NEW HAMPSHIRE

New England. constituent state of the United States of America lying in the New England region of the country. The state capital is Concord. Facing the Atlantic Ocean along a short 16-mile (26-km) southeastern coastline, New Hampshire is also bounded by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. The state extends about 180 miles (290 km) from north to south and 90 miles (145 km) from east to west at its widest point, in the south. The first European settlers found the region inhabited by various tribes of Algonquian-speaking Indians, the most powerful of which were the Pennacook. The first European settlement was a fishing and trading village established near Portsmouth in 1623. Settlements at Exeter, Dover, and Hampton followed shortly, and in 1641 the area came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. New Hampshire became a separate crown colony in 1679. During the American Revolution the people of New Hampshire overwhelmingly supported the aims of the revolutionary leaders, and in 1788 New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution. The traditional annual town meeting serves to shape policy in virtually all the incorporated towns. Local government in New Hampshire's cities takes the form of a mayor-council, a council-manager, or a commission system. Because it holds the earliest presidential primary election in the nation, New Hampshire often furnishes the first testing ground for successful candidates. New Hampshire lies entirely within the Appalachian system, but it can be divided into three main regions: (1) the White Mountains, covering the northern one-third of the state and rising to 6,288 feet (1,917 metres) at Mount Washington, (2) the glacier-scoured region of low mountains and lakes, covering most of the southern two-thirds of the state, and (3) a narrow strip of coastal plain along the Atlantic Ocean. The ice sheet of the last glacial age covered all of New Hampshire, sculpting most of its present physical features. The state drains generally southward through the Merrimack and Connecticut river systems. The New Hampshire climate is temperate, with cool summers and cold winters. The average summer temperature at Concord in the south is 70 F (21 C), and the average winter temperature at Mount Washington in the north is 6 F (-14 C). Average yearly precipitation at the two locations is 36 and 74 inches (910 and 1,880 mm), respectively, and is evenly distributed throughout the year. Annual snowfall averages 60 inches (1,524 mm) in the south and 200 inches (5,080 mm) on the northern mountains. Soils are not generally suitable for large-scale cultivation except in the river valleys. Forests cover more than 80 percent of the land. Settlement of New Hampshire was primarily by English and Scotch-Irish Protestants. Their descendants can be found in almost every town and city, occupying the same propertyeven the same housefor several successive generations. The second largest ethnic group is the French Canadians, who began to arrive immediately after the American Civil War, seeking economic opportunities in the industrial cities. About half the population is urban, and only a tiny fraction is nonwhite. The people are largely concentrated in the southern part of the state. The area nearest Boston has evolved into a suburban commuter region. The economy of New Hampshire is based primarily on services, including tourism, and manufacturing. The main agricultural activities are dairying and the production of fruits and vegetables. Forest products include lumber, paper, pulp, and maple syrup and sugar. The main mining activity is granite quarrying. Traditional shoemaking and textile and apparel industries have given way to electrical- and electronic-goods manufacturing. Touristsattracted by the distinctiveness of the landscape and the varied seasonal recreational opportunitiesaccount for a large portion of retail sales and service income. New Hampshire's transportation facilities lie generally outside the mainstream of the nation's traffic flow, although the interstate highway system provides rapid access northward from Boston. Many of the state's highways utilize scenic covered bridges and tree-lined country lanes. The main seaport is at Portsmouth, and the U.S. Navy has submarine repair facilities at its Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, located in Kittery, Maine, across the Piscataqua River from Portsmouth. New Hampshire has a long-standing tradition of cultural and educational institutions. The MacDowell Colony for artists, writers, and composers; the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site; and the Currier Gallery of Art are important in the arts. Summer theatres flourish in resort areas. Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire provide excellent higher-education opportunities. Area 9,283 square miles (24,043 square km). Pop. (1990) 1,109,252; (1996 est.) 1,162,481. constituent state of the United States of America. One of the 13 original U.S. states, it is located in New England at the extreme northeastern corner of the nation. With an area of 9,279 square miles (24,032 square kilometres), it is bounded on the north by the Canadian province of Quebec, on the east by Maine and a 16-mile (25-kilometre) stretch of the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Massachusetts, and on the west by Vermont. The capital is Concord, located in the south central part of the state. The Granite State, as New Hampshire is popularly known, is a study in contrasts. Since the late 19th century it has been among the half-dozen most industrialized states in the Union, yet it is frequently portrayed as agricultural and pastoral. Vermont and New Hampshire supposedly constitute a Yankee Kingdom dominated by WASPs (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants), yet the state has a large population of residents with French-Canadian, German, Italian, Polish, and other non-English ancestors. Its political reputation is probusiness and conservative, yet the single largest internal source of state funds is a business profits tax. New Hampshire's regional subdivisions are so distinct that numerous people have suggested it be divided in thirds, with roughly equal parts being added to Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Despite these contrasts, the state has developed a distinct identity. Central to that identity is the image of governmental frugality: New Hampshire has no general sales or individual income taxes but still manages regularly to have a budget surplus. Frugality at the state level has accentuated the dispersal of responsibility to towns. Although town governments exist in all the New England states, in no state do they carry as much authority as in New Hampshire. Still another component of that identity is a craggy adherence to tradition, symbolized powerfully by the rock profile in Franconia Notch known as the Old Man of the Mountain. The combination of frugality, decentralization, traditionalism, industrialization, ethnicity, and geographic diversity makes New Hampshire very attractive to many Americans. East of the Mississippi, only Florida and Delaware have outpaced it in rate of population growth since 1950. Additional reading Federal Writers' Project, New Hampshire, New Hampshire: A Guide to the Granite State (1938, reissued 1992), is still an excellent, though somewhat dated, source for information about many aspects of the state. DeLorme Mapping Company, The New Hampshire Atlas & Gazetteer, 11th ed. (1999), details the state's topography.General histories of New Hampshire include J. Duane Squires, The Granite State of the United States: A History of New Hampshire from 1623 to the Present, 4 vol. (1956); Elizabeth Forbes Morison and Elting E. Morison, New Hampshire: A Bicentennial History (1976); Ronald Jager and Grace Jager, New Hampshire: An Illustrated History of the Granite State (1983); and Nancy Coffey Heffernan and Ann Page Stecker, New Hampshire: Crosscurrents in Its Development, updated ed. (1996). Particular periods are examined by Jere Daniell, Colonial New Hampshire: A History (1981), and Experiment in Republicanism: New Hampshire Politics and the American Revolution, 17411794 (1970); Lynn Warren Turner, The Ninth State: New Hampshire's Formative Years (1983); Donald B. Cole, Jacksonian Democracy in New Hampshire, 18001851 (1970); and James Wright, The Progressive Yankees: Republican Reformers in New Hampshire, 19061916 (1987). John D. Haskell, Jr., and T.D. Seymour Bassett (eds.), New Hampshire: A Bibliography of Its History (1979, reprinted 1983), lists more than 6,000 items on history and culture. Jere R. Daniell The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica