MA a state in the northeast of the US which has Boston as its capital city, and was the place where the Pilgrim Fathers first landed in America. It was one of the 13 original states of the US, and is famous for its universities, especially Harvard and MIT, and for its coast, which is popular with tourists in the summer. officially Commonwealth of Massachusetts State (pop., 2000: 6,349,097), northeastern U.S. One of the New England states, it lies on the Atlantic Ocean and is bordered by Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. It covers 8,262 sq mi (21,399 sq km); its capital is Boston. The state's soils are poor and rocky, and agriculture plays a limited role in the economy, although cranberry farming is important. The region was inhabited by Algonquian Indian peoples when the first English settler, Bartholomew Gosnold, arrived in 1602. Plymouth was settled by the Pilgrims, who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded and governed by the Massachusetts Bay Co., spurring Puritan settlement. It joined the New England Confederation in 1643 and acquired Maine in 1652. The southeastern and central settlements in the state experienced King Philip's War in 1675. After losing its first charter in 1684, it became part of the Dominion of New England in 1686. Its second charter in 1691 granted the colony jurisdiction over Maine and Plymouth. In the 18th century Massachusetts became a centre of resistance to British colonial policy; it was the scene of the Boston Tea Party and of uprisings at the Battles of Lexington and Concord that marked the beginning of the American Revolution. In 1788, it became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. It was in the forefront of the 19th century Industrial Revolution and was known for its textile mills. Today its major industries are electronics, high technology, and communications. It is well-known as the location of many institutions of higher learning. Tourism is important especially in the Cape Cod region and the Berkshires. Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts Bay Colony Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Early English colony in Massachusetts. It was settled in 1630 by a group of 1,000 Puritan refugees from England (see Puritanism). In 1629 the Massachusetts Bay Co. had obtained an English charter allowing it to trade and colonize in New England. Puritan stockholders envisioned the colony as a refuge from religious persecution in England, and they transferred control of the company to the emigrants in Massachusetts. Led by John Winthrop, the colonists founded their colony on the Charles River at what would become Boston. In 1684 England annulled the company's charter and in 1691 established royal government under a new charter, which merged Plymouth colony and Maine into the Massachusetts Bay Colony
U.S. private university in Cambridge, famous for its scientific and technological training and research. Founded in 1861, MIT has schools of architecture and planning, engineering, humanities and social sciences, management (the Sloan School), and science and a college of health sciences and technology. Though it is best known for its programs in engineering and the physical sciences, other areas such as economics, political science, urban studies, linguistics, and philosophy are also strong. Among its facilities are a nuclear reactor, a computation centre, geophysical and astrophysical observatories, a linear accelerator, a space research centre, supersonic wind tunnels, an artificial-intelligence laboratory, a centre for cognitive science, and an international-studies centre
style of business organization in which a property is managed by a trustee and investors buy "trust units" (similar to buying stock shares in a company)
() From Algonquian Massachusetts (“at the large hill”).
A reference to the indigenous people who lived around Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay]] and at Great Blue Hill|Great Blue Hill]].