Connecticut (kon-net'-e-cut), one of the six New England states of the American Union, is bounded by Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Long Island Sound, and the state of New York. The smallest in area of all the states except Rhode Island and Delaware, with a surface of 4990 sq. m. (two-thirds that of Wales), it is one of the most densely peopled states of the Union. The surface is rocky and uneven, and the low Green and Taconic Mountains of the Appalachian system occupy part of the west. Much of the soil is not easily cultivated, and rather unfertile; but part of the valley of the Connecticut River is very productive, and grows tobacco. The Connecticut River, rising in New Hampshire, and forming the boundary with Vermont, flows south through Massachusetts and Connecticut to Long Island Sound, after a course of 450 miles, navigable for small vessels to Hartford. In the east of the state is the Thames, and in the west the Housa-tonic. The chief value of the very numerous streams is as a source of water-power for manufactories. The brown hematites of the northwest yield excellent iron; there are quarries of sandstone, granites, trap, limestone, and gneis-soid building-stones, as well as of serpentine and verde-antique; and lead, copper, and cobalt have been mined. Mineral-waters occur. The climate is very changeable, and is rather severe in winter, but generally healthful. Some good harbours favour the coastwise trade, but the whale and seal fisheries have declined. Oyster-fishing and other fisheries are engaged in. The state stands in the first rank as respects the amount and aggregate value of manufactured goods; clocks, hardware, india-rubber goods, firearms, silks and other textiles, small-wares in great variety, and subscription books are produced on a large scale. In very few parts of the world has more been done for popular education than in this state. Yale University at New Haven comprises collegiate and post-graduate courses, besides medical, theological, scientific, law, and art schools. Trinity College is at Hartford, and the Wesleyan University at Middletown, and there are several divinity schools. Among the principal cities and towns are Hartford, the capital (pop. 80,000), New Haven (110.000). Bridgeport, Waterbury, Meriden, New Britain, Norwalk, Danbury, Norwich, Stamford, and New London. The old stock of inhabitants were of English Puritan origin, but of later years there has been a large immigration of Irish, German, English, and others. The originally Puritan colony of Connecticut may be said to date from the secession in 1634 of the more democratic element from Massachusetts. Its constitution of 1639 was 'the first written democratic constitution on record.' The royal charter of 1662, essentially a confirmation of the older one, was superseded by the present state constitution only in 1818. Prominent events in Connecticut history have been the bloody war with the Pequot Indians, 1637; the governorship of Sir Edmund Andros, during a part of which (1687-88) the colonial charter was in abeyance; and the abolition of slavery in 1818. Pop. (1870) 537,454; (1880) 622,700; (1900) 908,420. See Johnston's Connecticut (1887).