Climate

Most of Massachusetts has a humid continental, with cold winters and warm summers. Far southeast coastal areas are the broad transition zone to temperate climates (humid subtropical climate in some classifications). The warm to hot summers render the oceanic climate rare in this transition, only applying to exposed coastal areas such as on the peninsula of Barnstable County. The climate of Boston is quite representative for the commonwealth, characterized by summer highs of around 81 °F (27 °C) and winter highs of 35 °F (2 °C), and is quite wet. Frosts are frequent all winter, even in coastal areas due to prevailing inland winds. Due to its location near the Atlantic, Massachusetts is vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical storms.

Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for selected cities in Massachusetts^[148]

Location	July (°F)	July (°C)	January (°F)	January (°C)
Boston	81/65	27/18	36/22	2/–5
Worcester	79/61	26/16	31/17	0/–8
Springfield	84/62	27/17	34/17	1/–8
New Bedford	80/65	26/18	37/23	3/–4
Quincy	80/61	26/16	33/18	1/–7
Plymouth	80/61	27/16	38/20	3/–6

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of Massachusetts and List of people from Massachusetts

Massachusetts population density map. The centers of high-density settlement, from east to west, are Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Pittsfield, respectively.

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1790	378,787		—
1800	422,845		11.6%
1810	472,040		11.6%
1820	523,287		10.9%
1830	610,408		16.6%
1840	737,699		20.9%
1850	994,514		34.8%
1860	1,231,066		23.8%
1870	1,457,351		18.4%
1880	1,783,085		22.4%
1890	2,238,947		25.6%
1900	2,805,346		25.3%
1910	3,366,416		20.0%
1920	3,852,356		14.4%
1930	4,249,614		10.3%
1940	4,316,721		1.6%
1950	4,690,514		8.7%
1960	5,148,578		9.8%
1970	5,689,170		10.5%
1980	5,737,037		0.8%
1990	6,016,425		4.9%
2000	6,349,097		5.5%
2010	6,547,629		3.1%
Est. 2016	6,811,779		4.0%
[7][149][150][151]

The United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of Massachusetts was 6,794,422 on July 1, 2015, a 3.77% increase since the 2010 United States Census.^[7]
As of 2014, Massachusetts was estimated to be the third most densely populated U.S. state, with 839.4 people per square mile,^[7] behind New Jersey and Rhode Island. In 2014, Massachusetts had 1,011,811 foreign-born residents or 15% of the population.^[7]
Most Bay State residents live within the Boston Metropolitan Area, also known as Greater Boston, which includes Boston and its proximate surroundings but also extending to Greater Lowell and to Worcester. The Springfield metropolitan area, also known as Greater Springfield, is also a major center of population. Demographically, the center of population of Massachusetts is located in the town of Natick.^[152][153]
Like the rest of the northeastern United States, the population of Massachusetts has continued to grow in the past few decades. Massachusetts is the fastest growing state in New England and the 25th fastest growing state in the United States.^[154] Population growth was largely due to a relatively high quality of life and a large higher education system in the state.^[154]
Foreign immigration is also a factor in the state's population growth, causing the state's population to continue to grow as of the 2010 Census (particularly in Massachusetts gateway cities where costs of living are lower).^[155][156] 40% of foreign immigrants were from Central or South America, according to a 2005 Census Bureau study, with many of the remainder from Asia. Many residents who have settled in Greater Springfield claim Puerto Rican descent.^[155] Many areas of Massachusetts showed relatively stable population trends between 2000 and 2010.^[156] Exurban Boston and coastal areas grew the most rapidly, while Berkshire County in far Western Massachusetts and Barnstable County on Cape Cod were the only counties to lose population as of the 2010 Census.^[156]
By gender, 48.4% were male and 51.6% were female in 2014. In terms of age, 79.2% were over 18 years old and 14.8% were over 65 years old.^[7]

Ecology

Ecology

Many coastal areas in Massachusetts provide breeding areas for species such as the piping plover.

