1.
Illinois
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Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 6th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, the word Illinois comes from a French rendering of a native Algonquin word. For decades, OHare International Airport has been ranked as one of the worlds busiest airports, Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics. With the War of 1812 Illinois growth slowed as both Native Americans and Canadian forces often raided the American Frontier, mineral finds and timber stands also had spurred immigration—by the 1810s, the Eastern U. S. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other states from the tyranny of water transport. By 1900, the growth of jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted a new group of immigrants. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars, the Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans in Chicago, who created the citys famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U. S. presidents have been elected while living in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, additionally, Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only U. S. president born and raised in Illinois. Today, Illinois honors Lincoln with its official slogan, Land of Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in the capital of Springfield. Illinois is the spelling for the early French Catholic missionaries and explorers name for the Illinois Native Americans. American scholars previously thought the name Illinois meant man or men in the Miami-Illinois language and this etymology is not supported by the Illinois language, as the word for man is ireniwa and plural men is ireniwaki. The name Illiniwek has also said to mean tribe of superior men. The name Illinois derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa he speaks the regular way and this was taken into the Ojibwe language, perhaps in the Ottawa dialect, and modified into ilinwe·. The French borrowed these forms, changing the ending to spell it as -ois. The current spelling form, Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, the Illinois name for themselves, as attested in all three of the French missionary-period dictionaries of Illinois, was Inoka, of unknown meaning and unrelated to the other terms. American Indians of successive cultures lived along the waterways of the Illinois area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Koster Site has been excavated and demonstrates 7,000 years of continuous habitation
2.
Indiana
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Indiana /ɪndiˈænə/ is a U. S. state located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 16th most populous of the 50 United States and its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U. S. state on December 11,1816, before becoming a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Indiana has an economy with a gross state product of $298 billion in 2012. Indiana has several areas with populations greater than 100,000. The states name means Land of the Indians, or simply Indian Land and it also stems from Indianas territorial history. On May 7,1800, the United States Congress passed legislation to divide the Northwest Territory into two areas and named the section the Indiana Territory. In 1816, when Congress passed an Enabling Act to begin the process of establishing statehood for Indiana, a resident of Indiana is officially known as a Hoosier. The first inhabitants in what is now Indiana were the Paleo-Indians, divided into small groups, the Paleo-Indians were nomads who hunted large game such as mastodons. They created stone tools made out of chert by chipping, knapping and flaking, the Archaic period, which began between 5000 and 4000 BC, covered the next phase of indigenous culture. The people developed new tools as well as techniques to cook food, such new tools included different types of spear points and knives, with various forms of notches. They made ground-stone tools such as axes, woodworking tools. During the latter part of the period, they built mounds and middens. The Archaic period ended at about 1500 BC, although some Archaic people lived until 700 BC, afterward, the Woodland period took place in Indiana, where various new cultural attributes appeared. During this period, the people created ceramics and pottery, an early Woodland period group named the Adena people had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds. In the middle portion of the Woodland period, the Hopewell people began developing long-range trade of goods, nearing the end of the stage, the people developed highly productive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture, growing such crops as corn and squash. The Woodland period ended around 1000 AD, the Mississippian culture emerged, lasting from 1000 until the 15th century, shortly before the arrival of Europeans. During this stage, the people created large urban settlements designed according to their cosmology, with mounds and plazas defining ceremonial
3.
Michigan
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Michigan /ˈmɪʃᵻɡən/ is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit, Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, the two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, as a result, it is one of the leading U. S. states for recreational boating. Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds, a person in the state is never more than six miles from a natural water source or more than 85 miles from a Great Lakes shoreline. What is now the state of Michigan was first settled by Native American tribes before being colonized by French explorers in the 17th century, the area was organized as part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Eventually, in 1805, the Michigan Territory was formed, which lasted until it was admitted into the Union on January 26,1837, the state of Michigan soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular immigrant destination. Though Michigan has come to develop an economy, it is widely known as the center of the U. S. automotive industry. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous tribes were Algonquian peoples, which include the Anishinaabe groups of Ojibwe, Odaawaa/Odawa, the three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. The Ojibwe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the largest, French voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlés expedition in 1622, the first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a base for Catholic missions, missionaries in 1671–75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were received by the areas Indian populations, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph, in 1691, the French established a trading post and Fort St. Joseph along the St. Joseph River at the present day city of Niles. The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent, cadillacs wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post, the Église de Saint-Anne was founded the same year
4.
