See also: Boston (homonymy)
The town of Boston is the capital and the principal city of the State of the Massachusetts, in the North-East of the the United States of America. It constitutes the economic and cultural center of the New England. The commune, directed by the mayor Thomas Menino, counted: 589141 inhabitants in the year 2000, whereas the metropolitan zone concentrated approximately: 5.8 million inhabitants.
Boston is known for its cultural excellence implementation by its universities, its libraries and its festivals. Founded in 1630 by puritan English fleeing religious persecutions of their country, it quickly developed as of the 17th century on a particular site, from which it knew to benefit.
Its economy rested a long time on the port activities and textiles, before its reconversion in industries of High technology. Today, the most dynamic sectors are teaching, health and finance.
Lastly, the city does not resemble the others American metropolises: its center kept many buildings of the colonial time, its streets are not rectilinear and the city reserves many axes with the pedestrians or the bicycles.
See also: History of Boston, Chronology of Boston
Before the arrival of the European colonists, the Amerindian algonquins occupy the area of current Boston. Founded in 1630, the city takes again the name of an English city of the Lincolnshire (North-eastern) in which its English founders are originating. With XVIIe and XVIIIe century, it develops and grows rich thanks to its port, by the maritime commercial relations with the Great Britain and the the Antilles. Boston becomes the chief town of the Colonie of bay of Massachusetts. It also is essential like the intellectual capital of the New England, in particular with the opening of Harvard in 1636 and the birth of several newspapers. The Bostonian culture then is very influenced by the values of the Puritanisme and the Théologie. But the city also acquires a reputation of religious intolerance when she condemns Mary Dyer, a Quaker in 1660.
Towards 1750, Boston counts: 15000 inhabitants; it is then the third most populated city thirteen colonies British of North America. The industrial activity is flourishing (naval construction, metallurgy, the textile, fishing and the Distillerie) and the transatlantic traffic is placed under the English monopoly. The port exports wood, flour, oil of whale, meat and fish; the Bostonian merchants return from the Antilles with sugar, Rhum, Mélasse S and tafia. The economic advancement enriches the commercial middle-class which controls the businesses of the city.
Boston plays a central role before and during the American Révolution against Great Britain. When London imposes a series of taxes and reinforces its military presence in second half of the 18th century, the Bostonians enter in rebellion and claim a political representation of the colonies to the English Parlement. In 1770, the Massacre of Boston feeds the rancour of the inhabitants. In 1773, the latter seize the cargo of the of a British ship and throw it over edge: this episode, called the part of the of Boston ( Boston Tea Party ), is one of the most famous events of the American Revolution. The following year, the English government makes block the port and sends soldiers.
The war of independence begins in 1775 with the Bataille of Lexington and Concord which is held to about thirty kilometers of Boston. The June 17th 1775 engages the Bataille of Bunker Hill (Charlestown) which shows the defeat of the American insurrectionists. In 1776, George Washington conquers Boston, held up to now by the troops of the British general William Howe. For this period, Paul Revere, the son of a Huguenot (its name of birth was Paul Rivoire ), makes its famous ride. Boston is called the cradle of Freedom and several of its historic sites to date remain tourist attractions popular. The war finishes in 1783 by the Traité of Versailles and the creation of the United States of America. Massachusetts becomes a federate State of the Union in 1788 and its Gouverneur seat in Boston.
After the War of independence, the city continues to develop at the same time as the port of international business, exporting Rhum, Poisson, salt and Tabac. A Charte grants its municipal autonomy in to him 1822, and during the Années 1850 Boston becomes the one of greatest manufacturing centers of the United States, famous for the clothes industry, the industry of the Cuir, the naval construction and the manufacture of machines. The American Civil War stimulates the industrial production intended for the supply of the troops.
The city remains dominated a long time by rich person families of which several are always present in Boston. Their genealogy goes back to the first colonists and some are called the “Brahmans of Boston”, in allusion to the system of Caste S Indian. Starting from the Years 1840, many immigrants Européens arrive at Boston, in particular of the Irish, which flee the Grande Famine. They are employed in textile industry. With the Italy NS, they form an important population Catholique which worries WASP S.
In spite of the competition of New York, Boston remains a intellectual and cultural hearth of first order at the XIXe century. The city accommodates many American writers (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, etc).
