-
Statehood:
Jan. 9, 1788,
the 5th state.
- Origin of the Name Connecticut. It's from a
Mohican/Algonquin Indian word "quonehtacut", which means "long tidal river."
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Nickname:
Constitution
State.
-
Bird:
Robin.
-
Flower:
Mountain laurel.
-
Tree:
White oak.
-
Motto:
Qui transtulit
sustinet ("He who transplanted still sustains").
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Song:
"Yankee
Doodle."
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Area:
14,358 Square Km (5,544
square miles);
rank: 48th.
-
Capital:
Hartford (1998
est. pop., 131,523).
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Largest city:
Bridgeport
(1998 est. pop., 137,425).
-
Counties:
8.
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Elevations:
highest: 725 m
(2,380 ft), at south slope of Mount Frissell; lowest: sea level, Long Island
Sound.
Connecticut Government
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Electoral college votes:
8.
-
State legislature:
36
senators, 151 representatives.
Connecticut Trivia
- The Scoville Memorial Library, dating back to 1771, is the oldest public
library in the United States.
- Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the 18th Amendment
(Prohibition).
-
The world's first nuclear powered submarine, USS
Nautilus (named after the submarine in Jules Vernes' classic novel 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea) was built in Groton in 1954.
- Connecticut was the first state to issue permanent license plates for
cars (1937).
Connecticut Early History
Connecticut actually began as three separate settlements, established in
1633, 1634, and 1636. It wasn't until 1662 that they were combined under a
single royal charter. A major reason for the merging of these was the Pequot War
and the skirmishes that followed it. This war was the first serious violent
conflict between the Algonquian tribes and the English settlers.
The English didn't endear themselves to the Algonquian tribes by the way they
waged this war. They set villages on fire, then hunted down and murdered entire
families. Oddly enough, they had help from other tribes. This pattern of native
Indians helping "the white man" kill other native Indians would persist until
the last Indians were consigned to reservations.
There would be other disputes over the next 150 years, but these would be
with various Europeans and European settlers. In fact, Pennsylvania and
Connecticut went to war against each other in 1778. Yes, during the American
Revolution.
Some Famous People from Connecticut
- Ernest Borgnine (Hamden).
- William F. Buckley, Jr. (New York City and Stamford).
- Art Carney (Westbrook).
- Marilyn Chambers (Westport).
- Glenn Close (Greenwich).
- Samuel Colt (Hartford).
- Ann Coulter (New Canaan).
- Paul Giamatti (New Haven).
- Dorothy Hamill (Greenwich).
- Bruce Jenner (Newtown).
- David Letterman (New Canaan).
- Flannery O'Connor (Redding).
- Harriet Beecher Stowe (Litchfield).
- Dr. Benjamin Spock (New Haven).
- Martha Stewart (Westport).
- Mark Twain (Hartford and Redding).
- Christopher Walken (Wilton).
- Noah Webster (present-day West Hartford).
- Eli Whitney (New Haven).
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