BOSTON, MA - Boston, The Cradle of Liberty, The Hub of the Universe, and Beantown are all common nicknames for New England’s largest city. But which one sounds a bit out of place?
How Did Boston Get Its Name?
The first settlers in Boston were English Puritans who fled religious persecution in England. They arrived in 1630 and named their new settlement after the town of Boston in Lincolnshire, England.
Boston, is one of America's most historic cities, was founded in 1630 by English Puritans who fled religious persecution. The city became Puritan New England's political, commercial, financial, educational, and religious center. It later played a central role in the American Revolution.
The city is situated on the Shawmut Peninsula, first inhabited by the Neponset Native Americans and then by European settlers. The Shawmut Peninsula was connected with mainland Roxbury to the south by a narrow neck of land along the line of present-day Washington Street.
Initially, the peninsula was almost surrounded by water, with mudflats and salt marshes to the west and the Charles River flowing through Back Bay to Boston Harbor. Town Cove indented it to the east, dividing the peninsula into the North and South End.
In the 18th century, the tension between the colonists and the British grew violent when British soldiers were stationed in the city. This resulted in a confrontation between the locals and the soldiers, known as the Boston Massacre. Five colonists were killed, and six others were wounded.
From the 18th century onward, many European immigrants flocked to Boston, including large groups of Irish and Italians and large numbers of Eastern European Jews. In the 19th century, Boston began to experience rapid growth as Chinese immigrants settled in the city and several ethnic minority communities migrated from surrounding states to the area.
