Vermont, flag ofconstituent state of the United States of America (United States). One of the six New England states lying in the northeastern corner of the country, it was admitted to the union on March 4, 1791, as the 14th state. It is sparsely populated, and its capital, Montpelier, is one of the least-populous U.S. state capitals. Vermont is bordered to the north by Quebec, Can., to the east by New Hampshire, to the south by Massachusetts, and to the west by New York. From the Canadian to the Massachusetts border, the Connecticut River separates Vermont from New Hampshire. The river, from the mean low-water line on the western bank, is entirely within New Hampshire's borders.

The land of Vermont does not have great variety, but in place of this it substitutes an intensity and pervasiveness of those features it does possess.

The Green Mountains that cover most of the state are part of the northern Appalachian Mountains, which run southeastward from Canada into north-central Alabama. They provide Vermont with a north-south backbone that ranges from approximately 20 to 35 miles (30 to 55 km) in width. Thirty-one mountains in the state rise above 3,500 feet (1,100 metres), and most of this tilted landscape is rocky with thin topsoil. Only about 15 percent of the state's terrain, mostly in the Champlain valley, is level land with fertile soil and high productive capability. Vermont's average elevation is about 1,000 feet (300 metres). Mount Mansfield (Mansfield, Mount), at 4,393 feet (1,339 metres), is its highest point; and Lake Champlain (Champlain, Lake), at 95 feet (29 metres), is its lowest. On the Vermont-Massachusetts border, the northern end of the Hoosac Range enters the state, and the Taconic Range rises along the southwestern side. North of the Taconic Range are the Red Sandrock Hills, which extend along Lake Champlain to St. Albans (Saint Albans).

Vermont's mountain ranges are broken by the valleys of only a few rivers, such as the Winooski (Winooski River), Lamoille, and Missisquoi, all flowing westward into Lake Champlain (Champlain, Lake). Part of the Missisquoi turns north to flow through Canada before returning to Vermont. Lake Champlain's waters empty northward into Canada's Richelieu River and flow 80 miles (130 km) into the St. Lawrence (Saint Lawrence River and Seaway). The longest river entirely within the state is the Lamoille (85 miles 【135 km】), followed by Otter Creek (75 miles 【120 km】), which rises in southwestern Vermont and flows northward into Lake Champlain. Several small streams, the largest of which is the White River, flow from the central highlands into the Connecticut River. The western portion of Lake Champlain is in New York, and three-fourths of the area of Lake Memphremagog (Memphremagog, Lake)—the second largest lake associated with Vermont—lies in Canada. The largest of the 400 natural lakes entirely in Vermont is Lake Bomoseen, west of Rutland.

Snowfall in Vermont usually averages between 70 and 80 inches (1,800 and 2,000 mm) in the valleys and up to 110 inches (2,800 mm) in the mountains. Total annual precipitation varies from 34 inches (870 mm) in the eastern and western sections to more than 40 inches (1,025 mm) in the mountains. Winter temperatures can drop to −34 °F (−37 °C) and lower, and summer temperatures rarely rise above 90 °F (32 °C). Pleasant summer days often turn cool after nightfall. The annual growing season is only about 120 days—somewhat longer in the low-lying Champlain valley—because frost usually comes in September and may strike as late as the beginning of June. The short growing season and rocky soil make dairying the dominant form of commercial farming.

Most Vermonters live in valley cities and towns. Burlington, in the Champlain valley, is Vermont's largest community, followed by Essex, near Burlington; Rutland, in the Otter valley; Colchester, just north of Burlington; and South Burlington. The Burlington–South Burlington metropolitan area contains about one-third of the state's population. The Green Mountains were long a barrier between eastern and western Vermont, and judgeships and political candidates often were chosen to balance an eastern and western sectionalism. Although regional division is now a minor factor, some observers detect it emerging between southern and northern Vermont, presumably a reflection of the influx of newcomers and resort developments in the south. Others sense a dichotomy involving small towns and large towns, which revolves around such public issues as state constitutional reforms, welfare aid, and educational innovations. Three isolated northeastern counties have been known since 1949 as the “Northeast Kingdom,” a name bestowed by former governor and U.S. senator George Aiken in recognition of the area's natural beauty. Pragmatically, however, the major sense of regionalism is derived from large towns, which form a centre for surrounding rural areas.

