Outline of Connecticut
Connecticut, pronounced kuh NEHT ih kuht, is the third smallest state of the United States. Only Delaware and Rhode Island have smaller areas. In spite of its small size, Connecticut is an important industrial state and a favorite vacationland. Hartford, the capital of Connecticut, is known as the Insurance City. A number of insurance companies have headquarters in Hartford. Bridgeport is Connecticut's largest city.
Connecticut is one of the nation's leading producers of aircraft parts, helicopters, and submarines. It also ranks high among the states in the production of cutlery and hardware. New Britain and New Haven are important hardware centers.
The mighty Connecticut River cuts through the center of the state. The river flows into Long Island Sound, Connecticut's outlet to the Atlantic Ocean. The state's biggest industrial cities are west of the Connecticut River. They stretch from Hartford in central Connecticut to Stamford near the southwestern border of the state. New York City lies south of Connecticut. Thousands of Connecticut residents commute to work there.
Connecticut's rural areas and small towns contrast sharply with its industrial cities. Many towns in Connecticut center around a green (public park). Near the green may stand a small white church, a town meeting hall, a tavern, and several colonial houses. Forests, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, and a sandy shore add to the beauty of the state.
The people of Connecticut played an important role in U.S. history. For many years, colonial Connecticut was governed under the Fundamental Orders, sometimes regarded as the first written constitution. The Fundamental Orders later served as one of the models for the Constitution of the United States. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Connecticut delegates helped work out the Great Compromise or Connecticut Compromise. It broke a deadlock over how many representatives each state should elect to Congress. This compromise and the Fundamental Orders earned Connecticut the nickname of the Constitution State.
Connecticut's people also made important contributions to the nation's industrial development. Eli Whitney helped make Connecticut the birthplace of mass-production manufacturing. Working in Hamden, he showed the advantages of using interchangeable parts in gunmaking. Whitney's methods led to the high-speed industrial production of today.
Steel manufacturing in the United States began in Hartford County. Connecticut workers were also the first Americans to make bicycles, dyed silk, friction matches, printing type, repeating pistols, rubber shoes, and vulcanized rubber. The first insurance policies providing coverage for accidents, automobiles, and aircraft were written in Hartford. The Nautilus, launched in Groton in 1954, was the world's first nuclear-powered submarine.
The word Connecticut comes from an Algonquian Indian word meaning on the long tidal river. Bridgeport is Connecticut's largest city. Other large cities, in order of population, include New Haven, Hartford, Stamford, and Waterbury.
