New Hampshire is a small U.S. state in northern New England.
The state ranks 46th of the 50 states in land area (23,249
km2) and 41st in population (around 1.3 million by a 2003
U.S. Census Bureau estimate). It is the site of the New
Hampshire primary, the first primary in the U.S.
presidential elections, and has probably the most famous of
all state mottos: "Live free or die." Antebellum New
Hampshire produced numerous youth who went on to become
famous national leaders after moving to Boston or New York,
including Senator Daniel Webster, editor Horace Greeley, and
Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science
religion.
New Hampshire's state nickname is "the Granite State" because it has
numerous granite quarries, although that industry has declined greatly in
recent decades. The nickname has also been embraced for reflecting the
state's attachment to tradition and limited government. Its state flower
is the purple lilac. Its state bird is the purple finch. Its state tree is
the American white birch, also called paper birch or canoe birch.
New Hampshire is home to the highest winds ever recorded on Earth: 231 mph
in 1934 at the Mount Washington weather observatory in the Presidential
Range.
New Hampshire was explored 1600-1605 and first settled in 1623. By 1631
the Upper Plantation comprised modern-day Dover, Durham and Stratham; in
1679 it became the "Royal Province." Indian raids were a serious problem
before 1763.
It was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in
the American Revolution. It was the first state to declare its
independence, but there were no battles here. New Hampshire was a
Jacksonian stronghold; the state sent Franklin Pierce to the White House
in the election of 1852. Industrialization took the form of numerous
textile mills, which in turn attracted large flows of immigrants from
Quebec (the "French Canadians") and Ireland. The northern parts of the
state produced lumber and the mountains provided tourist attractions.
After 1960 the textile industry collapsed, but the economy rebounded as a
center of high technology and a service provider.
