Boston is a center of finance, education and music. And it is a major seaport. The city and nearby communities form the largest industrial center in the New England area of the northeastern United States. Boston occupies about 135 square kilometers along the Atlantic coast.

Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The first people of Massachusetts were Native Americans.

In 1630, a group of Christians known as Puritans arrived from England to escape religious oppression. Many Puritans came from the English city of Boston. So that is what they named their new home. Boston is also known as "Bean Town." Beans were an important trade crop for the city in colonial days.

American schoolchildren learn that Boston is the birthplace of the nation’s freedom. Boston is where the war that separated the American colonies from Britain began in 1775.

Today, lots of people learn about the city's part in the American Revolution by walking the Freedom Trail in Boston. This trail is almost five kilometers long. It takes people to 16 historic places. One of these is the Old North Church. Lights placed at the top of the church warned American colonists that the British would soon attack.

Also along the walk is the area where British soldiers shot into a crowd and killed five colonists. The anger that followed helped fire the spirit that produced the American Revolution.

From the Boston Freedom Trail you can also see the first public school in the United States. Students first attended Boston Latin School in 1635.