Georgia is the largest State east of the Mississippi River , and was founded in 1735 as the 13th colony in the New World . Georgia is the only State to be named after a British monarch. It is a mixture of the Old and New South, and is geographically diverse, with landscapes ranging from mountains in the northeast to the mysterious, low-lying Okefenokee Swamp in the south. It was in this State that gold was first struck in North America in the early part of the 19th century, and the gold rush that followed centred around the town of Dahlonega . Its northern reaches are dominated by mountains, the Cumberland 's in the west and the foothills of the Blue Range in the east. Moving south the mountains give way to flat shoals, rivers, hardwood forests and fertile red soil and the subtropical southern coastal region.

Georgia is a state steeped in American history, from the state capital of Atlanta, with its famous Atlanta History Center and the unique Stone Mountain Park, to Georgia's historic south that includes the cities of Macon with the Okmulgee National Monument and the Museum of History in Augusta .Coastal Georgia offers charming Savannah and the beautiful Golden Islands - a true semi-tropical paradise. Savannah embodies Georgia 's history, with 2.5 sq miles of historic mansions, cotton warehouses and public buildings, tracing American history from Georgia 's first settlement to the civil war.