Geography
Social Geography
There live 9,687,653 people in Georgia, which makes it the 9th largest state in the United States if you only take the population in a count. Georgia has a total area of 58,910 square miles (152,577 square km) which makes the Population density 164.4 square miles (63.5 square km).
The median age of people in Georgia is 39,9, more than 9.9% of the population is younger than 18 and 8.5% has an age of 65 or older. There are almost the same amount of women and men in Georgia, 48.8% of the population is female.
There is and actually always has been a distinction between rural (countryside) and urban (city) Georgians. They do not really like each other. The political system of the state favoured the rural population. The urban Georgians use to call the rural Georgians “crackers”, they meant by this that they had a lack of good manner and were kind of rude. We think that they called them crackers because they used to drive their cattle before the with whips. Georgia has basically always been a white/black state, with not a lot of ethnic diversity. Most of the Georgians are form English or Scotch-Irish descent. The amount of foreigners in Georgia has increased a lot, it used to be 2.6% of the population in 1990 but it was 9.7% in 2014. Most of the foreigners are White, Asian or African American.
Physical Geography
Georgia is divided into 159 counties, counties are divisions of a state. It is a political and geographical division in a state and most of the time each county has some governmental authority.
Georgia is located at approximately 33° N 83.5° W and is therefore positioned in both the northern and the southern hemisphere. Georgia is a state in the south eastern part of the United states. It borders the states Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and North and South Carolina, Georgia also borders the Atlantic Ocean. Georgia consists of a lot of mountains like Appalachians Mountains or the Blue Ridge Mountains. The highest point of the state is located at the Blue Ridge Mountains called Brasstown Bald. This is in the far north eastern corner of Georgia and has a height of 4784 ft (1458 metres) above sea level. The lowest point of Georgia is at sea level, at the Atlantic Ocean. Georgia is also known for its many rivers, like the Savannah.
Climate
Georgia has primarily a humid subtropical climate, this means that there are most of the times hot and humid summers and mild cool winters. The climate in Georgia varies and depends on which latitude you are or how close to the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the time the weather is moderate but occasionally there is also extreme weather. Georgia is quite vulnerable to hurricanes, though rarely it experiences a direct hurricane strike.
Animals and plants
Georgia has around 250 species of trees, the most common are live oak, pine trees, chestnut, red oak, buckeye, whiteback maple, red cedars and medium-sized evergreen. The live oak is Georgia’s state tree and can be found along the coast and in wooded areas. The wood of the live oak is not often used, but birds and animals do eat the acorns that grow on the tree. Flowers that are common in Georgia are yellow jasmine, mountain laurel and flowering quince.
The white-tailed deer can only be found in 50 countries and is also found in Georgia. The mockingbird and brown thrasher (state bird) are only two of the 347 species of birds in Georgia. Georgia is home to a lot of animals, 79 species of reptiles and 63 species of amphibians. Also there is lots of life found in water like dolphins, whales, shrimp, oysters, etc.
Highlights
Because Georgia has a very beloved climate and a beautiful landscape, it is a popular vacation destiny, especially the Sea Islands which are well visited. Warm Springs is also visited a lot, it is famous for the Little White House. Franklin D. Roosevelt lived here while he was president because of his illness. He died there in 1945 and it is now a public museum. You can still visit the Roosevelt Warm Springs institute for Rehabilitation. The most popular attraction in Georgia is Stone Mountain, it receives over four million visitors a year. Other attractions in Georgia are Okefonokee Swamp, Chattahoochee and Oconee, these are loved because of the natural forests and its facilities of hunting and fishing.
Sources of income
In Georgia the majority of jobs are in the trade and service sectors, but manufacturing and agriculture remain the most important to the state’s economy. There are also multiple federal facilities like Fort Benning, Kings Bay naval base or the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention which contributes to the economy.
Cotton used to be Georgia’s most valuable crop, but since the 1990’s it declined in importance because it was rivaled by peanuts, tobacco and corn. Georgia is the largest producer of peanuts from the United States. Livestock and poultry raising are one of the biggest share of the farm income.
The leading industry of Georgia used to be the manufacture of textiles and textile products, which centred mainly around Columbus. Other things which Georgia is famous for manufacturing are foods, chemicals, paper products and transportation equipment. Georgia has a lot of pine forests and is therefore a leading producer of lumber and pulpwood (74.4% of the United States and half of the world’s supply). The state is also very rich in minerals like clay, stone and iron ore but mining is not as important as manufacturing and agriculture. Georgia is the most famous for its marble.
Comparison with the Netherlands
The Netherlands has a total area of 41.5km2 (16 sq miles), which makes Georgia almost 4 times as large. Although Georgia is so much larger, the population is a lot smaller; there are around 9 million people in Georgia and almost 17 million in the small Holland. The median age of people in the Netherlands and in Georgia is practically the same (39 and 39,9). And also just like in Georgia, the difference between the amount of men and women is negligible.
The landscape differ a lot, the Netherlands is mainly flat while Georgia consists of a lot of mountains. The Netherlands is of course a lot lower than Georgia, so is the lowest point of the Netherlands 6.76 meters under NAP and in Georgia at 0 NAP. Georgia has a lot of mountains like the Appalachians Mountains or the Blue Ridge Mountains, with a highest point of 1458 metres, while the Netherlands is mainly flat and only has a couple of hills, with a highest point of 322.7 metres.
Agriculture is in both the Netherlands and Georgia an important source of income which is a result of the great amount of arable land. Also is trade in both countries a big part of the sources of income, in the Netherlands this is more of course because we mainly depend on trade.
The Gross Domestic Product of the Netherlands (709,833 million dollars) is higher than the Gross Domestic Product of Georgia (476,483 million dollars). Georgia is in place 33 if you compare the GDP of the states in the US (from highest to lowest).