2325 UNITED STATES (New Hampshire) - New Hampshire map

Located in the New England region of the northeastern United States, New Hampshire is bordered by Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, the Canadian province of Quebec, and the Atlantic Ocean. Known for its natural beauty, it features rugged mountains, clear blue lakes, and sandy lake and ocean beaches. Contained within the Appalachian Highlands, the three primary geological features and landforms of New Hampshire are the Coastal Lowlands, the Eastern New England Upland, and the White Mountains Region.
 

New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any U.S. coastal state (21km). Most of southern of the state is covered by the Eastern New England Upland, which is comprised of 3 distinct areas: the  Merrimack Valley, the Hills and Lakes Region, and the Connecticut River Valley. The White Mountains Region covers the northern portion of the state and consists of rugged mountains and narrow valleys. Its most northern portion is characterized by heavily forested hills. The western section is populated with dairy and potato farms.

Various Algonquian (Abenaki and Pennacook) tribes inhabited the area prior to European settlement. English and French explorers visited New Hampshire in 1600-1605, and the first permanent settlement was at Hilton's Point (present-day Dover). In 1679, it became the "Royal Province". In January 1776 it became the first of the British North American colonies to establish a government independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain's authority and it was the first to establish its own state constitution.

New Hampshire was a Jacksonian stronghold; the state sent Franklin Pierce to the White House in the election of 1852. Industrialization took the form of numerous textile mills, which in turn attracted large flows of immigrants from Quebec and Ireland. After 1960, the textile industry collapsed, but the economy rebounded as a center of high technology and as a service provider. It has no general sales tax, nor is personal income (other than interest and dividends) taxed at either the state or local level.

The estimated population of New Hampshire was 1,330,608 on July 1, 2015, of which 93.9% are White American. Concord is the state capital (since 1808), while Manchester is the largest city in the state, and also the largest New England city north of Boston. Starting in 1952, New Hampshire gained attention for its presidential primary held early in every presidential election year. It immediately became the most important testing grounds for candidates for the Republican and Democratic nominations.

About the stamps
The first stamp is part of the series issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the television special, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.", about which I wrote here. The second stamp is part of a definitive series with butterflies, about which I wrote here. The last stamp is part of the series Harry Potter, about which I wrote here.

References
New Hampshire - Wikipedia
New Hampshire Geography - netstate.com

Sender: Denise
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 26.01.2015