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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 Georgia. 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.
Georgia's main points of interest are easily accessible, but local
transportation is poor. Amtrak trains from Washington, DC to New
Orleans and Georgia call at Atlanta and Savannah respectively. Bus
services in most areas are patchy and infrequent, though Atlanta
has regular connections to the major cities, and several daily buses
along the coast call at Savannah. Atlanta has the world's largest
passenger airport , and Savannah has a reasonable service - but
airfares between the two are high.
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