Connecticut

Connecticut Forklift Parts - The US state of Connecticut is located in the northeastern part of the US within the New England area. Connecticut is shares its border with the state of Rhode Island to the east, the state of Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south. The state likewise shares a water boundary with New York within the Long Island Sound.

The very first settlers from Europe in Connecticut were Dutch, when they established a small, settlement that is now where Hartford City is located. This settlement was situated at the confluence of the Connecticut rivers and the Park and was referred to as Huys de Goede Hoop. Initially, half of Connecticut was a part of the Dutch colony, New Netherland, that comprised a lot of the land between the Delaware and Connecticut rivers.

The very first major settlements were established during the 1630s by the English. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers overland from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and established what would become the Connecticut Colony; other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony. Both the New Haven and Connecticut Colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders, considered the very first constitutions in North America. During the year 1662, the three colonies were merged under a royal charter, making the state of Connecticut a crown colony. This colony was among the Thirteen Colonies which revolted against British rule in the American Revolution.

The Connecticut River, Thames River, and ports along the Long Island Sound have given the state of Connecticut a strong maritime tradition, which continues today. Connecticut's other traditional business is financial services; like for instance, insurance companies within Hartford and hedge funds within Fairfield County. As of the year 2010 Census, the state of Connecticut features the highest per capita income, Human Development Index (0.962), and median household income within the nation. Though Connecticut is a wealthy state by most measures, the income gap between its urban and suburban regions is striking, with several of Connecticut's cities ranking among the country's poorest and most dangerous.

The total gross state product for 2010 was $237 billion. The per capita income for 2007 was $54,117, ranking first among the states. There is, nonetheless, a great disparity in incomes throughout Connecticut; even though New Canaan has one of the highest per capita incomes in the United States, Hartford City is among the ten cities with the lowest per capita incomes within America. As with Bridgeport, New Haven and various cities within the state, Hartford is surrounded by richer suburbs. Connecticut's unemployment rate during the month of August the year 2011 was 9 percent.

New Canaan is the wealthiest town within the state of Connecticut, with a per capita income of $85,459. Darien, Greenwich, Weston, Wilton and Westport also have per capita incomes more than $65,000. The poorest municipality in Connecticut is Hartford, with a per capita income of $13,428 in the year 2000. There are several blue-collar and low-income towns, mostly parts of towns, within the state's eastern areas.