Connecticut Info
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Capital
City: Hartford
Economy: Manufacturing, insurance,
government, services and agriculture.
Population: 3,405,565
Time Zone: 5 hours behind Greenwich
Mean Time (-5 GMT). Daylight Saving Time is observed April-October
Connecticut's Flag:
On a field of azure blue is an ornamental white shield with three grapevines,
each bearing three bunches of purple grapes. The states motto "He who
Transplanted Sustains Us" is displayed on a white ribbon. The vines
stand for the first settlements of English people who began to move from
Massachusetts in the 1630's. These settlements were thought of as grapevines
that had been transplanted.
History of Connecticut:
The Dutch navigator, Adriaen Block, was the first European of record to
explore the area, sailing up the Connecticut River in 1614. In 1633, Dutch
colonists built a fort and trading post near present-day Hartford, but soon
lost control to English Puritans migrating south from the Massachusetts
Bay Colony. English settlements, established in the 1630s at Windsor, Wethersfield,
and Hartford, united in 1639 to form the Connecticut Colony and adopted
the Fundamental Orders. The colony's royal charter of 1662 was exceptionally
liberal. When Gov. Edmund Andros tried to seize it in 1687, it was hidden
in the Hartford Oak, commemorated in Charter Oak Place. Connecticut played
a prominent role in the Revolutionary War, serving as the Continental Army's
major supplier. Sometimes called the “Arsenal of the Nation,”
the state became one of the most industrialized in the nation. Today, Connecticut
factories produce weapons, sewing machines, jet engines, helicopters, motors,
hardware and tools, cutlery, clocks, locks, ball bearings, silverware, and
submarines. Hartford has the oldest U.S. newspaper still being published—the
Hartford Courant, established 1764—and is the insurance capital of
the nation. Poultry, fruit, and dairy products account for the largest portion
of farm income, and Connecticut's shade-grown tobacco is acknowledged to
be the state's most valuable crop per acre. Connecticut is a popular resort
area with its 250-mile Long Island Sound shoreline and many inland lakes.
Among the major points of interest are Yale University's Gallery of Fine
Arts and Peabody Museum. Other famous museums include the P. T. Barnum,
Winchester Gun, and American Clock and Watch. The town of Mystic features
a recreated 19th-century New England seaport and the Mystic Marinelife Aquarium.
Other Connecticut Links:
Connecticut Business and
Industry
Connecticut Conference of Municipalities
Connecticut Department of Education
Connecticut Office of Tourism
Connecticut Rural Development Council
Connecticut State Library |
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