Atlanta

Atlanta is the capital and largest city in the state of Georgia. The city, which was established as Terminus in 1837, got its present name from a suggestion by Georgia Railroad chief engineer Edgar Thompson in 1845. The name “Atlanta” is actually a shorter version of the suggested “Atlantica-Pacifica,” supposedly influenced by city’s location at the edge of the Georgia and Atlantic railroad. It is today the seat of the Fulton County and has an estimated population of about 464,000 making it the most populous in the state.

The city is the main economic and cultural hub of the Atlanta metropolitan area. It is a major center for transportation in southeast US, with its Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport considered the busiest in the world since 2008. Atlanta is a major player in retail trade, communication, commerce, finance, technology, manufacturing, logistics and business services. It hosts the headquarters of several large corporations, including The Coca-Cola Company, AT&T Mobility, UPS, The Home Depot, and Delta Airlines. About three of every four Fortune 1000 companies carry out business in the Atlanta metro area.

Atlanta boasts many prominent colleges and universities, including historically black educational institutions. Emory University, Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Georgia Institute of Technology are some of these. Major city attractions include Atlanta Botanical Garden, Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, and the Atlanta Cyclorama & Civil War Museum.