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Atlanta is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia, with an estimated 2015 population of 463,878. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5,522,942 people and the ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County. Atlanta was established in 1837 at the intersection of two railroad lines, and the city rose from the ashes of the American Civil War to become a national center of commerce. In the decades following the Civil Rights Movement, during which the city earned a reputation as “too busy to hate” for the relatively progressive views of some of its citizens and leaders compared to other cities in the Deep South Atlanta attained international prominence. Atlanta is the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States, via highway, railroad, and air, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world’s busiest airport since 1998. Atlanta is an “alpha-” or “world city”, exerting a significant impact upon commerce, finance, research, technology, education, media, art, and entertainment. It ranks 36th among world cities and 8th in the nation with a gross domestic product of $270 billion. Atlanta’s economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors including logistics, professional and business services, media operations, and information technology. Topographically, Atlanta is marked by rolling hills and dense tree coverage. Revitalization of Atlanta’s neighborhoods, initially spurred by the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, has intensified in the 21st century, altering the city’s demographics, politics, and culture.

Area: 297.6 km²

Population: 567,846

 

Currency

  • The United States Dollar is the official currency

Culture

Atlanta, while located in the South, has a culture that is no longer strictly Southern. This is due to a large population of migrants from other parts of the U.S., in addition to many recent immigrants to the U.S. who have made the metropolitan area their home, establishing Atlanta as the cultural and economic hub of an increasingly multi-cultural metropolitan area. Thus, although traditional Southern culture is part of Atlanta’s cultural fabric, it is mostly the backdrop to one of the nation’s most cosmopolitan cities. This unique cultural combination reveals itself in the arts district of Midtown, the quirky neighborhoods on the city’s eastside, and the multi-ethnic enclaves found along Buford Highway.

Economy

Encompassing $304 billion, the Atlanta metropolitan area is the eighth-largest economy in the country and 17th-largest in the world. Corporate operations comprise a large portion of the Atlanta’s economy, with the city serving as the regional, national, or global headquarters for many corporations. Atlanta contains the country’s third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and the city is the global headquarters of corporations such as The Coca-Cola Company, The Home Depot, Delta Air Lines, AT&T Mobility, Chick-fil-A, UPS, and Newell-Rubbermaid. Over 75 percent of Fortune 1000 companies conduct business operations in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and the region hosts offices of about 1,250 multinational corporations. Many corporations are drawn to Atlanta on account of the city’s educated workforce; as of 2014, 45{50e3ffb5f972ea7b49a4ed9eafc871805197ec35392f39f7e279aca59596c130} of adults 25 or older in the city of Atlanta have at least 4-year college degrees, compared to 28{50e3ffb5f972ea7b49a4ed9eafc871805197ec35392f39f7e279aca59596c130} in the nation as a whole.

 

Language

English language as spoken in the United States.

Health

  • Emory Healthcare is the largest health care system in the state of Georgia., United States. Emory Healthcare is a multidisciplinary academic medical organization comprising six hospitals, the Emory Clinic and more than 200 provider locations. The Emory Healthcare Network, established in 2011, is the largest clinically integrated network in Georgia with more than 1,800 physicians concentrating in 70 different subspecialties.

