Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1630, it is the largest city in New England. It has expanded throughout and beyond the Shawmut peninsula, and has become one of the oldest and most culturally significant cities in the United States. It is recognized as a global or world city. Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, and was a major shipping port and manufacturing centre. Today, the city is a centre of higher education and health care. Its economy is also based on research, finance, and technology—principally biotechnology. Boston, with a city proper estimated population of 596,638 in 2005, lies at the centre of America's eleventh largest metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, which is home to 4.4 million. Residents of the city are called Bostonians.****************Boston was founded on September 17, 1630, by Puritan colonists from England. The Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony are sometimes confused with the Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony ten years earlier on November 21, 1620, in what is today Bristol County, Plymouth County, and Barnstable County, Massachusetts. The two groups are historically distinct and differed in religious practice. The separate colonies were not united until 1691 with the formation of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. **************************************** Boston was established on a peninsula called Shawmut by its original Native American inhabitants. The peninsula was connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, and surrounded by the waters of Massachusetts Bay and the Back Bay, an estuary of the Charles River. Boston's early European settlers first called the area Trimountaine; but later renamed the town after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, from which several prominent colonists emigrated. A majority of Boston's early citizens were Puritans. Massachusetts Bay Colony's original governor, John Winthrop, gave a famous sermon entitled "A Model of Christian Charity," which captured the idea that Boston had a special covenant with God. (Winthrop also led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, which is regarded as a key founding document of the city.) Puritan ethics moulded an extremely stable and well-structured society in Boston. For example, shortly after Boston's settlement, Puritans founded America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), and America's first college, Harvard College (1636). Hard work, moral uprightness, and an emphasis on education remain part of Boston's culture. ******************************** During the early 1770s, British attempts to exert control on the thirteen colonies, primarily via taxation, prompted Bostonians to initiate the American Revolution. The Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and several early battles occurred in or near the city, including the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. During this period, Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride. ******************************** After the Revolution, Boston quickly became one of the world's wealthiest international trading ports because it was the closest major American port to Europe — exports included rum, fish, salt, and tobacco. During this era, descendants of old Boston families became regarded as the nation's social and cultural elites; they were later dubbed the Boston Brahmins. In 1822, Boston was chartered as a city. By the mid-1800s, the city's industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance. Until the early 1900s, Boston remained one of the nation's largest manufacturing centres, and was notable for its garment production, leather goods, and machinery industries. A network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region made for easy shipment of goods and allowed for a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a dense network of railroads facilitated the region's industry and commerce. From the mid-to-late-nineteenth century, Boston flourished culturally — it became renowned for its rarefied literary culture and lavish artistic patronage. It also became a centre of the abolitionist movement. ************************** In the 1820s, Boston's ethnic composition began to change dramatically with the first wave of European immigrants. Groups such as the Irish and Italians moved into the city and brought with them Roman Catholicism. Currently, Catholics make up Boston's largest religious community and since the early 20th century the Irish have played a major role in Boston politics — prominent figures include the Kennedys, Tip O'Neill and John F. Fitzgerald.