Atlanta
—  City  —
City of Atlanta
From top to bottom left to right: Atlanta skyline seen from Buckhead, Fox Theatre, Georgia State Capitol, Centennial Olympic Park, Millennium Gate, Canopy Walk, Georgia Aquarium, The Phoenix statue, and Midtown skyline from Piedmont Park
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): Hotlanta, The ATL, ATL, The A,[1] Gate City[2] (historic), City in a Forest[3]
Motto: Resurgens (Latin for rising again)
City highlighted in Fulton County, location of Fulton County in the state of Georgia
Atlanta Location of the city of Atlanta, Georgia
Coordinates: 33°45′18″N 84°23′24″W / 33.755°N 84.39°W / 33.755; -84.39Coordinates: 33°45′18″N 84°23′24″W / 33.755°N 84.39°W / 33.755; -84.39
Country	United States of America
State	Georgia
County	Fulton and DeKalb
Terminus	1837
Marthasville	1843
City of Atlanta	1847
Government
• Mayor	Kasim Reed
Area
• City	132.4 sq mi (343.0 km2)
• Land	131.8 sq mi (341.2 km2)
• Water	0.6 sq mi (1.8 km2)
• Urban	1,963 sq mi (5,080 km2)
• Metro	8,376 sq mi (21,690 km2)
Elevation	738 to 1,050 ft (225 to 320 m)
Population (2010)
• City	420,003
• Density	3,190/sq mi (1,232/km2)
• Urban	4,750,000
• Urban density	2,420/sq mi (935/km2)
• Metro	5,268,860 (9th)
• Metro density	630/sq mi (243/km2)
Demonym	Atlantan[4]
Race and ethnicity – City (2010)
• Black	54.0%
• White	38.4%
• White (non-Hispanic)	36.3%
• Asian	3.1%
• Hispanic (any race)	5.2%
Language spoken at home – City (2008)
• English	83.3%[5]
• Spanish	8.8%[5]
• Other Indo-European languages	3.9%[5]
• Asian languages	2.8%[5]
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code(s)	30060, 30301-30322, 30324-30334, 30336-30350, 30353
Area code(s)	404, 470, 678, 770
FIPS code	13-04000[6]
GNIS feature ID	0351615[7]
Website	atlantaga.gov

Atlanta ( /ətˈlæntə/, stressed /ætˈlæntə/, locally  /ætˈlænə/) is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia with a 2010 population of 420,003.^[8] Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest in the U.S.^[9] It is a major component of a growing southeastern megalopolis known as the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.

Atlanta began as a settlement located at the terminus of a railroad line, and it was incorporated in 1845. Today, the city is a major business city and the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States (via highway, railroad, and air), with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998.^{[10][11][12][13]} The World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University rated Atlanta as an "alpha(-) world city."^[14] With a gross domestic product of US$270 billion, Atlanta's economy ranks 15th among world cities and sixth in the nation.^[15] The city is a center for services, finance, information technology, government, and higher education. Metro Atlanta contains the country's third largest concentration^[16] of Fortune 500 companies, and is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, Turner Broadcasting, The Home Depot, AT&T Mobility, UPS, and Delta Air Lines. As of 2010, Atlanta is the seventh most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.^[17]

The city has long been known as a center of black wealth, political power and culture; a cradle of the Civil Rights Movement^[18] and home to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, the city's white population is growing rapidly, while Metro Atlanta has quickly become ethnically diverse with large Hispanic and Asian populations. The arts and entertainment are well represented in Atlanta, and the city is an important base for hip hop, gospel, and neo soul music; in addition, it has become a major center of film and TV production. Atlanta stands out among major U.S. cities for its dense tree coverage. In 1996, Atlanta hosted the Summer Olympics, an event that spurred a wave of gentrification that has intensified into the 21st century, revitalizing the city's center and in-town neighborhoods.

