Coordinates

53°1′″N21°10′″N

{{infobox settlement | official name

City of Cambridge | other_name | nickname | settlement_type Non-metropolitan district, City | motto | image_skyline KingsCollegeChapelWest.jpg | imagesize 280px | image_caption King's College Chapel, seen from The Backs | image_blank_emblem Arms-cambridge.jpg | blank_emblem_type Coat of Arms of the City Council | blank_emblem_size 150px | blank_emblem_link Cambridge City Council, England | image_map Cambridge UK locator map.svg | mapsize 200px | map_caption Cambridge shown within Cambridgeshire | coordinates_region GB | subdivision_type Sovereign state | subdivision_name United Kingdom | subdivision_type1 Constituent country | subdivision_name1 England | subdivision_type2 Region | subdivision_name2 East of England | subdivision_type3 Ceremonial county | subdivision_name3 Cambridgeshire | subdivision_type4 Admin HQ | subdivision_name4 Cambridge City Centre | government_footnotes | government_type Non-metropolitan district, City | leader_title Governing body | leader_name Cambridge City Council | leader_title1 Mayor | leader_name1 Ian Nimmo-Smith | leader_title2 MPs: | leader_name2 Julian Huppert (LD)Andrew Lansley (C) | established_title Founded | established_date 1st century | established_title2 City status | established_date2 1951 | area_total_km2 115.65 | area_land_km2 | population_as_of | population_total (Ranked ) | population_urban 130000 (est.)(Cambridge Urban Area) | population_blank1_title County | population_blank1 752900 | population_blank2_title Ethnicity | population_blank2 73.8% White British1.3% White Irish9.8% White Other2.2% Mixed Race5.5% British Asian5.1% Chinese and other2.3% Black British | timezone Greenwich Mean Time | utc_offset +0 | timezone_DST BST | utc_offset_DST +1 | latd 52 |latm 12 |lats 29 |latNS N | longd 0 |longm 7 |longs 21 |longEW E | elevation_m 6 | postal_code_type Postcode | postal_code CB1 – CB5 | area_code 01223 | blank1_name ONS code | blank1_info 12UB | blank2_name OS grid reference | blank2_info | website www.cambridge.gov.uk }}

The city of Cambridge ( ) is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north-by-east of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the city.

Cambridge is well known as the home of the University of Cambridge. The university includes the renowned Cavendish Laboratory, King's College Chapel, and the Cambridge University Library. The Cambridge skyline is dominated by the last two buildings, along with the chimney of Addenbrooke's Hospital in the far south of the city and St John's College Chapel tower in the north.

According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the city's population was 108,863 (including 22,153 students), and the population of the urban area (which includes parts of the neighbouring South Cambridgeshire district) is estimated to be 130,000.

History

Prehistory

Settlements have existed around the Cambridge area since before the Roman Empire. The earliest clear evidence of occupation is the remains of a 3,500-year-old farmstead discovered at the site of Fitzwilliam College. There is further archaeological evidence through the Iron Age, a Belgic tribe having settled on Castle Hill in the 1st century BC.

Roman times

The first major development of the area began with the Roman invasion of Britain in about AD 40. Castle Hill made Cambridge a useful place for a military outpost from which to defend the River Cam. It was also the crossing point for the Via Devana which linked Colchester in Essex with the garrisons at Lincoln and the north. This Roman settlement has been identified as ''Duroliponte''.

The settlement remained a regional centre during the 350 years after the Roman occupation, until about AD 400. Roman roads and walled enclosures can still be seen in the area.

Duroliponte means bridge over the ''duro'' or ''duroli'', which appears to derive from the celtic word for water.

Saxon and Viking age

After the Romans had left Saxons took over the land on and around Castle Hill and renamed it ''Grantabrycge'' – 'Bridge over Granta'. Their grave goods have been found in the area. During Anglo-Saxon times Cambridge benefited from good trade links across the hard-to-travel fenlands. By the 7th century the town was less significant, described by Bede as a "little ruined city" containing the burial site of Etheldreda. Cambridge is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as "Grantebrycge", a period when settlements existed on both sides of the river and Cambridge was on the border of East Anglian and Middle Anglian kingdoms.

The arrival of the Vikings in Cambridge was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 875. Viking rule, the Danelaw, had been imposed by 878 The Vikings' vigorous trading habits caused Cambridge to grow rapidly. During this period the centre of the town shifted from Castle Hill on the left bank of the river to the area now known as the Quayside on the right bank. After the Viking period the Saxons enjoyed a brief return to power, building St Bene't's Church in 1025, which still stands in Bene't Street.

Norman times

In 1068, two years after his conquest of England, William of Normandy built a castle on Castle Hill. Like the rest of the newly conquered kingdom, Cambridge fell under the control of the King and his deputies. The distinctive Round Church dates from this period. By Norman times the name of the town had mutated to Grentabrige or Cantebrigge (Grantbridge), while the river that flowed through it was called the Granta.

Over time the name of the town changed to Cambridge, while the river Cam was still known as the Granta – the Upper River between the Millpond in Cambridge and Grantchester is still known as the Granta to this day. It was only later that the river became known as the Cam, by analogy with the name Cambridge. The University, formed 1209, uses a Latin adjective ''cantabrigiensis'' (often contracted to "Cantab") to mean "of Cambridge", though this is a back-formation from the English name.

Beginnings of the university

In 1209, students escaping from hostile townspeople in Oxford fled to Cambridge and formed a university there. The oldest college that still exists, Peterhouse, was founded in 1284. One of the most well-known buildings in Cambridge, King's College Chapel, was begun in 1446 by King Henry VI. The project was completed in 1515 during the reign of King Henry VIII.

Cambridge University Press originated with a printing licence issued in 1534. Hobson's Conduit, the first project to bring clean drinking water to the town centre, was built in 1610 (by the Hobson of Hobson's choice). Parts of it survive today. Addenbrooke's Hospital was founded in 1766. The railway and Cambridge station were built in 1845.

Twentieth century

From the 1930s to the 1980s the size of the city was greatly increased by several large council estates planned to hold London overspill. The biggest impact has been on the area north of the river, which are now the estates of Arbury, East Chesterton and King's Hedges, and there are many smaller estates to the south of the city.

During World War II Cambridge served as an evacuation centre for over 7,000 people from London, as well as for parts of the University of London. The town became a military centre, with an R.A.F. training centre and the regional headquarters for Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire established during the conflict.

In 1962 Cambridge's first shopping arcade, Bradwell's Court, opened on Drummer Street, though this was demolished in 2006. Other shopping arcades followed at Lion Yard, which housed a relocated Central Library for the city, and the Grafton Centre which replaced Victorian housing stock which had fallen into disrepair in the Kite area of the city. Both of these projects met strong opposition at the time.

The city gained its second University in 1992 when Anglia Polytechnic became Anglia Polytechnic University. Renamed Anglia Ruskin University in 2005, the institution has its origins in the Cambridge School of Art opened in 1858 by John Ruskin. The Open University also has a presence in the city, with an office operating on Hills Road.

Despite having a university, Cambridge was not granted its city charter until 1951. Cambridge does not have a cathedral, traditionally a prerequisite for city status, instead falling within the Church of England Diocese of Ely. Many of the buildings in the centre are colleges affiliated to the University of Cambridge, including King's College and Magdalene College. Colleges such as Trinity College and St John's College own significant land both in Cambridge and outside: Trinity is the landlord for the Cambridge Science Park, and also the port of Felixstowe; St John's is the landlord of St John's Innovation Centre near to the Science Park, and many other buildings in the city centre.

Cambridge City Council plans to renew the area around the Corn Exchange concert hall, and plans for a permanent ice-skating rink are being considered after the success of a temporary one that has been on Parker's Piece every year for the past few years. New housing and developments have continued through the 21st century, with estates such as the CB1 and Accordia schemes near the station, and developments such as Clayfarm and Trumpington Meadows planned for the south of the city.

Governance

Local government

Cambridge is a non-metropolitan district served by Cambridge City Council. The City of Cambridge is one of five districts within the county of Cambridgeshire, and is bordered on all sides by the mainly rural South Cambridgeshire district. Indeed, it is the only district in England to be entirely surrounded by another. The city council's headquarters are in the Guildhall, a large building in the market square. City councillors elect a mayor annually. Cambridge was granted a Royal Charter by King John in 1207, which permitted the appointment of a Mayor, although the first recorded Mayor, Harvey FitzEustace, served in 1213. Cambridge is also served by Cambridgeshire County Council.