The primary biome of inland Massachusetts is temperate deciduous forest.^[136] Although much of Massachusetts had been cleared for agriculture, leaving only traces of old-growth forest in isolated pockets, secondary growth has regenerated in many rural areas as farms have been abandoned.^[137] Currently, forests cover around 62% of Massachusetts.^[138] The areas most affected by human development include the Greater Boston area in the east and the Springfield metropolitan area in the west, although the latter includes agricultural areas throughout the Connecticut River Valley.^[139] There are currently 219 endangered species in Massachusetts.^[140]
A number of species are doing well in the increasingly urbanized Massachusetts. Peregrine falcons utilize office towers in larger cities as nesting areas,^[141] and the population of coyotes, whose diet may include garbage and roadkill, has been increasing in recent decades.^[142] White-tailed deer, raccoons, wild turkeys, and eastern gray squirrels are also found throughout Massachusetts. In more rural areas in the western part of Massachusetts, larger mammals such as moose and black bears have returned, largely due to reforestation following the regional decline in agriculture.^[143]
Massachusetts is located along the Atlantic Flyway, a major route for migratory waterfowl along the eastern coast.^[144] Lakes in central Massachusetts provide habitat for many species of fish and waterfowl, but some species such as the common loon are becoming rare.^[145] A significant population of long-tailed ducks winter off Nantucket. Small offshore islands and beaches are home to roseate terns and are important breeding areas for the locally threatened piping plover.^[146] Protected areas such as the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge provide critical breeding habitat for shorebirds and a variety of marine wildlife including a large population of grey seals.
Freshwater fish species in Massachusetts include bass, carp, catfish, and trout, while saltwater species such as Atlantic cod, haddock, and American lobster populate offshore waters.^[147] Other marine species include Harbor seals, the endangered North Atlantic right whales, as well as humpback whales, fin whales, minke whales, and Atlantic white-sided dolphins.

Geography

Main articles: Geography of Massachusetts and Geology of New England

A portion of the north-central Pioneer Valley in Sunderland

Massachusetts is the 7th smallest state in the United States. It is located in the New England region of the northeastern United States, and has an area of 10,555 square miles (27,340 km²), 25.7% of which is water. Several large bays distinctly shape its coast. Boston is the largest city, at the inmost point of Massachusetts Bay, and the mouth of the Charles River.
Despite its small size, Massachusetts features numerous topographically distinctive regions. The large coastal plain of the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern section of the state contains Greater Boston, along with most of the state's population,^[42] as well as the distinctive Cape Cod peninsula. To the west lies the hilly, rural region of Central Massachusetts, and beyond that, the Connecticut River Valley. Along the western border of Western Massachusetts lies the highest elevated part of the state, the Berkshires.
The U.S. National Park Service administers a number of natural and historical sites in Massachusetts.^[134] Along with twelve national historic sites, areas, and corridors, the National Park Service also manages the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.^[134] In addition, the Department of Conservation and Recreation maintains a number of parks, trails, and beaches throughout Massachusetts.^[135]

20th century

With the exodus of several manufacturing companies, the area's industrial economy began to decline during the early 20th century. By the 1920s, competition from the South and Midwest, followed by the Great Depression, led to the collapse of the three main industries in Massachusetts: textiles, shoemaking, and precision mechanics.^[119] This decline would continue into the later half of the century; between 1950 and 1979, the number of Massachusetts residents involved in textile manufacturing declined from 264,000 to 63,000.^[120] The 1969 closure of the Springfield Armory, in particular, spurred an exodus of high-paying jobs from Western Massachusetts, which suffered greatly as it de-industrialized during the last 40 years of the 20th century.^[121]
Massachusetts manufactured 3.4 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking tenth among the 48 states.^[122] In Eastern Massachusetts, following World War II, the economy was transformed from one based on heavy industry into a service-based economy.^[123] Government contracts, private investment, and research facilities led to a new and improved industrial climate, with reduced unemployment and increased per capita income. Suburbanization flourished, and by the 1970s, the Route 128 corridor was dotted with high-technology companies who recruited graduates of the area's many elite institutions of higher education.^[124]

Kennedy brothers John, Robert (middle) and Edward in July 1960.

The Kennedy family was prominent in Massachusetts politics in the 20th century. Children of businessman and ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. included John F. Kennedy, who was a senator and US president before his assassination in 1963, Robert F. Kennedy, who was a senator, US attorney general, and presidential candidate before his assassination in 1968, Ted Kennedy, a senator from 1962 until his death in 2009,^[125] and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a co-founder of the Special Olympics.^[126] In 1966, Massachusetts became the first state to popularly elect an African American to the US senate with Edward Brooke.^[127] George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States (1989–1993) was born in Milton in 1924.^[128]
In 1987, the state received federal funding for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project. Commonly known as "the Big Dig", it was, at the time, the biggest federal highway project ever approved.^[129] The project included making the Central Artery a tunnel under downtown Boston, in addition to the re-routing of several other major highways.^[130] Often controversial, with numerous claims of graft and mismanagement, and with its initial price tag of $2.5 billion increasing to a final tally of over $15 billion, the Big Dig has nonetheless changed the face of Downtown Boston.^[129] It has connected areas that were once divided by elevated highway (much of the raised old Central Artery was replaced with the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway), and improved traffic conditions along a number of routes.^[129][130] Additionally, Massachusetts has had a diplomatic relationship with the Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido since 1988.^[131]

