Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in <a href="/facts/Middlesex_County,_Massachusetts/jXvKhAuN">Middlesex County, Massachusetts</a>, United States. It is a suburb in the <a href="/facts/Greater_Boston/cF49dxCK">Greater Boston</a> metropolitan area, located directly across the <a href="/facts/Charles_River/gmKwhy9W">Charles River</a> from <a href="/facts/Boston/exjfn6xf">Boston</a>. The city's population as of the <a href="/facts/2020_United_States_census/dTEm5TRr">2020 U.S. census</a> was 118,403, making it the most populous city in the county, the <a href="/facts/List_of_municipalities_in_Massachusetts/CS4avIyN">fourth-largest</a> in Massachusetts behind Boston, <a href="/facts/Worcester,_Massachusetts/LqhMK07t">Worcester</a>, and <a href="/facts/Springfield,_Massachusetts/MhlE56c4">Springfield</a>, and <a href="/facts/List_of_cities_in_New_England_by_population/CHL7gxTu">ninth-most populous</a> in <a href="/facts/New_England/ufw2BmSl">New England</a>. The city was named in honor of the <a href="/facts/University_of_Cambridge/0la7aX9o">University of Cambridge</a> in <a href="/facts/Cambridge/gNRdbmwK">Cambridge</a>, England, which was an important center of the <a href="/facts/Puritans/BJQsWCfT">Puritan</a> theology that was embraced by the town's founders.: 18 
<a href="/facts/Harvard_University/Lhy9L1cx">Harvard University</a>, an <a href="/facts/Ivy_League/BJchlDEN">Ivy League</a> university founded in Cambridge in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. The <a href="/facts/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology/Xk49vNA8">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> (MIT), <a href="/facts/Lesley_University/5pULJyxF">Lesley University</a>, and <a href="/facts/Hult_International_Business_School/VGfKuAFe">Hult International Business School</a> also are based in Cambridge. <a href="/facts/Radcliffe_College/kBmjyYHq">Radcliffe College</a>, a women's liberal arts college, was based in Cambridge from its 1879 founding until its assimilation into Harvard in 1999.
<a href="/facts/Kendall_Square/sfSkGNsS">Kendall Square</a>, near MIT in the eastern part of Cambridge, has been called "the most innovative square mile on the planet" due to the high concentration of <a href="/facts/Startup_company/9lsjFELt">startup companies</a> that have emerged there since 2010.
Founded in December 1630 during the <a href="/facts/Colonial_history_of_the_United_States/6fYe7RfF">colonial era</a>, Cambridge was one among the first cities established in the <a href="/facts/Thirteen_Colonies/H50dauTJ">Thirteen Colonies</a>, and it went on to play a historic role during the <a href="/facts/American_Revolution/zy1F0LxK">American Revolution</a>.
In May 1775, approximately 16,000 <a href="/facts/Patriot_(American_Revolution)/vmgnC2yg">American patriots</a> assembled in <a href="/facts/Cambridge_Common/ymBlqhok">Cambridge Common</a> to begin organizing a military retaliation against <a href="/facts/British_Army_during_the_American_Revolutionary_War/zLPGYQ08">British troops</a> following the <a href="/facts/Battles_of_Lexington_and_Concord/f7cbUFXP">Battles of Lexington and Concord</a>. On July 2, 1775, two weeks after the <a href="/facts/Second_Continental_Congress/576P61Ah">Second Continental Congress</a> in <a href="/facts/Philadelphia/2bFFCCTU">Philadelphia</a> formally established the <a href="/facts/Continental_Army/6t0ljw3z">Continental Army</a> and appointed <a href="/facts/George_Washington/ucb7mE4Q">George Washington</a> commander of it, Washington arrived at Cambridge Common to take command of the Patriot soldiers camped there. Many of these soldiers played a role in supporting Washington's successful <a href="/facts/Siege_of_Boston/HPMa5zfJ">siege of Boston</a>, which trapped garrisoned British troops from moving by land, forcing the British to ultimately abandon Boston. Cambridge Common is thus celebrated as the birthplace of the Continental Army.

Cambridge, Massachusetts open-in-new

Cambridge, Massachusetts