For electoral purposes the city is divided into 14 wards: Abbey, Arbury, Castle, Cherry Hinton, Coleridge, East Chesterton, King's Hedges, Market, Newnham, Petersfield, Queen Edith's, Romsey, Trumpington, and West Chesterton.

The political composition of the city council is currently:

25 Liberal Democrat councillors

14 Labour councillors

2 Green councillors

1 Independent councillor

The Liberal Democrats have controlled the city council since 2000.

Westminster

The parliamentary constituency of Cambridge covers most of the city. Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat) was elected Member of Parliament (MP) at the 2010 general election, succeeding David Howarth. One area of the city, Queen Edith's ward, lies in the South Cambridgeshire constituency, whose MP is Andrew Lansley (Conservative), elected in 1997. The city had previously elected a Labour MP from 1992 to 2005 and prior to this, usually elected a Conservative after the Second World War. However, the Conservatives have seen their share of the vote fall over the past 20 years.

The University of Cambridge used to have a seat in the House of Commons, Sir Isaac Newton being one of the most notable holders. The Cambridge University constituency was abolished under 1948 legislation, and ceased at the dissolution of Parliament for the 1950 general election, along with the other university constituencies.

Geography

Cambridge is about north-by-east of London. The city is located in an area of level and relatively low-lying terrain just south of the Fens, which varies between and above sea level. The River Cam flows through the city north from the village of Grantchester. The name 'Cambridge' is derived from the river.

Like most cities, modern-day Cambridge has many suburbs and areas of high-density housing. The city centre of Cambridge is mostly commercial, historic buildings, and large green areas such as Jesus Green, Parker's Piece and Midsummer Common. Many of the roads in the centre are pedestrianised.

Climate

Cambridge currently has two official weather observing stations, the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), about 2 miles north of the city centre, and the Botanical Gardens, about 1 mile south of the city centre. The city, like most of the UK, has a maritime climate highly influenced by the gulf stream. This is moderated to some extent by its low lying, inland, and easterly position within the British Isles, meaning summer temperatures in particular tend to be somewhat higher than areas further west, and often rival or even exceed those recorded in the London area. July 2006 for example recorded the highest official mean monthly maximum (i.e. averaged over the entire month) of any month at any location in the UK since records began; ,at both the NIAB and Botanical Gardens observing stations – Cambridge also often records the annual highest national temperature in any given year – in July 2008 at NIAB and in August 2007 at the Botanical Gardens are two recent examples. The absolute maximum stands at set on the 10 August 2003, although a temperature of was recorded on the same day at the Guildhall rooftop weather station in the city centre and is acknowledged by the Met Office. Before this, the absolute maximum was set at the Botanical Gardens in August 1990. The last time the temperature exceeded was July 2006 when the maximum reached at the Botanical Gardens and at NIAB. Typically the temperature will reach or higher on 20.5 days of the year over the 1971–2000 period, with the annual highest temperature averaging over the same period.

The absolute minimum temperature recorded at the Botanical Gardens site was , recorded in February 1947 Although a minimum of was recorded at the now defunct observatory site in December 1879. The last time the temperature fell below −15.0c was in January 1982 when was recorded. Most recently the temperature fell to on the 20 December 2010. The average frequency of air frosts ranges from 41.9 days at the NIAB site, to 47.2 days at the Botanical Gardens per year over the 1971–2000 period. Typically the coldest night of the year at the Botanical gardens will fall to . Such minimum temperatures and frost averages are typical for inland areas across much of southern and central England.

Rainfall is generally low, averaging around per year, with some years occasionally falling into the semi-arid (under of rain per year) category. Last time this occurred was in 2005 with 495.1mm of rain. Snowfall accumulations, though occurring most years, are similarly small, helped by some extent due to Cambridge's low elevation and low precipitation tendency during transitional snow events.

Sunshine averages around 1500 hours a year or around 35% of possible, a level typical of most locations throughout inland central England.

Demography

The demography in Cambridge changes considerably in and out of University term times, so can be hard to measure.

In the 2001 Census held during University term, 89.44% of Cambridge residents identified themselves as white, compared with a national average of 92.12%. Within the University, 84% of undergraduates and 80% of post-graduates identify as white (including overseas students).

Cambridge has a much higher than average proportion of people in the highest paid professional, managerial or administrative jobs (32.6% vs. 23.5%) and a much lower than average proportion of manual workers (27.6% vs. 40.2%). In addition, a much higher than average proportion of people have a high level qualification (e.g. degree, Higher National Diploma, Masters and PhDs), (41.2% vs. 19.7%).

Historical population of Cambridge

Year !! colspan="2"	Population
1801
1811
1821
1831
1841
1851
1861

Year !! colspan="2"	Population
1871
1881
1891
1901
1911
1921
1931

Year !! colspan="2"	Population
1941	''Data unavailable''
1951
1961
1971
1981
1991
2001

Census: Regional District 1801–1901 Civil Parish 1911–1961 District 1971–2001

Economy

Cambridge and its surrounds are sometimes referred to as Silicon Fen, an allusion to Silicon Valley, because of the density of high-tech businesses and technology incubators that have developed on science parks around the city. Many of these parks and buildings are owned or leased by university colleges, and the companies often have been spun out of the university. Such companies include Abcam, CSR, ARM Limited, CamSemi, Jagex and Sinclair. Microsoft chose to locate its Microsoft Research UK offices in a University of Cambridge technology park, separate from the main Microsoft UK campus in Reading.

Cambridge was also the home of Pye Ltd., who made radios and televisions and also defence equipment. In later years Pye evolved into several other companies including TETRA radio equipment manufacturer Pye Telecommunications. Another major business is Marshall Aerospace located on the eastern edge of the city. The Cambridge Network keeps businesses in touch with each other. The FTSE100 software company Autonomy Corporation is located at the Business Park on Cowley Road.

Transport

Cambridge is a city with many transport connections as well as being one of the UK's eleven "Cycling Cities", a status given in 2008. There are regular trains to King's Cross and Liverpool Street stations in London as well as to Peterborough, Leicester, King's Lynn, Norwich, Ipswich and Stansted Airport. Two major roads pass by the outskirts of the city, the M11 motorway and the A14. Cambridge also has its own airport, Marshall's Airport. The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway connects Cambridge with St Ives and Huntingdon. Cambridgeshire County Council has also submitted a bid for £500 million from the Transport Innovation Fund.

Education

Cambridge's two universities, the collegiate University of Cambridge and the local campus of Anglia Ruskin University, serve around 30,000 students, by some estimates. Cambridge University estimated its 2007/08 student population at 17,662, and Anglia Ruskin reports 24,000 students across its two campuses (one of which is outside Cambridge, in Chelmsford) for the same period. State provision in the further education sector includes Hills Road Sixth Form College, Long Road Sixth Form College, and Cambridge Regional College.

Both state and independent schools serve Cambridge pupils from nursery to secondary school age. State schools are administered by Cambridgeshire County Council, which maintains 251 schools in total, 35 of them in Cambridge city. Netherhall School, Chesterton Community College, the Parkside Federation (comprising Parkside Community College and Coleridge Community College), Manor Community College and the Christian inter-denominational St. Bede's School provide comprehensive secondary education. Many other pupils from the Cambridge area attend village colleges, an educational institution unique to Cambridgeshire, which serve as secondary schools during the day and adult education centres outside of school hours. Private schools in the city include The Perse School, The Perse School for Girls, St. Mary's School and The Leys School.

Culture

Sport

Football

Cambridge played a unique role in the invention of modern football: the game's first set of rules were drawn up by members of the University in 1848. The Cambridge Rules were first played on Parker's Piece and had a "defining influence on the 1863 Football Association rules."

The city is home to Cambridge United F.C., who played in the Football League at the Abbey Stadium from 1970 to 2005, when they were relegated to Conference National, the division in which they currently compete. When relegation became inevitable the club was placed in administration with substantial debts, but it emerged from administration in time for the 2005–06 season. The club's biggest success came in the early 1990s, with two successive promotions, two successive FA Cup quarter-final appearances, a run to the Football League Cup quarter-finals, and reaching the brink of promotion to the new Premier League.

