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- DictionaryMassachusetts/ˌmasəˈtʃuːsɪts/
- 1. a state in the north-eastern US, on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean; population 6,497,967 (est. 2008); capital, Boston. Settled by the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620, it was a centre of resistance to the British before becoming one of the original thirteen states of the Union, ratifying the US Constitution in 1788.
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Massachusetts is the sixth-smallest state by land area. With over seven million residents as of 2020, it is the most populous state in New England, the 16th-most-populous in the country, and the third-most densely populated, after New Jersey and Rhode Island. Massachusetts was a site of early English colonization.
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Massachusetts, constituent state of the United States of America. It was one of the original 13 states and is one of the 6 New England states, lying in the northeastern corner of the country. Massachusetts (officially called a commonwealth) is bounded to the north by Vermont and New Hampshire, to the east and southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by Rhode Island and Connecticut, and to the west by New York. It is the seventh smallest of the U.S. states in terms of total area. Its capital is Boston, the state’s most populous city. English explorer and colonist John Smith named the state for the Massachuset tribe, whose name meant “near the great hill”—believed to refer to Blue Hill, which rises south of Boston in an otherwise flat area. Massachusetts’s residents represent an amalgamation of the prototypical Yankee spirit of an earlier America and the energies of the later immigrants who flocked to its cities in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Massachusetts is unique among states because its history and culture predate and epitomize the experiences of the country as a whole. It is commonly known that the Puritans and Pilgrims set the stage for eventual liberty of religious belief when they fled an oppressive government to settle in the New World. With such documents as the Mayflower Compact (1620) and the Body of Liberties (1641), an early code of law, they provided the basis for the concept that governments should rule by consent of the governed and with guarantees to protect individual expression.
These notions of individual liberty came into conflict with the colonies’ status as part of the British Empire. The American Revolution originated in Massachusetts with the first resistance against British colonial rules. It was in Massachusetts that the colonists raised the hue and cry against taxation without representation, as exemplified by the Boston Tea Party; the activism of the Massachusetts colonists inspired others and culminated in the “shot heard round the world” at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775.
Massachusetts was in the vanguard when the new country began transforming itself from an agrarian to an industrial economy. The state’s merchants, such as Francis Cabot Lowell, whose fortunes depended on trade, sought safer investments after severe losses during the War of 1812. Textile, boot, and machinery manufacturing began in Massachusetts (and Rhode Island) and set the groundwork for the eventual industrialization and urbanization of the northeastern states. Farmers and their sons and daughters trekked to the new cities; by the mid-1870s, Massachusetts had become the first state in the Union in which more people lived in towns and cities than in rural areas.
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The Massachusetts coastline is about 1,500 miles (2,400 km) in length, yet the cross-country distances are only 190 miles (310 km) from east to west and 110 miles (180 km) from north to south. The coast—whose configuration marked by numerous embayments gave rise to Massachusetts’s nickname, the Bay State—winds from Rhode Island around Cape Cod, in and out of scenic harbours along the shore south of Boston, through Boston Harbor and up the North Shore, swinging around the painters’ paradise of Cape Ann to New Hampshire.
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The indented coast of Massachusetts was formed by the great glaciers that in some places covered the land with several thousand feet of ice. When the last ice disappeared some 11,000 years ago, massive chunks of rocks were exposed along the shore. Hard, flat land stretches out beyond, becoming stony upland pastures near the central part of the state and a gently hilly country in the west. Except toward the west, the land is rocky, often sandy, and not fertile.
In the southeast, Cape Cod juts out into the ocean, forming Cape Cod Bay. This 65-mile- (105-km-) long appendage is rectangular in shape except at its easternmost point, where it hooks northward. Its offshore waters are among the most treacherous in the country. Tufts of grass spring up along the sand dunes, and gnarled jack pines and scrub oaks, some only head high, grow in bunches. Off the southeastern coast lie the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, lashed by the gray Atlantic in winter but in summer alive with thousands of tourists and longtime seasonal residents.
The land is veined with rivers—19 main systems, the most notable of which are the Connecticut, Charles, and Merrimack. More than 1,100 ponds and lakes lie among the hollows of the hills; there is a body of water in almost every one of the more than 350 communities. Many bear long Indian names, most notably Lake Chaubunagungamaug (in Webster), the long form of which is Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. The best-known small body of water, however, is Walden Pond, immortalized by writer and philosopher Henry David Thoreau.
The Boston metropolitan area gets its drinking water from Quabbin Reservoir in the western part of the state. The world’s largest man-made domestic water supply, it was built between 1933 and 1939 and required the displacement of 2,500 people and four towns (Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott) to provide water for dozens of towns and cities to the east.
The state has a temperate climate. The climate is colder but drier in western Massachusetts, although its winter snowfalls may be more severe than those nearer the coast. July is the hottest month, averaging about 71 °F (22 °C), in contrast to 26 °F (−3 °C) in January, the coldest month. Annual precipitation averages 42 inches (1,070 mm) in Boston ...
Mar 13, 2023 · With an area of 27,337 sq. km, Massachusetts is the 7 th smallest state in the USA and the most populated state in the New England region. Located onshore of the Atlantic Ocean is Boston – the capital, the largest and the most populous city in Massachusetts and of the larger New England region.
Jul 31, 2022 · Explore the history, culture, nature and beaches of Massachusetts, a small but diverse state in New England. From Boston to Salem, Cape Cod to the Berkshires, discover the attractions and activities for every interest and season.
Explore the diverse regions and attractions of Massachusetts, from the mountains and beaches to the cities and islands. Find events, maps, and tips for planning your trip to the Bay State.
Plan your trip and find out how to take a moment in Massachusetts, full of memorable moments. Explore theme-based itineraries, curated by VisitMA, for family-friendly, eco-conscious, Instagram-worthy, historical, and sports travel.
Discover the history, culture and attractions of Massachusetts, the most populous state in New England. Find out the best time and places to visit, from Cape Cod to Salem, and get tips from local experts.
