In the 1980s, media mogul Ted Turner founded the Cable News Network (CNN)--the first television channel to provide 24-hour news coverage. A companion channel, CNN2, was launched on January 1, 1982.

Due to the city's superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868.

The city is situated among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, which first formed roughly 480 million years ago and once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before experiencing natural erosion. At 1,050 feet (320 m) above mean sea level, Atlanta has the highest elevation among major cities east of the Mississippi River.

In Georgia, desegregation of the public sphere came in stages, with public transportation desegregated by 1959, movie theaters by 1963, and public schools by 1973 (nearly 20 years after the US Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional).

From its source in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Chattahoochee River flows southwesterly to Atlanta and through its suburbs. The river borders the far northwestern edge of the city, and much of its natural habitat has been preserved, in part by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.

It is unclear just how the fire started, but it spread quickly, fueled by hot temperatures and strong winds. Fire trucks were sent from nine Georgia towns (as far away as Macon and Augusta), as well as from Chattanooga and Knoxville in Tennessee. In eleven hours, 22,000,000 US gallons of water were pumped to put out the fire. When the smoke finally cleared, 1,938 buildings were destroyed over 300 acres (1.2 km²) spanning 73 city blocks, displacing more than 10,000 people.

The city is home to the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, an annual arts and crafts festival established in 1933. It is held in early April, when the native flowering dogwood trees are in bloom.

Increased racial tensions led to the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906, when white mobs invaded black neighborhoods, destroying homes and businesses and leaving at least 27 people dead. The violence did not end until Governor Joseph M. Terrell called in the Georgia National Guard. Local histories ignored the massacre for decades. In 2006, on its 100th anniversary, the city and citizen groups marked the event with discussions, forums, and memorial services, and the following year, it was made part of the state's social studies curriculum for public schools.

For the first time in Olympic history, every one of the record 197 national Olympic committees invited to compete sent athletes, sending more than 10,000 contestants participating in a record 271 events, but the Games were marred by violence on July 27, 1996, when a pipe bomb was detonated at Centennial Olympic Park, killing two and injuring 111. Years later, Eric Rudolph confessed to the bombing and was sentenced to life in prison.

A member of the Democratic Party, Maynard Jackson was elected in 1973 at the age of 35 as the first black mayor of Atlanta and of any major city in the South. He served three terms (1974-1982, 1990-1994) and was notable for public works projects, primarily the new Maynard H. Jackson International terminal at the Atlanta airport, and for greatly increasing minority business participation in the city.