The city's other football club Cambridge City F.C. play in the Southern Football League Premier Division at the City Ground in Chesterton. Histon, just north of Cambridge, is home to Conference North side Histon F.C..

Rugby

The city is represented in both codes of Rugby football. Rugby Union club Cambridge R.U.F.C. play in National Division One at their home ground, West Renault Park on Grantchester Road in the southwest corner of the city. Cambridge Eagles Rugby League team play in the National Conference League East Section during the summer months.

Watersports

The River Cam running through the city centre is used for boating. The University has its own rowing club, Cambridge University Boat Club, and most of the individual colleges have boathouses on the river. The main focus of university rowing life are the two sets of bumps races held at the end of the Lent and Easter terms. Cambridgeshire Rowing Association was formed in 1868 and organises competitive rowing on the river outside of the University. Shallower parts of the Cam are used for recreational punting, a type of boating in which the craft is propelled by pushing against the river bed with a quant pole.

Other sports

As well as being the home of the Cambridge Rules in football, Parker's Piece was used for first-class cricket matches from 1817 to 1864. The University of Cambridge's Cricket ground, Fenner's, is located in the city and is one of the home grounds for minor counties team Cambridgeshire CCC. Cambridge is also home to two Real Tennis courts out of just 42 in the world at Cambridge University Real Tennis Club. British American Football League club Cambridgeshire Cats play at Coldham's Common. After a 10 year hiatus, the resurrected Cambridge Royals Baseball Club will also be once again competing in the British Baseball Federation in 2011. Cambridge has two cycling clubs Team Cambridge and Cambridge Cycling Club. Cambridge & Coleridge Athletic Club is the city's track and field club, based at the University of Cambridge's Wilberforce Road track.

Motorcycle speedway racing took place at the Greyhound Stadium in Newmarket Road in 1939 and the contemporary local press carried meeting reports and photographs of racing. It is not known if this venue operated in other years. The team raced as Newmarket as the meetings were organised by the Newmarket Motorcycle Club.

Varsity sports

Cambridge is also known for its university sporting events against Oxford, especially the rugby union Varsity Match and the Boat Race. These are followed by people across the globe, many of whom have no connection to the institutions themselves.

Theatre

Cambridge's main traditional theatre is the Arts Theatre, a venue with 666 seats in the town centre. The theatre often has touring shows, as well as those by local companies. The largest venue in the city to regular hold theatrical performances is the Cambridge Corn Exchange – capacity 1800 standing or 1200 seated. Housed within the city's 19th century former corn exchange building the venue was used for a variety of additional functions throughout the 20th century including tea parties, motor shows, sports matches and a music venue with temporary stage. The City Council renovated the building in the 1980s, turning it into a full-time arts venue, hosting theatre, dance and music performances.

The newest theatre venue in Cambridge is the 220-seat J2, also known as The Shed, part of the Junction complex in Cambridge Leisure Park. The venue was opened in 2004 and hosts live music, comedy and night clubs as well as traditional and contemporary theatre and dance.

The ADC Theatre is managed by the University of Cambridge, and typically has 3 shows a week during term time. The Mumford Theatre is part of Anglia Ruskin University, and hosts shows by both student and non student groups. There are also a number of venues within the colleges.

Literature and film

The city has been the setting for all or part of several novels, including Douglas Adams' ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'', Rose Macaulay's ''They Were Defeated'', Kate Atkinson's ''Case Histories'', Rebecca Stott's ''Ghostwalk'' and Robert Harris's ''Enigma'', whilst Susanna Gregory wrote a series of novels set in 14th century Cambridge and Sylvia Plath wrote a number of short stories with a Cambridge setting published in the collection ''Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams''. Gwen Raverat, the granddaughter of Charles Darwin, talked about her late Victorian Cambridge childhood in her memoir ''Period Piece'' and ''The Night Climbers of Cambridge'' is a book written by Noel Symington under the pseudonym "Whipplesnaith" about nocturnal climbing on the Colleges and town buildings of Cambridge in the 1930s.

Fictionalised versions of Cambridge appear in Philippa Pearce's ''Tom's Midnight Garden'' and ''Minnow on the Say'', the city renamed as Castleford, and as the home of Tom Sharpe's fictional "Porterhouse College".

The BBC television programme ''Silent Witness'' was filmed for large parts in Cambridge.

Music

Popular music

Pink Floyd are the most notable band from Cambridge. The band's former songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Syd Barrett was born and lived in the city, and he and another founding member, Roger Waters, went to school together at Cambridgeshire High School for Boys. David Gilmour, the guitarist who replaced Barrett, was also a Cambridge resident and attended the nearby Perse School. Other bands who were formed in Cambridge include Henry Cow, Katrina and the Waves, The Soft Boys, Ezio, Horace X The Broken Family Band, and the pop-classical group King's Singers, who were formed at the University. Solo artists Boo Hewerdine and Robyn Hitchcock are from Cambridge, as are Drum and bass artists (and brothers) Nu:Tone and Logistics. Singer Olivia Newton-John and Matthew Bellamy, lead singer of rock band Muse, were born in the city. Singer-songwriter Nick Drake and Manchester music mogul Tony Wilson, the founder of Factory Records, were both educated at the University of Cambridge.

Festivals and events

Several fairs and festivals take place in Cambridge, mostly during the British summer. Midsummer Fair dates back to 1211, when it was granted a charter by King John. Today it exists primarily as an annual funfair with the vestige of a market attached and is held over several days around or close to midsummers day. On the first Saturday in June Midsummer Common is also the site for Strawberry Fair, a free music and children's fair, with a series of market stalls. For one week in May, on nearby Jesus Green, the annual Cambridge Beer Festival is held. Started in 1974, it is Britain's second largest beer festival outside London. 90,000 pints of beer and a tonne of cheese were served in 2009.

Cambridge Folk Festival, one of the largest festivals of folk music in the UK, is held annually in the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall on the outskirts of the city. The festival has been organised by the city council since its inception in 1964. The Cambridge Summer Music Festival is an annual festival of classical music, held in the University's colleges and chapels. Cambridge Shakespeare Festival is an eight-week season of open-air performances of the works of William Shakespeare, held in the gardens of the Colleges of The University of Cambridge. Started in 1977, the Cambridge Film Festival was held annually in July, but moved to September in 2008 to avoid a clash with the rescheduled Edinburgh Film Festival.

Public services

Cambridge is served by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with several smaller medical centres around the city and a general hospital at Addenbrookes. Addenbrookes is a learning and teaching hospital, one of the largest in the United Kingdom, and functions as a centre for medical research.

The East of England Ambulance Service covers the city and has an ambulance station on Hills Road. The smaller Brookfields Hospital is located on Mill Road. Cambridgeshire Constabulary provide the city's policing; the major police station is at Parkside, adjacent to the city's fire station, which is operated by Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Cambridge Water supplies water services to the city, while Anglian Water provides sewerage services. Cambridge is part of the East of England region, for which the distribution network operator is EDF Energy. The city has no power stations, though a five-metre wind turbine, part of a Cambridge Regional College development, can be seen in King's Hedges.

Following the Public Libraries Act 1850 the city's first public library, located on Jesus Lane, was opened in 1855. It was moved to the Guildhall in 1862, and is now located in the Grand Arcade shopping centre. The library was reopened in September 2009, after having been closed for refurbishment for 33 months, more than twice as long as was forecast when the library closed for redevelopment in January 2007.

Religion

Cambridge has a number of churches, some of which form a significant part of the city's architectural landscape. Like the rest of Cambridgeshire it is part of the Anglican Diocese of Ely. A Cambridge-based family and youth organisation, Romsey Mill, had its centre re-dedicated in 2007 by the Archbishop of York, and is quoted as an example of best practice in a study into social inclusion by the East of England Regional Assembly.

Cambridge is in the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia, and the city is served by the large Gothic Revival Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church at the junction of Hills Road and Lensfield Road. There is a Russian Orthodox church under the Archdiocese of Great Britain and Sourozh, and a Greek Orthodox church under the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain.

Cambridge has two synagogues: an Orthodox synagogue and Jewish student centre on Thompson's Lane, operated by the Cambridge University Jewish Society and the Cambridge Traditional Jewish Congregation, and a Reform synagogue Beth Shalom which meets at a local school. The Abu Bakr Jamia Islamic Centre on Mawson Road and the Omar Faruque Mosque and Cultural Centre in Kings Hedges serve the city's community of around 4,000 Muslims until a planned new mosque is built.

A Buddhist centre was opened in the former Barnwell Theatre on Newmarket Road in 1998. In 2005 local Hindus began fundraising to build a shrine at the Bharat Bhavan Indian cultural centre off Mill Road, where Hindu and Hare Krishna groups conduct worship. Cambridge also has a number of secular groups, such as the Cambridge Humanists.

University

Great St Mary's Church has the status of being the "University Church". Many of the University colleges contain chapels that hold services according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, while the chapel of St Edmund's College is Roman Catholic. The city also has a number of theological colleges for training clergy for ordination into a number of denominations, with affiliations to both the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University. The University of Cambridge is also home to the evangelical Christian organisation Cambridge Intercollegiate Christian Union.

Twinned cities

Cambridge is twinned with two cities. Like Cambridge, both have universities and are also similar in population.

Heidelberg, Germany since 1965 Szeged, Hungary since 1987

See also

List of bridges in Cambridge

''Cambridge News''

Cambridge museums

Cambridge Poetry Festival

Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies

Gog Magog Downs

Panoramic photo gallery

References

;Notes

External links

Cambridge City Council

The Cambridge Market Place Webcam

The Cambridge Time Traveller History Site

Cambridgeshire Association for Local History

Cambridgeshire Community Archives

Category:Articles including recorded pronunciations (UK English) Category:Cities in the East of England Category:County towns in England Category:Local government in Cambridgeshire Category:University towns in the United Kingdom Category:Non-metropolitan districts of Cambridgeshire Category:Local government districts of the East of England

af:Cambridge ang:Grantanbrycg ar:كامبريدج az:Kembric bn:ক্যামব্রিজ be:Горад Кембрыдж bs:Cambridge br:Cambridge (Bro-Saoz) bg:Кеймбридж ca:Cambridge cs:Cambridge cy:Caergrawnt da:Cambridge de:Cambridge et:Cambridge el:Κέμπριτζ es:Cambridge eo:Kembriĝo (Britio) eu:Cambridge fa:کمبریج fr:Cambridge fy:Cambridge gd:Cambridge gl:Cambridge ko:케임브리지 hy:Քեմբրիջ hr:Cambridge io:Cambridge id:Cambridge, Cambridgeshire ia:Cambridge is:Cambridge it:Cambridge he:קיימברידג' kn:ಕೇಂಬ್ರಿಜ್ ka:კემბრიჯი sw:Cambridge la:Cantabrigia lv:Kembridža lb:Cambridge (England) lt:Kembridžas lmo:Cambridge hu:Cambridge ml:കേംബ്രിഡ്ജ് mr:केंब्रिज, इंग्लंड my:ကိန်းဘရစ်ချ်မြို့ nl:Cambridge (Engeland) ja:ケンブリッジ no:Cambridge nn:Cambridge nrm:Cambridge oc:Cambridge pnb:کیمبرج pl:Cambridge pt:Cambridge ro:Cambridge qu:Cambridge ru:Кембридж sco:Cambridge scn:Cambridge simple:Cambridge sk:Cambridge (Cambridgeshire) sl:Cambridge sr:Кембриџ sh:Cambridge fi:Cambridge sv:Cambridge tl:Cambridge th:เคมบริดจ์ tg:Кембриҷ tr:Cambridge uk:Кембридж ug:Kambrij vi:Cambridge vo:Cambridge war:Cambridge zh-yue:劍橋 bat-smg:Kėmbrėdžos zh:劍橋

Coordinates	53°1′″N21°10′″N
name	Massachusetts
fullname	Commonwealth of Massachusetts
flag	Flag_of_Massachusetts.svg
flaglink	Flag
seal	Seal_of_Massachusetts.svg
map	Map_of_USA_MA.svg
nickname	The Bay State
motto	Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem (Latin)
mottoenglish	By the sword she seeks peace under liberty
former	Province of Massachusetts Bay
demonym	Bay Stater
capital	Boston
largestcity	capital
largestmetro	Greater Boston
governor	Deval Patrick (D)
lieutenant governor	Tim Murray (D)
legislature	General Court
upperhouse	Senate
lowerhouse	House of Representatives
senators	John Kerry (D) Scott Brown (R)
representative	10 Democrats
postalabbreviation	MA
tradabbreviation	Mass.
officiallang	None
arearank	44th
totalareaus	10,555
totalarea	27,336
landareaus	7,840
landarea	20,306
waterareaus	2,715
waterarea	7,031
pcwater	25.7
poprank	14th
2000pop	(2010) 6,547,629
densityrank	3rd
2000densityus	809.8
2000density	312.7
medianhouseholdincome	$65,401 (2008)
incomerank	6th |
admittanceorder	6th
admittancedate	February 6, 1788
timezone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
latitude	41° 14′ N to 42° 53′ N
longitude	69° 56′ W to 73° 30′ W
lengthus	113
length	182
widthus	183
width	295
highestpoint	Mount Greylock |
highestelevus	3,492
highestelev	1,064
meanelevus	500
meanelev	150
lowestpoint	Atlantic Ocean
lowestelevus	0
lowestelev	0
isocode	US-MA
website	http://www.mass.gov/ }}

{{infobox u.s. state symbols |name

Massachusetts |Bird Black-capped Chickadee, Wild Turkey |Fish Cod |Flower Mayflower |Insect Ladybug |Mammal Right whale, Morgan horse, Tabby cat, Boston Terrier |Reptile Garter snake |Tree American Elm |Beverage Cranberry Juice |Colors Blue, Green, Cranberry |Dance Square Dance |Food Cranberry, Corn muffin, Navy bean, Boston cream pie, Chocolate chip cookie, Boston cream donut |Fossil Mastodon |Gemstone Rhodonite |Mineral Babingtonite |Poem "Blue Hills of Massachusetts" |StateRock Roxbury Puddingstone |Shell Wrinkled Whelk |Ships ''Schooner Ernestina'' |Slogan ''Make It Yours'',''The Spirit of America'' |Soil Paxton |Song ''All Hail to Massachusetts'' |Sport Basketball, Baseball, Hockey, Football, Soccer |Route Marker MA Route 24.svg |Quarter 2000 MA Proof.png |QuarterReleaseDate 2000 }}

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts () is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010 Census, the population of Massachusetts was 6,547,629. The state features two separate metropolitan areas — the eastern Boston metropolitan area and the western Springfield metropolitan area. Approximately two thirds of the state's population lives in Greater Boston, most of which is either urban or suburban. Western Massachusetts features one urban area — the Knowledge Corridor along the Connecticut River — and a mix of college towns and rural areas. Massachusetts is the most populous of the six New England states, the third most densely populated state in the United States, and also has the US's sixth highest GDP per capita.

Massachusetts played a significant historical, cultural, and commercial role in American history. Plymouth was the second permanent English settlement in North America, and Puritans settling Massachusetts in the 1630s dominated New England for many years. Harvard University, founded in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. In 1692, the towns surrounding Salem experienced one of America's most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem Witch Trials. In the eighteenth century, the Protestant First Great Awakening, which swept the Atlantic world, originated from the pulpit of Northampton, Massachusetts preacher Jonathan Edwards. In the late 18th century, Boston became known as the "Cradle of Liberty" for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution and the independence of the United States from Great Britain. In 1777, General Henry Knox founded the Springfield Armory, which during the Industrial Revolution catalyzed numerous important technological advances, including interchangeable parts. In 1786, Shays' Rebellion, a populist revolt by Western Massachusetts farmers, led directly to the United States Constitutional Convention. Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the temperance, transcendentalist, and abolitionist movements. In 1837, Mount Holyoke College, the United States' first college for women, was opened in the Connecticut River Valley town of South Hadley. In the late nineteenth century, the (now) Olympic sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in the Western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke, respectively. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legally recognize same-sex marriage. The state has contributed many prominent politicians to national service, including members of the Adams family and of the Kennedy family.

Originally dependent on fishing, agriculture, and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, the state's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. In the 21st century, Massachusetts is a leader in higher education, health care technology, high technology, financial services, cannabis law reform, universal healthcare, and same-sex marriage.

Name

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 suffix, identifying a place. It has been translated as "near the great hill", "by the blue hills", "at the little big hill", or "at the range of hills", referring to the Blue Hills, or in particular, Great Blue Hill, located on the boundary of Milton and Canton. 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 Miles Standish and Squanto, a Native American, met Chief Chickatawbut in 1621.

