Jasper County, Georgia

Jasper County, Georgia
Jasper County Courthouse
Location in the U.S. state of Georgia
Georgia's location in the U.S.
Founded	December 10, 1807
Named for	William Jasper
Seat	Monticello
Largest city	Monticello
Area
• Total	373 sq mi (966 km2)
• Land	368 sq mi (953 km2)
• Water	5.3 sq mi (14 km2), 1.4%
Population
• (2010)	13,900
• Density	38/sq mi (15/km²)
Congressional district	10th
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4

Jasper County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,900. The county seat is Monticello.

Jasper County is part of the very large Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area.

This area was inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands of years before the European encounter. At the time of European-Americans settlement, it was inhabited by the Cherokee and Muscogee Creek peoples, who became known as among the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast.

The County was created on December 10, 1807, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly with land that was originally part of Baldwin County, Georgia. It became part of the new area of upland settlement through the South eventually known as the Black Belt, and a center of large plantations for short-staple cotton. Invention of the cotton gin in the late 18th century had made processing of this type of cotton profitable, and it was cultivated throughout the inland areas. As migration continued to the west, the county population rapidly rose and fell through the nineteenth century. Georgia settlers pushed Congress for the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which eventually forced most of the Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.

Jasper County was originally named Randolph County (after the Virginian John Randolph). Because of Randolph's opposition to U.S. entry into the War of 1812, the General Assembly changed the name of Randolph County to Jasper County on December 10, 1812, to honor Sergeant William Jasper, an American Revolutionary War hero from South Carolina. However, Randolph's reputation eventually was restored, and in 1828, the General Assembly created a new Randolph County.