Ohio
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Ohio /oʊˈhaɪ. oʊ/ is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Ohio is the 34th largest by area, the 7th most populous, the states capital and largest city is Columbus. The state takes its name from the Ohio River, the name originated from the Iroquois word ohi-yo’, meaning great river or large creek. Partitioned from the Northwest Territory, the state was admitted to the Union as the 17th state on March 1,1803, Ohio is historically known as the Buckeye State after its Ohio buckeye trees, and Ohioans are also known as Buckeyes. Ohio occupies 16 seats in the United States House of Representatives, Ohio is known for its status as both a swing state and a bellwether in national elections. Six Presidents of the United States have been elected who had Ohio as their home state, Ohios geographic location has proven to be an asset for economic growth and expansion. Because Ohio links the Northeast to the Midwest, much cargo, Ohio has the nations 10th largest highway network, and is within a one-day drive of 50% of North Americas population and 70% of North Americas manufacturing capacity. To the north, Lake Erie gives Ohio 312 miles of coastline, Ohios southern border is defined by the Ohio River, and much of the northern border is defined by Lake Erie. Ohios neighbors are Pennsylvania to the east, Michigan to the northwest, Ontario Canada, to the north, Indiana to the west, Kentucky on the south, Ohio is bounded by the Ohio River, but nearly all of the river itself belongs to Kentucky and West Virginia. Ohio has only that portion of the river between the rivers 1792 low-water mark and the present high-water mark, the border with Michigan has also changed, as a result of the Toledo War, to angle slightly northeast to the north shore of the mouth of the Maumee River. Much of Ohio features glaciated plains, with a flat area in the northwest being known as the Great Black Swamp. Most of Ohio is of low relief, but the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau features rugged hills, in 1965 the United States Congress passed the Appalachian Regional Development Act, at attempt to address the persistent poverty and growing economic despair of the Appalachian Region. This act defines 29 Ohio counties as part of Appalachia, the worst weather disaster in Ohio history occurred along the Great Miami River in 1913. Known as the Great Dayton Flood, the entire Miami River watershed flooded, as a result, the Miami Conservancy District was created as the first major flood plain engineering project in Ohio and the United States. Grand Lake St. Marys in the west central part of the state was constructed as a supply of water for canals in the era of 1820–1850. For many years this body of water, over 20 square miles, was the largest artificial lake in the world and it should be noted that Ohios canal-building projects were not the economic fiasco that similar efforts were in other states. Some cities, such as Dayton, owe their emergence to location on canals. Summers are typically hot and humid throughout the state, while winters generally range from cool to cold, precipitation in Ohio is moderate year-round
5.