The official name of the state is the "Commonwealth of Massachusetts". Colloquially, it is often referred to simply as "the Commonwealth". While this designation is part of the state's official name, it has no practical implications. Massachusetts has the same position and powers within the United States as other states.

Geography

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 . Several large bays distinctly shape its coast. Boston is the largest city, at the inmost point of Massachusetts Bay, the mouth of the Charles River, the longest river entirely within Massachusetts. The state extends from the mountains of the Appalachian system in the west to the sandy beaches and rocky shorelines of the Atlantic coast.

The National Park Service administers a number of natural and historical sites in Massachusetts. 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. In addition, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation maintains a number of parks, trails, and beaches throughout the commonwealth.

Ecology

The primary biome of inland Massachusetts is temperate deciduous forest. Although much of the state 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. Currently, forests cover around 62% of Massachusetts. The areas most affected by human development include the Greater Boston area in the east, the smaller Springfield metropolitan area in the west, and the largely agricultural Pioneer Valley. Animals that have become locally extinct over the past few centuries include gray wolves, elk, wolverines, and mountain lions.

A number of species are doing well, despite, and in some cases because of the increased urbanization of the commonwealth. Peregrine falcons utilize office towers in larger cities as nesting areas, and the population of coyotes, whose diet may include garbage and roadkill, has been increasing in recent decades. White-tailed deer, raccoons, wild turkeys and eastern gray squirrels are also found throughout Massachusetts. In more rural areas in the western part of the state, larger mammals such as moose and black bears have returned, largely due to reforestation following the regional decline in agriculture.

Massachusetts is located along the Atlantic Flyway, a major route for migratory waterfowl along the Atlantic coast. Lakes in central Massachusetts provide habitat for the common loon, while 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. 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 gray seals.

Freshwater fish species in the commonwealth include bass, carp, catfish, and trout, while saltwater species such as Atlantic cod, haddock and American lobster populate offshore waters. 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.

History

Early

Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett. 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. Villages consisted of lodges called wigwams as well as long houses, and tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems.

Colonial period

The first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, established their settlement at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag. This was the second successful permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. The Pilgrims were soon followed by Puritans who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony at present-day Boston in 1630. The Puritans, who believed the Church of England was too hierarchical (among other disagreements) came to Massachusetts for religious freedom., although, like the Plymouth colony, the bay colony was founded under a royal charter. Both religious dissention and expansionism resulted in several new colonies being founded shortly after Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. Dissenters such as Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were banished due to religious disagreements; (Hutchinson held meetings in her home discussing flaws in the Puritan beliefs, while Williams believed that the Puritan beliefs were wrong, and the Indians must be respected.) In 1636, Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island and Hutchinson joined him there several years later.

In the early 1600s, large numbers of the indigenous people in the northeast of what is now the United States were killed by virgin soil epidemics such as smallpox, measles, influenza, and perhaps leptospirosis. In 1617–1619, smallpox reportedly killed 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans.

In 1691, Massachusetts became a single colony, combining Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony (along with present-day Maine). In part due to a delay in establishing a new unified political system, the Salem witch trials, in which a number of women were hanged, occurred during this time.

The most destructive earthquake yet known in New England occurred in 1755, causing considerable damage across the commonwealth.

Massachusetts was a center of the movement for independence from Great Britain; colonists here had long had uneasy relations with the British monarchy, including open rebellion under the Dominion of New England in the 1680s. The Boston Tea Party is an example of the protest spirit in the early 1770s, while the Boston Massacre escalated the conflict. Anti-British activity by men like Sam 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. The Battles of Lexington and Concord initiated the American Revolutionary War and were fought in the Massachusetts towns of Concord and Lexington. 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 1775-6, after which the British were forced to evacuate the city. The event is still celebrated in Suffolk County as Evacuation Day.

Federal period

Bostonian John Adams, known as the "Atlas of Independence", 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 Massachusetts Constitution 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). Later, Adams was active in early American foreign affairs and succeeded Washington as US President. His son, John Quincy Adams, would go on to become the sixth US President.

After independence and during the formative years of independent American government, Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in the western half of the state from 1786 to 1787. The rebels were mostly small farmers angered by crushing war debt and taxes. The rebellion was one of the major factors in the decision to draft a stronger national constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation. On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

19th century

In 1820, Maine separated from Massachusetts, of which it had been first a contiguous and then a non-contiguous part, and entered the Union as the 23rd state as a result of the ratification of the Missouri Compromise.

During the 19th century, Massachusetts became a national leader in the American Industrial Revolution, with factories around Boston producing textiles and shoes, and factories around Springfield producing precision manufacturing tools and paper. The economy transformed from one based primarily on agriculture to an industrial one, initially making use of waterpower and later the steam engine to power factories, and canals and later railroads for transporting goods and materials. At first, the new industries drew labor from Yankees on nearby subsistence farms, and later relied upon immigrant labor from Europe and Canada.

In the years leading up to the Civil War, Massachusetts was a center of social progressivism, Transcendentalism, and abolitionist activity. Horace Mann made the state system of schools the national model. Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson made major contributions to American thought. Members of the Transcendentalism movement, they emphasized the importance of the natural world and emotion to humanity. Although significant opposition to abolitionism existed early on in Massachusetts, resulting in anti-abolitionist riots between 1835 and 1837, opposition to slavery gradually increased in the next few decades. The works of abolitionists contributed to subsequent actions of the state during the Civil War. Massachusetts was the first state to recruit, train, and arm a Black regiment with White officers, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. The Robert Gould Shaw Memorial in Boston Common contains a relief depicting the 54th regiment.

20th century

The industrial economy began a decline in the early 20th century with the exodus of many manufacturing companies. 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 mechanized transportation. This decline would continue into the latter half of the century; between 1950 and 1979, the number of Bay Staters involved in textile manufacturing declined from 264,000 to 63,000. This 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. In Eastern Massachusetts, following World War II, the economy was transformed from one based on heavy industry into a service and high-tech based economy. 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.

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, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a co-founder of the Special Olympics. The famous Kennedy Compound is located at Hyannisport on Cape Cod.

Recent history

In 1987, the state received federal funding for the Central Artery/Tunnel Project. Known as "the Big Dig", it was at the time the biggest federal highway project ever approved. The project included making the Central Artery a tunnel under downtown Boston, in addition to the re-routing of several other major highways. 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. It has connected areas that were once divided by elevated highway, (much of the raised old Central Artery was replaced with the Rose Kennedy Greenway) and improved traffic conditions along a number of routes.

Demographics

Massachusetts had an estimated 2009 population of 6,593,587. As of 2000, Massachusetts was estimated to be the third most densely populated U.S. state, with 809.8 per square mile, behind New Jersey and Rhode Island. Massachusetts in 2004 included 919,771 foreign-born residents. Most Bay Staters live within the Boston Metropolitan Area, also known as Greater Boston. The state's only other metropolitan area is the Springfield Metropolitan Area, also known as Greater Springfield. Centered in the Connecticut River Valley, Greater Springfield includes the revitalizing city of Springfield, and an eclectic array of college towns, (e.g. Amherst and Northampton,) and rural areas to the north and west. Geographically, the center of population of Massachusetts is located in Middlesex County, in the town of Natick.

Like the rest of the northeastern United States, the population of Massachusetts has continued to grow in the past few decades, although at a slower pace than states in the South or West. The latest census estimates show that the commonwealth's population grew by 3.9% since 2000, compared with nearly 10% nationwide. In their decisions to leave Massachusetts, most former residents cited high housing costs and a high cost of living. Another factor has been the transformation from a manufacturing economy into one based on high technology, leaving limited employment options for lower-skilled workers, particularly males. Foreign immigration is more than making up for these losses, 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). 40% of foreign immigrants were from Central or South America, according to a 2005 Census Bureau study. Many residents who have settled in Greater Springfield claim Puerto Rican descent. Many areas of the commonwealth showed relatively stable population trends between 2000 and 2010. 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. Both of these counties feature many "second homes," and constitute major centers of Massachusetts tourism.

In 2005, 79% of the state population spoke English, 7% spoke Spanish, 3.5% spoke Portuguese, and 1% spoke either French or Chinese.

