1.
Michigan
–
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
2.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
3.
Muskegon, Michigan
–
Muskegon /ˌmʌsˈkiːɡən/ is a city in the U. S. state of Michigan, and is the largest populated city on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan. At the 2010 census the city population was 38,401, the city is the county seat of Muskegon County. It is located at the southwest corner of Muskegon Township, but is administratively autonomous, the Muskegon Metro area had a population of 172,188 in 2010. It is also part of the larger Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Muskegon-Combined Statistical Area with a population of 1,321,557, human occupation of the Muskegon area goes back seven or eight thousand years to the nomadic Paleo-Indian hunters who occupied the area following the retreat of the Wisconsonian glaciations. During historic times, the Muskegon area was inhabited by bands of the Ottawa. In 1830 Muskegon was solely an Ottawa village, perhaps the best remembered of the Indian inhabitants of the area was Ottawa Indian Chief, Pendalouan. The name Muskegon is derived from the Ottawa tribe term Masquigon, the Masquigon River was identified on French maps dating from the late seventeenth century, suggesting that French explorers had reached Michigans western coast by that time. Sometime between 1790 and 1800, a French-Canadian trader named Joseph La Framboise established a fur trading post at the mouth of Duck Lake. Between 1810 and 1820, several French Canadian fur traders, including Lamar Andie, Jean Baptiste Recollect, euro-American settlement of Muskegon began in earnest in 1837, which coincided with the beginning of the exploitation of the areas extensive timber resources. The commencement of the industry in 1837 inaugurated what some regard as the most romantic era in the history of the region. Lumbering in the century brought many settlers, especially ones from Germany, Ireland. Some neighborhoods of Muskegon began as separate villages, bluffton was founded as a lumbering village in 1862 in Laketon Township. It had its own post office from 1868 until 1892 and it was annexed by Muskegon in 1889. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 18.12 square miles. The city is adjacent to Lake Michigan to the west and Muskegon Lake to the north, the Muskegon River empties into Muskegon Lake at the citys northeast end. Bear Lake Muskegon Lake Mona Lake Lake Michigan Muskegon River As of the census of 2010, there were 38,401 people,13,967 households, the population density was 2,702.4 inhabitants per square mile. There were 16,105 housing units at a density of 1,133.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 57. 0% White,34. 5% African American,0. 9% Native American,0. 4% Asian,2. 6% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 8. 2% of the population
4.
Michigan's 2nd congressional district
–
Michigans 2nd congressional district is a United States Congressional district in Western Michigan. From 2003 to 2013 It consisted of the counties of Benzie, Manistee, Wexford, Mason, Lake, Oceana, Newaygo, Muskegon, Ottawa, and the portion of Allegan. The borders were altered slightly for redistricting in 2012, the 2nd district has the largest concentration of Dutch Americans of any congressional district in the country. John McCain won the district in 2008 with 51% of the vote, rep. Hoekstra announced he would not seek re-election to Congress in 2010. Republican Bill Huizenga replaced Hoekstra after winning the 2010 General Election, there have been some changes, but it still covers in general the same area. It also covered most of Washtenaw County, Michigan but not Ypsilanti, the only county entirely in the district was Hillsdale County. Most of Jackson county was in the district, but the some of that countys northern tier townships were in Michigans 6th congressional district, about half of Lenawee County was in the district, and the far north-east portion of Branch county was also in the district. Prior to 1992, much of the now in the 2nd district was in the 9th district. Representatives 1837-2003, Michigan Manual 2003-2004 Martis, Kenneth C, the Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress. The Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts, Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
5.
