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Georgia
The largest state east of the Mississippi by area
Georgia is the biggest state east of the Mississippi River, and its 59,425 square miles (153,910 km²) climb through nearly every Southern landscape in turn. The Blue Ridge Mountains rise in the north, the rolling red-clay Piedmont holds Atlanta and the fall-line cities, and the broad Coastal Plain flattens southward toward the Atlantic and the Florida line. Along the coast, a chain of marsh-fringed barrier islands — the Golden Isles — and the dark waters of the Okefenokee Swamp close out the state.
The fall line, where the hard rock of the Piedmont drops to soft coastal sediment, fixed the early cities of Columbus, Macon, and Augusta at the head of navigation on Georgia's rivers. Brasstown Bald, the high point at 4,784 feet (1,458 m), stands in the northern mountains. Atlanta, born as a railroad junction and rebuilt after the Civil War, has grown into the economic capital of the Southeast and one of the fastest-expanding metros in the country, anchoring a state that blends Deep South tradition with Sun Belt growth.
Economy
Georgia's economy is anchored by Atlanta, a logistics and corporate powerhouse built around the world's busiest airport. The metro has become a major center of film and television production - rivaling Hollywood in output - along with finance, technology, and a cluster of corporate headquarters. Beyond Atlanta, the state leads in poultry and peanuts, and the deep-water Port of Savannah is one of the busiest in the country.
Politics
Georgia carries 16 electoral votes and was reliably Republican for a generation, but rapid growth and an increasingly diverse, urbanizing electorate made it one of the most closely contested states of the 2020s, narrowly swinging between the parties. The Democratic-leaning Atlanta metropolitan area and the more Republican rural regions define the divide.