The History of Georgia ranges from its Pre-Columbian settlement by Native American peoples to its modern status as a rapidly growing part of the United States. In the intervening time, Georgia was a Spanish colony, a British colony, and a member of the Confederate States of America. Georgia has had five "permanent" state capitals: Savannah, Augusta, Louisville, Milledgeville, and Atlanta. The legislature has also met in other places temporarily.

1 Prehistory 
2 European exploration
3 British Colony 
4 American Revolution 
5 Antebellum period 
6 Civil War 
7 Reconstruction 
8 Twentieth Century 
9 References 
9.1 Surveys 
9.2 Scholarly studies to 1900 
9.3 Since 1900 
9.4 Primary sources 
9.5 Primary sources 
10 External links 



Prehistory
Before the Cherokee and the Creek, Native American cultures are divided into time periods: Paleoindian, Archaic, Woodland and Mississippian

The Mississippian culture was the most advanced prehistoric civilization. It lasted from around 1500 B.C to 900 B.C. The causes of the fall of the Mississippian culture are unknown.

European exploration
At the time of European colonization of the Americas, Cherokee and Creek Indians lived in what is now Georgia. Though it is unknown exactly who was the first European to sight Georgia, it is possible that Juan Ponce de Leon sailed along the coast during his exploration of Florida. In 1526, Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón attempted to establish a colony there, possibly near St. Catherines Island.

Another colony attempt, called Charlesfort, made by the French under Jean Ribault, was realized when French Huguenots settled an area in the Port Royal Sound area of present-day South Carolina. Within a year the colony failed. Most of the colonists followed René Goulaine de Laudonnière south and founded a new outpost in present-day Florida called Fort Caroline.

Over the next few decades, a number of Spanish explorers visited the inland region. The local moundbuilder culture, described by Hernando de Soto in 1540, had completely disappeared by 1560.

British Colony

Georgia Colony, as specified in the 1732 grantMain article: Province of Georgia
The conflict between Spain and Britain over control of Georgia began in earnest in about 1670, when the British colony of South Carolina was founded just north of the missionary provinces of Guale and Mocama, part of Spanish Florida. Guale and Mocama, today part of Georgia, lay between Carolina's capital, Charles Town, and Spanish Florida's capital, St. Augustine. They were subjected to repeated military invasions by both sides. The mission system was permanently destroyed by 1704, after which the coast of future Georgia was occupied by English-allied Yamasee Indians until they were decimated in the Yamasee War of 1715-1716. The surviving Yamasee fled to Florida, leaving the coast of Georgia thoroughly depopulated, opening the possibility of a new British colony.

Massive British settlement began in the early 1730s with James Oglethorpe, an Englishman in the British parliament, who promoted the idea that the area be used to settle the worthy poor of England, providing an alternative to the overcrowded debtors' prisons. Oglethorpe and other British philanthropists secured a royal charter as the Trustees of the colony of Georgia on June 9, 1732. [1]. With the motto, "Not for ourselves, but for others," the Trustees selected colonists for Georgia. On February 12, 1733, the first settlers landed in HMS Anne at what was to become the city of Savannah.
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American Revolution
Georgia had reason to stay with the King, for the 18,000 white colonists faced some 10,000 hostile Indians nearby, and London had provided a steady stream of subsidies. Governor Wright was popular. But Georgians read the same political tracts as Bostonians, and developed their own concept of self-government that was violated by British actions imposing a stamp tax, which Georgians denounced in 1765. More fearsome was the British punishment of Boston after the Boston Tea Party. Many feared they would be next--as indeed they were. In August 1774, at a general meeting in Savannah the people proclaimed. "Protection and allegiance are reciprocal, and under the British Constitution correlative terms; . . . the Constitution admits of no taxation without representation." Georgia had few grievances of its own but ideologically supported the patriot cause and expelled the British. Angered by the news of the battle of Concord, on the eleventh of May 1775 the patriots stormed the royal magazine at Savannah and carried off the ammunition stored there. The customary celebration of the King's birthday on June 4th was turned into a wild demonstration against the King; a liberty pole was erected. Within a month the patriots completely defied royal authority and set up their own government. In June and July assemblies at Savannah chose a Council of Safety and a Provincial Congress, to take control of the government and cooperate with the other colonies. They started raising troops and prepared for war. "In short my lord," wrote Wright to Lord Dartmouth on September 16, 1775, "the whole Executive Power is Assumed by them, and the King's Governor remains little Else than Nominally so." In February Wright fled to a British warship and the patriots controlled all of Georgia. The new Congress adopted "Rules and Regulations" April 15, 1776, which can be considered the Constitution of 1776. (There never was a declaration of independence.) Georgia was no longer a colony--it was a state with a weak chief executive, the "President and Commander-in-Chief," who was elected by the Congress for a term of only six months. Archibald Bulloch, President of the two previous Congresses, was elected first President, and he bent his efforts to mobilizing and training the militia. The Constitution of 1777 was a highly democratic document putting power in the hands of the elected House of Assembly, which chose the governor; there was no senate and the franchise was open to nearly all white men.

The new state's exposed position made it a tempting target for the British Navy. Savannah was captured by British and Loyalist forces in 1778, along with some of its hinterland. The patriots moved to Augusta. At the Siege of Savannah in 1779, American and French troops (the latter including a company of free blacks from Haiti) fought unsuccessfully to retake the city. During the final years of the American Revolution, Georgia had a functioning Loyalist colonial government along the coast, and remained the last Loyalist bastion along with New York City. An early historian reported: [Charles C. Jones (1883) quoted in Saye p 195]

"For forty-two long months had she been a prey to rapine, op- pression, fratricidal strife, and poverty. Fear, unrest, the brand, the sword, the tomahawk, had been her portion. In the abstraction [removal] of negro slaves, by the burning of dwellings, in the obliteration of plantations, by the destruction of agricultural implements, and by theft of domestic animals and personal effects, it is estimated that at least one half of the available property of the inhabitants had, during this period, been completely swept away. Real estate had depreciated in value. Agriculture was at a stand-still, and there was no money with which to repair these losses and inaugurate a new era of prosperity. The lamen- tation of widows and orphans, too, were heard in the land. These not only bemoaned their dead, but cried aloud for food. Amid the general depression there was, nevertheless, a deal of gladness in the hearts of the people, a radiant joy, an inspiring hope. Independence had been won."


Georgia ratified the Constitution on January 2, 1788.

The original eight counties of Georgia were Burke, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Richmond and Wilkes. Before these counties were created in 1777, Georgia was split into twelve parishes.

Antebellum period
In 1829, gold was discovered in the north Georgia mountains, prompting a gold rush. A Federal mint was established in Dahlonega, Georgia and continued to operate until 1861. An influx of white settlers pressured the U.S. government to take the land away from the Cherokee Indians, who owned the land, operated their own government, and did not recognize the authority of the state of Georgia . This dispute culminated in the Indian Removal Act of 1830, under which all eastern tribes were sent west to Indian reservations in present-day Oklahoma. Cotton became a major crop in Georgia in the 1810s. Slaves worked the fields in large cotton plantations, and the economy of the state became dependent on the institution of slavery.

Civil War
On January 18, 1861 Georgia seceeded from the Union, keeping the name "State of Georgia" and joined the newly-formed Confederacy in February. During the war Georgia sent thousands of soldiers to battle, mostly to the armies in Virginia. The state switched from cotton to food production, but severe transportation difficulties restricted supplies. Thinking the state safe from invasion, the Confederates built small munitions factories. Their largest prisoner of war camp, at Andersonville, proved a death camp because of severe lack of supplies, food, water, and medicine.

The first major battle in Georgia was a Confederate victory at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863--it was the last major Confederate victory in the west. In 1864, William T. Sherman's armies invaded Georgia as part of the Atlanta Campaign. Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston fought a series of delaying battles, the largest being the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, as he tried to delay as long as possible by retreating toward Atlanta. Johnston's replacement, Gen. John Bell Hood attempted several unsuccessful counterattacks at the Battle of Peachtree Creek and the Battle of Atlanta, but Sherman captured the city on September 2, 1864. After burning Atlanta to the ground, Sherman embarked on his March to the Sea on November 15, en route to Milledgeville, the state capital, which he reached on November 23, and the port city of Savannah, which he entered on December 22. A swath of land about 60 miles across was destroyed in this campaign, less than 10% of the state. Once Sherman's army passed through the confederates regained control. The March is a major part of the state's folk history, and is the setting for Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and the subsequent 1939 film. One of the last land battles of the Civil War, the Battle of Columbus, was fought on the Georgia-Alabama border.

Reconstruction
After the Civil War, Union troops under General John Pope occupied Georgia to enforce the Reconstruction Era. At the time, Georgia had more than 400,000 Freedmen. On July 15, 1870 Georgia became the last former Confederate state to be readmitted Congress under the terms of Reconstruction.

Twentieth Century
In the early 1900s, Georgia's manufacturing and agriculture grew. The boll weevil destroyed some of Georgia's cotton crop in the 1920's, contributing to the economic hardships of the Great Depression. Wartime factory production during World War II helped boost Georgia's economy out of recession.

Georgia was a battleground in the American Civil Rights Movement. Georgia governor Marvin Griffin pledged to defend racial segregation "come hell or high water". On the other side, Georgians such as Martin Luther King and Ralph McGill worked to end segregation in Georgia. In 1969, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state to finally integrate the public schools.

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