the Mississippi River. It was thus the prime military objective of General William Tecumseh Sherman (Sherman, William Tecumseh)'s invasion of Georgia from Chattanooga (see Atlanta Campaign). The city fell to his Union troops on September 1, 1864, and was converted into a military camp. On November 15 Sherman departed on his devastating “March to the Sea,” but not before much of the city had been burned.

      During Reconstruction Atlanta was a centre of federal government activities in the South. It was the site of the convention that drew up the Georgia constitution of 1868, and under the Republican state administration it became the state capital (chosen permanently by popular referendum in 1877). Atlanta came to epitomize the spirit of the “New South,” having risen from the ashes of the Civil War and become an advocate of reconciliation with the North in order to restore business. This spirit was dramatized by three Atlanta expositions: the International Cotton (1881), the Piedmont (1887), and the Cotton States and International (1895). At the last one, educator Booker T. Washington (Washington, Booker T) made his historic declaration (the Atlanta Compromise) urging African Americans to seek economic security before political or social equality with whites.

      The spirit of the city has tended to be liberal within the framework of Southern conservatism, though its customs have been influenced by the Protestant church traditions of the Bible Belt. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. (King, Martin Luther, Jr.), was born and raised in Atlanta; his boyhood home, Ebenezer Baptist Church (where he and his father once preached), and his grave site adjacent to the church are preserved at the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site. In 1973 Atlanta became the first major city in the South to elect an African American mayor, Maynard Jackson (Jackson, Maynard).

The contemporary city

      Atlanta is still the focal point of an important network of rail lines and interstate highways. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of downtown Atlanta, is one of the world's busiest airports. The first rapid-transit commuter rail opened in 1979, and by the early 21st century the system had expanded to include several more lines. Atlanta remains the financial and commercial capital of the Southeast and is its most important distribution centre. Printing and publishing, high-technology industries, telecommunications, airline services, military and government services, and banking and insurance are supplemented by industries producing aircraft, beverages, automobiles, electronics and electrical equipment, chemicals, processed foods, and paper products. Atlanta is also the focus of federal government activity in the Southeast and is the headquarters of the 6th Federal Reserve District. The city itself is relatively small but is surrounded by a sprawl of low-density suburbs.

      Atlanta is a major educational centre, with more than 40 degree-granting institutions in the metropolitan area. The city has a prestigious consortium of historically black colleges, notably Morehouse College (1867), Spelman College (1881), and Clark Atlanta University, the latter formed in 1988 by the merger of Atlanta University (1865) and Clark College (1869). Others schools include Emory University (1836), Georgia Institute of Technology (1885), Georgia State University (1913), and Oglethorpe University (1835). Atlanta is also the chief medical centre of the Southeast and is home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a division of the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

 Atlanta's notable buildings include the State Capitol (1889) and the Cyclorama (1885; in Grant Park), which contains a gigantic painting and diorama of the Battle of Atlanta. Peachtree Center is a complex of hotels, offices, and shops at the heart of downtown. The Woodruff Arts Center (1968) includes the High Museum of Art, a concert hall, an art school, and a theatre. Centennial Olympic Park was built for use during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. The former Olympic Stadium, now Turner Field, is home to the city's professional baseball team, the Braves (Atlanta Braves). Atlanta also has professional gridiron football, basketball, and ice hockey teams. Other major sports venues include the Georgia Dome (1992) and the Phillips Arena (1999).

      The Atlanta History Center has a museum and two historic homes and hosts a storytelling festival each February. The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum displays artifacts from Carter (Carter, Jimmy)'s presidency, and the adjoining Carter Center is a human rights organization. The house where novelist Margaret Mitchell (Mitchell, Margaret) wrote Gone with the Wind is preserved, and Underground Atlanta is a restored section of 19th-century buildings near the State Capitol. Atlanta's other cultural institutions include museums of science and of natural history; ballet, opera, and theatre companies; and a symphony orchestra. Annual events include a dogwood festival (April), a jazz festival (May), and an arts festival (June).

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