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 SAVANNA or (Span. sávana, a sheet; Late Lat. sabanum, Gr., a linen cloth), a term applied either to a plain covered with snow or ice, or, more generally, to a treeless plain. Its use in English, more frequent formerly than now, is most common in application to the great plains of central North America, in which it is practically the equivalent of “” (q.v.). In this application it was first used (accented thus—savána) by the Spanish historian Gonzalo de Oviedo y Valdés in the 16th century.  SAVANNAH, a city, a port of entry, and the county-seat of Chatham county, Georgia, U.S.A., on the right (south) bank of the Savannah river, about 18 m. from the Atlantic Ocean. Pop. (1890) 43,189; (1900) 54,244, of whom 28,090 were negroes and 3434 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 65,064. It is served by the Atlantic Coast Line, the Central of Georgia, the Southern, and other railways; by river steamers to Augusta; by coastwise steamers to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston; and by transatlantic steamers to European ports.

The first European settlement in Georgia was made at Savannah in February 1733 by James Edward Oglethorpe. Among the early inhabitants were Charles and John Wesley, who arrived in 1735, but returned to England in 1736 and 1737 respectively, and George Whitefield, who lived in Savannah in 1738 and 1740. Savannah was the seat of government of Georgia until the capture of the city by the British in 1778. Here, on the 1st of January, 1755, met the first legislature of Georgia. In the years preceding the War of Independence the political issues excited much partisanship. Riots almost completely prevented the execution of the Stamp Act, and the stamps were reloaded on the ship that brought them to Savannah. In 1769 the merchants agreed not to import any articles mentioned in the Townshend Acts of 1767;

On the 18th of January 1775 the first Provincial Congress was convened here; on the night of the 11th of May the powder magazine was robbed of all its ammunition, part of which was sent to Boston and, according to tradition, was used at Bunker Hill; and on the 22nd of June the people of the city elected a Council of Safety. On the 4th of July the same Provincial Congress again met, and soon the royal administration collapsed. Probably the first naval capture of the War of Independence was made off Tybee Island on the 10th of July, when a schooner,