Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the oldest city of the U.S. State Georgia. It is located in Chatham County and on the southern bank of Savannah River, approximately twenty miles upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. Situated near the U.S. Intracoastal Waterway Savannah is the main port on Savannah River and the largest port in Georgia. According to US Census Bureau 2011 the city is made up of a land area of hundred and eight square miles and a population of 142,022 people (US Census Bureau ACS 2012 Estimates). Although its population has declined in the 90’s, since 2005 it has grown in population in a similar amount. From year 2000 the city’s metropolitan area has significantly increased in population by eighteen percent making it the largest principal city of the Savannah-Hinesville-Statesboro Combine Statistical Area. Savannah has four key economic sectors, the port, manufacturing, the military and the tourism industry. Manufacturing is the largest part of the economy comprising of large plants like Gulfstream Aerospace, makers of executive jet aircraft, paper product industries like International paper, Georgia Pacific Savannah River Site, Great Dane Trailers and Derst Baking Company. It also houses the headquarters of big companies like TitleMax and Morris Multimedia. The transportation industry is centered on the Port of Savannah which is the fifth largest container port of the country and acts as a vital element of the economic mix. Military plays the other important economic engine of the city. It houses the Hunter Army Airfield, a part of the army complex and the U.S. army’s Third Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, 40 miles from Savannah. Comprising of the soldiers and civilians at Stewart/Hunter complex, Savannah make coastal Georgia’s largest employer. Tourism is an active and rapidly growing sector of Savannah’s economy. It draws millions of people each year by its charming historic district, accommodation facilities and accessibility which supports thousands of jobs locally. Today retail and services produce most of the new jobs. It is the retail center for a six-county area and produces wide range of items and goods like transportation equipment to food products. Savannah plays an important role in the planning history of the United States as it retains its century old Oglethorpe Plan till date and acts as one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts since 1996.
The city of Savannah was founded by General James Edward Oglethorpe and his settlers on February 12, 1733. Being the representative of King George II’s American Colonies and the leader of a group of Parliamentary prison reformers, James Oglethorpe, was set to build this last of the thirteen British colonies primarily to use it as a defense between English Carolina from her enemies, especially the Spanish Florida. Also intention was to find a refuge for England’s poor and foreign Protestants in the new colony and to make it a buyers’ market for raw materials and a sellers’ market for manufactured goods. King George II took this venture as a good politics as well as a good work and permitted the start of the establishment on the vacant lands lying immediately south of the river Savannah giving it the benefit of his own name. The rationale behind locating the new colony there was to strategically place it in a location that would be prudent to be used as a defensive town for Carolina. Also Tomochichi, the chief of Yamacraw Indians of the region greeted the new colonists quite open heartedly and Oglethorpe was able to sign formal peaceful treaties with fifty chief of the Lower Creek Nation which helped them acquire land for their purpose of building a new world unlike other colonies in America. The name of the city perhaps was kept upon the name of the River Savannah through which the first colonists reached the land and which eventually became the northern boundary of the city and its prime identity.
The city of Savannah was founded by General James Edward Oglethorpe and his settlers on February 12, 1733. Being the representative of King George II’s American Colonies and the leader of a group of Parliamentary prison reformers, James Oglethorpe, was set to build this last of the thirteen British colonies primarily to use it as a defense between English Carolina from her enemies, especially the Spanish Florida. Also intention was to find a refuge for England’s poor and foreign Protestants in the new colony and to make it a buyers’ market for raw materials and a sellers’ market for manufactured goods. King George II took this venture as a good politics as well as a good work and permitted the start of the establishment on the vacant lands lying immediately south of the river Savannah giving it the benefit of his own name. The rationale behind locating the new colony there was to strategically place it in a location that would be prudent to be used as a defensive town for Carolina. Also Tomochichi, the chief of Yamacraw Indians of the region greeted the new colonists quite open heartedly and Oglethorpe was able to sign formal peaceful treaties with fifty chief of the Lower Creek Nation which helped them acquire land for their purpose of building a new world unlike other colonies in America. The name of the city perhaps was kept upon the name of the River Savannah through which the first colonists reached the land and which eventually became the northern boundary of the city and its prime identity.