Although never formally designated as such by the British, Savannah was the center of colonial government in Georgia for half a century.
Georgia, the last of the 13 British colonies established on the Atlantic seaboard, was founded by James Edward Oglethorpe with 114 original settlers on February 12, 1733, at the present site of the city of Savannah.
As more people settled in the colony of Georgia, the Spanish in the Florida area became increasingly uneasy at the growing British presence. On July 7, 1742, Oglethorpe, then "General and Commander in Chief of the Forces of South Carolina and Georgia", defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Bloody Marsh on St. Simons Island, removing the Spanish threat to Georgia. In 1743 General Oglethorpe sailed for England never to return to Georgia.
With the arrival of more colonists, settlements developed along the coast and up the rivers. In 1758 the province of Georgia was divided into eight parishes, with four new parishes added in 1765. When Georgia’s independence from British rule was declared in January of 1776, an Executive Council was elected, and the revolutionary state government made Savannah its capital. The Legislature met there in 1777 and in 1778.
Upon the fall of Augusta in 1779, the government was located temporarily at Head’s Fort in Wilkes County from February 1780, to July 1781. Government officials returned to Augusta in 1782, only to move to Savannah, which the British had evacuated. The legislators paused en route for several days to conduct business at Ebenezer, a small German settlement….
In January, 1977, Georgia sent its first President to the White House Jimmy Carter of Plains, a former Georgia governor. Profiting from the strong leadership of the past two Decades, Atlanta has become an international city. Georgia governors travel the globe to encourage trade and investment for the state. In the final quarter of the 20th century, Georgia, with its capital city Atlanta, is emerging as a leader in the social, political and economic progress of the nation.

1860-1927: Founder of the Girl Scouts; born in Chicago, Ill. From a prominent Savannah, Ga., family, she was educated at private schools and traveled widely. Inspired by the Girl Guides of England, she established the Girl Scouts of America in 1912. Her charm, conviction, and hard work ensured the Girl Scouts' early success.

1917-67: Writer, born in Columbus, GA. She studied at Columbia and New York universities. She married and divorced Reeves McCullers twice (1937--41, 1945--8). From the age of 29, paralysis of one side confined her to a wheelchair. Her work reflects the sadness of lonely people, and her first book, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), about a deaf mute, distinguished her immediately as a novelist of note. She wrote the best and the bulk of her work in a six-year burst through World War 2, including the novella The Ballad of the Sad Café (1951), which was dramatized by Edward Albee.