Wisconsin
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Wisconsin is a U. S. state located in the north-central United States, in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, Wisconsin is the 23rd largest state by total area and the 20th most populous. The state capital is Madison, and its largest city is Milwaukee, the state is divided into 72 counties. Wisconsin is second to Michigan in the length of its Great Lakes coastline, Wisconsin is known as Americas Dairyland because it is one of the nations leading dairy producers, particularly famous for its cheese. Manufacturing, especially paper products, information technology, and tourism are major contributors to the states economy. The word Wisconsin originates from the given to the Wisconsin River by one of the Algonquian-speaking Native American groups living in the region at the time of European contact. French explorer Jacques Marquette was the first European to reach the Wisconsin River, arriving in 1673, subsequent French writers changed the spelling from Meskousing to Ouisconsin, and over time this became the name for both the Wisconsin River and the surrounding lands. English speakers anglicized the spelling from Ouisconsin to Wisconsin when they began to arrive in numbers during the early 19th century. The legislature of Wisconsin Territory made the current spelling official in 1845, the Algonquin word for Wisconsin and its original meaning have both grown obscure. Interpretations vary, but most implicate the river and the red sandstone that lines its banks, other theories include claims that the name originated from one of a variety of Ojibwa words meaning red stone place, where the waters gather, or great rock. Wisconsin has been home to a variety of cultures over the past 12,000 years. The first people arrived around 10,000 BCE during the Wisconsin Glaciation and these early inhabitants, called Paleo-Indians, hunted now-extinct ice age animals such as the Boaz mastodon, a prehistoric mastodon skeleton unearthed along with spear points in southwest Wisconsin. After the ice age ended around 8000 BCE, people in the subsequent Archaic period lived by hunting, fishing, agricultural societies emerged gradually over the Woodland period between 1000 BCE to 1000 CE. Toward the end of period, Wisconsin was the heartland of the Effigy Mound culture. Later, between 1000 and 1500 CE, the Mississippian and Oneota cultures built substantial settlements including the village at Aztalan in southeast Wisconsin. The Oneota may be the ancestors of the modern Ioway and Ho-Chunk tribes who shared the Wisconsin region with the Menominee at the time of European contact, the first European to visit what became Wisconsin was probably the French explorer Jean Nicolet. He canoed west from Georgian Bay through the Great Lakes in 1634, pierre Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers visited Green Bay again in 1654–1666 and Chequamegon Bay in 1659–1660, where they traded for fur with local Native Americans. In 1673, Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet became the first to record a journey on the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway all the way to the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien
6.
Chicago metropolitan area
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The Chicago metropolitan area, or Chicagoland, is the metropolitan area associated with the city of Chicago, Illinois, and its suburbs. With an estimated population of 9.4 million people, it is the third largest metropolitan area in the United States, Chicagoland is the area that is closely linked to the city through geographic, social, economic, and cultural ties. The Chicago metropolitan area is one of the world’s largest and most diversified economies, with more than four million employees, the region is home to more than 400 major corporate headquarters, including 31 in the Fortune 500. The Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area was originally designated by the United States Census Bureau in 1950 and it comprised the Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will, along with Lake County in Indiana. As surrounding counties saw an increase in their population densities and the number of their residents employed within Cook County, the Chicago MSA, now defined as the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the third largest MSA by population in the United States. The 2015 census estimate for the MSA was 9,427,676 and this loss of population has been attributed to taxes, political issues, and other factors. A breakdown of the 2009 estimated populations of the three Metropolitan Divisions of the MSA are as follows, The OMB also defines a larger region as a Combined Statistical Area. The Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI Combined Statistical Area combines the areas of Chicago, Michigan City. This area represents the extent of the market pool for the entire region. The CSA has a population of 9,928,312, the Chicago urban agglomeration, according to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report, lists a population of 9,545,000. The term “urban agglomeration” refers to the contained within the contours of a contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels. It usually incorporates the population in a city plus that in the surrounding area, Chicagoland is an informal name for the Chicago metropolitan area. The term Chicagoland has no definition, and the region is often considered to include areas beyond the corresponding MSA. Colonel Robert R. McCormick, editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, mcCormicks conception of Chicagoland stretched all the way to nearby parts of four states. The first usage was in the Tribunes July 27,1926 front page headline, Chicagolands Shrines, A Tour of Discoveries and he stated that Chicagoland comprised everything in a 200-mile radius in every direction and reported on many different places in the area. The Tribune was the dominant newspaper in a vast area stretching to the west of the city, today, the Chicago Tribunes usage includes the city of Chicago, the rest of Cook County, eight nearby Illinois counties, and the two Indiana counties of Lake and Porter. Illinois Department of Tourism literature uses Chicagoland for suburbs in Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce defines it as all of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties. For example, many residents who live in some of the more distant satellite counties nonetheless refer to themselves as being from Chicago or Chicagoans
7.
