Savannah

Sister cities

• Batumi
• Halle (Saale)
• Kaya
• Patras

History

On February 12, 1733, General James Oglethorpe and settlers from the ship Anne landed at Yamacraw Bluff and were greeted by Tomochichi, the Yamacraws, and Indian traders John and Mary Musgrove. Mary Musgrove often served as an interpreter. The city of Savannah and the colony of Georgia were founded on that date. In 1751, Savannah and the rest of Georgia became a Royal Colony, with Savannah as its capital. By the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Savannah had become the southernmost commercial port in the Thirteen Colonies. British troops took the city in 1778, and the following year, a combined force of American and French soldiers, including Haitians, failed to rout the British at the Siege of Savannah. The British did not leave the city until July 1782. In December 1804 the state legislature declared Milledgeville the new capital of Georgia. Savannah, a prosperous seaport throughout the nineteenth century, was the Confederacy's sixth most populous city and the prime objective of Major General William T. Sherman's March to the Sea. During the night of December 20-21, 1864, local authorities negotiated a peaceful surrender to save Savannah from destruction, and Union troops marched into the city at dawn. Savannah was named after the Savannah River, which probably derives from variant names for the Shawnee, a Native American people who migrated to the river in the 1680s. The Shawnee destroyed another Native people, the Westo, and occupied their lands at the head of the Savannah River's navigation on the fall line, near present-day Augusta, Georgia. These Shawnee, whose Native name was Ša·wano·ki (literally, "southerners"), were known by several local variants, including Shawano, Savano, Savana and Savannah. Another theory is that the name Savannah refers to…

Geography

Savannah lies on the Savannah River, approximately upriver from the Atlantic Ocean. According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water (5.15%). Savannah is the primary port on the Savannah River and the largest port in Georgia. It is also near the U.S. Intracoastal Waterway. Georgia's Ogeechee River flows toward the Atlantic Ocean some south of downtown Savannah and forms the southern city limit. Savannah is prone to flooding due to abundant rainfall, an elevation just above sea level, and the shape of the coastline, which poses a greater surge risk during hurricanes. The city currently uses five canals. In addition, several pumping stations have been built to help reduce the effects of flash flooding. Savannah's climate is classified as humid subtropical (Köppen Cfa). Throughout the Deep South, this is characterized by long and almost tropical summers and short, mild winters. Savannah records only a few days of freezing temperatures each year, and snowfall is rare. Due to its proximity to the Atlantic coast, Savannah rarely experiences temperatures as extreme as those in Georgia's interior. Nevertheless, the extreme temperatures have officially ranged from , on July 20, 1986, and July 12, 1879, down to during the January 1985 Arctic outbreak. Seasonally, Savannah tends to have hot and humid summers with frequent (but brief) thunderstorms that develop in the warm and tropical air masses, which are common. Although summers in Savannah are frequently sunny, half of Savannah's annual precipitation falls from June through September. Average dewpoints in summer range from . Winters in Savannah are mild and sunny with average daily high temperatures of in January. November and December are the driest…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  17,523
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  14,684
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  12,502
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,822
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  11,354
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,799
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,005
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  9,688

Largest nearby schools

• New Hampstead High School
  High · Bloomingdale · 1,436 students · 18.4:1 ratio
• Jenkins High School
  High · Savannah · 1,118 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• Hesse School
  Elementary · Savannah · 1,022 students · 13.8:1 ratio
• Windsor Forest High School
  High · Savannah · 1,012 students · 15.8:1 ratio
• Groves High School
  High · Garden City · 992 students · 15:1 ratio
• West Chatham Middle School
  Middle · Pooler · 953 students · 13.2:1 ratio
• Beach High School
  High · Savannah · 914 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• Savannah Arts Academy
  High · Savannah · 905 students · 14.6:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2003-07-13
  6 km N of Cobbtown, Georgia