New Hampshire lies between Maine on the east and Vermont on the west in northern New England. Its southern boundary, except for the southeast corner that provides New Hampshire's 29 km (18 mi) of Atlantic coastline, borders Massachusetts. New Hampshire's northern tip touches the Canadian province of Quebec. Of New Hampshire's 24,032 sq km (9,279 sq mi), about 85% is covered with woods. The state derives its name from the county of Hampshire, England, where Capt. John Mason, the founder and first proprietor of the colony, was governor of the English city of Portsmouth, for which New Hampshire's only port city is named. LAND AND RESOURCES Topographically, the state's most conspicuous feature is the \TWhite Mountains\t, whose 86 peaks in the north central part of the state are the highest mountain range in the northeastern United States. Eleven peaks in Coos County, five more than 1.6 km (1 mi) above sea level, form the Presidential Range, which culminates in Mount Washington at 1,917 m (6,288 ft; see \TWashington, Mount\t). Immediately north of the White Mountain National Forest lies the high land of New Hampshire's North Country, coinciding with most of Coos County. Along the Vermont border, the Connecticut River valley provides New Hampshire's best farming country. In the southeastern corner of the state, New Hampshire's Eastern Slope descends gradually to the sea. The brief New Hampshire coastline consists of sandy beaches in addition to Portsmouth Harbor at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. Soils The most fertile soils in New Hampshire are found in the lowlands of the Connecticut and Merrimack river valleys. The Eastern Slope is covered with a moderately fertile soil produced from the disintegration of slate. The mountain areas are covered largely with a sandy loam. The soil in the rest of the state consists primarily of relatively unproductive hardpan and till. Rivers and Lakes The \TConnecticut River\t rises from the three Connecticut Lakes in Coos County and drains the entire state west of the north-south divide, which runs the length of the state. East of the divide, two northern systems--the Androscoggin and the Saco--flow into Maine. Umbagog Lake straddles the Maine border, furnishing the headwaters of the Androscoggin River. The Piscataqua drains the Eastern Slope. Just to the south of the White Mountain area the Lakes district forms a wide belt across the middle section of the state. The largest of these lakes is Lake \TWinnipesaukee\t, source of the Merrimack River, which drains the south central portion of the state into the Atlantic. Climate Temperatures generally run several degrees cooler in the northern highlands than in the southern half of the state. Mean monthly temperatures for January range from -12 deg C (10 deg F) in the extreme north to -6 deg C (21 deg F) in the south. Mean monthly temperatures for July range from 16 deg C (61 deg F) in the north to about 21 deg C (70 deg F) in the south. Average yearly precipitation, aside from the 1,930 mm (76 in) atop Mount Washington, ranges from Hanover's 914 mm (36 in) to Durham's 1,067 mm (42 in). Much falls as snow. Vegetation and Animal Life New Hampshire is covered generally with mixed hardwoods and evergreens. The most common deciduous trees are maples and birches. White pine predominates south of the White Mountains, and spruce and fir to the north. Common wild animals include deer, black bear, bobcat, beaver, muskrat, mink, red fox, skunk, otter, raccoon, porcupine, woodchuck, red and gray squirrel, and chipmunk. Fisher and pine marten, once important sources of fur, have all but disappeared. The lakes and ponds, more than 200 of which are stocked annually with trout and salmon from eight state-operated hatcheries, contain perch, pike, pickerel, trout, horned pout, and bass. More than 300 species of birds have been recorded. Resources New Hampshire's chief resource today is its scenery and the recreational potential of its hills, mountains, forests, lakes, and ocean. Its timber resources, which in the 18th century formed the backbone of New Hampshire's economy, today provide building materials, pulpwood, and firewood. There is considerable water-power potential in the state. In the past, New Hampshire has capitalized somewhat upon its limited mineral resources, chiefly granite, feldspar, and mica. The resources of the seacoast area include saltwater finned fish and shellfish, especially lobsters. PEOPLE The population of New Hampshire (1990 census) is 1,109,252. The population density of New Hampshire is considerably greater than in the nation as a whole, with the majority of the inhabitants concentrated in the southern third of the state. In the decade between 1970 and 1980 the population increased by nearly 25%, and in the decade between 1980 and 1990 it increased by about 20%. Merrimack Valley is New Hampshire's most heavily populated geographical area and contains three of the state's principal cities: \TConcord\t, the state capital; \TManchester\t, the state's largest city; and \TNashua\t, which borders the Massachusetts line and, along with several nearby border towns, has absorbed much of the heavy population movement into southern New Hampshire. The majority of the population is Protestant, many descended from the original English fishermen and traders, from the English Puritans, and from Scots-Irish Presbyterians. In the 19th century a large migration of French-Canadian workers from Quebec occurred; it still continues to a lesser degree. Today a number of New Hampshire citizens speak French as a mother tongue, and nearly a third of the population is Roman Catholic, forming the largest single religious denomination. In the mid-19th century, part of the great Irish migration to America reached New Hampshire. Later, a new wave of Greek, Italian, Finnish, Polish, and German immigration hit the state. The state's minority populations are small. Education \TDartmouth College\t, the ninth college founded in the American colonies, was established in 1769 and was moved to \THanover\t in 1770 by the Reverend Eleazar \TWheelock\t. The