| March 25, 1584 |
Queen Elizbeth grants a charter to Sir Walter Raleigh to establish the first English colony in the New World. Rather than sailing due west from England and landing in Newfoundland, Raleigh opts to head south, then turn west at the Canary Islands, along the route first established by Columbus. Once in the New World, Raleigh followed the coast north (sailing past Georgia) to Roanoke Island.
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| May 23, 1609 |
Second Charter of Virgina is granted. This sets the southern limit as a line running west to the South Seas (Pacific Ocean) from a point 200 miles south of Point Comfort, where the James River runs into Chesapeake Bay. This includes most of present-day north Georgia
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| February 10, 1763 |
Treaty of Paris ends the French and Indian War and reduces Georgia's western boundary from the Pacific Ocean to the Mississippi River
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| April 24, 1773 |
William Bartram leaves Darien, following the River Road northwest to Fort Barrington
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William Bartram |
| September 16, 1796 |
Andrew Ellicott leaves leaves Philadelphia to begin the survey of the Florida-Georgia border, as agreed to in the Pinckney Treaty of 1795. Rather than sail south along the coast, Ellicott heads west to the Ohio River which he will take to New Orleans.
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| September 24, 1810 |
Using a revolt by citizens of West Florida as a pretext, (they had secured Baton Rouge the previous day) Leonard Covington marches into West Florida and claims it for the United States. His actions endear him to the state of Georgia, the only American state near West Florida at the time. |
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Leonard Covington |
| June 1, 1818 |
Surveyors designate the Camak Stone as the western end of Georgia and Tennessee. They are about 1 mile south of the actual border, the 35th parallel. |
| June 26, 1826 |
Georgia appoints a surveyor to establish the western boundary of the state.
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Georgia State Line |
| January 1, 1827 |
Creek relinquish ceded land in western Georgia.
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Creek Indians |
| January 4, 1830 |
With a force of some 30 Cherokee and the permission of federal government, Major Ridge evicts whites who have illegally settled Cherokee land along the Georgia-Alabama border about 30 miles southwest of present-day Rome, Georgia. The act infuriates Georgia politicians
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Rome, Georgia |
| May 9, 1832 |
Treaty of Payne's Landing is signed. The treaty required that the Seminole Indians be removed to the west. A small band of the Seminoles lived in Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp.
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Okefenokee Swamp |
| April 8, 1833 |
The Western Herald begins publication in the town of Auraria, Georgia |
| April 8, 1835 |
Convinced that the Cherokee presence in Georgia would soon be extinguished, Samuel Worcester leaves Brainerd, Tennessee and heads to Dwight Mission, Cherokee Nation, West.
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| November 18, 1835 |
Joanna Troutman presents the first Lone Star flag to Col. William Ward, commander of the Georgia Battalion. The Macon, Georgia-area troops were headed west to join in the fight for Texas independence. |
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City of Macon, Georgia |
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Crawford County, Georgia |
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Lone Star Flag |
| August 3, 1836 |
Governor William Schley hires Abbott Hall Brisbane to study possible routes between the Chattahoochee River and Chattanooga for the Western and Atlantic Railroad. |
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Western and Atlantic Railroad |
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William Schley |
| December 21, 1836 |
The Western and Atlantic Railroad Company is created by act of the Georgia legislature
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Western and Atlantic Railroad |
| May 12, 1837 |
Stephen Harriman Long is hired by the state of Georgia as chief engineer for the Western and Atlantic Railroad. |
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Western and Atlantic Railroad |
| February 18, 1854 |
Georgia Western Railroad chartered
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Georgia Western Railroad |
| May 10, 1865 |
Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis is captured in southwest Georgia near Irwinville
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Jefferson Davis |
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Civil War - 1865 |
| August 24, 1872 |
Macon and Western merges with the Central Railroad and Banking Company to form Central of Georgia Railroad
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City of Macon, Georgia |
| December 27, 1890 |
Georgia leases the Western and Atlantic Railroad to the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad |
| October 2, 1898 |
Campbell Island is washed away by a hurricane as it crosses the Georgia coast with an estimated maximum wind of 95 mph. It will cut across the state to the northwest, exiting near Rome. It is designated Hurricane #7
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| October 18, 1902 |
East face of Rocky Face Mountain just west of Dalton, Georgia struck by an earthquake
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Whitfield County, Georgia |
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Earthquakes that have struck Georgia
