From Wikipedia: Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States and the 21st most populous city in the United States. The city proper covers 48.4 square miles (125 km). Boston is one of the oldest municipalities in the United States, founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from the English town of the same name. Boston's early European settlers had first called the area Trimountaine (after its "three mountains", only traces of which remain today) but later renamed it Boston after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, the origin of several prominent colonists. The renaming on September 7, 1630 was by Puritan colonists from England who had moved over from Charlestown earlier that year in quest for fresh water. Their settlement was initially limited to the Shawmut Peninsula, at that time surrounded by the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River and connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. The peninsula is thought to have been inhabited as early as 4000 BC. Boston's oceanfront location made it a lively port, and the city primarily engaged in shipping and fishing during its colonial days.