University of New Hampshire, which began as a land-grant college in 1866, moved to Durham in 1893 (see \TNew Hampshire, state university and colleges of\t). New Hampshire was a center of the movement to found academies in the Revolutionary and early national eras, beginning with a short-lived academy in Windham (1768) and the infinitely more successful Phillips Exeter Academy (1781), which is now one of a number of private preparatory schools in the state. The Juvenile Library founded in Dublin in 1822 was the first free library in the United States. Since 1908, Peterborough has also been famous as the home of the MacDowell Colony, founded by the widow of Edward \TMacDowell\t, a composer, as a retreat for writers, composers, and artists. Cultural Institutions The Currier Gallery of Art and the Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences are located in Manchester. Dartmouth College is the site of the Hopkins Center for the Arts, and Nashua also possesses a center for the arts. Summer theater is common in resort areas and in the college towns. Historic Sites and Recreation Areas The home of the sculptor Augustus \TSaint-Gaudens\t at Cornish has been made a National Historic Site. There are many restored colonial homes, and Fort Constitution at New Castle has been preserved. Many state parks and forest preserves supplement the White Mountain National Forest. Winter sports are increasingly important, with a number of major commercial ski areas throughout the state. Communications New Hampshire has numerous weekly newspapers and daily newspapers, the best known of which is the daily Manchester Union Leader. There are commercial radio and television broadcasting facilities, as well as public television and cable television systems. New Hampshire residents also have access to broadcasts from the neighboring states of Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY During the 1960s, the shoe, woodworking, textile, and apparel industries declined in productivity and employment while such industries as electronics, communications, and utilities and other services increased. Manufacturing The leading industries are nonelectrical machinery, electrical and electronic products, shoes, pulp and paper, and plastics. A little more than a quarter of the state nonagricultural labor force is employed in manufacturing. The only large industrial center north of the White Mountains is Berlin, whose major industry is paper and pulp. Energy New Hampshire's electricity is supplied by coal-fired and oil-fired steam-generating plants and by hydroelectric facilities. Unit I of the nuclear generating plant at Seabrook was completed in 1986; it began operations in 1990. Tourism Tourism is now the second most important sector in New Hampshire's economy. Among the state's major tourist attractions are the White Mountains and Lake Winnipesaukee. Skiing and water sports are activities that draw many visitors to the state each year. New Hampshire also has a number of state parks. Agriculture Although agriculture is of limited importance to New Hampshire's economy, dairy and poultry products are the state's agricultural mainstays. Cattle, sheep, and horses are also raised. Apples and hay are the major crops, but corn, peaches, and maple syrup are also important. Mining, Forestry, and Fishing Mining is a minor economic activity in New Hampshire. Major minerals found in the state are granite, sand and gravel, and quartz. Forests cover about 85% of the state. Lumber and wood products and the pulp and paper industry are the most important industries based on native resources. Trees of commercial importance are the balsam fir, hemlock, white pine, spruce, ash, basswood, beech, birch, elm, maple, and oak. On the coast there are marketable catches of shellfish, especially lobsters, and deep-sea fish. Saltwater fishing centers are in Hampton, Portsmouth, and Rye. Transportation New Hampshire has rail freight-carrier service, and a tourist attraction is the cog railway up Mount Washington. The state's highway system includes Interstate 93, the main north-south highway, part of which is the Everett Turnpike; the New Hampshire Turnpike, part of Interstate 95; and the Spaulding Turnpike. There is commercial air service to five cities. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS The present constitution was adopted in 1784, although it has been amended many times since then. It provides for an elective executive council, which must concur with the governor in all nominations and appointments. Because representation in the state House of Representatives is based on towns, New Hampshire's General Court is the largest legislative body of any state; the 400 representatives and 24 senators serve two-year terms. New Hampshire is unique in its lack of both a sales tax and a state income tax. The state relies for revenue on such state-sponsored enterprises as liquor sales, horse and dog racing, and the first state lottery in modern times (1964), and on taxes on beer and cigarettes, business profits, and taxes paid primarily by tourists and visitors. New Hampshire's presidential primary, the first in the nation each presidential election year, attracts enormous attention. Except in the state's 13 cities, local government is carried on at the town meeting. Between town meetings, the towns are governed by elected boards of selectmen. The state's judicial system includes a supreme court, the highest court, and the main trial court known as the superior court. All judges are appointed. From statehood (1788) until 1816, the Federalist party was in control of New Hampshire politics; then the Democrats dominated until the 1850s. At that time national discontent took the form in New Hampshire of the Know-Nothing party, whose candidate, Ralph Metcalf, was elected governor. Two men from New Hampshire, Franklin Pierce, and John Parker Hale, opposed each other in the 1852 presidential election. Pierce, the Democratic candidate, defeated both Gen. Winfield Scott, the Whig candidate, and Hale, the fiercely antislavery Free-Soil party candidate. Hale's antislavery