Race and ancestry

According to the US Census Bureau, the 2010 racial makeup of the commonwealth was as follows:

Non-Hispanic Whites - 75.6%

Hispanic or Latino (of any race) - 9.6%

Black or African American - 6.6%

Asian - 5.3%

Other - 4.3%

Two or more races - 2.6%

Native American/American Indian - 0.3%

As late as 1795, the population of Massachusetts was nearly uniformily (95%) of British ancestry. During the early and mid 19th century, immigrant groups began arriving to the commonwealth in large numbers; first from Ireland in the 1840s, and later from Quebec as well as places in Europe such as Italy and Poland. In the early 20th century, a number of African Americans immigrated to Massachusetts, although in somewhat fewer numbers than many other Northern states. Later in the 20th century, immigration from Latin America, Africa, and East Asia increased considerably. Massachusetts has the third largest population of Haitians in the United States. Massachusetts also has a relatively large population of Portuguese descent. Many of the earliest Portuguese-speaking immigrants came from the Azores in the 19th century to work in the whaling industry in cities like New Bedford. Later, further waves of Portuguese arrived, this time often finding work in the textile mills. Lowell is home to the second largest Cambodian (Khmer) community in the nation. The Wampanoag tribe maintains reservations at Aquinnah, at Grafton, on Martha's Vineyard, and at Mashpee on Cape Cod, while the Nipmuck maintain two state-recognized reservations in the central part of the state. While Massachusetts had avoided many of the more violent forms of racial strife seen elsewhere in the US, examples such as the successful electoral showings of the nativist (mainly anti-Catholic) Know Nothings in the 1850s, the controversial Sacco and Vanzetti executions in the 1920s, and Boston's opposition to desegregation busing in the 1970s show that the ethnic history of the commonwealth was not completely harmonious.

Religion

Massachusetts was founded and settled by the Puritans in 1620. The descendants of the Puritans belong to many different churches; in the direct line of inheritance are the Congregational/United Church of Christ, and congregations of Unitarian Universalist Association. Most people in Massachusetts were Christians. Some also believed in predestination. The headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Association is located on Beacon Hill in Boston. Today Protestants make up less than 1/4 of the state's population. Roman Catholics now predominate because of massive immigration from primarily Ireland, followed by Italy, Quebec, and Latin America. A large Jewish population came to the Boston and Springfield areas 1880–1920. Mary Baker Eddy made the Boston Mother Church of Christian Science the world headquarters. Buddhists, Pagans, Hindus, Seventh-day Adventists, Muslims, and Mormons also can be found. Kripalu Center in Stockbridge, the Shambala Center in Northampton, and the Insight Meditation Center in Barre are examples of non-western religious centers in Massachusetts. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives the largest single denominations are the Roman Catholic Church with 3,092,296; the United Church of Christ with 121,826; and the Episcopal Church with 98,963 adherents. Jewish congregations had about 275,000 members.

The religious affiliations of the people of Massachusetts, according to a 2001 survey, are shown below:

Christian - 68%

*Catholic - 44%

*Protestant - 24%

**General Protestant or other Protestant - 11%

**Baptist - 4%

**Congregational/United Church of Christ - 3%

**Episcopal - 3%

*Other or non-denominational Christian - 3%

Jewish - 2%

Other - 7%

No Religion - 16%

Refused to answer - 7%

Economy

The United States Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that the Massachusetts gross state product in 2008 was US$365 billion. The per capita personal income in 2008 was $50,735, making it the third highest state in the nation. 13 Fortune 500 companies are located in the commonwealth, the largest of which are the Liberty Mutual Insurance Group and MassMutual Financial Services. CNBC's list of "Top States for Business for 2010" has recognized Massachusetts as the fifth best state in the nation. Sectors vital to the Massachusetts economy include higher education, biotechnology, finance, health care, and tourism. Route 128 was a major center for the development of minicomputers and electronics. High technology remains an important sector, though few of the largest technology companies are based there. In recent years tourism has played an ever-important role in the state's economy, with Boston and Cape Cod being the leading destinations. Other popular tourist destinations include Salem, Plymouth and the Berkshires. As of June 2011, the state's unemployment rate was 7.6%.

As of 2005, there were 7,700 farms in Massachusetts encompassing a total of , averaging apiece. Almost 2,300 of the state's 6,100 farms grossed under $2,500 in 2007. Particular agricultural products of note include tobacco, livestock, and fruits, tree nuts, and berries, for which the state is nationally ranked 11th, 17th, and 16th, respectively. Massachusetts is the second largest cranberry producing state in the union (after Wisconsin).

The overall state and local tax burden in Massachusetts ranks 23rd highest in the United States. Massachusetts has a flat-rate personal income tax of 5.3%, with an exemption for income below a threshold that varies from year to year. The corporate income tax rate is 8.8%, and the capital gains tax rate was 12%. The state imposes a 6.25% sales tax on retail sales of tangible personal property—except for groceries, clothing (up to $175.00), and periodicals. The sales tax is charged on clothing that costs more than $175.00. All real and tangible personal property located within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is taxable unless specifically exempted by statute. Property taxes in the state were the eighth highest in the nation. There is no inheritance tax and limited Massachusetts estate tax related to federal estate tax collection.

Transportation

Massachusetts has 10 regional metropolitan planning organizations and three non-metropolitan planning organizations covering the remainder of the state; statewide planning is handled by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Rail service

Amtrak operates inter-city rail, including the high-speed Acela service to cities such as Providence, New Haven, New York City, Washington, D.C. and Charlotte, NC.

Regional services

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates public transportation in the form of subway, bus and ferry systems in the Metro Boston area. It also operates longer distance commuter rail services throughout the larger Greater Boston area, including service to Worcester and Providence, Rhode Island.

Fifteen other regional transit authorities provide public transportation in the form of bus services in their local communities. Two heritage railways are in operation: the Cape Cod Central Railroad and the Berkshire Scenic Railway.

As of 2006, a number of freight railroads were operating in Massachusetts, with CSX being the largest carrier. Massachusetts has a total of of freight trackage in operation. The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority regulates freight and passenger ferry service to the islands and operates some of those lines.

Air service

The major airport in the state is Logan International Airport. The airport served over 28 million passengers in 2007 and is used by around 50 airlines. Logan, Hanscom Field in Bedford, and Worcester Regional Airport are operated by Massport, an independent state transportation agency. Massachusetts has approximately 42 public-use airfields, and over 200 private landing spots. Some airports receive funding from the Aeronautics Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration; FAA is also the primary regulator.

Road

There are a total of of interstates and highways in Massachusetts. Interstate 90, also known as the Massachusetts Turnpike, is the longest interstate in the commonwealth. The route runs generally west to east from the New York state line near the town of West Stockbridge and passes just north of Springfield, just south of Worcester and through Framingham before terminating near Logan International Airport in Boston. Other major interstates include Interstate 91, which runs generally north and south along the Connecticut River, Interstate 93, which runs north and south through central Boston, then passes Methuen and Lawrence before entering New Hampshire. Interstate 95, which follows most of the US Atlantic coastline, connects Providence, Rhode Island with Greater Boston, forming a loop around the more urbanized areas (for some distance cosigned with Route 128) before continuing north along the coast. Interstate 495 forms a wide loop around the outer edge of Greater Boston. Other major interstates in the commonwealth include I-291, I-391, I-84, I-195, I-395, I-290, and I-190. Major non-interstate highways in Massachusetts include U.S. Routes 1, 3, 6, and 20, and state routes 2, 3, 24 and 128. A great majority of interstates in Massachusetts were constructed during the mid 20th century, and at times were controversial, particularly the routing of I-95 through central Boston. Opposition to continued construction grew, and in 1970 Governor Francis W. Sargent issued a general prohibition on most further freeway construction within the I-95/Route 128 loop in the Boston area. A massive undertaking to depress I-93 in downtown Boston, called the Big Dig, has brought the city's highway system under public scrutiny over the last decade.

Government and politics

The government of Massachusetts is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The commonwealth has a long political history; earlier political structures included the Mayflower Compact of 1620, the separate Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, and the combined colonial Province of Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Constitution was ratified in 1780 while the Revolutionary War was in progress, four years after the Articles of Confederation was drafted, and eight years before the present United States Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788. Drafted by John Adams, the Commonwealth's constitution is one of the oldest functioning written constitutions in continuous effect in the world. In recent decades, Massachusetts politics have been generally dominated by the Democratic Party, and the state has a reputation for being one of the most liberal in the country.