Greater Cleveland
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The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. Making Greater Cleveland the 32nd most populous area in the United States. Greater Cleveland is part of the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area, Northeast Ohio refers to a similar but substantially larger area. Northeast Ohio is home to approximately 4 million people, has a force of almost 2 million. Other counties are considered to be in Northeast Ohio. These include Erie, Holmes, Huron and Tuscarawas counties, approximately 48. 1% of the population was male and 51. 9% were female. 4. 7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race, the median income for a household in Greater Cleveland was $46,231 and the median income for a family, $59,611. The per capita income was $25,668, persons living below the poverty line was 15. 1%. For the past thirty years the Greater Cleveland area population has been in decline especially in terms of non-Hispanic whites all the while still being the most diverse region in the State, but at the same time has become even more increasingly diverse as well. As of 2010 both the Hispanic and Asian population in the Cleveland-Akron-Ashtabula area grew by almost 40%, Hispanics now number at 112,307, and Asian alone accounts for 55,087 but people who cite Asian and other ethnicites enumerate 67,231. The Chinese Americans are the oldest Asian group residing in Northeast Ohio, nevertheless, the area is also home to hundreds of Thais, Taiwanese, Pakistanis, Laotians, Cambodians, and Burmese peoples as well. The Cleveland area is home to some of the nations largest Italian, Slavic. The Hungarian population was so great at one time that Cleveland boasted of having the highest concentration of Hungarians outside of Budapest, cleveland-Akron area is home to a large Slavic population. The Greater Cleveland area is home to roughly 171,000 Polish,38,000 Slovaks,66,000 Slovenes 38,000 Czechs,31,000 Russians, Slavic Village and Shaker Square once had some of the larger concentration in the city of Cleveland. Today, Slavic Village still continues to be home to many Slavic Ohioans, the Greater Cleveland area is home to the largest Slovak, Slovene, and Hungarian community in the world, outside of Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary. In addition Slovenia maintains a Consulate-General in Downtown Cleveland, the city of Cleveland has also received visits from the Presidents of Hungary and Poland. Greater Cleveland is home to a sizable Jewish community, according to the North American Jewish Data Bank, an estimated 86,600 people or 3. 0% as of 2011, above the nations 1. 7%, and up from 81,500 in 1996. The highest proportion in Cuyahoga County at 5. 5%, today 23 percent of Greater Clevelands Jewish population is under 17
8.
Columbus metropolitan area, Ohio
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The Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area is the metropolitan area centered on the American city of Columbus, Ohio. Definitions of what is referred to as the Columbus Region vary. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the area includes the counties of Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Hocking, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Perry, Pickaway. The population of the MSA is 2,021,632 according to estimates, ranking third in Ohio. The larger Combined Statistical Area adds the counties of Fayette, Guernsey, Knox, Logan, Marion, Muskingum, and Ross. It includes the Micropolitan Statistical Areas of Bellefontaine, Cambridge, Chillicothe, Marion, Mount Vernon, Washington Court House, the population of the CSA is 2,348,495 according to the 2012 census estimates, ranking 25th in the nation. It is the third largest metropolitan area in the state of Ohio, behind Greater Cincinnati and it is also one of the largest metropolitan areas in the Midwestern United States. It is part of the Great Lakes Megalopolis, containing an estimated 54 million people and it is also one of the fastest growing metro areas outside of the Sun Belt. When combined with Columbus City Schools, the City of Columbus, and Franklin County, the financial sector provides the second largest employment sector in Central Ohio. JPMorgan Chase is the areas largest financial sector employer, with Columbus-based insurance company Nationwide Insurance a close second. Also headquartered in Columbus is Huntington Bank, with significant presence by banks such as KeyBank, Fifth Third, PNC Financial Services, Park National Corporation, and Commerce National Bank. In addition to Nationwide, other insurance-based companies in Central Ohio include Motorists Insurance, Grange Insurance, Safe Auto Insurance, the manufacturing sector includes Honda, which operates their largest North American manufacturing complex in the Marysville area. Also in Marysville is Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, the makers of Miracle Gro and various other soil, located in downtown Columbus is AEP, which is one of the largest electric utility companies in the US. Mettler Toledo, a manufacturer of scales and scientific equipment, is based in the area known as Polaris. Worthington Industries, a large steel-processing company, is located on the north side of Columbus near Worthington. The Ashland Inc. company has an office space within Dublin. Anheuser-Busch operates one of their 12 breweries on the side of Columbus. Hexion Specialty Chemicals is located in downtown Columbus, the Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories, makers of Ensure nutritional drink and Similac infant formula, is also headquartered in Columbus
9.
