Connecticut

Connecticut's first European settlers were Dutchmen who established a small, short-lived settlement called House of Hope in Hartford at the confluence of the Park and Connecticut Rivers. Half of Connecticut was initially claimed by the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers, although the first major settlements were established in the 1630s by the English. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded the Connecticut Colony; other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony. The Connecticut and New Haven colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders, considered the first constitutions in America. In 1662, the three colonies were merged under a royal charter, making Connecticut a crown colony. Connecticut was one of the Thirteen Colonies which rejected British rule in the American Revolution. It was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States.


Connecticut is the third-smallest state by area,^[12] the 29th most populous,^[13] and the fourth most densely populated^[12] of the fifty states. It is known as the "Constitution State", the "Nutmeg State", the "Provisions State", and the "Land of Steady Habits".^[1] The state identifies as creators, makers, innovators, and entrepreneurs who are a powerful force for good in the country.^[14] The state logo is the iconic C+T, with the T recognizable sideways making up the negative space in the C. The Connecticut River, Thames River, and ports along Long Island Sound have given Connecticut a strong maritime tradition which continues today. Connecticut is home to the nation's oldest newspaper, The Hartford Courant, founded in 1764.^[15] The state also has a long history of hosting the financial services industry, including insurance companies in Hartford County and hedge funds in Fairfield County. As of the 2010 census, it has the highest per-capita income, second-highest level of human development behind Massachusetts, and highest median household income in the United States.^[16][17]

The name "Connecticut" originated with the Mohegan word quonehtacut, meaning "place of long tidal river".^[54] Connecticut's official nickname is "The Constitution State", adopted in 1959 and based on its colonial constitution of 1638–1639 which was the first in America and, arguably, the world.^[1] Connecticut is also unofficially known as "The Nutmeg State",^[1] whose origin is unknown. It may have come from its sailors returning from voyages with nutmeg, which was a very valuable spice in the 18th and 19th centuries. It may have originated in the early machined sheet tin nutmeg grinders sold by early Connecticut peddlers. It is also facetiously said to come from Yankee peddlers from Connecticut who would sell small carved knobs of wood shaped to look like nutmeg to unsuspecting customers.^[242] George Washington gave Connecticut the title of "The Provisions State"^[1] because of the material aid that the state rendered to the American Revolutionary War effort. Connecticut is also known as "The Land of Steady Habits".^[1]


According to Webster's New International Dictionary (1993), a person who is a native or resident of Connecticut is a "Connecticuter". There are numerous other terms coined in print but not in use, such as "Connecticotian" (Cotton Mather in 1702) and "Connecticutensian" (Samuel Peters in 1781). Linguist Allen Walker Read suggests the more playful term "Connecticutie".^[243] "Nutmegger" is sometimes used,^[242] as is "Yankee".


The official state song is "Yankee Doodle". The traditional abbreviation of the state's name is "Conn."; the official postal abbreviation is CT.


Commemorative stamps issued by the United States Postal Service with Connecticut themes include Nathan Hale, Eugene O'Neill, Josiah Willard Gibbs, Noah Webster, Eli Whitney, the whaling ship the Charles W. Morgan, which is docked at Mystic Seaport, and a decoy of a broadbill duck.