views finally won out in New Hampshire, however, and from the Civil War onward the state's majority shifted to the Republican party. HISTORY Recent archaeological discoveries suggest the presence of human life in the area about 10,000 years ago. At the time of the first English settlements in 1623, there probably were about 4,000 Indians within the present area of the state, more than half in the various tribes of the \TPennacook\t Confederacy in the Connecticut and Merrimack valleys and the seacoast area. The rest, in the eastern White Mountains and the Saco Valley, were on the western edge of the Sokoki Confederacy and merged with the \LAbnaki\ls of Maine. The Pennacooks patronized English trading stations on the Piscataqua and, under the influence of their friendly chief, Passaconaway, negotiated sales of land (which were misunderstood on both sides) as the settlements moved inland. Friendly relations ceased at the time of \TKing Philip's War\t (1675-76), and in 1676 most of the Pennacooks moved to Canada. Colonial Period English fishing and trading settlements began (1623) at Odiorne's Point--near the mouth of the Piscataqua--and at Dover Point, 13 km (8 mi) up the river. In 1629 the original proprietors of the whole area between the Merrimack and Kennebec rivers, Sir Ferdinand Gorges and Captain John \TMason\t, divided the area between them, Mason taking the area south of the Piscataqua, which he called New Hampshire. From 1643 to 1679, and again from 1690 to 1692, the New Hampshire settlements came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and from 1692 to 1741, New Hampshire shared a royal governor with Massachusetts. The decisive change in the importance and prospective fortunes of the province came in 1741 with the settlement of the long-disputed boundary with Massachusetts in New Hampshire's favor and the appointment of Benning Wentworth as governor. A dispute with New York over the area west of the Connecticut River, the so-called New Hampshire Grants (present-day Vermont), was temporarily resolved in 1764. Benning Wentworth was succeeded (1767) by his nephew, John Wentworth. The latter's administration began auspiciously with a series of successful moves to bind Portsmouth and the seacoast more closely to the developing interior, but the Revolutionary crisis proved to be a stronger force than was the young governor's popularity. In the first overtly hostile act of the American Revolution, an armed mob stormed the fort in Portsmouth Harbor in December 1774, seized arms and powder, and distributed them among several inland towns, some of whose militiamen subsequently used them in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Wentworth left the province on a British warship in June 1775. The following year New Hampshire adopted its own constitution and was, therefore, the first colony to become wholly independent of Great Britain. In 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Economic Development During the early 17th century the economic life of New Hampshire was based on fishing and the exploitation of the rich native timber resources. Shipbuilding soon emerged as the leading industry and flourished throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century, as settlers pushed into the interior, agriculture on family farms began to rival Portsmouth-based commerce and shipbuilding as the chief economic activity of the province. The relocation of the state capital from Portsmouth to Concord in 1808 signified not only the end of the dominance of New Hampshire politics by the commercial interests of Portsmouth and Exeter but also that the center of population had moved inland. The primacy of farming was short-lived, however, for as early as 1810 water-powered textile manufacturing arrived in New Hampshire with the founding of the Amoskeag Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Company on the Merrimack River at the site of Manchester. Many other textile mills were soon constructed throughout most of the state. The coming of the railroad in the late 1830s also contributed to the agricultural decline, for now farm goods produced in the fertile Midwest could reach Boston and New York markets and New England mill towns more abundantly and cheaply than those grown on marginal farmlands closer to home. Nothing documents more dramatically the decline of farming in New Hampshire than both the widespread repossession of once-cleared land by the forest and the many miles of stone walls that remain to mark abandoned fields and pastures. The textile industry reached its peak between 1910 and 1920 and then began a long decline, primarily because of competition from the South. Large-scale shoe manufacturing, which appeared after the Civil War, has also declined but not to the same extent. Since World War II, industries attracted by an underutilized labor force, low land costs (until recently), low taxes and few regulations, and New Hampshire's proximity to the large northeastern market have moved in to take the place of the departed woolen and cotton mills--often occupying the same buildings. An industrial group increasingly important to the state is the high-technology sector. New Hampshire is trying to plan for a future that must balance a grave concern for continuing the quality of life to which most New Hampshire people are attached with strong pressures for further economic development. Charles E. Clark Bibliography: Clark, Charles E., The Eastern Frontier: The Settlement of Northern New England, 1610-1763 (1970); Daniell, Jere R., Experiment in Republicanism: New Hampshire Politics and the American Revolution, 1741-1794 (1970) and Colonial New Hampshire--A History (1981); Hill, Evan, The Primary State: An Historical Guide to New Hampshire (1976); Hill, Ralph Nading, Yankee Kingdom: Vermont and New Hampshire, rev. ed. (1972); Morison, Elizabeth Forbes and Elting E., New Hampshire: A Bicentennial History (1976); Scheller, William G., New Hampshire (1988); Turner, Lynn, The Ninth State (1983); Van Deventer, David E., The Emergence of Provincial New Hampshire, 1623-1741 (1976).