Government

The Government of Massachusetts is divided into three branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The governor of Massachusetts heads the executive branch; duties of the governor include signing or vetoing legislation, filling judicial and agency appointments, granting pardons, preparing an annual budget, and commanding the Massachusetts National Guard. Massachusetts governors, unlike those of most other states, are addressed as His/Her Excellency. The current governor is Deval Patrick, a Democrat from Milton. The executive branch also includes the Executive Council, which is made up of eight elected councilors and the Lieutenant Governor. Abilities of the Council include confirming gubanatorial appointments and certifying elections. The Massachusetts House of Representatives and Massachusetts Senate comprise the legislature of the commonwealth, known as the Massachusetts General Court. The House consists of 160 members while the Senate has 40 members. Leaders of the House and Senate are chosen by the members of those bodies; the leader of the House is known as the Speaker while the leader of the Senate is known as the President. Each branch consists of several committees. Members of both bodies are elected to two-year terms. The Judicial branch is headed by the Supreme Judicial Court, which serves over a number of lower courts. The Supreme Judicial Court is made up of a chief justice and six associate justices. Judicial appointments are made by the governor and confirmed by the executive council.

The Congressional delegation from Massachusetts is almost entirely Democratic. Currently, the U.S. senators are Democrat John Kerry and Republican Scott Brown. The ten members of the state's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives (all Democrats) are John Olver, Richard Neal, Jim McGovern, Barney Frank, Niki Tsongas, John F. Tierney, Ed Markey, Mike Capuano, Stephen Lynch, and Bill Keating. Federal court cases are heard in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and appeals are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. In US presidential elections, Massachusetts is allotted 12 votes in the electoral college, out of a total of 538. Like most states, the commonwealth's electoral votes are granted in a winner-take-all system.

Politics

+ Presidential elections results
! Year	Republican Party (United States)>Republican	Democratic Party (United States)>Democratic
style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0ff;"
style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0ff;"
style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0ff;"
style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0ff;"
style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0ff;"
style="text-align:center; background:#f0f0ff;"

Throughout the mid 20th century, Massachusetts has gradually shifted from a Republican-leaning state to one largely dominated by Democrats; the 1952 victory of John F. Kennedy over incumbent Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. is seen as a watershed moment in this transformation. His younger brother Edward M. Kennedy held that seat until his death from a brain tumor in 2009. Massachusetts has since gained a reputation as being a politically liberal state and is often used as an archetype of modern liberalism, hence the usage of the phrase "Massachusetts liberal". Eastern Massachusetts routinely votes for the Democratic Party in federal elections while the western half tends to vote Republican. As of the 2006 election, the Republican party holds less than 13% of the seats in both legislative houses of the General Court: in the House, the balance is 141 Democratic to 19 Republican, and in the Senate, 35–5. Although Republicans held the governor's office continuously from 1991 to 2007, they have been among the more socially liberal Republican leaders in the nation. In the 2004 election, Massachusetts gave native son John Kerry 61.9% of the vote, his best showing in any state. In 2008, President Barack Obama carried the state with 61.8% of the vote. In a recent statewide election, a special election in 2010 for the U.S. Senate, saw Republican Scott Brown defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in an upset, by a 52% to 47% margin.

A number of contemporary national political issues have been influenced by events in the commonwealth, such as the 2003 state Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex marriage and a 2006 bill which mandated health insurance for all Bay Staters. In 2008, Massachusetts voters passed an initiative decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Cities, towns, and counties

There are 50 cities and 301 towns in Massachusetts, grouped into 14 counties. The fourteen counties, moving roughly from west to east, are Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, Worcester, Middlesex, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket. Eleven communities which call themselves "towns" are, by law, cities since they have traded the town meeting form of government for a mayor-council or manager-council form.

Boston is the state capital and largest city in Massachusetts. The population of the city proper is 609,023, and Greater Boston, with a population of 4,522,858, is the 10th largest metropolitan area in the nation. Other cities with a population over 100,000 include Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, and Cambridge. Plymouth is the largest municipality in the state by land area.

Massachusetts, along with the five other New England states, features the local governmental structure known as the New England town. In this structure, incorporated towns—as opposed to townships or counties—hold many of the responsibilities and powers of local government. Some of the county governments were abolished by the commonwealth in 1997, and elect only a sheriff and registrar of deed who are part of the state government. Others have been reorganized, and a few still retain county councils.

Education

thumb|left|The Widener Library at Harvard University. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and has the largest academic library in the world. Massachusetts was the first state to require municipalities to appoint a teacher or establish a grammar school with the passage of the Massachusetts Education Law of 1647, and 19th century reforms pushed by Horace Mann, founder of Westfield State University, laid much of the groundwork for contemporary universal public education. Massachusetts is home to the country's oldest public elementary school (The Mather School, founded in 1639), oldest high school (Boston Latin School, founded in 1635) oldest college (Harvard University, founded in 1636) and oldest women's college (Mount Holyoke College, founded in 1837). In 1852, Massachusetts became the first state to pass compulsory school attendance laws. The per-student public expenditure for elementary and secondary schools (kindergarten through grade 12) was fifth in the nation in 2004, at $11,681. In 2007, Massachusetts scored highest of all the states in math on the National Assessments of Educational Progress.

Massachusetts is home to 121 institutions of higher education. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both located in Cambridge, consistently rank among the world's best universities. The University of Massachusetts (nicknamed ''UMass'') features five campuses in the state, with its flagship campus in Amherst that enrolls over 25,000 students.

Arts and culture

Massachusetts has contributed much to American arts and culture. Drawing from its Native American and Yankee roots, along with later immigrant groups, the commonwealth has produced a number of writers, artists, and musicians. A number of major museums and important historical sites are also located there, and events and festivals throughout the year celebrate the state's history and heritage.

Massachusetts was an early center of the Trancendentalist movement, which emphasized intuition, emotion, human individuality and a deeper connection with nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was from Boston but spent much of his later life in Concord, largely created the philosophy with his 1836 work ''Nature'', and continued to be a key figure in the movement for the remainder of his life. Emerson's friend, Henry David Thoreau, who was also involved in Trancendentalism, recorded his year spent alone in a small cabin at nearby Walden Pond in the 1854 work ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods''. Other famous authors and poets from Massachusetts include Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Updike, Emily Dickinson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, E.E. Cummings, Sylvia Plath, and Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as "Dr. Seuss". Famous painters from Massachusetts include Winslow Homer and Norman Rockwell; many of the latter's works are on display at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge.

The commonwealth is also an important center for the performing arts. Both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops Orchestra are based in Massachusetts. Other orchestras in the commonwealth include the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra in Barnstable and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. Tanglewood, in western Massachusetts, is a music venue that is home to both the Tanglewood Music Festival and Tanglewood Jazz Festival, as well as the summer host for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Jacob's Pillow in the Berkshires hosts a number of traditional and contemporary musical and dance events. Other performing arts and theater organizations in Massachusetts include the Boston Ballet, the Boston Lyric Opera, and the Lenox-based Shakespeare & Company. In addition to classical and folk music, Massachusetts has produced musicians and bands spanning a number of contemporary genres, such as the classic rock band Aerosmith, the New Wave band The Cars, and the alternative rock band Pixies. Film events in the state include the Boston Film Festival, the Boston International Film Festival, and a number of smaller film festivals in various cities throughout the commonwealth.

Massachusetts is home to a large number of museums and historical sites. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art and the DeCordova contemporary art and sculpture museum in Lincoln are all located within the commonwealth, and the Maria Mitchell Association in Nantucket includes several observatories, museums, and an aquarium. Historically themed museums and sites such as the Springfield Armory National Historic Site in Springfield, Boston's Freedom Trail and nearby Minute Man National Historical Park, both of which preserve a number of sites important during the American Revolution, the Lowell National Historical Park, which focuses on some of the earliest mills and canals of the industrial revolution in the US, the Black Heritage Trail in Boston, which includes important African-American and abolitionist sites in Boston, and the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park all showcase various periods of the commonwealth's history. Plimoth Plantation and Old Sturbridge Village are two open-air or "living" museums in Massachusetts, recreating life as it was in the 17th and early 19th centuries, respectively. Boston's annual St. Patrick's Day parade and "Harborfest", a week-long Fourth of July celebration featuring a fireworks display and concert by the Boston Pops as well as a turnaround cruise in Boston Harbor by USS ''Constitution'', are popular events. The New England Summer Nationals, an auto show in Worcester, draws tens of thousands of attendees every year.

