The city of Boston was one of the first to be settled by Europeans in what is now the United States. It is the capital of the state of Massachusetts and the business and cultural hub of the New England region.

Geography

Boston is situated in a sheltered deepwater harbor where the Charles River flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The harbor is what originally made Boston an important city. The oldest part of the city was built on a peninsula that was connected to the mainland by a narrow neck of land. The marshy basin that surrounded this original site was filled in, mostly in the 19th century, to enlarge the city.

Places of interest

The city was central to many events of the American Revolution. The remaining historic sites from that era include the Bunker Hill battle monument, the house of the patriot Paul Revere, the Old North Church, Benjamin Franklin's birthplace, the old State House, the Boston Massacre site, and the Boston Tea Party ship. The U.S.S. Constitution, a wooden ship that fought in the War of 1812, is docked in Charlestown Navy Yard. Visitors can walk along the tour route known as the Freedom Trail to see many of these sites.

Boston Common, an open space since 1634, marks one end of an “emerald necklace” of parks, museums, and cultural institutions. The Museum of Fine Arts is known for its collection of Oriental and Egyptian art. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is housed in the former mansion of the 19th century collector.

Boston's subway system is known as the MBTA or the T. The original line, constructed between 1895 and 1897, was the first practical subway in the United States.

Economy

Boston is the home of many important hospitals and educational institutions. In nearby Cambridge is Harvard University, the oldest university in the United States. Large insurance and financial companies make Boston their home and have altered the skyline with their headquarters buildings. Suburban Route 128 has long been a center for computer-related businesses. Other important industries are food products, publishing, grooming aids, and electronic equipment.

History

In 1614 English Captain John Smith became the first European to explore the Boston Harbor area. The first company of English settlers came in 1630, seeking freedom to practice their Puritan congregational religion. The name of Boston came from a town in England where some of them had lived. Settlers traded with the region's Algonquian Indian tribes when they were not fighting against them.

In 1684 King James II took control of the whole Massachusetts Bay Colony. The residents grew resentful of the British as a result. Two incidents in Boston set the stage for the American Revolution. In the Boston Massacre of 1770, British troops fired on civilians. In the Boston Tea Party of 1773, colonists showed their scorn for British tea by dumping shiploads of it into the harbor. Paul Revere had lanterns lit in the steeple of the Old North Church to warn of the coming of British soldiers in 1775. An important battle was fought near Bunker Hill in the same year.

After independence was won, the city settled into its natural role as shipping and trading center. Bostonians took a leading role in the movement to abolish slavery in the United States. After a great fire in 1872, much of the city was rebuilt. Eventually Irish Americans became the city's leading politicians. Mayor John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald was the grandfather of President John F. Kennedy. Mayor James M. Curley dominated local politics in the first half of the 20th century. Population (2000 census), 589,141; metropolitan area, 3,406,829.