Transport

  • Atlanta’s transportation infrastructure comprises a complex network that includes a heavy rail rapid transit system, a light rail street car loop, a multi-county bus system, Amtrak service via the Crescent, multiple freight train lines, an Interstate Highway System, several airports, including the world’s busiest, and over 45 miles (72 kilometres) of bike paths. With a network of freeways that radiate out from the city, automobiles are the dominant mode of transportation in the region. Three major interstate highways converge in Atlanta: I-20 (east-west), I-75 (northwest-southeast), and I-85 (northeast-southwest). The latter two combine in the middle of the city to form the Downtown Connector (I-75/85), which carries more than 340,000 vehicles per day and is one of the most congested segments of interstate highway in the United States. Atlanta is mostly encircled by Interstate 285, a beltwaylocally known as “the Perimeter” that has come to mark the boundary between “Inside the Perimeter” (ITP), the city and close-in suburbs, and “Outside the Perimeter” (OTP), the outer suburbs and exurbs. The heavy reliance on automobiles for transportation in Atlanta has resulted in traffic, commute, and air pollution rates that rank among the worst in the country. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) provides public transportation in the form of buses and heavy rail. Notwithstanding heavy automotive usage in Atlanta, the city’s subway system is the eighth busiest in the country. MARTA rail lines connect many key destinations, such as the airport, Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, and Perimeter Center. However, significant destinations, such as Emory University and Cumberland, remain unserved. As a result, a 2012 Brookings Institution study placed Atlanta 87th of 100 metro areas for transit accessibility. Emory University operates its Cliff shuttle buses with 200,000 boardings per month, while private minibuses supply Buford Highway. Amtrak, the national rail passenger system, provides service to Atlanta via the Crescent train (New York–New Orleans), which stops at Peachtree Station. In 2014, the Atlanta Streetcar opened to the public. The streetcar’s line, which is also known as the Downtown Loop, runs 2.7 miles around the downtown tourist areas of Peachtree Center, Centennial Olympic Park, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, and Sweet Auburn. The Atlanta Streetcar line is also being expanded on in the coming years to include a wider range of Atlanta’s neighborhoods andIMPORTANT places of interest, with a total of over 50 miles of track in the plan. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest airport as measured by passenger traffic and aircraft traffic, offers air service to over 150 U.S. destinations and more than 80 international destinations in 52 countries, with over 2,700 arrivals and departures daily. Delta Air Lines maintains its largest hub at the airport. Situated 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown, the airport covers most of the land inside a wedge formed by Interstate, Interstate 85, and Interstate 285Cycling is a growing mode of transportation in Atlanta, more than doubling since 2009, when it comprised 1.1{50e3ffb5f972ea7b49a4ed9eafc871805197ec35392f39f7e279aca59596c130} of all commutes (up from 0.3{50e3ffb5f972ea7b49a4ed9eafc871805197ec35392f39f7e279aca59596c130} in 2000). Although Atlanta’s lack of bike lanes and hilly topography may deter many residents from cycling, the city’s transportation plan calls for the construction of 226 miles (364 kilometres) of bike lanes by 2020, with the BeltLine helping to achieve this goal. In 2012, Atlanta’s first “bike track” was constructed on 10th Street in Midtown. The two lane bike track runs from Monroe Drive west to Charles Allen Drive, with connections to the Beltline and Piedmont Park. Starting in June 2016, Atlanta received a bike sharing program with 100 bikes in Downtown, with 500 more being expected by the end of the year.

 

Weather

Under the Köppen classification, Atlanta has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with four distinct seasons and generous precipitation year-round, typical for the inland South. Summers are hot and humid, with temperatures somewhat moderated by the city’s elevation. Winters are cool but variable, with an average of 48 freezing days per year and temperatures dropping to 0 °F (−17.8 °C) on rare occasions. Warm air from the Gulf of Mexico can bring spring-like highs while strong Arctic air masses can push lows into the teens (≤ −7 °C). July averages 80.2 °F (26.8 °C), with high temperatures reaching 90 °F (32 °C) on an average 44 days per year, though 100 °F (38 °C) readings are not seen most years. January averages 43.5 °F (6.4 °C), with temperatures in the suburbs slightly cooler due largely to the urban heat island effect. Lows at or below freezing can be expected 40 nights annually, but extended stretches with daily high temperatures below 40 °F (4 °C) are very rare, with a recent exception in January 2014. Extremes range from −9 °F (−23 °C) on February 13, 1899 to 106 °F (41 °C) on June 30, 2012.[91] Dewpoints in the summer range from 63.6 °F (18 °C) in June to 67.8 °F (20 °C) in July. Typical of the southeastern U.S., Atlanta receives abundant rainfall that is relatively evenly distributed throughout the year, though spring and early fall are markedly drier. The average annual rainfall is 50.2 inches (1,280 mm), while snowfall is typically light at around 2.1 inches (5.3 cm) per year. The heaviest single snowfall occurred on January 23, 1940, with around 10 inches (25 cm) of snow. However, ice storms usually cause more problems than snowfall does, the most severe occurring on January 7, 1973. Tornadoes are rare in the city itself, but the March 15, 2008 EF2 tornado damaged prominent structures in downtown Atlanta.