Metro Detroit
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The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is a major metropolitan area in Southeast Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and its surrounding area. There are several definitions of the area, including the official statistical areas designated by the Office of Management and Budget, Metro Detroit is known for its automotive heritage, arts, entertainment, popular music, and sports. The area includes a variety of landscapes, parks, and beaches. It is one of the nations largest metropolitan economies, with seventeen Fortune 500 companies and this urbanized area covers parts of the counties of Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne. These counties are referred to as the Detroit Tri-County Area and had a population of 3,862,888 as of the 2010 census with an area of 1,967.1 square miles. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 4,296,250 with an area of 3,913 square miles. It had a population of 5,318,744 as of the 2010 census, lenawee County was removed from the CSA in 2000, but added back in 2013. With the adjacent city of Windsor, Ontario and its suburbs, when the nearby Toledo metropolitan area and its commuters are taken into account, the region constitutes a much larger population center. An estimated 46 million people live within a 300-mile radius of Detroit proper, Metro Detroit is at the center of an emerging Great Lakes Megalopolis. Detroit and the region constitute a major center of commerce and global trade, most notably as home to Americas Big Three automobile companies, General Motors, Ford. Detroits six-county Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of about 4.3 million, in May 2012, the Department of Labor reported metropolitan Detroits unemployment rate at 9. 9%. The Detroit MSA had a Gross Metropolitan Product of $197.7 billion in 2010, firms in the region pursue emerging technologies including biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, and hydrogen fuel cell development. Metro Detroit is one of the health care economies in the U. S. according to a 2003 study measuring health care industry components. Casino gaming plays an important economic role, with Detroit the largest US city to offer casino resort hotels, caesars Windsor, Canadas largest, complements the MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino, and Greektown Casino in the city. The casino hotels contribute significant tax revenue along with thousands of jobs for residents, gaming revenues have grown steadily, with Detroit ranked as the fifth largest gambling market in the United States for 2007. When Casino Windsor is included, Detroits gambling market ranks either third or fourth, there are about four thousand factories in the area. The domestic auto industry is headquartered in Metro Detroit. The area is also an important source of engineering job opportunities, a 2004 Border Transportation Partnership study showed that 150,000 jobs in the Detroit–Windsor region and $13 billion in annual production depend on the citys international border crossing
10.
