Short answers, pulled from the story.
The name Atlanta was proposed by John Edgar Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, as a feminine version of "Atlantic", referring to the Western and Atlantic Railroad that gave rise to the settlement. Residents approved the name, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on the 29th of December 1847. The name also reflected that Atalanta was the middle name of Martha Lumpkin, after whom the earlier name Marthasville had honored.
Atlanta was burned in 1864 because it was the Confederacy's most important railroad hub for distributing military supplies. On the 1st of September 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood ordered the destruction of Atlanta's public buildings and military assets before retreating. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman then ordered further destruction of remaining military infrastructure on the 11th of November 1864, as preparation for his March to the Sea.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport became the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic in 1998 and has held that title every year since, except in 2020. The airport handled an estimated 93.7 million passengers in 2022.
The 1956 Sugar Bowl became a flashpoint for racial integration when Georgia's Governor Marvin Griffin publicly demanded that Georgia Tech refuse to play against the Pitt Panthers because African-American fullback Bobby Grier was on the roster. Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer rejected the demand and threatened to resign. Students rioted in protest against Griffin, marching to the governor's mansion. On December 5, the Georgia Tech board of regents voted 13 to 1 to allow the game to proceed.
The 1996 Summer Olympics brought all 197 invited national Olympic committees to Atlanta, with more than 10,000 athletes competing in a record 271 events. The games were entirely privately funded at a cost of $1.7 billion, a first in Olympic history. According to former Mayor Kasim Reed, the games generated a direct economic impact of at least five billion dollars and initiated a lasting transformation of Atlanta's universities, parks, and tourism infrastructure.
Maynard Jackson was elected Atlanta's first Black mayor in 1973. His election came after African Americans had become the majority of the city's population by 1970 and exercised their voting rights. Every mayor elected in Atlanta since 1973 has been Black.