The Inter-war period is one crisis period for the city: in September 1919, a great strike touches the police force of Boston. The August 23rd 1927, the anarchistic Italian Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are carried out. During the Second world war, Boston reconverts its economy for the needs for the industry of war. But after the conflict, the economy knows a recession, which touches in particular the halieutic sector. The factories close and the companies will be established in the South of the country where labor is cheaper. The few assets of Boston, of excellent banks, its hospitals, its universities, its technical know-how, then count little on a scale economy of the United States. The economic crisis involves a social crisis and urban. In the Years 1960, 13 women are assassinated by the serial killer Albert Henry DeSalvo.
Boston knows an economic revival since the years 1970. At this time, the importance of the financial institutions in the US economy increases, much private individuals placing their saving out of purse and Boston develops in the financial sector. Whereas the weight of the health expenditure increases in the United States, from many hospitals of the city release from the benefit. The universities attract tens of thousands of students and very important funds are invested by the government in research. The agglomeration becomes the second American pole for high technologies (data processing, biotechnologies), behind the Californian Silicon Valley. Construction new Gratte-ciel in the district of the businesses testifies to the economic alarm clock of Boston.
Boston benefitted a long time from a very favorable situation on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean: nearer to Western Europe than its New York rival, it developed its sea traffic and its industry until the XIXe century. The bay of Massachusetts offered a deep water shelter for the ships and its peninsular site gave him a natural defense. The city of the XVIIe century was spread out over the peninsula of Shawmut, connected to the continent by a narrow Isthme. To the west extended from the Marais invaded by the tide: nowadays, this part corresponds to the district of Back Bay. The center of colonial Boston was around the Old State House. Lastly, the city was surrounded at the origin by three Colline S, the Trimoutains , of which there remains today only that of Beacon Hill; the others were levelled to fill the wearing of Boston and the sector of Back Bay. The aspect of the city thus was transformed considerably between its foundation and the XXe century (see the paragraph town planning low). Just like San Francisco, Boston today is mainly established on quay level artificial which made disappear its peninsular character. The two rivers of the Charles River and the Mystic River allow an easy communication with the interior of the grounds. With the boring of the Channel Érié at the beginning of the XIXe century, Boston loses its advantage with the profit of New York. Growth of the traffic in the basin of the the Mississippi and the Big lakes eclipse also the influence of Boston. Today, the Charles River separates Boston from Cambridge and Charlestown. In the east of the city the wearing of Boston and its islands are. The river Neponset delimits the border between Boston and the cities close to Quincy and Milton, in south-east. More of the quarter of the territory of the commune is under the sea level, which it is Charles River or about the district of the port.
Climate of Boston east to the image of that of New England: it is about a moderate Climat of Eastern frontage, which is characterized by a thermal Amplitude relatively important (25°C). New England does not profit from the thermal role of regulator of the Atlantic Ocean, nor of the effects of the Gulf Stream. The position of Boston exposes the city to cold flows Méridien S in winter and heats in summer, which bring disturbances. The annual total of precipitations, in the form of rain or of snow, is of: 1054 Misters the area is rather regularly sprinkled throughout the year, with a maximum of precipitations in November. The temperatures are contrasted between the winter and the summer, this one is prolonged until September and October: one indicates this period by the expression “be Indian”. When the hot and wet masses of tropical air go up Gulf of Mexico, the Bostonians know then periods of Canicule, like that of the summer 2006. In their time, the English colonists had been disabled when they transfer their grain crops to rot in July. The winters are as for them cold and windy, the snowstorms are frequent: for example, the blizzard of February 2006 paralyzed the transport infrastructures of all the area.
See also: Districts of Boston
Throughout its history, the town planning of Boston knew important upheavals, dependant on the population growth and economic of the city. These changes can be summarized in three phases: empoldering at the XIXe century, suburbanisation and construction of skyscraper at the XXe century. The capital of Massachusetts knew to preserve its historical heritage and to adapt to the needs for modernity.
Boston is one of the oldest cities of the United States. Its economic prosperity at the XIXe century allows the elites enriched to be made build beautiful residences victoriennes with Beacon Hill . The town planning of the first decades of the XIXe century is marked by the achievements of the architect Charles Bulfinch: this one transforms the colonial city into a modern American city. It draws several brick houses, in particular with Louisburg Square, as well as the Massachusetts State House, in neo-classic style. New streets are bored like the Commonwealth Avenue, broad 60 meters.
