Compared to the rest of GEORGIA
, the largest of the Southern states, the bright lights of its
capital Atlanta are a wild aberration. Apart
from some beaches and towns on the highly indented coastline,
this overwhelmingly rural state is composed of slow, easygoing
settlements where the best, and sometimes the only, way to enjoy
your time is to sip iced tea and have a chat on the porch.
Settlement in Georgia, the thirteenth British colony
(named after King George II), started in 1733 at Savannah, intended
as a haven of Christian principles for poor Britons, with both
alcohol and slavery banned. However, under pressure from planters,
slavery was introduced in 1752, and by the time
of the Civil War almost half the population were
black slaves. Little fighting took place on Georgian soil until
Sherman's troops marched in from Tennessee, burned Atlanta to
the ground and laid waste to all property on the way to the coast.
The economy successfully re-established itself after the war,
attracting substantial investment in the latter years of the nineteenth
century.
Today, bustling Atlanta stands
as the unofficial capital of the South. The city where Dr
Martin Luther King Jr was born, preached and is buried
bears little relation to Gone with the Wind stereotypes, and its
forward-looking energy is upheld as a role model for other cities
with large black populations - though it does still suffer high
levels of urban poverty and violent crime.
Atlanta's main rival as a tourist destination is
the Georgia coast , stretching south from beautiful
old Savannah via the sea islands
to the semitropical Okefenokee Swamp , inland
near Florida. In the northeast , the Appalachian
foothills are particularly fetching in fall, while Athens
has a reputation for producing offbeat rock groups such
as REM and the B-52's. Further south , the agricultural
heartlands are rich in musical history, but only Macon
and ancient Ocmulgee provide reasons to stop.
