Atlanta

Atlanta is a city of nearly 400,000 people. It is the capital and largest city of Georgia and the capital seat of Fulton County. Located in the southeastern region of the US, Atlanta lies in the northwestern quadrant of the state of Georgia. The centre of the city is the star-shaped intersection formed by several major streets. Atlanta’s economy got a major boost from the 1996 Olympics and a baseball dynasty. The city’s offbeat neighborhood and old-fashioned towns make one reminiscent of the bygone days. The city was rebuilt after World War II, particularly the downtown Atlanta, which underwent waves of transformation and is now a well planned modern metropolis. Transportation was, and still is, the catalyst for Atlanta’s growth and economic vitality. The town that started as a railroad junction in the 1830s became the transport hub of the South. The town was first named Marthasville in honor of the then-governor's daughter, and then changed soon to Atlanta. Early settlers in the Atlanta area were farmers and craftsmen from Virginia, the Carolinas and the mountains of North Georgia. A few of their pre-Civil War homes, churches, cemeteries and mills are still in the Metropolitan Atlanta area.

Also famous as South's commercial and economic beast, Atlanta was founded in 1837. Even though Atlanta is situated on the Piedmont Plateau at a height of 1,050 feet, yet there are no natural barriers such as mountains or large bodies of water to hold up the city’s growth. Atlanta had already attained a position of regional importance when the Civil War erupted. The city had all the facilities that made it necessary for General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864 to order complete mutilation of the city. After a series of bloody battles, Atlanta surrendered on September 2. The moving back Confederate troops blew up 81 boxcars of explosives. The damages and blazed city was dramatically showcased in the movie “Gone with The Wind.” Atlanta looked la ghost town of rubble and ashes. The city was still on fire when Atlantans started rebuilding the city in the various Victorian styles, which were the quintessential of that era. From 1867 until 1888, US Army soldiers took the possession of McPherson Barracks, which was later renamed Fort McPherson. In 1868, Henry W. Grady, the editor of the Atlanta Constitution emphasized on the diversification of the economy. As Atlanta started heading towards prosperity, it also started facing racial and ethical discrepancy simultaneously. In the 1930s, the Great Depression hit Atlanta, which left the government of city almost on the verge of bankruptcy. At that time the Coca-Cola Company helped the city to come out of its deficit. With the entry of the US into World War II, War-related manufacturing companies such as the Bell Aircraft factory located in the suburb of Marietta helped boost the city's population and economy. In the 1960s, Atlanta became a major organizing center of the civil rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King and students from Atlanta's black colleges played major roles in the movement's leadership, which led to the arrest of Dr. King and several students. They believed in peace and sacrificed their lives to attain that peace. It is because of their efforts that Atlanta became a fast-pace modern city. In 1990, the city became a site of the International 1996 Summer Olympics. For hosting such a prestigious event, Atlanta underwent several changes. The city's parks, sports facilities, and transportation facilities were improved. In the past two decades Atlanta has experienced unparalleled growth.

A good measure of this growth is the ever-changing downtown skyline, along with skyscrapers constructed in the Midtown, Buckhead, and in the business districts that are located in the or around the peripheries of the city. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport is one of the nation's busiest in daily passenger flights due to which metro Atlanta has become easily accessible to more than 1,000 international businesses. The city has now become a banking center and boasts of being the world headquarters for 13 Fortune 500 companies. Buckhead- one of Atlanta's flourishing suburbs, Downtown, Grant Park, and Sweet Auburn are the major attractions of the city. The city is also host to four different major league sports. The Atlanta Braves baseball team, The Atlanta Falcons American football team, The Atlanta Hawks basketball team, and the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team. The other attractions of the city are the Atlanta History Center; the Atlanta Cyclorama and Civil War Museum, the Carter Center and Presidential Library; and the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum, the Fox Theatre, the Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta Symphony, High Museum of Art, and Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta's, World of Coca-Cola etc.