MASSACHUSETTS, one of the 13 original states of the American union, and oldest of the New England states, lies between lat. 41° 15'--42° 53' n., and long. 69° 56'-73° 32' w., being 160 m. from e. to w., and from 47 to 110 from n. to s., with an area of 7,800 sq.m. ; it lies s. of Vermont and New Hampshire, and borders on the Atlantic.. There are 14 counties, and the chief towns are Boston, the capital, Lowell, Lawrence, Salem, New Bedford, Fall River, Lynn, Springfield, Cambridge, aud 1Voreester. On the south-eastern coast are the islands of .Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. The prin cipal rivers are the Connecticut, Merrimac, and Housatonic, which afford water-power to many manufacturing cities and villages. The country is hilly, and much of the soil sterile, but in the river-valleys it is fertile. The most important mineral products are. granite and syeuite, sand for glass, and iron. The chief agricultural products are Indian corn, apples and pears, grass and hay; but the manufactures are very large and various.. In 1870 there were 194 cotton-mills, producing goods to the value of $59,679,153, and. 182 woolen-mills, producing goods worth $39,489,242, besides numerous carpet-mills, iron-foundries, rolling-mills, nail factories, aud machine shops. The manufacture of
boots and shoes for the same year wa,s $88,399,583. There are 60 railway companies,. and in 1878 above 2,000 m. of railway were open. The fisheries of 31,:ssachusetts have long been one of its leading industries. There are over 200 national banks, about 180' savings-banks, numerous asylums, etc. Massachusetts has about 6,000 schools, a uni versity, and 7 colleges; and in 1878 there were 345 newspapers and periodicals. The state income for 1877-78 was $7,244,900; the debt in 1878 was $33,020,000. Massachu setts was discovered by the Cabals in 1497. In 1614 it was visited by capt. John Smith_ In 1620 the ldayjlawer, 180 tons, sailed from Southampton with 102 Puritan settlers, and. landed at Plymouth, Mass., Dec. 22. IIalf died from cold and hardship the first year. In 1637 the colony suffered from Indian massacres; and in king Philip's war, 167,', la. towns and 600 houses were burned. The war of the revolution of 1776 began in _Massa chusetts with the battles of Lexington and Bunker FIill. Pop. '10, 472,040; '60, 1,231,065;. '70, 1,459,351; '75, 1,651,652.