Connecticut is a U.S. state that is located in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and New York City to the west and the south (with which it shares a water boundary in Long Island Sound).
Connecticut is named after the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state. Its capital is Hartford and its largest city is Bridgeport. Much of southern and western Connecticut (along with the majority of the state's population) is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut's eight counties are statistically included in the New York City combined statistical area; the same area is widely referred to as the Tri-State area. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, which is also located within the Tri-State area.
Connecticut is the the third least extensive, but the fourth most densely populated and the 29th most populous of the 50 United States. Often called the Constitution State, the Nutmeg State, and "The Land of Steady Habits", Connecticut was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States.
Connecticut's first European settlers were Dutch and established a small, short-lived settlement in present-day Hartford at the confluence of the Park and Connecticut rivers, called Huys de Goede Hoop, meaning "House of Hope". Initially, half of Connecticut was a part of the Dutch Colony, New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers.