21st century

On May 17, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage after a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in November 2003 determined that the exclusion of same-sex couples from the right to a civil marriage was unconstitutional.^[57] This decision was eventually superseded by the U.S. Supreme Court's affirmation of same-sex marriage in the United States in 2015.

Boston Marathon bombing

Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013 at around 2:49 pm EDT. The explosions killed three civilians and injured an estimated 264 others. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later identified the suspects as brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The ensuing manhunt ended on April 19 when thousands of law enforcement officers searched a 20-block area of nearby Watertown. Dzhokhar later said that he was motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs and learned to build explosive devices from an Inspire, the online magazine of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
On November 8, 2016, Massachusetts voted in favor of The Massachusetts Marijuana Legalization Initiative, also known as Question 4.^[132] It was included on the United States presidential election, 2016 ballot in Massachusetts as an indirect initiated state statute.^[133]

Geography

19th century

In 1820, Maine separated from Massachusetts and entered the Union as the 23rd state as a result of the ratification of the Missouri Compromise.^[106]

Textile mills such as the Boott Mills in Lowell made Massachusetts a leader in the Industrial Revolution in the United States.

During the 19th century, Massachusetts became a national leader in the American Industrial Revolution, with factories around cities such as Lowell and Boston producing textiles and shoes, and factories around Springfield producing tools, paper, and textiles.^[107][108] The economy transformed from one based primarily on agriculture to an industrial one, initially making use of water-power and later the steam engine to power factories. Canals and railroads were used for transporting raw materials and finished goods.^[109] At first, the new industries drew labor from Yankees on nearby subsistence farms, and later relied upon immigrant labor from Europe and Canada.^[110][111]
In the years leading up to the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center of progressivist and abolitionist activity. Horace Mann made the state's school system a national model.^[112] Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson made major contributions to American philosophy.^[113] Members of the transcendentalist movement emphasized the importance of the natural world and emotion to humanity.^[113]
Although significant opposition to abolitionism existed early on in Massachusetts, resulting in anti-abolitionist riots between 1835 and 1837,^[114] opposition to slavery gradually increased throughout the next few decades.^[115][116] Abolitionists John Brown and Sojourner Truth lived in Springfield and Northampton, respectively, while Frederick Douglass lived in Boston and Susan B. Anthony in Adams, Massachusetts. The works of such abolitionists contributed to Massachusetts' actions during the Civil War. Massachusetts was the first state to recruit, train, and arm a Black regiment with White officers, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.^[117] In 1852, Massachusetts became the first state to pass compulsory education laws.^[118]
Alexander Graham Bell is commonly credited as the inventor of the first practical telephone. On March 10, 1876 at Boston University, he was able to communicate with his assistant Thomas A. Watson in the next room.

Federal period

Bostonian John Adams, known as the "Atlas of Independence",^[101] was an important figure in both the struggle for independence as well as the formation of the new United States. Adams was highly involved in the push for separation from Britain and the writing of the Constitution of Massachusetts in 1780 which, in the Elizabeth Freeman and Quock Walker cases, effectively made Massachusetts the first state to have a constitution that declared universal rights and, as interpreted by Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice William Cushing, abolished slavery. David McCullough points out that an equally important feature was its placing for the first time the courts as a co-equal branch separate from the executive.^[102] The Constitution of Vermont, adopted in 1777, represented the first partial ban on slavery. Vermont became a state in 1791, but did not fully ban slavery until 1858 with the Vermont Personal Liberty Law. The Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition Act of 1780^[103] made Pennsylvania the first state to abolish slavery by statute. Later, Adams was active in early American foreign affairs and succeeded Washington as the second United States President. His son John Quincy Adams, also from Massachusetts,^[104] would go on to become the sixth United States President.
From 1786 to 1787, an armed uprising, known as Shays' Rebellion led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays wrought havoc throughout Massachusetts, and ultimately attempted to seize the Federal armory.^[49] The rebellion was one of the major factors in the decision to draft a stronger national constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation.^[49] On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.^[105]

The Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War

Earl, Ralph; Doolittle, Amos (1775). "Percy's Rescue at Lexington" (illustration)., about the Battles of Lexington and Concord

Massachusetts was a center of the movement for independence from Great Britain; colonists in Massachusetts had long uneasy relations with the British monarchy, including open rebellion under the Dominion of New England in the 1680s.^[90] Protests against British attempts to tax the colonies after the French and Indian War ended in 1763 led to the Boston Massacre in 1770, and the 1773 Boston Tea Party escalated tensions.^[94] In 1774, the Intolerable Acts targeted Massachusetts with punishments for the Boston Tea Party and further decreased local autonomy, increasing local dissent.^[95] Anti-Parliamentary activity by men such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock, followed by reprisals by the British government, were a primary reason for the unity of the Thirteen Colonies and the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775.^[96]
The Battles of Lexington and Concord initiated the American Revolutionary War and were fought in the eponymous Massachusetts towns.^[97] Future President George Washington took over what would become the Continental Army after the battle. His first victory was the Siege of Boston in the winter of 1775–76, after which the British were forced to evacuate the city.^[98] The event is still celebrated in Suffolk County as Evacuation Day.^[99] On the coast, Salem became a center for privateering. Although the documentation is incomplete, about 1700 letterss of marque, issued on a per-voyage basis, were granted during the American Revolution. Nearly 800 vessels were commissioned as privateers and are credited with capturing or destroying about 600 British ships.^[100]

Federal period

History

Main article: History of Massachusetts

See also: Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony

The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall (1882). The Pilgrims were a group of Puritans who founded Plymouth in 1620.

Pre-colonization

Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett.^[73][74] While cultivation of crops like squash and corn supplemented their diets, these tribes were generally dependent on hunting, gathering and fishing for most of their food supply.^[73] Villages consisted of lodges called wigwams as well as longhouses,^[74] and tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems.^[75]

Colonial period

In the early 1600s, after contact had been made with Europeans, large numbers of the indigenous peoples in the northeast of what is now the United States were killed by virgin soil epidemics such as smallpox, measles, influenza, and perhaps leptospirosis.^[76][77] Between 1617 and 1619, smallpox killed approximately 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans.^[78]
The first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, arrived via the Mayflower^[79] at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag people.^[80] This was the second successful permanent English colony in the part of North America that later became the United States, after the Jamestown Colony. The event known as the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World which lasted for three days. The Pilgrims were soon followed by other Puritans, who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony at present-day Boston in 1630.^[81]
The Puritans, who believed the Church of England needed to be purified and experienced harassment from English authority because of their beliefs,^[82] came to Massachusetts with the goal of establishing an ideal religious society.^[83] Unlike the Plymouth colony, the bay colony was founded under a royal charter in 1629.^[84] Both religious dissent and expansionism resulted in several new colonies being founded shortly after Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay elsewhere in New England. The Massachusetts Bay banished dissenters such as Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams due to religious and political disagreements. In 1636, Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island and Hutchinson joined him there several years later. Religious intolerance continued. Among those who objected to this later in the century were the English Quaker preachers Alice and Thomas Curwen, who were publicly flogged and imprisoned in Boston in 1676.^[85][86]

A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft by John Hale (Boston, 1697)

In 1641, Massachusetts expanded inland significantly, acquiring the Connecticut River Valley settlement of Springfield, which had recently disputed with, and defected from its original administrators, the Connecticut Colony.^[87] This established Massachusetts' southern border in the west,^[88] though surveying problems resulted in disputed territory until 1803–04.^[89]
In 1691, the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth were united (along with present-day Maine, which had previously been divided between Massachusetts and New York) into the Province of Massachusetts Bay.^[90] Shortly after the arrival of the new province's first governor, William Phips, the Salem witch trials took place, where a number of men and women were hanged for alleged witchcraft.^[91]
The most destructive earthquake yet known in New England occurred in 1755, causing considerable damage across Massachusetts.^[92][93]

Etymology

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was named after the indigenous population, the Massachusett, whose name can be segmented as mass-adchu-s-et, where mass- is "large", -adchu- is "hill", -s- is a diminutive suffix meaning "small", and -et is a locative case suffix, identifying it as a place. It has been translated as "near the great hill",^[65] "by the blue hills", "at the little big hill", or "at the range of hills", referring to the Blue Hills, or in particular the Great Blue Hill which is located on the boundary of Milton and Canton.^[66][67] Alternatively, Massachusett has been represented as Moswetuset—from the name of the Moswetuset Hummock (meaning "hill shaped like an arrowhead") in Quincy, where Plymouth Colony commander Myles Standish, hired English military officer, and Squanto, part of the now disappeared Patuxet band of the Wampanoag peoples, met Chief Chickatawbut in 1621.^[68][69]
The official name of the state is the "Commonwealth of Massachusetts".^[70] While this designation is part of the state's official name, it has no practical implications.^[71] Massachusetts has the same position and powers within the United States as other states.^[72]

Massachusetts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the U.S. state. For other uses, see Massachusetts (disambiguation).

Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The Bay State
Motto(s): Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem (Latin) By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty
State song(s): "All Hail to Massachusetts"
Official language	English[1]
Spoken languages	English 77.4% Spanish 8.6% Portuguese 2.8% Chinese 2.1%[2]
Demonym	Bay Stater (official)[3] Massachusite (traditional)[4][5] Massachusettsian[citation needed]
Capital (and largest city)	Boston
Largest metro	Greater Boston
Area	Ranked 44th
• Total	10,565[6] sq mi (27,336 km2)
• Width	183 miles (295 km)
• Length	113 miles (182 km)
• % water	25.7
• Latitude	41° 14′ N to 42° 53′ N
• Longitude	69° 56′ W to 73° 30′ W
Population	Ranked 15th
• Total	6,794,422 (2015 est)[7]
• Density	840/sq mi  (324/km2) Ranked 3rd[8]
• Median household income	$67,861[9] (7th)
Elevation
• Highest point	Mount Greylock[10][11] 3,489 ft (1063.4 m)
• Mean	500 ft  (150 m)
• Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean sea level
Before statehood	Province of Massachusetts Bay
Admission to Union	February 6, 1788 (6th)
Governor	Charlie Baker (R)
Lieutenant Governor	Karyn Polito (R)
Legislature	General Court
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
U.S. Senators	Elizabeth Warren (D) Ed Markey (D)
U.S. House delegation	9 Democrats (list)
Time zone	Eastern: UTC -5/-4
ISO 3166	US-MA
Abbreviations	MA, Mass.
Website	www.mass.gov

[show]Massachusetts state symbols

Massachusetts ⁱ/ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsᵻts/ mass-ə-CHOO-sits or /ˌmæsəˈtʃuːzᵻts/ mass-ə-CHOO-zits; officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island to the south, New Hampshire and Vermont to the north, and New York to the west. The state is named for the Massachusett tribe, which once inhabited the area. The capital of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England is Boston. Over 80% of Massachusetts' population lives in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, a region influential upon American history, academia, and industry.^[42] Originally dependent on agriculture, fishing and trade,^[43] Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution.^[44] During the 20th century, Massachusetts' economy shifted from manufacturing to services.^[45] Modern Massachusetts is a global leader in biotechnology, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade.^[46]
Plymouth was the site of the first colony in New England, founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, passengers of the Mayflower. In 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of America's most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials.^[47] In 1777, General Henry Knox founded the Springfield Armory, which during the Industrial Revolution catalyzed numerous important technological advances, including interchangeable parts.^[48] In 1786, Shays' Rebellion, a populist revolt led by disaffected American Revolutionary War veterans, influenced the United States Constitutional Convention.^[49] In the 18th century, the Protestant First Great Awakening, which swept the Atlantic World, originated from the pulpit of Northampton preacher Jonathan Edwards.^[50] In the late 18th century, Boston became known as the "Cradle of Liberty"^[51] for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution.
The entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts has played a powerful commercial and cultural role in the history of the United States. Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the abolitionist, temperance,^[52] and transcendentalist^[53] movements.^[54] In the late 19th century, the sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in the western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke, respectively.^[55][56] In 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legally recognize same-sex marriage as a result of the decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.^[57] Many prominent American political dynasties have hailed from the state, including the Adams and Kennedy families. Harvard University in Cambridge is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States,^[58] with the largest financial endowment of any university,^[59] and Harvard Law School has educated a contemporaneous majority of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.^[60] Kendall Square in Cambridge has been called "the most innovative square mile on the planet", in reference to the high concentration of entrepreneurial start-ups and quality of innovation which have emerged in the vicinity of the square since 2010.^[61][62] Both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also in Cambridge, have been ranked among the most highly regarded academic institutions in the world.^[63] Massachusetts' public school students place among the top nations in the world in academic performance.^[64]