The Connecticut Portal

The flag of Connecticut

Connecticut (/kəˈnɛtɪkət/ kə-NET-ik-ət) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport. Connecticut lies between the major hubs of New York City and Boston along the Northeast Corridor, where the New York-Newark Combined Statistical Area, which includes four of Connecticut's seven largest cities, extends into the southwestern part of the state. Connecticut is the third-smallest state by area after Rhode Island and Delaware, and the 29th most populous with slightly more than 3.6 million residents as of 2020, ranking it fourth among the most densely populated U.S. states.

The state is named after the Connecticut River, the longest in New England, which roughly bisects the state and drains into the Long Island Sound between the towns of Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. The name of the river is in turn derived from anglicized spellings of Quinnetuket, a Mohegan-Pequot word for "long tidal river". Before the arrival of the first European settlers, the region was inhabited by various Algonquian tribes. In 1633, the Dutch West India Company established a small, short-lived settlement called House of Hope in Hartford. 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 by the English around the same time. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to form the Connecticut Colony, while other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony; both merged into the former by 1664.

Connecticut's official nickname, the "Constitution State", refers to the Fundamental Orders adopted by the Connecticut Colony in 1639, which is considered by some to be the first written constitution in Western history. As one of the Thirteen Colonies that rejected British rule during the American Revolution, Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. In 1787, Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, state delegates to the Constitutional Convention, proposed a compromise between the Virginia and New Jersey Plans; its bicameral structure for Congress, with a respectively proportional and equal representation of the states in the House of Representatives and Senate, was adopted and remains to this day. In January 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the Constitution. (Full article...)

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

A destructive series of tornadoes in damage struck the Northeastern United States on Monday July 10, 1989. The storm system affected five states with severe weather, including hail up to 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) across, thunderstorm winds up to 90 mph (140 km/h), and 17 tornadoes. Several towns in New York and Connecticut were particularly hard-hit. Several homes were leveled in Schoharie, New York, and extensive damage occurred in Bantam, Connecticut. A large section of Hamden, Connecticut, including an industrial park and hundreds of homes, was destroyed, and in some places, buildings were flattened to the ground.

The tornado outbreak injured more than 150 people, and straight-line thunderstorm winds killed one person. While tornado outbreaks in this area are unusual, this storm was especially rare in that it produced six significant tornadoes, including two violent F4 tornadoes and several long-tracked tornadoes.

(Full article...)
List of recognized articles

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various Connecticut-related articles on Wikipedia.

Selected picture - show another

One of the beaches on the west side of Sherwood Island State Park in Westport, Connecticut
One of the beaches on the west side of Sherwood Island State Park in Westport, Connecticut
Credit: User:Noroton
One of the beaches on the west side of Sherwood Island State Park in Westport, Connecticut

State facts

  • Total area: 5,543 mi2
    • Land: 4,845 mi2
    • Water: 698 mi2
  • Highest elevation: 2,379 ft (Mount Frissell)
  • Population 3,576,452 (2015 est)
  • Admission to the Union: January 9, 1788 (5th)

State symbols:

Selected article - show another

Ausmus with the Los Angeles Angels in 2019

Bradley David Ausmus (/ˈɔːsməs/; born April 14, 1969) is an American former professional baseball player, manager and current coach. He is the bench coach for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). In his 18-year MLB playing career, Ausmus played as a catcher for the San Diego Padres, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, and Los Angeles Dodgers. He also managed the Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, and Israeli national baseball team.

A 1987 draft pick of the Yankees, Ausmus chose to alternate between attending Dartmouth College and playing minor league baseball. Ausmus then had an 18-year major league playing career with the Padres, Tigers, Astros, and Dodgers. During his playing days he was an All Star in 1999, a three-time Gold Glove Award winner (2001, 2002, and 2006), and won the 2007 Darryl Kile Award "for integrity and courage". A five-time league-leader at catcher in fielding percentage, Ausmus led the league twice each in range factor and in percentage caught stealing, and once each in putouts and assists. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Did you know? - load new batch

In the news

Categories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories

Selected panorama

Topics

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals