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New England
The six states of the country's northeastern corner
New England is the cultural region of the country's far northeastern corner - six states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) with a shared colonial history older than the United States itself. Settled by Puritans in the 1600s, it gave the nation the town meeting, the first colleges, and much of the spark of the Revolution, and it retains a distinct identity built on village greens, white-steepled churches, and a tradition of local self-government.
Its landscape is rocky and forested - the worn northern Appalachians, glacier-strewn hills, a deeply indented Atlantic coast, and famously brilliant autumn foliage. Boston is its hub and only large metropolis, anchoring a dense southern tier, while the northern states remain rural and heavily wooded. Maple syrup, lobster, clam chowder, and elite universities are all part of the regional shorthand.