Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the capital and the largest city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city is also the county seat of Suffolk County. It is the unofficial capital of the region known as New England as well as one of the oldest and wealthiest cities in the United States, with an economy based on education, health care, finance, and high technology.

Related Topics:
Capital - Commonwealth - Massachusetts - United States - County seat - Suffolk County - New England

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The city has several nicknames. The City on A Hill came from John Winthrop's goal to create the biblical 'City on a Hill'. This nickname also refers to the three original hills of Boston. Beantown referred to the Bostonian merchants' habit for making distinctive baked beans with imported molasses. The Hub is shortened from Oliver Wendell Holmes's phrase The Hub of the Solar System, which is sometimes misquoted as Hub of the Universe (the nickname he applied to the Massachusetts State House). Boston has also been called The Athens of America, so christened by William Tudor for Boston's great cultural and intellectual influence, as well as to the city's role in instigating the American Revolution for which it is also called The Cradle of Liberty. Boston has also been called Puritan City due to the city's founders' being Puritan.

Related Topics:
John Winthrop - Oliver Wendell Holmes - William Tudor - Puritan

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As of the 2004 census, its population was 569,165. The Boston CMSA (Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area) has a population of approximately 5.8 million residents,and includes parts of New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut. It is the seventh largest CMSA in the United States. Greater Boston, including nearby cities and towns such as Cambridge, Brookline, and Quincy as well as many suburban communities farther from the city, is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States.

Related Topics:
2004 - Greater Boston - Cambridge - Brookline - Quincy

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