History[link]

Marietta Street, 1864

In 1836 the Georgia General Assembly voted to build a railroad to provide a trade route to the Midwestern United States, and its terminus was chosen in 1837. In 1839 homes and a store were built there and by 1842, the settlement – now named Atlanta – had six buildings and 30 residents. By 1854 rail lines had arrived from four different directions, making the young town the rail hub for the entire Southern United States.

During the American Civil War, Atlanta was an important railroad and military supply hub. In 1864, the city became the target of a major Union invasion during the Atlanta campaign. In 1864 Atlanta was under union siege for four months. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered all public buildings and Confederate assets destroyed. On September 2, the city surrendered, and on September 7 Sherman ordered evacuation four days before ordering Atlanta to be burned to the ground.

The city recovered quickly from the Civil War and grew quickly into a transportation, trade and industrial powerhouse of the Southeast. Henry W. Grady, the editor of the Atlanta Constitution, promoted the city to investors as a city of the "New South," by which he meant a diversification of the economy away from agriculture, and a shift from the "Old South" attitudes of slavery and rebellion. As part of the effort to modernize the South, Grady and many others also supported the creation of the Georgia School of Technology (now the Georgia Institute of Technology), which was founded on the city's northern outskirts in 1885. The city of Atlanta's new symbol, the Phoenix, symbolized this spirit of rebirth. By 1890, the city had a population over 65,000; by 1910, the city had more than 150,000 residents. Skyscrapers began emerging with the 1892 Equitable Building and the 1897 Flatiron Building. The city of Atlanta quickly became a center of Southern business. By 1906, the 17-story Candler Building housed Asa Candler's Coca-Cola company. Atlanta's growth was almost unimpeded from 1870 to 1930, with a small interruption during WWI.

Despite discrimination and segregation during the early 1900s, a prosperous black middle class and upper class emerged in Atlanta. Desegregation came in stages: buses and trolleys in 1959,^[19] the first restaurants in 1961,^[20] theaters in 1962.^[21][22] and public schools from 1961–73.^[23]

In the 1960s, Atlanta was a major center of the US Civil Rights Movement, with Martin Luther King and students from Atlanta's historically black colleges and universities playing major roles in the movement's leadership. On October 19, 1960, a sit-in at the lunch counters of several Atlanta department stores led to the arrest of Dr. King and several students, drawing attention from the media and presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. The 1970s saw the election of the first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, most of the MARTA system's construction, and major suburban growth. The 80s saw the launch of CNN and Atlanta hosting the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

In the 1990s, Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport became the busiest in the world. The 21st century saw a tornado hit Downtown in 2008, floods in the region, the adoption of a plan to add 40% more green space, the rise of Delta to the rank of world's largest airline, and rapid gentrification of many central neighborhoods.

Geography[link]

The city of Atlanta from Stone Mountain. Downtown and Midtown to the left, and Buckhead to the right.

The city of Atlanta from Stone Mountain. Downtown and Midtown to the left, and Buckhead to the right.

Topography[link]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city encompasses 132.4 square miles (342.9 km²), of which 131.7 square miles (341.1 km²) is land and 0.7 square miles (1.8 km²) is water. At about 1,050 feet (320 m) above mean sea level, Atlanta sits atop a ridge south of the Chattahoochee River.

The Eastern Continental Divide line enters Atlanta from the south, proceeding to the downtown area. From downtown, the divide line runs eastward along DeKalb Avenue and the CSX rail lines through Decatur.^[24] Rainwater that falls on the south and east side runs eventually into the Atlantic Ocean, while rainwater on the north and west side of the divide runs into the Gulf of Mexico^[24] via the Chattahoochee River. That river is part of the ACF River Basin, and from which Atlanta and many of its neighbors draw most of their water. Being at the far northwestern edge of the city, much of the river's natural habitat is still preserved, in part by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Downstream however, excessive water use during droughts and pollution during floods has been a source of contention and legal battles with neighboring states Alabama and Florida.^[25][26]

Climate and environment[link]

Atlanta has a humid subtropical climate, (Cfa) according to the Köppen classification, with hot, humid summers and cool winters that are occasionally cold by the standards of the southern United States. January averages 42.7 °F (5.9 °C), with temperatures in the suburbs slightly cooler. Warm, maritime air can bring springlike highs while strong Arctic air masses can push lows into the teens (−11 to −7 °C). High temperatures in July average 89 °F (31.7 °C) but occasionally exceed to near 100 °F (38 °C). Atlanta's high mean elevation distinguishes it from most other southern and eastern cities, and contributes to a more temperate climate than is found in areas farther south.^[27] Humid in the summer, Atlanta often experiences summer thunderstorms.

Typical of the southeastern U.S., Atlanta receives abundant rainfall, which is relatively evenly distributed throughout the year, though spring and early fall are markedly drier. Average annual rainfall is 50.2 inches (1,280 mm). Temperatures at or above 90 °F (32 °C) occur more than 40 days per year; overnight freezing can be expected over 45 days, but high temperatures that do not climb above the freezing mark are rare. Annual snowfall averages 2.5 inches (6.4 cm). True blizzards are rare but possible; the heaviest single storm brought around 16 inches (40.6 cm) on March 12–14, 1993 during the Storm of the Century.^[28] Ice storms usually cause more trouble than does snowfall; the most severe such storms may have occurred on January 7, 1973 and January 9, 2011.^[29]

Atlanta's Piedmont Park, with a blanket of winter snow.

Extremes range from −9 °F (−23 °C) in February 1899 to 105 °F (41 °C) in July 1980.^[30] More recently, a low of −8 °F (−22 °C) -- one degree away from the record -- was observed on January 21, 1985.^[30]

Cityscape[link]

Architecture in Atlanta is dominated by modernism and postmodernism in its commercial and institutional buildings, with a significant influence by hometown architect John Portman. A few notable buildings remain from earlier eras going back to the 1880s, but not a single building remains from the antebellum city, which Union troops burned to the ground in 1864.^{[note 1]} Residential architecture in Atlanta's Intown neighborhoods, largely built between the 1880s and 1920s, is characterized by styles ranging from Victorian cottages to Craftsman bungalows to Revival styles; Atlanta's outer neighborhoods were built in post-World War II suburban styles. Historically, industry located next to the rail lines, and repurposed industrial structures can be found near those rail lines which both approach Downtown Atlanta from all directions, as well as surround it in a belt pattern, passing through the city's inner neighborhoods.

Midtown Atlanta from the Northwest near the Cobb County/Fulton County border on the Chattahoochee River. In the middle is the largest mosque in Atlanta (Masjid Al-Farooq) .Atlantic Station is visible to the left with the Atlantic skyscraper in the foreground. April 2010

Bank of America Plaza, the tallest building in Georgia

Most of Atlanta was burned during the Civil War, depleting it its antebellum architecture. Yet Atlanta, architecturally, had never been particularly "southern." Because Atlanta originated as a railroad town, rather than a patrician southern seaport like Savannah or Charleston, many of the city's landmarks could have easily been erected in the Northeast or Midwest.^[34] After the war, Atlanta viewed itself as the leading city of a progressive "New South," and opted for expressive modern structures.^[35]

Candler Building (1906)

As a result of Atlanta's embrace of modernism, its cityscape is dominated by relatively recent architectural styles, containing works by most major U.S. firms and some of the more prominent architects of the 20th century, including Michael Graves, Richard Meier, Marcel Breuer, Renzo Piano, Pickard Chilton, and locally based, internationally known Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam Architects. The city's skyline, which began its marked rise in the 1960s, is punctuated with highrise and midrise buildings of both modern and postmodern vintage. At 1,023 feet (312 m), Atlanta's tallest skyscraper—the Bank of America Plaza—is the 54th-tallest building in the world and the 9th tallest building in the United States.^[36]