Much of America's early history was written in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: the Stamp Act riots, Boston Tea Party, the battles at Lexington and Concord, landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. The sixth smallest state in land area, Massachusetts is located in the northeast United States on the Atlantic seaboard. Its capital is Boston, the largest city in New England. State population, mostly urban, is estimated at more than 6,100,000. The Massachusetts landscape is dominated by the New England mountain system, the Atlantic Coastal Plain, jagged forested coastlines with coves and bays, sandy beaches and grassy dunes and marches. Its longest river is the 106-mile Connecticut flowing north and south across the west central region of the state. Other important rivers are the Charles and the Merrimack. Called the Bay State, prominent among its 1,100 lakes and ponds are Cape Cod Bay, Buzzards Bay, and Massachusetts Bay. Its Main islands are Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Principal cities are, in addition to Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Brockton, Lowell, New Bedford, Cambridge, and Quincy.

Massachusetts combines a proud history with miles of sandy beaches, forested hills and majestic mountains, world-class ski resorts, great golf, boating, fishing, hiking, camping, whale watching, Tanglewood concerts, plus a cultural and intellectual heritage reflected in many of the nation's top colleges and universities: Harvard, Boston University, Tufts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Massachusetts, Simmons College, Brandies University, Wellesley, Smith, Radcliffe, Amherst, and Williams. Significant firsts include the first American University, first Thanksgiving, first regular newspapers, first witch hunts, first telephone transmission, and first radio broadcast. Massachusetts is the birthplace of three U.S. presidents and many of the country's leading writers and philosophers.

At one time Massachusetts was the fishing and commercial capital of the U.S. Today it is noted for its advancements in education, medicine, manufacturing, and high-technology industries and research. Other major economic contributors are finance, insurance, computers, food processing, and service industries. More than 400 magazines are published in Massachusetts. It remains a leader in commercial fishing and fisheries, and home to one of the nation's major deep-water ports in Boston. Also increasingly important to the economy is tourism. The area is served by an excellent network of roads and highways, 230 airports including Logan International Airport in Boston, modern railroad facilities, and the Intracoastal Waterway.

Most of the state's most popular attractions are in the Greater Boston area: Boston Harbor; the restored USS Constitution; the Freedom Trail linking Boston's historic sites to the American Revolution; John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Boston Common, site of the oldest park in the U.S.; African Meeting House; Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum; Bunker Hill Pavilion; King's Chapel, site of nation's first Unitarian Church; Literary Trail of Greater Boston; Old North Church, oldest church in Boston; Paul Revere House. Other notable points of interest are Commonwealth Museum; Computer Museum; Institute of Contemporary Arts; Tanglewood summer concerts in the Berkshires; Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Lyric Opera; the Kendall Whaling Museum; Garden in the Woods; Museum of Fine Arts; Museum of Science; Arnold Arboretum; Stony Brook Nature Center; MIT Museum; The Mohawk Trail; House of the Seven Gables made famous by Nathaniel Hawthorne; and Longfellow's Wayside Inn. The state's professional sports include the NFL New England Patriots, NBA Boston Celtics, NHL Boston Bruins, and the Boston Red Sox major league baseball club.

Archeological surveys show that the earliest occupants of the area lived about 10,000 years ago. When the white man arrived it was inhabited by Algonquin peoples, including the Wampanoag and Massachuset. European colonization began under a royal charter granted to Massachusetts Bay Company. Pilgrims, seeking refuge from religious preservation in England, arrived on the Mayflower at the wrong place; destined for Virginia, the ship was blown off course and finally anchored at Plymouth in December 1620. Plymouth Colony merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony and became a royal colony in 1691. Massachusetts was the center of radical opposition to the English parliament and spearheaded events leading to the American Revolution. First battles of the Revolutionary War took place outside Boston. Following independence, the Massachusetts state constitution was adopted in 1780. Massachusetts became the sixth of the original thirteen states on February 6, 1788.