It is home to a number of prestigious educational institutions, including Yale University in New Haven, as well as other liberal arts colleges and private boarding schools in and around the "Knowledge Corridor".

Due to its geography, Connecticut has maintained a strong maritime tradition; the United States Coast Guard Academy is located in New London by the Thames River.

Historically a manufacturing center for arms, hardware, and timepieces,[16] Connecticut, as with the rest of the region, had transitioned into an economy based on the financial, insurance, and real estate sectors; many multinational firms providing such services can be found concentrated in the state capital of Hartford and along the Gold Coast in Fairfield County.

[22] The Connecticut region was inhabited by many Native American tribes that can be grouped into the Nipmuc, the Sequin or "River Indians" (which included the Tunxis, Schaghticoke, Podunk, Wangunk, Hammonasset, and Quinnipiac), the Mattabesec or "Wappinger Confederacy" and the Pequot-Mohegan.

[34] Historically significant colonial settlements included Windsor (1633), Wethersfield (1634), Saybrook (1635), Hartford (1636), New Haven (1638), Fairfield (1639), Guilford (1639), Milford (1639), Stratford (1639), Farmington (1640), Stamford (1641), and New London (1646).

[43] With more than 600 miles (970 km) of coastline including along its navigable rivers,[44] Connecticut developed during its colonial years the antecedents of a maritime tradition that would later produce booms in shipbuilding, marine transport, naval support, seafood production, and leisure boating.

[49] In 1775, David Bushnell invented the Turtle which the following year launched the first submarine attack in history, unsuccessfully against a British warship at anchor in New York Harbor.

The Redding encampment allowed Putnam's soldiers to guard the replenished supply depot in Danbury and to support any operations along Long Island Sound and the Hudson River Valley.

Soldiers at the Redding camp endured supply shortages, cold temperatures, and significant snow, with some historians dubbing the encampment "Connecticut's Valley Forge".

[54] The state was also the launching site for a number of raids against Long Island orchestrated by Samuel Holden Parsons and Benjamin Tallmadge,[55] and provided soldiers and material for the war effort, especially to Washington's army outside New York City.

The New Haven purchased 50 smaller companies, including steamship lines, and built a network of light rails (electrified trolleys) that provided inter-urban transportation for all of southern New England.

[89] The advent of lend-lease in support of Britain helped lift Connecticut from the Great Depression,[90] with the state a major production center for weaponry and supplies used in World War II.

[96] The helicopter saw limited use in World War II, but future military production made Sikorsky Aircraft's Stratford plant Connecticut's largest single manufacturing site by the start of the 21st century.

[97] Connecticut lost some wartime factories following the end of hostilities, but the state shared in a general post-war expansion that included the construction of highways[98] and resulting in middle-class growth in suburban areas.

[109] Two months later, the "Halloween nor'easter" dropped extensive snow onto trees, resulting in snapped branches and trunks that damaged power lines; some areas were without electricity for 11 days.

The northern boundary of the state with Massachusetts is marked by the Southwick Jog or Granby Notch, an approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) square detour into Connecticut.

The origin of this anomaly is clearly established in a long line of disputes and temporary agreements which were finally concluded in 1804, when southern Southwick's residents sought to leave Massachusetts, and the town was split in half.

Far southern and coastal Connecticut has a climate with cool winters with a mix of rain and infrequent snow, and the long hot and humid summers typical of the middle and lower East Coast.

By late May, the building Bermuda High creates a southerly flow of warm and humid tropical air, bringing hot weather conditions throughout the state.

Daily high temperatures in October and November range from the 50s to 60s F. Winters (December through mid-March) are moderately generally cold from south to north in Connecticut.

A 2014 Pew survey of Connecticut residents' religious self-identification showed the following distribution of affiliations[164] Protestant 35%, Roman Catholic 33%, non-religious 28%, Jewish 3%, Mormonism 1%, Orthodox 1%, Jehovah's Witness 1%, Hinduism 1%, Buddhism 1% and Islam 1%.

The highest unemployment rate during that period occurred in November and December 2010 at 9.3%,[173] but economists expected record new levels of layoffs as a result of business closures in the spring of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The new tax policy drew investment firms to Connecticut; as of 2019[update], Fairfield County was home to the headquarters for 16 of the 200 largest hedge funds in the world.

[189] Finance, insurance and real estate was Connecticut's largest industry in 2018 as ranked by gross domestic product, generating $75.7 billion in GDP that year.

[199] Connecticut historically was a center of gun manufacturing, and four gun-manufacturing firms continued to operate in the state as of December 2012[update], employing 2,000 people: Colt, Stag, Ruger, and Mossberg.

[202] Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun are the two biggest tourist draws and number among the state's largest employers;[203] both are located on Native American reservations in the southeastern Connecticut.

Its proceedings are similar to those of the United States Supreme Court: no testimony is given by witnesses, and the lawyers of the two sides each present oral arguments no longer than thirty minutes.

[235] In July 2009, the Connecticut legislature overrode a veto by Governor M. Jodi Rell to pass SustiNet, the first significant public-option health care reform legislation in the nation.

[237] In April 2012, both houses of the Connecticut state legislature passed a bill (20 to 16 and 86 to 62) that abolished capital punishment for all future crimes, while 11 inmates who were waiting on the death row at the time could still be executed.

The traditional abbreviation of the state's name is "Conn."; the official postal abbreviation is CT. Commemorative stamps issued by the United States Postal Service with Connecticut themes include Nathan Hale, Eugene O'Neill, Josiah Willard Gibbs, Noah Webster, Eli Whitney, the whaling ship the Charles W. Morgan, which is docked at Mystic Seaport, and a decoy of a broadbill duck.