With the economic growth and immigration, the city does not cease extending: enclosed in the north of a peninsula, the colonial city is quickly with the narrow one. The filling and the draining of the marshes throughout the XIXe century make it possible to arrange new districts. At the end of the XIXe century, the district of Back Bay is completely polderized; the height of the houses is limited by a strict legislation. Between 1630 and 1890, the surface of Boston is multiplied by three. The city creates new parks and public gardens: the Boston Common, bought by the city in 1634, is increased in the years 1830. Architect-landscape the Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 - 1903) made arrange the Fenway Park with West Roxbury. The tycoons of industry, finance and the trade found the great institutions cultural and social, which involves the displacement of the center of gravity of the city towards the west.
Throughout the XIXe century, the city obtains with the infrastructures and the institutions of a modern city: the first sewers are arranged starting from 1823. A police force in uniform is organized in 1845. The subway is set up in 1896, before that of New York and was thus the first subway of North America. In 1910, the completion of a stopping creates the basin Charles River, in the North-West. The appearance of the Bus, of the subway then car, involves a process of Périurbanisation. Part of the middle-classes leave the center to settle in suburbs. The degraded districts are left to the recent immigrants. The urban spreading out is accompanied by the annexation of common peripherals such as Dorchester, Roxbury, West Roxbury, Brighton and Charlestown. A co-operation body between the municipalities of the agglomeration is set up: it is the Metropolitan District Commission (1919).
In the Years 1960, the code of town planning is modified and authorizes the high-rise office buildings. Until there, Boston did not have any very high building, with share the administrative buildings and the bell-towers of the churches. Consequently, the pace of the skyline changes with the appearance of Gratte-ciel. The first is the Prudential Tower (1964, 229 meters). Other buildings leave ground in the Années 1970: the One Boston Places (183 m.), the John Hancock Tower (241 m.) or the Federal Reserve Bank Building (196 m.). In 2006,18 buildings the 150 meters exceed.
Today, the plan of the streets presents singularities compared to those of the other American metropolises: the configuration of the site involved the development of a circular plan. With the difference of the other downtown areas of the country, the district of the businesses is not organized according to a Checkerboard plan . The network of the streets and the roads forms a Plan rather radioconcentric. This drawing accentuates the centrality and causes congestions with the intersection of the main axes. The municipality tries to mitigate these traffic jams by making the promotion of the joint means of transport, but also by boring tunnels like the Big Dig. Part of the industrial activities and tertiary settled in periphery and were established near the highway exchangers. In spite of the large fire of 1872 and several destruction, the center knew to keep and renovate the buildings of the colonial time. One can traverse of it a part with foot thanks to malls like with the Freedom Trail. The purpose of the operations of urban Réhabilitation launched for a few years have been to revitalize the center.
| valign=" top" | |- | colspan=" 2" | (*) Estimate |} At the beginning of the XVIIIe century, Boston was one of the most populated cities of the thirteen British colonies. In spite of its spectacular population growth, it did not cease moving back in the classification of the American cities. It is in particular exceeded by New York in second half of the XVIIIe century. In 1690, Boston counts: 7000 inhabitants, in 1742, approximately: 16000. In the Years 1830, the population increases by 52%, thanks to immigration.
The crisis of the years 1950-1970 made leave part of the Bostonians. But since the years 1990, the agglomeration gains inhabitants again, in particular thanks to the urban renovations, with the conversions of industry and the Gentrification. The reversal of situation remains fragile because, between 2000 and 2005, the commune of Boston lost: 30107 residents. However, three districts are characterized by their population growth: it is about Exchange Boston, East Boston and North Dorchester. The metropolitan surface of Boston, is a territory going until Lawrence, Salem, Nashua and Worcester, account today nearly six million inhabitants.
The originality of the commune comes from its small size (232 km ²) compared with that of American cities of similar importance. The density is relatively high there (: 4696 hab. /km ² against: 3127 hab. /km ² with Washington DC for example), which brings it closer to the European cities.
In 1900, about half of the Bostonians is of Irish origin. Today, the Irishman descendants represent nothing any more but 16 % of the population and concentrate primarily in the district of South Boston. The most famous family of Irish origin, the Kennedy, comes besides from the agglomeration of Boston.
In the field of the music, Boston organizes a festival of Baroque music ( The Boston Early Music Festival ) since 1980 which attracts the specialists in the whole world.
Throughout the year, many parades ravel in the streets of the city and testify to its cultural diversity: Gay pride and parades Haiti enne in June, festival Oporto-ricaine in July, Dominican in August, etc
See also: List of films made to Boston
Boston inspired by many realizers of cinema: several films take again the original characters of the city. Thus, the main characters of Mystic To rivet , carried out by Clint Eastwood (2003), were high in the Irish community. The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006) evokes the Irish district of South End. Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997) emphasizes the importance of higher education and research in the agglomeration. Into Area of agreement of the Brothers Farrelly (2005), heroin falls in love with a fan with the Red Sox with Boston.
In addition, Boston was made famous in the world thanks to television. Three legal series created by David Edward Kelley have as a Boston framework: The Practice : Bobby Donnell & Associated, Boston Justice and Ale McBeal . This last watch with each episode of the plans of the skyline and the law courts. The series Cheers tells the daily newspaper of a bar of Boston. the Life of de luxe hotel of Zack and Cody has as a decoration a de luxe hotel of the city. The intrigues of two detective series, Proof with the support and Banacek also proceed in the streets of Boston. The series Sabrina, the apprentie witch exploits the proximity of Salem.
The movement of the Lumières inspires the political writings of the Bostonian Samuel Adams and city presses it ( Independant Advertiser , Boston Gazette , Massachusetts Spy , etc) is made the echo of the claims of the patriots. The Power off Sympathy (in French: the Capacity of affinities , Boston, 1789), written by William Hill Brown (1756 - 1793) is regarded as the first American novel. It made scandal in the Bostonian good company besides and had to be published anonymously during several years.
The free trade running develops among the authors residing at Boston: Samuel Sewall (1652 - 1730) or William Ellery Channing (1780 - 1842) wrote against slavery.
Phyllis Wheatley, (1753-1784) lived in Boston; she is regarded as the first poetess Afro-American of the United States. In 1770, she wrote a poetic homage to the calvinist George Whitefield, who had a broad audience in Boston. In the years 1830, Boston is one of the hearths of the transcendantalism: the city is indeed the cradle of the Transcendental Club which intended to be opposed to the intellectualism of Harvard. The first meeting, to which in particular Ralph Waldo Emerson assisted, took place at the house of George Ripley, on September 8th, 1836.
At the XIXe century, many American writers (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, etc) live in the agglomeration of Boston. The poet and novelist Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) were born in Boston. At the XXe century, the city accommodates European writers taken refuge like Lebanese the Khalil Gibran (1883-1931), the Spaniard Pedro Salinas (1891-1951) or the Roumanian Elie Wiesel (born in 1928).
Founded in 1870 and opened with the public in 1876, the Musée of the Art schools of Boston is the principal museum of the city. It presents a broad choice of works (paintings, objets d'art, photographs) coming from all the continents. Located in a small palace of style Venetian rebirth , the museum Gardner was inaugurated in 1903. Its collections, rich person of more than: 2500 works and objects, illustrate various times of art, the Antiquité at the XIXe century. The Institut of Contemporary art of Boston proposes temporary exhibitions in an old station of police force and fireman.
Other museums reflect the interest of the Bostonians for the history (museum and boat of Boston Tea Party, Musée of History Afro-American, Bibliothèque Kennedy, Boston Historical Society and Museum ), the sea and the port activities (Aquarium of New England, Boston National Historical Park , Charlestown Navy Yard, US Constitution) or sciences and technology (museum of science, museum of transport). The Boston Children' S Museum proposes play activities and teaching. Other museums await the visitors on the Freedom Trail.
The Boston College was created in 1827 in South End before moving in Chestnut Hill. The University of Boston, founded in 1869, is today the fourth larger university of the country with approximately: 30000 students and the second employer of the city. The university of Massachusetts is an establishment of public higher education located in the district of Dorchester. The college Emerson (: 3700 students) is located not far from the Boston Common and proposes formations in arts and the communication. The Northeastern University has a large campus on the Huntington avenue in the district of Fenway. The Wentworth Institute off Technology proposes several high level trainings in architecture or data processing for example. The Suffolk university (: 4600 students) is a school of right which keeps a campus on Beacon Hill. There exists many other establishments of higher education: Simmons College (1899), Emmanuel College (1919)… Boston also counts many places of formation to the performing arts, with the music ( New England Conservatory off Music, Boston Conservatory, Berklee College off Music ).
The medical publications of Boston are twice more numerous than that of whole France. The city has an important concentration of laboratories and place of training in relation to health: the medical schools of Harvard and the Université of Tufts are not in Cambridge but well in Boston. It is in Boston that place had, in 1954, the first Clerc's Office of kidney.
The municipal council is elected every two years within the framework of the nine districts. The inhabitants of each district elect an adviser. There are four seats for the advisers who represent the whole city. The Committee of the schools is named by the mayor, just as the department heads of the city.