Media

There are two major television media markets located in Massachusetts. The Boston/Manchester market is the fifth largest in the United States. All major networks are represented. The other market surrounds the Springfield area. WGBH-TV in Boston is a major public television station and produces national programs such as ''Nova'', ''Frontline'', and ''American Experience''. ''The Boston Globe'', ''Boston Herald'', ''Springfield Republican'' and the ''Worcester Telegram & Gazette'' are the commonwealth's largest daily newspapers. In addition, there are many community dailies and weeklies. There are a number of major AM and FM stations which serve Massachusetts, along with many more regional and community-based stations. Some colleges and universities also operate campus television and radio stations, and print their own newspapers.

Health

Massachusetts generally ranks highly among states in most health and disease prevention categories. In 2009, the United Health Foundation ranked the state as third healthiest overall. However, the study also pointed to several areas in which Massachusetts ranked below average, such as the state's rate of binge drinking, which was the 11th highest in the country. Massachusetts has the most doctors per 100,000 residents, the second lowest infant mortality rate, and the lowest percentage of uninsured residents (for both children as well as the total population). According to ''Businessweek'', commonwealth residents have an average life expectancy of 78.4 years, the fifth longest in the country. 37.2% of the population is overweight and 21.7% is obese, and Massachusetts ranks sixth highest in the percentage of residents who are considered neither obese nor overweight (41.1%).

The nation's first Marine Hospital was erected by federal order in Boston in 1799. The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine lists a total of 132 hospitals in the state. According to rankings by ''US News & World Report'', Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston is the third best overall hospital in the nation; the hospital also ranked first in psychiatry. Massachusetts General was founded in 1811 and serves as the largest teaching hospital for nearby Harvard University. Other teaching and medical institutions affiliated with Harvard include Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, among others. Boston is also the location of New England Baptist Hospital, Tufts Medical Center and Boston Medical Center, the latter of which is the primary teaching hospital for Boston University. The University of Massachusetts Medical School is located in Worcester.

Sports and recreation

Organized sports

The Olympic sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in Western Massachusetts, (in Springfield and Holyoke, respectively.) The Basketball Hall of Fame, a shrine to the sport's history, is a major tourist destination in the City of Springfield. The Volleyball Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke.

Massachusetts has a long history with amateur athletics and professional teams. Most of the major professional teams have won multiple championships in their respective leagues. Massachusetts teams have won six Stanley Cups (Boston Bruins), seventeen NBA Championships (Boston Celtics), three Super Bowls (New England Patriots), and eight World Series (seven for the Boston Red Sox, one for the Boston Braves). The American Hockey League, (AHL,) the NHL's development league, is headquartered in Springfield. Other professional sports teams in Massachusetts include the Springfield Falcons AHL team, the Worcester Sharks AHL team, and the Springfield Armor NBA Development League team.

Massachusetts is also the home of the Cape Cod Baseball League, rowing events such as the Eastern Sprints on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester and the Head of the Charles Regatta, and the Boston Marathon. A number of major golf events have taken place in Massachusetts, including nine U.S. Opens and two Ryder Cups, among others. The New England Revolution is the Major League Soccer team in Massachusetts, and the Boston Cannons are the Major League Lacrosse team.. The Boston Breakers are the Women's Professional Soccer in Massachusetts.

Many universities in Massachusetts are active in college athletics. There are a number of NCAA Division I teams in the state involved in multiple sports: Boston University, Harvard University, Boston College, Northeastern University, College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Outdoor recreation

Long-distance hiking trails in Massachusetts include the Appalachian Trail, the New England National Scenic Trail, the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, the Midstate Trail, and the Bay Circuit Trail. Other outdoor recreational activities in the commonwealth include sailing and yachting, freshwater and deep-sea fishing, whale watching, downhill and cross-country skiing, and hunting.

See also

Atlantic Ocean

List of National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

List of people from Massachusetts

Massachusetts in 2009

Massachusetts in 2010

U.S. state

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading

Overviews and surveys

Secondary sources

External links

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Massachusetts Historical Society

Energy Profile for Massachusetts- Economic, environmental, and energy data

USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Massachusetts

Massachusetts Geological Survey

Maps of Massachusetts

1837 descriptions of Massachusetts cities, towns, mountains, lakes, and rivers, from ''Hayward's New England Gazetteer.''

Massachusetts State Symbols

Miscellaneous Massachusetts Facts

Massachusetts State Facts from USDA

Massachusetts Constitution and Laws

Massachusetts Tourism Board

Maritime History of Massachusetts, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary

Atlases of Massachusetts. 1871-Walling&Gray, 1891-Walker, 1892-Mass., 1904-Walker. Large Images at Salemdeeds.

==Related information==

Category:States of the United States Category:New England Category:Northeastern United States Category:Former British colonies Category:States and territories established in 1788

af:Massachusetts ang:Massachusetts ar:ماساتشوستس an:Massachusetts arc:ܡܐܣܐܬܫܘܣܬܣ frp:Massachusetts ast:Massachusetts az:Massaçusetts bn:ম্যাসাচুসেট্‌স zh-min-nan:Massachusetts be:Штат Масачусетс be-x-old:Масачусэтс bcl:Massachusetts bi:Massachusetts bs:Massachusetts br:Massachusetts bg:Масачузетс ca:Massachusetts cv:Массачусетс cs:Massachusetts cy:Massachusetts da:Massachusetts de:Massachusetts nv:Méésíchóoshish Hahoodzo et:Massachusetts el:Μασαχουσέτη es:Massachusetts eo:Masaĉuseco eu:Massachusetts fa:ماساچوست hif:Massachusetts fo:Massachusetts fr:Massachusetts fy:Massachusetts ga:Massachusetts gv:Massachusetts gag:Massachusetts gd:Massachusetts gl:Massachusetts hak:Mà-sat-tsû-set xal:Масачуусиц ko:매사추세츠 주 haw:Makakukeka hy:Մասաչուսեթս hi:मैसाचूसिट्स hr:Massachusetts io:Massachusetts ig:Másáchusẹts bpy:ম্যাসাচুসেট্‌স id:Massachusetts ie:Massachusetts iu:ᒫᓵᓲᓰᑦᔅ/maasaasuusiits ik:Massachusetts os:Массачусетс is:Massachusetts it:Massachusetts he:מסצ'וסטס jv:Massachusetts pam:Massachusetts ka:მასაჩუსეტსი ks:मासचुसेट्‍स kw:Massachusetts sw:Massachusetts ht:Masachosèt ku:Massachusetts mrj:Массачусетс lad:Massachusetts la:Massachusetta lv:Masačūsetsa lt:Masačusetsas lij:Massachusetts li:Massachusetts lmo:Massachusetts hu:Massachusetts mk:Масачусетс mg:Massachusetts ml:മസാച്യുസെറ്റ്സ് mi:Massachusetts mr:मॅसेच्युसेट्स arz:ماساتشوستس ms:Massachusetts mn:Массачусеттс my:မက်ဆာချူးဆက်ပြည်နယ် nah:Massachusetts nl:Massachusetts ja:マサチューセッツ州 frr:Massachusetts no:Massachusetts nn:Massachusetts oc:Massachusetts uz:Massachusetts pnb:میساچیوسٹس pap:Massachusetts pms:Massachusetts nds:Massachusetts pl:Massachusetts pt:Massachusetts ro:Massachusetts rm:Massachusetts qu:Massachusetts suyu ru:Массачусетс sq:Massachusetts scn:Massachusetts simple:Massachusetts sk:Massachusetts sl:Massachusetts ckb:ماساچووسێتس sr:Масачусетс sh:Massachusetts fi:Massachusetts sv:Massachusetts tl:Masatsusets ta:மாசசூசெட்ஸ் tt:Массачусетс th:รัฐแมสซาชูเซตส์ tr:Massachusetts uk:Массачусетс ur:میساچوسٹس ug:Massachuséts Shitati vec:Massachusetts vi:Massachusetts vo:Massachusetts war:Massachusetts wuu:马萨诸塞 yi:מאסאטשוסעטס yo:Massachusetts zh-yue:麻薩諸塞州 diq:Massachusetts bat-smg:Masačusetsos zh:麻薩諸塞州