Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, was founded in 1837, as the place where the Western & Atlantic railroad lines terminate.
The city is a major transportation hub as it provides good connectivity, both within and outside the country. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport is one of the nation's busiest airports with direct and cheap flights to Europe, South America, and Asia. The city also houses the headquarters of 13 Fortune 500 and 24 Fortune 1000 companies. Effective public and private partnerships in business, finance and non-profit endeavors have created an excellent job and investment market, both within the country as well as in the neighboring areas. Atlanta has witnessed more than four decades of civil rights movement and it was only due to the faith and vision of its leaders that the country achieved peace. Atlanta was the host for the 1996 Olympics games. In the past decades, the city has experienced unprecedented growth, which is evident in the facts that although the official city population has remained stable, the metro population has grown by nearly 40 percent. Humanitarian organizations like CARE, actively committed to eradication of poverty in all parts of the world, are headquartered in Atlanta. Even CNN.com, world leader in online news and information has its headquarters in Atlanta.If you are planning to travel to Alanta and explore its diversity, do take a tour of the APEX Museum. It is Atlanta's only museum dedicated to the rich and untold history of African Americans. Also do not forget to take a tour of the Margaret Mitchell House & Museum, the place where the renowned writer, Margaret Mitchell wrote the famous book, Gone With The Wind.

With a 2008 estimated population of 537,958, Atlanta is the thirty-third largest city in the United States, and the 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Area is the eighth largest such region in the United States, and the second largest in the Southeastern U.S. with more than 5,376,285 residents. The Atlanta Combined Statistical Area, home to 5,729,304 people, is the tenth largest in the country.
Considered a top business city and transportation hub, Atlanta is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, AT&T Mobility, and Delta Air Lines. The surrounding area contains additional corporate headquarters, including Home Depot and UPS. Atlanta has the country's third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies along with Chicago inside city boundaries, and more than 75 percent of the Fortune 1000 companies have a presence in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which is located seven miles south of downtown Atlanta, is the world's busiest airport and the only major airport to serve the city.

Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County and the fifth location for the seat of government of the state of Georgia. A small portion of the city of Atlanta corporate limits extends into DeKalb County. Residents of the city are known as Atlantans.