See also: List of the companies having their seat in Boston
The industrial sector employs: 12339 people is 2,3% of the active population. Industries of high technology developed in connection with the research centres and the large universities. They allowed the conversion of industry of the agglomeration of Boston in the years 1980 and provided many employment. The drug company is represented by the groups Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Millipore Corp. or Biogen Idec. The sector of health develops in connection with the research institutes and the principal hospital of the city ( Massachusetts General ): Boston Scientific is one of the giants of medical equipment. Several data-processing companies (DEC, Data General…) were established along the Route 495 and of the Route 128, which crosses about thirty communes of the agglomeration and is known universally to skirt a great concentration of high technology. The technological parks symbolize the conversion of industry of the metropolis. The city remains also one of the principal hearths of edition and printing works of North America (see the paragraph on the media below). The factories of clothes industry, agro-alimentary and manufacture of machines supplement industrial fabric of the commune.
The tertiary sector pays thousands of people. Higher education remains one of the principal employers of the agglomeration. The banking services and financial concentrate in the district of the businesses with Fidelity Investments or the regional seat of Bank off America. The company Gillette installed its head office in Boston, just as the cabinets of the Boston Consulting Group and the Boston Globe Consulting . The sector of health and the social services constitute the first employer of the commune.
the wearing of Boston: : 83352 containers passed by the Conley terminal in 2002. The total traffic of the port was into 2001 of 14 million tons of handled goods, which locates it very far behind the port of Houston (176 million tons) or of New York (73 million tons). The transported products are essentially paper, wood, the fish, oil and alcohol.
Today, the offer of newspapers and magazines remains important; that testifies to the dynamism of the Bostonian cultural life: the monthly magazine Boston Magazine , diffused with: 70000 specimens, is entirely turned towards Boston. The two-monthly arts person Boston Review , diffused with: 10000 specimens, is intended to the writers and to the academics; it exposes the ideological debates of the Bostonian campuses. Founded in 1975, the Boston Review is written by the office of the department of political sciences of Massachusetts Institute off Technology. The review owes its reputation with writers such as Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader or Tom Paine. The Boston Earth , diffused with: 435000 specimens, represents the famous daily newspaper of the New England. In 1993, it was repurchased by the NewYork Times . The daily newspapers The Boston Herald , The Boston Phoenix and The Christian Science Monitor are also based in the city.
See also: Sport in Boston
If Boston profits especially from a reputation of intellectual city, that does not prevent it from having also large sporting teams. In baseball, the competition is exacerbated between Red Sox and the Yankees of New York. In less baited, the competition in tennis shoe between Celtics and the Lakers of Los Angeles, personified by the opposition between a Larry Bird to the Irish and country roots and the urban Black Magic Johnson, impassioned America in the Eighties. Celtics have the historical records of titles NBA (16). The football team American, the Patriots of the News England was born in 1960 and gained the finale of the Super Bowl into 2002,2004 and 2005.
The city counts many sports equipment: TD Banknorth Garden receives the two large teams of the Bruins of Boston and the Celtics of Boston. The Fenway Park, built in 1912 in the Fenway Kenmore, is one of the oldest stages in activity of the country. It is the residence of the Red Sox of Boston and can accommodate a little more: 38000 spectators. It should be noted that the Gillette Stadium, inaugurated in 2002, is not in Boston even, but with Foxboro. It accommodates large the matches soccer and of American football.
Let us announce that the university sport contributes to the dynamism and the national radiation of Boston. The teams of hockey of the four great higher establishments meet at the time of a tournament called The Beanpot.
The Marathon of Boston is organized each year since 1897: the race starts from Hopkinton and finishes in the district of Back Bay. More than 5000 runners come from the whole world to take part in it. Since 1969, it takes place third Monday of April. It is about the first marathon open to the women in 1972.
On sea, The Transat is a transatlantic race as a recluse connecting Plymouth in England to Boston.
In the years 1960, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is founded to deal with the joint grid system.
There exist two large railway stations: South Station is one of most important of the city, with its 13 quays and its connections with the bus and the subway. North Station allows takes the train towards Concord.
See also: Subway of Boston
The urban transport is managed by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA). A third of the Bostonians takes public transport to go to work.
There exist five principal lines of subway - makes 3 underground lines and 2 tram lines of them representing approximately 100 km of ways - which serve the whole of the agglomeration; each one of these lines is identified by a color. The Bostonians indicate their subway by the letter " T".
There exist 159 lines of bus in all the agglomeration and the park was recently replaced by more modern vehicles and less pollutants:
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