Short answers, pulled from the story.
Atlanta was founded in 1837 as a tiny settlement first known as Terminus, then Thrasherville, and finally Atlanta. The city was born from the iron rails of a state-sponsored railroad designed to link the port of Savannah to the Midwest.
On the 1st of September 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood ordered the destruction of all public buildings and assets that could be of use to the Union Army before retreating from Atlanta. By the 11th of November 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered the destruction of Atlanta's remaining military assets, leaving the city almost entirely burned to the ground.
Atlanta elected its first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, in 1973. He modernized the city's airport and strengthened its role as a transportation center.
The 1996 Summer Olympic Games generated a direct economic impact of at least 5 billion dollars and initiated a fundamental transformation of the city in the following decade. The games also spurred the development of the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile freight railroad loop converted into an art-filled multi-use trail and light rail transit line.
Atlanta is situated among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains at an elevation of just over 1,050 feet above sea level, the highest elevation among major cities east of the Mississippi River. The city straddles the Eastern Continental Divide, where rainwater that falls on the south and east side of the divide flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
The mayor of Atlanta is Andre Dickens, a Democrat elected on a nonpartisan ballot whose first term in office began on the 3rd of January 2022. He governs the city alongside the 15-member Atlanta City Council.