The nature of farming has changed in Vermont. Although it has been surpassed by manufacturing and tourism as an economic force, farming still remains important. The number of farms declined by about one-third between 1950 and 2000, and employment in farming and its related industries has dropped to only a tiny fraction of the state's workforce. Less than half of the farms are dairy farms, the traditional mainstay of Vermont agriculture, but more than three-fourths of the state's farm income comes from dairy products.

Vermont's hundreds of manufacturing plants reflect national industrial trends. The number of machine-tool plants in Springfield tends to expand and contract along with the national economy. The St. Albans area, in Franklin county, suffered from the decline of the railroad industry. Textile mills were once major employers in many cities, such as Winooski, but many of these have closed or moved to the South. Some computer industries have moved into Vermont. Other Vermont firms have become subsidiaries of national firms. The state's Agency of Commerce and Community Development searches constantly for new industry, while an industrial park authority offers guidelines for establishing manufacturing facilities.

Tourism is the second largest component of the state's economy. Vacation resorts, motels and hotels, and related services employ thousands of Vermonters to serve the many tourists who visit the state each year. Skiing facilities at Stowe, Dover, Sherburne, and the Mad River valley are among the many Vermont winter resorts that attract people from throughout the Northeast. During the summer, visitors hike mountain trails, search through antique shops, study exhibits in the many museums, attend musical and dramatic performances, or bicycle or drive through the state and take photographs. Thousands of “leaf-peeping” tourists fill Vermont's roads in autumn as they look at the dramatic changing colours of the trees. The Tourism and Marketing Division of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development is active in promoting tourism, and its Vermont Life magazine depicts the state's scenic resources.

On July 8, 1777, Vermont adopted a constitution that was the first in the United States to prohibit slavery and to eliminate property qualifications for voting or holding office. It was revised in 1786, and in 1793 the present constitution was adopted. Amendments may be considered only once every four years.

Despite its limited tax base, Vermont is able to support its schools financially and administratively. Locally elected boards, encouraged by the state, govern all primary and secondary education. The state provides for much of the funding, for teacher training and certification, and for various special programs in such areas as vocational training, arts and crafts, and rehabilitation.

Vermont's often low-key and rural character is complemented by strong involvement in artistic and cultural pursuits. Many artists and scholars have followed such famous literary figures as Sinclair Lewis (Lewis, Sinclair), Pearl Buck (Buck, Pearl), Robert Frost (Frost, Robert), and Robert Penn Warren (Warren, Robert Penn) in maintaining vacation homes in the state. Painters find inspiration in the landscape, and sculptors adapt old materials and forms from barns and antique shops to contemporary uses. Among the fine art venues in Vermont are the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont, the Southern Vermont Art Center, in Manchester, the Springfield Historical Society and Miller Art Center, in Springfield, the Chaffee Center for the Visual Arts in Rutland, the T. W. Wood Gallery and Arts Center, in Montpelier, and the Middlebury College Museum of Art.

Vermont has more than 100 covered bridges, most of which were constructed before 1912 and have been protected by state law. The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation maintains almost 70 historic sites, including the Bennington Battle Monument, the Old Constitution House at Windsor, and the birthplace and family homestead of Pres. Calvin Coolidge (Coolidge, Calvin) at Plymouth. The State House in Montpelier is considered the state's most important historic site. Large areas of the Green Mountains are designated as national or state forests, and Vermont maintains dozens of state parks.

Paleo-Indians began to move into northern New England about 9000 BC, at the end of the last ice age. Vermont sites from the late Archaic culture period (c. 4000 BC) reveal highly specialized slate tools and evidence of wide-ranging exchange networks, including copper tools from the upper Great Lakes and shells from the Gulf of Mexico. By AD 1050, at the beginning of the Late Woodland period, there were extensive settlements in Vermont's river valleys.

