n.
City (pop., 2000: 416,474; metro. area pop.: 4,112,198), capital of Georgia, U.S. Lying in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Atlanta is Georgia's largest city.
In 1837 a spot was selected there for a railroad terminus that would serve the southeastern U.S. First named Terminus and later Marthasville, it was given the name Atlanta in 1845. An important supply depot during the American Civil War , it was burned by Union forces under William T. Sherman . Atlanta became the state capital in 1868. As it recovered from the war's destruction, it began to epitomize the spirit of the "New South" in seeking reconciliation with the North. It was the home of Martin Luther King, Jr. , and the first major Southern city to elect a black mayor (1970). It is the principal trade and transportation centre of the southeastern U.S.