Grand Rapids, Michigan
–
Grand Rapids is the second-largest city in Michigan, and the largest city in West Michigan. It is on the Grand River about 30 miles east of Lake Michigan, as of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 1,005,648, Grand Rapids is the county seat of Kent County, Michigan. A historic furniture-manufacturing center, Grand Rapids is home to five of the leading office furniture companies. Its more common nickname of River City refers to the landmark river for which it was named. The city and surrounding communities are diverse, based in the health care, information technology, automotive, aviation. Grand Rapids is the hometown of U. S. President Gerald Ford, for thousands of years, succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples occupied the area. Over 2000 years ago, people associated with the Hopewell culture occupied the Grand River Valley, later, a tribe from the Ottawa River traveled to the Grand River valley, fighting three battles with the Prairie Indians who were established in the area. The tribe later split, with the Chippewas settling in the lower peninsula, the Pottawatomies staying south of the Kalamazoo River. In 1740, an Ottawa man who would later be known as Chief Noonday, between 1761 and 1763, Chief Pontiac visited the area annually, gathering over 3,000 natives and asking them to volunteer to fight the British in Detroit, which would culminate into Pontiacs War. The Potawatomi attacked the Ottawa in 1765, attempting to take the Grand River territory but were defeated, by the end of the 1700s, there were an estimated 1,000 Ottawa in the Kent County area. After the French established territories in Michigan, Jesuit missionaries and traders traveled down Lake Michigan, at the start of the 19th century, European fur traders and missionaries established posts in the area among the Ottawa. They generally lived in peace, trading European metal and textile goods for fur pelts and they were French-speaking and Roman Catholic. They likely both spoke Ottawa, Madelines maternal ancestral language, La Framboise, whose mother was Ottawa and father French, later merged her successful operations with the American Fur Company. By 1810, Chief Noonday established a village on the west side of the river with about 500 Ottawa, madeline La Framboise retired the trading post to Rix Robinson in 1821 and returned to Mackinac. The first permanent European-American settler in the Grand Rapids area was Isaac McCoy, general Lewis Cass, who commissioned Charles Christopher Trowbridge to establish missions for Native Americans in Michigan, ordered McCoy to establish a mission in Grand Rapids for the Ottawa. In 1824, Baptist missionary Rev. L. Slater traveled with two settlers to Grand Rapids to perform work, the winter of 1824 proved to be difficult, with Slaters group having to resupply and return before the spring. Slater then erected the first settler structures in Grand Rapids, a log cabin for himself, in 1825, McCoy returned and established a missionary station
6.
Wyoming, Michigan
–
Wyoming is a city in Kent County, Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 72,125. In 1832 the area was settled and organized under the Byron Township, in 1848 the township split the northern half being called Wyoming Township and then became a city in 1959 after a period of disputes surrounding annexation as well as water and sewer usage. The city has experienced growth every census since the 1890 with some of the largest occurring after major wars. The area that is now the city of Wyoming was established first in 1832 and was one of the first populated areas in the county, over the course of the next 16 years the area was incorporated as the Township of Byron. During this time the area that is now Grandville was populated at first by mills that used the Buck Creek to power its mills, in 1848 the township of Byron split with the name of Wyoming being used for the northern half. The name came from the Wyoming County, New York from which the majority of the residents came during the first 16 years. During this time the Township of Walker to the north took over a portion of the new township as it was north of the Grand River. During the ensuing 50 years the township of Wyoming grew up slowly, the Grandville settlement in the northwest corner of the township grew the most and by 1884 had become the Village of Grandville and by 1893 had separated from the township. The City of Grandville was able to expand to its present size when it was able to grab land halfway between Byron Center and Ivanrest avenues a year before the township was incorporated as a city. Only the panhandle section from south of 50th Street was allowed to stay in the township, in 1870 a settlement known as Fishers Station developed around a station on the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad. It got a post office in 1871 and was platted in 1873, the next major area of development occurred in the northeast section of the township. The City of Grand Rapids started annexing portions of the township and by 1891 had annexed a square mile of the city from Division to Clyde Park, a further section was annexed in 1916 that involved half-mile from Burton to Alger and from Clyde Park to Division. Further annexation attempts occurred during the ensuing 50 years and most failed, the population in the new northern areas of the city was populated mainly with workers for the furniture factories in Grand Rapids. That area was called the Urbandale neighborhood and ran along Chicago Drive from Burton northward, South of that was called the Galewood area and ran to roughly Cleveland Avenue. A final neighborhood grew up to the west of the Galewood and was called Burlingame and that area was collectively called the Galewood-Urbandale-Burlingame or GUB. That section also provided the first school district for the township with the Godfrey-Lee and it had two major developments occur that caused some annexation attempts. The first was the Pere Marquette Rail yard and the second being the Kelvinator plant, the GUB area was proposed to become the city of Lee in 1939 but failed
7.