Although the region was explored long before the landing of the Pilgrims and was settled before the American Revolution, it began its early development not as a chartered royal colony but as a territory whose possession New Hampshire and New York disputed. In the decades before the Revolution, disputes—frequently escalating into armed conflicts—arose when land grants by New Hampshire conflicted with similar grants issued by New York. Between 1770 and 1775, many early settlers joined units of the Green Mountain Boys, led by Ethan Allen (Allen, Ethan), and repulsed the Yorkers (those who settled in Vermont under New York patents) who tried to control Vermont. Later, when the American Revolution began, the same Green Mountain Boys also asserted their independence from England. Their successful assault on Fort Ticonderoga (Ticonderoga), on the New York side of Lake Champlain in May 1775, has been called the first offensive action by American forces of the Revolution.

Former Vermont governor Calvin Coolidge (Coolidge, Calvin) became president in 1923, famously taking the oath of office by lamplight in the family home in Plymouth; he served until 1929. By the 1930s Vermont had committed to a sustained effort to attract tourism and develop a recreation industry. Traditional summer tourism was augmented by the development of ski areas in the 1930s, making Vermont a year-round attraction. An influx of new residents ended population stagnation and eroded traditional loyalties to the Republican Party. In 1958 a Democrat captured Vermont's lone congressional seat for one term, and in 1962 the Democratic Party captured the governorship for the first time since 1853. In 1965, under court order, the General Assembly abandoned its one town–one representative apportionment scheme, shifting the balance of power from the many small, rural towns to the state's population centres. In 1985 Vermont elected its first female governor, Madeleine Kunin, who served for three terms.

Federal Writers' Project, Vermont, Vermont: A Guide to the Green Mountain State (1937, reprinted 1989), is also available in a 3rd rev. ed., edited by Ray Bearse (1968); it is still an excellent source for information on many aspects of the state. Harold A. Meeks, Time and Change in Vermont: A Human Geography (1986), discusses both continuity and change and includes a look at 20th-century Vermont, while his The Geographic Regions of Vermont: A Study in Maps (1975), presents the physical, economic, and cultural characteristics of the state. DeLorme Mapping Company, The Vermont Atlas and Gazetteer, 10th ed. (2000), focuses on topography. Geography and local history are treated in Esther Munroe Swift, Vermont Place-Names (1977, reprinted 1996). Charles W. Johnson, The Nature of Vermont: Introduction and Guide to a New England Environment, new and expanded ed. (1998), combines history and natural history. Jan Albers, Hands on the Land: A History of the Vermont Landscape (2002), is a concise history of settlement patterns in Vermont. Colin G. Calloway, The Western Abenakis of Vermont, 1600–1800: War, Migration, and the Survival of an Indian People (1990), examines Vermont's Abenaki during the first 200 years of contact with European settlement. Vermont Life (quarterly) publishes illustrated articles on such topics as Vermont's environment, history, and crafts.Charles T. Morrissey, Vermont (1981), provides an overview of the history of modern Vermont by focusing on historical antecedents and distinctive characteristics. Michael A. Bellesiles, Revolutionary Outlaws: Ethan Allen and the Struggle for Independence on the Early American Frontier (1993), explores the democratic influences of the New England frontier that led to the creation and survival of Vermont as an independent republic, 1777–91. Randolph A. Roth, The Democratic Dilemma: Religion, Reform, and the Social Order in the Connecticut River Valley of Vermont, 1791–1850 (1987), is an in-depth look at social change in Vermont. Frank M. Bryan, Yankee Politics in Rural Vermont (1974), explores the changing nature of 20th-century Vermont politics. Samuel B. Hand, The Star That Set: The Vermont Republican Party, 1854–1974 (2002), provides an in-depth look at what was once the most Republican state in the country. Joe Sherman, Fast Lane on a Dirt Road: Vermont Transformed, 1945–1990 (1991), looks at the forces that changed Vermont's social and economic environment following World War II. Michael Sherman (ed.), Vermont State Government Since 1965 (1999), examines the state's governmental structure and issues. Michael Sherman, Gene Sessions, and P. Jeffrey Potash, Freedom and Unity: A History of Vermont (2004), is a good one-volume overview of Vermont history. T.D. Seymour Bassett (ed.), Vermont: A Bibliography of Its History (1981), is an excellent guide to sources. Vermont History (quarterly) publishes ongoing research.Charles Thomas Morrissey D. Gregory Sanford