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Show MASSACHUSETTS x?. BJASSACHU-K BJASSACHU-K 1" SETTS was an KLRaaiA, Indian word, mass-M mass-M BrWS U awachuset, which Q f$jWJ! j? m e a n s "at the w IL'JkJT Ml- great hill." It was g used by the Algon-4S33 Algon-4S33 quins to designate the-tribe living near Blue Hill in Milton, Mil-ton, now a state reservation near Boston and the highest hill in the eastern part of the state. This name was later applied to the great bay which Blue Hill overlooks. It was from this bay that the state was called the Massachusetts Bay colony, and after that the Province of Massachusetts Massa-chusetts Bay until the Revolution made it a commonwealth. Even today it is often called the Bay state. It was Capt. John Smith who first made a map of the New England coast and named the Charles river in honor of -"Baby Charles," who afterward after-ward became King Charles I. Other captains visited the coast from time to time, but it was not until the fall of 1C20 that the -Mayflower brought the first permanent settlers to the Massachusetts Massa-chusetts shore. The landing of the Pilgrims at Provincetown and Plymouth Ply-mouth three hundred years ago was recently celebrated. Of the original one hundred passengers on the Mayflower more than half died during the first winter. But the sturdy survivors, with indomitable courage, soon became be-came firmly established and from their beginning, augmented by the Puritan settlements of Salem and the towns around Boston, grew the state of Massachusetts, which now extends over 8.2SS square miles. In proportion propor-tion to its area Massachusetts Is second sec-ond only to Rhode Island in population popula-tion and has eighteen presidantial electoral votes. This makes Massachusetts Massa-chusetts one of the six most important states from a political point of view. |