New Bedford Has Made This May Trips Around the Sun

When determining how often the city of New Bedford has orbited the sun, there are several things to consider. First, you must contemplate the age of planet Earth, how long it takes to complete a journey around the sun, and how old the city of New Bedford is.

LiveScience.com says, "Our planet is hurtling around the sun at more than 67,000 mph (107,800 km/h.)" Even at that tremendous speed, it takes 365.25 days for Earth to complete one trip around the sun.

Scientists believe Earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago. That would mean this giant rock we call home has circled the sun 4.5 billion times. One might assume then that New Bedford has made 4.5 million trips around the sun too, right?

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Technically, I guess that would be accurate, but 4.5 billion years ago, there was no New Bedford. There wasn't even much in the way of land mass at that point.

In determining the number of times New Bedford has circled the sun, we must consider when New Bedford came to be New Bedford.

The Wampanoag Indians occupied the land we now call New Bedford during the 17th century. The English colonists who settled in Massachusetts purchased the land from the Indians in 1652. In the latter half of the 17th century, Quakers established a settlement here.

The land the colonists purchased became known as Old Dartmouth, which today consists of New Bedford, Dartmouth, Acushnet and Fairhaven.

New Bedford was incorporated in 1787, 237 years ago. So I guess you would be correct if you said New Bedford has only orbited the sun 237 times.