Georgia historical timeline

Origins

The Creek and Cherokee held this land. James Oglethorpe founded the colony in 1733 as a debtors' refuge that initially banned slavery — a prohibition overturned within twenty years, after which a plantation economy took hold.

Turning points

The first American gold rush began in north Georgia in 1829 on Cherokee land, and the Trail of Tears followed in 1838 when the Cherokee were forcibly removed west. In 1864 Sherman took Atlanta and burned much of it, then marched to the sea — sparing Savannah, which is why it still stands.

Influential people

Martin Luther King Jr was born in Atlanta in 1929, preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church and is buried beside it. The city was the organisational centre of the civil rights movement.

Cultural evolution

Atlanta rebuilt itself as the commercial capital of the South, hosted the 1996 Olympics, and built the world's busiest airport — which is the practical reason it became a regional capital at all.

Present-day significance

Film and television production, logistics, agriculture and technology carry the economy. Georgia now produces more film and television than almost anywhere outside California.