Lake Michigan
–
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. The other four Great Lakes are shared by the U. S. and it is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. Lake Michigan is shared, from west to east, by the U. S. states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, ports along its shores include Chicago, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Wisconsin, Gary, Indiana, and Benton Harbor, Michigan. The word Michigan originally referred to the lake itself, and is believed to come from the Ojibwa word mishigami meaning great water, some of the earliest human inhabitants of the Lake Michigan region were the Hopewell Indians. Their culture declined after 800 AD, and for the few hundred years. The French explorer Jean Nicolet is believed to have been the first European to reach Lake Michigan, in the earliest European maps of the region, the name of Lake Illinois has been found in addition to that of Michigan, named for the Illinois Confederation of tribes. Lake Michigan is joined via the narrow, open-water Straits of Mackinac with Lake Huron, the Straits of Mackinac were an important Native American and fur trade route. The eastern end of the Straits was controlled by Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island, French coureurs des bois and voyageurs established small ports and trading communities, such as Green Bay, on the lake during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In the 19th century, Lake Michigan played a role in the development of Chicago. The first person to reach the bottom of Lake Michigan was J. Val Klump. Klump reached the bottom via submersible as part of a 1985 research expedition, in 2007, a row of stones paralleling an ancient shoreline was discovered by Mark Holley, professor of underwater archeology at Northwestern Michigan College. This formation lies 40 feet below the surface of the lake, One of the stones is said to have a carving resembling a mastodon. So far the formation has not been authenticated, Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes wholly within the borders of the United States, the others are shared with Canada. It lies in the known as the American Midwest. Lake Michigan has an area of 22,404 sq. mi, making it the largest lake entirely within one country by surface area. It is the half of Lake Michigan–Huron, which is the largest body of fresh water in the world. It is 307 miles long by 118 miles wide with a shoreline 1,640 miles long, the lakes average depth is 46 fathoms 3 feet, while its greatest depth is 153 fathoms 5 feet. It contains a volume of 1,180 cubic miles of water, Green Bay in the northwest is its largest bay
8.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
–
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian peoples of the Americas and their descendants. The term Amerindian is used in Quebec, the Guianas, Indigenous peoples of the United States are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians, and Alaska Natives. Application of the term Indian originated with Christopher Columbus, who, in his search for Asia, eventually, the Americas came to be known as the West Indies, a name still used to refer to the islands of the Caribbean Sea. This led to the blanket term Indies and Indians for the indigenous inhabitants, although some indigenous peoples of the Americas were traditionally hunter-gatherers—and many, especially in the Amazon basin, still are—many groups practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time, although some societies depended heavily on agriculture, others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and empires. Many parts of the Americas are still populated by peoples, some countries have sizable populations, especially Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Greenland, Guatemala, Mexico. At least a different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas. Some, such as the Quechuan languages, Aymara, Guaraní, Mayan languages, many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization, and subsistence practices. Like most cultures, over time, cultures specific to many indigenous peoples have evolved to incorporate traditional aspects, some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western culture and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples. The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the dates and routes traveled, are the subject of ongoing research. According to archaeological and genetic evidence, North and South America were the last continents in the world with human habitation. During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the bridge of Beringia that joined Siberia to northwest North America. Alaska was a glacial refugium because it had low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist, the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of North America, blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to Alaska for thousands of years. Indigenous genetic studies suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas share a single population, one that developed in isolation. The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10–20,000 years, around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice Sheets. Another route proposed involves migration - either on foot or using primitive boats - along the Pacific Northwest coast to the south, archeological evidence of the latter would have been covered by the sea level rise of more than 120 meters since the last ice age
9.
Interstate 96
–
Interstate 96 is an east–west Interstate Highway that runs for approximately 192 miles entirely within the US state of Michigan. From Grand Rapids through Lansing to Detroit, the freeway parallels Grand River Avenue, the Wayne County section of I-96 is named the Jeffries Freeway from its eastern terminus to the junction with I-275 and M-14. There are four auxiliary Interstates as well as two current and four business routes associated with I-96. Grand River Avenue originated as an Native American trail before Michigan statehood and it later was used as a wagon road across the state. The roadway was included in the State Trunkline Highway System in 1919 as M-16, construction of a freeway along the length of the corridor was proposed in the 1940s, and included as part of the Interstate Highway System in the mid-1950s. This construction was started in 1956 and initially completed across the state to Detroit in 1962, the proposed route for the Jeffries Freeway in Detroit was moved in the 1960s, it was built in the 1970s. I-96 was completed on November 21,1977, in the Detroit area, since then, additional interchanges and lanes have been added in places to accommodate traffic needs. I-96 is maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation as a segment of the larger State Trunkline Highway System, in 2011, the departments traffic surveys showed that on average,201,200 vehicles used the highway daily between 6 and 7 Mile roads in Livonia. Near Norton Shores,20,638 vehicles did so each day between Airline and Fruitport roads and these are the highest and lowest counts along the highway, respectively. As an Interstate Highway, all of I-96 is included in the National Highway System, a network of important to the countrys economy, defense. In addition, the highway in Detroit has been named by the Michigan Legislature the Rosa Parks Memorial Highway to honor the civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks, the segment from Livonia west to I-275 is the Jeffries Freeway, named for a former mayor of Detroit, Edward Jeffries. I-96 begins at a cloverleaf interchange with US31 northeast of the Muskegon County Airport in Norton Shores. At the starting terminus, the highway has a grassy median, the freeway is paralleled by Airline Highway in an area of with a mix of fields and residences as far as Fruitport. I-96 bypasses that village to the north and east before crossing into Ottawa County at Fruitport Road, after a distance of about five miles in the county, the trunkline reaches Nunica. The highway crosses the Crockery Creek and turns eastward toward Coopersville, the freeway runs parallel to the Grand River, about 2.5 miles to the north. Near Ironwood Drive, I-96 turns southeasterly again and goes through Marne, beyond Marne, I-96 passes the western end of M-11 and crosses into Kent County, curving around a rest area for the eastbound lanes. The freeway runs eastward through an industrial area of the suburb of Walker as it enters the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Adjacent to the studios are the ramps from eastbound I-96 to southbound US131 and these ramps mark the northern end of I-296, an unsigned auxiliary Interstate Highway designation applied to them and the US131 freeway south to downtown Grand Rapids
10.
U.S. Route 31 in Michigan
–
US Highway 31 is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Alabama to the Lower Peninsula of the US state of Michigan. In Michigan, it is a state highway that runs from the Indiana–Michigan state line at Bertrand Township north to its terminus at Interstate 75 south of Mackinaw City. Along its 356. 5-mile-long route, US31 follows the Michigan section of the St. Joseph Valley Parkway as well as other freeways and divided highways northward to Ludington. North of there, the trunkline is an undivided highway through the Northern Michigan tourist destinations of Traverse City. Along its route, US31 has been dedicated in memory of a few different organizations, four bridges used by the highway have been recognized for their historic character as well. The first highways along the route of the modern US31 corridor were the West Michigan Pike, a trail from 1913. These state highways were redesignated US31 on November 11,1926, since then, the highway has been realigned in places. The highway crossed the Straits of Mackinac by ferry for about a decade in the 1920s and 1930s before the Mackinac Bridge was built, later, sections were converted into freeways starting in the 1950s. These segments opened through the subsequent decades with the last one opening in 2003, future plans by the Michigan Department of Transportation are to finish the St. Joseph Valley Parkway and bypass Grand Haven. Additionally, much of the highway from the Indiana–Michigan state line to Ludington is built to freeway standards, two notable exceptions are a short segment along Napier Avenue between the St. Joseph Valley Parkway and I-94 near Benton Harbor, and between Holland and Ferrysburg. The remainder of US31 is a two- or four-lane highway with sections in cities comprising five lanes. The entire length of the highway is listed on the National Highway System, a network of important to the USs economy, defense. US31 and the St. Joseph Valley Parkway crosses into Michigan from Indiana southwest of Niles, the freeway passes through farmland before crossing US12 at the first of a set of three interchanges located between Niles on the east and Buchanan on the west. US31 crosses the north of the interchange with Niles–Buchanan Road. North of the Walton Road interchange, the freeway turns northwesterly to recross the St. Joseph River near Lake Chapin south of Berrien Springs, the parkway curves around the west side of town before crossing the river for a third time. As US31 continues northward parallel to the river, it enters the fringes of the Benton Harbor–St. Traffic is forced to exit the freeway at the interchange with Napier Road although the freeway continues northward for less than 1⁄2 mile, after separating from its freeway, US31 turns west along Napier Avenue for about two miles before meeting I-94 and merging with it. I-94/US31 runs concurrently on a course through a partial interchange with Business Loop I-94 before meeting the southern end of I-196 in Benton Charter Township
Muskegon County, Michigan
