Discover Connecticut – The fifth state of the original thirteen states of the USA

Connecticut was the fifth state to be ratified in the Constitution on January 9, 1788.

The first 13 states of the United States of America were comprised of the original British colonies established between 17th and 18th centuries.

Today, the American flag prominently displays 13 horizontal red and white stripes representing the original thirteen colonies.

Fast Facts

History

The first people came to the area that’s now Connecticut more than 10,000 years ago. Several thousand years later, Native American tribes including the Mohegan, Pequot, and Niantic lived in this region.

Dutch traders arrived in 1614 and created Connecticut’s first European settlement in 1633. Both the Dutch and English settlers founded settlements in Connecticut in the early 1630s, and the land soon became a British colony. Over time the colonists grew unhappy with British rule. In 1776 Connecticut’s representatives signed the Declaration of Independence along with representatives from the other American colonies. This led to the American Revolution, which lasted until 1783 when the colonies formally won freedom from British rule. Five years later Connecticut ratified, or signed, the U.S. Constitution, becoming the fifth U.S. state.

Why is it called Connecticut?

The name “Connecticut” comes from a Native American word, quinatucquet, roughly meaning “beside the long tidal river.” It refers to the Connecticut River, which cuts through the middle of the state.
Connecticut earned its nickname “the Constitution State” because it’s home to what some consider the United States’ first written constitution: the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, adopted in 1639.

Geography

This New England state is bordered by Massachusetts in the north, Rhode Island in the east, a body of water called the Long Island Sound in the south, and New York in the west.
Connecticut can be divided into three geographic regions.

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