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| February 10, 1903 |
The Atlanta Joint Terminal Company was organized by Southern Railway, the Central of Georgia Railroad, and the Atlanta and West Point Railroad. |
| December 0, 1906 |
The state of Georgia awards Carroll County the location of its newest institution of higher learning, the University of West Georgia |
| January 12, 1908 |
[circa] First students begin arriving at the University of West Georgia |
| December 17, 1928 |
New tunnel enters operation through Chetoogeta Mountain near Tunnel Hill, replacing a 1,477 foot tunnel built to complete the Western and Atlantic Railroad
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Western and Atlantic Railroad |
| January 1, 1954 |
Georgia Tech defeats West Virginia 42-19 at the Sugar Bowl
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| May 26, 1964 |
Robert Kennedy speaks at the dedication of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy chapel on the campus of the University of West Georgia, Carroll County, Georgia |
| April 4, 1977 |
Southern Airways Flight 242, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashed during a hailstorm while attempting an emergency landing on a two-lane highway near New Hope, Georgia (west of Atlanta)
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| March 27, 1994 |
The Palm Sunday Killer tornadoes destroy a church in Piedmont, AL (west of Cedartown) before killing 18 in Georgia |
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Georgia Tornadoes |
| March 11, 1998 |
Monitoring stations along the Flint River report highest levels during flood that affected southwest Georgia
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| January 30, 2000 |
The Ice Bowl, as the Super Bowl was called by local residents, is played in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome after an ice storm knocks out power and results in a 47 car pile-up on Interstate 20 west of the city. In the game the St. Louis Rams beat the Tennessee Titans, 23-16
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The Georgia Dome |
| January 31, 2002 |
3 West Georgia baseball players charged with sexual assault
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Woman assaulted in apartment of 3 UWG baseball players |
| November 21, 2002 |
Judge Aubrey Duffey declares a mistrial in the sexual assault trial of two former University of West Georgia baseball players
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Woman assaulted in apartment of 3 UWG baseball players |
| April 29, 2003 |
Just before 5 a.m. a moderate earthquake, rated 4.9 on the Richter Scale, shook most of the northwest corner of Georgia, south to Atlanta. The epicenter was located in Menlo, Georgia, about 37 miles south of Chattanooga.
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Earthquakes that have struck Georgia
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| August 23, 2003 |
Booth Western Art Museum opens, Cartersville, Georgia
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| December 7, 2003 |
Hunters find the body of Ardena Carter on the grounds of Fort Benning, Georgia, about 4 miles west of Cusseta in Chattahoochee County. The cause of death has been ruled a homicide. |
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Ardena Carter |
| February 13, 2005 |
Georgia artists scored a major win at the Grammys, led by Ray Charles who received 8 posthumous awards including Record and Album of the Year for his Genius Loves Company. Atlanta-based Usher, who had won many awards in other shows, picked up three and Kayne West, born in Atlanta but raised in Chicago, who won for Best Rap Album, The College Dropout |
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Ray Charles |
| July 31, 2005 |
Americus police respond to a call involving the assault of a 29-year old woman. After investigation they arrest Southwest Georgia Chief Superior Court Judge Rucker Smith. |
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Rucker Smith |
| January 2, 2006 |
No 8 Georgia Bulldogs lose the Sugar Bowl to No. 11 West Virginia, 38-35 |
| March 12, 2006 |
Korean car manufacturer Kia Motors announced that it would build a $1.2 billion facility in West Point, Georgia, their first American based plant. |
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Troup County, Georgia |
| March 29, 2006 |
Formal request is made to the Georgia Supreme Court to remove Southwest Georgia Chief Judge Rucker Smith following his arrest on assault charges |
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Rucker Smith |
| July 7, 2006 |
Judge Melvin K. Westmoreland of Fulton County Superior Court blocked a revised Georgia Voter ID law. |
| April 5, 2007 |
An opening day promotion at Six Flags over Georgia snarls traffic during rush hour on I-20 west of Atlanta |
| June 26, 2009 |
Community Bank of West Georgia, Villa Rica, Georgia, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. The FDIC was appointed receiver. They will mail checks to depositors for their insured funds. |
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Bank Failures in Georgia |
| June 26, 2009 |
Neighborhood Community Bank of Newnan was closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. The FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with CharterBank, West Point, Georgia, to assume all of the deposits of Neighborhood Community Bank. |
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Bank Failures in Georgia |
| September 17, 2009 |
Some of the heaviest rain ever reported in Georgia falls northwest of Atlanta as a tropical system dumps rain across the state. Places in Cherokee and Cobb Counties report one-day totals near 9.0 inches with weekly totals between 18.0 and 21.0 inches |
| February 26, 2010 |
The Kia Sorrento plant in West Point, Georgia, officially opens |