Indianapolis metropolitan area
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Indianapolis–Carmel–Anderson or Indianapolis metropolitan area is an 11-county metropolitan area in the U. S. state of Indiana, as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. The metropolitan area is situated in Central Indiana, within the American Midwest, the metropolitan area is centered on the capital and most populous city of Indiana, Indianapolis. Indianapolis–Carmel–Anderson is the 34th most populous area in the United States. As of 2014, the population was 1,971,274, Indianapolis also anchors the larger Indianapolis–Carmel–Muncie combined statistical area, the 26th most populated, with 2,372,570. The Indianapolis metropolitan area is part of the Great Lakes Megalopolis, the Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie CSA had a population of 2,166,632 in 2014. The 317 area code covered all of northern and central Indiana until 1948, Central Indiana remained under the 317 banner until 1997, when growth in and around Indianapolis prompted the creation of 765 area code. The 317 area code covers the Indianapolis metropolitan area, the counties covered by 317 are Boone County, Hancock County, Hamilton County, Hendricks County, Johnson County, Madison County, Morgan County, and Shelby County. According to the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, the 317 area code is expected to run out of numbers in 2017, overlay area code 463 will be implemented in late 2016, thereby requiring 10-digit dialing. Indianas Crossroads of America moniker is attributed to the historical function of the Indianapolis metropolitan area has played as a center for logistics. I-74 – Runs to Cincinnati, Ohio to the east and Peoria, Illinois, other interstates that cross through the Indianapolis area include, I-465 – Also known as the USS Indianapolis Memorial Highway, I-465 is a beltway circling suburban Indianapolis. I-865 – It is an east–west connector northwest of Indianapolis in Boone County, meridian Street – A primary north-south route through Marion and Hamilton counties, the street serves as the axis separating east addresses from west addresses. Michigan Road – Indianas first highway, built in the 1830s and 1840s, running north to Michigan City, Indiana and south to Madison, sam Jones Expressway – Expressway between I-465 and I-70, connecting south-central Indianapolis with the former terminal of the Indianapolis International Airport. Washington Street – A primary east–west street through Marion County, the street follows the route of the National Road for almost all of its length in the city of Indianapolis. In 2014, Indianapolis International served 7.4 million passengers, the NCAA also organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities and helps more than 450,000 college student-athletes who compete annually in college sports. The cars competing in the race are known as IndyCars as a reference to the event. Indianapolis has also been a frequent host of the NCAA Division I Mens and Womens basketball tournaments. Other major sporting events hosted include Pan American Games X in 1987, Super Bowl XLVI in 2012, High school sports are highly competitive in Greater Indianapolis. In 2013, MaxPreps ranked Indianapolis No.3 in its Top 10 Metro Areas for High School Football
11.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
12.
Great Lakes
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Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth, containing 21% of the worlds surface fresh water by volume. The total surface is 94,250 square miles, and the volume is 5,439 cubic miles. Due to their sea-like characteristics the five Great Lakes have also long been referred to as inland seas, Lake Superior is the second largest lake in the world by area, and Lake Michigan is the largest lake that is entirely within one country. The southern half of the Great Lakes is bordered by the Great Lakes Megalopolis, the lakes have been a major highway for transportation, migration and trade, and they are home to a large number of aquatic species. Many invasive species have been introduced due to trade, and some threaten the regions biodiversity, though the five lakes reside in separate basins, they form a single, naturally interconnected body of fresh water, within the Great Lakes Basin. The lakes form a chain connecting the interior of North America to the Atlantic Ocean. From the interior to the outlet at the Saint Lawrence River, water flows from Superior to Huron and Michigan, southward to Erie, the lakes drain a large watershed via many rivers, and are studded with approximately 35,000 islands. There are also several smaller lakes, often called inland lakes. The surface area of the five primary lakes combined is roughly equal to the size of the United Kingdom, while the area of the entire basin is about the size of the UK. Lake Michigan is the one of the Great Lakes that is located entirely within the United States. The lakes are divided among the jurisdictions of the Canadian province of Ontario and the U. S. states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Both Ontario and Michigan include in their boundaries portions of four of the lakes, Ontario does not border Lake Michigan, New York and Wisconsins jurisdictions extend into two lakes, and the remaining states into one of the lakes. This designation, however, is not universal and those living on the shore of Lake Superior often refer to all the other lakes as the lower lakes, because they are farther south. This corresponds to thinking of Lakes Erie and Ontario as down south, vessels sailing north on Lake Michigan are considered upbound even though they are sailing toward its effluent current. The Chicago River and Calumet River systems connect the Great Lakes Basin to the Mississippi River System through man-made alterations, the St. Marys River, including the Soo Locks, connects Lake Superior to Lake Huron. The Straits of Mackinac connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron, the St. Clair River connects Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair. The Detroit River connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie, the Niagara River, including Niagara Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Welland Canal, bypassing the Falls, connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the Saint Lawrence River connects Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean
