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The State of Indiana
Flag of Indiana Seal Nickname(s): The Hoosier State Motto(s): The Crossroads of America
Official language(s)	English
Capital	Indianapolis
Largest city	Indianapolis
Largest metro area	Indianapolis-Carmel MSA
Area	Ranked 38th
- Total	36,418 sq mi (94,321 km²)
- Width	140 miles (225 km)
- Length	270 miles (435 km)
- % water	1.5
- Latitude	37° 46′ N to 41° 46′ N
- Longitude	84° 47′ W to 88° 6′ W
Population	Ranked 15th
- Total	6,080,485
- Density	169.5/sq mi  65.46/km² (16th)
Elevation
- Highest point	Hoosier Hill[1] 1,257 ft  (383 m)
- Mean	689 ft  (210 m)
- Lowest point	Ohio River[1] 320 ft  (98 m)
Admission to Union	December 11, 1816 (19th)
Governor	Mitch Daniels (R) (2004)
U.S. Senators	Richard Lugar (R) Evan Bayh (D)
Congressional Delegation	List
Time zones
- 80 counties	Eastern UTC-5/-4
- 12 counties in Evansville and Gary Metro Areas	Central: UTC-6/-5
Abbreviations	IN US-IN
Web site	www.in.gov

The State of Indiana (IPA: /ˌɪndiˈænə/) is the 19^th U.S. state and is located in the midwestern region of the United States of America. With about 6.3 million residents, it is ranked 14^th in population and 17^th in population density.^[2] Indiana is ranked 38^th in land area.

Indiana is a diverse state with a few large urban areas and a number of smaller industrial cities. It is known for the Indianapolis 500 automobile race, held annually over the Memorial Day weekend, and a strong basketball tradition, often called Hoosier Hysteria.

Residents of Indiana are called Hoosiers. The origin of the term is unknown. The state's name means "Land of the Indians" and Angel Mounds State Historic Site, one of the best preserved prehistoric Native American sites in the United States, can be found in southern Indiana near Evansville.^[3]

Geography

See also: Geography of Indiana, List of Indiana counties, List of Indiana rivers, and Watersheds of Indiana

Indiana is bounded on the north by Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan; on the east by Ohio; on the south by Kentucky, with which it shares the Ohio River as a border; and on the west by Illinois. Indiana is one of the Great Lakes states.

The northern boundary of the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois was originally defined to be a latitudinal line drawn through the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan. Since such a line would not provide Indiana with usable frontage on the lake, its northern border was shifted ten miles (16 km) north. The northern borders of Ohio and Illinois were also shifted from this original plan.^[4]

The 475 mile (764 km) long Wabash River bisects the state from northeast to southwest and has given Indiana a few theme songs, On the Banks of the Wabash, The Wabash Cannonball and Back Home Again, In Indiana.^[5][6] The Wabash is also the longest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi; 400 miles (640 km) from the Huntington dam to the Ohio River. The White River (a tributary of the Wabash, which is a tributary of the Ohio) zigzags through central Indiana.

There are 24 Indiana state parks, nine man-made reservoirs, and hundreds of lakes in the state. Areas under the control and protection of the National Park Service or the United States Forest Service include:^[7]

• George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Vincennes
• Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore near Michigan City
• Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City
• Hoosier National Forest in Bedford
• Joe White National Forest in Vincennes, Indiana

Northern Indiana

The northwest corner of the state is part of the Chicago metropolitan area and has nearly one million residents.^[8] Gary, and the cities and towns that make up the northern half of Lake, Porter, and La Porte Counties bordering on Lake Michigan, are effectively commuter suburbs of Chicago. Porter and Lake counties are commonly referred to as "The Calumet Region", or "The Region" for short. The name comes from the fact that the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet rivers run through the area. These counties are all in the Central Time Zone along with Chicago. NICTD owns and operates the South Shore Line, a commuter rail line that runs electric-powered trains between South Bend and Chicago.^[9] Sand dunes and heavy industry share the shoreline of Lake Michigan in northern Indiana.

Most of northern and central Indiana is flat farmland dotted with small cities and towns, such as North Manchester.

The Kankakee River, which winds through northern Indiana, serves somewhat as a demarcating line between suburban northwest Indiana and the rest of the state.^[10]

The South Bend metropolitan area, in north central Indiana, is the center of commerce in the region better known as Michiana. Fort Wayne, the state's second largest city, is located in the northeastern part of the state where it serves the state as a transportation hub.

Central Indiana

The state capital, Indianapolis, is situated in the central portion of the state. It is intersected by numerous Interstates and U.S. highways, giving the state its motto as "The Crossroads of America".^[11] Other cities and towns located within the area include Anderson, Bloomington, Brownsburg, Carmel, Columbus, Crawfordsville, Danville, Fishers, Franklin, Greenwood, Greenfield, Kokomo, Lafayette, Lebanon, Mooresville, Muncie, Plainfield, Richmond, Terre Haute, and West Lafayette.

Rural areas in the central portion of the state are typically composed of a patchwork of fields and forested areas.

Southern Indiana

Evansville, the third largest city in Indiana, is located in the southwestern corner of the state. It is located in a tri-state area that includes Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. The southeastern cities of Clarksville, Jeffersonville, and New Albany are part of the Louisville metropolitan area. Vincennes, the oldest city in the state, is located on the Wabash River.

Southern Indiana is a mixture of farmland and forest. The Hoosier National Forest is a 200,000 acre (80,900 ha) nature preserve in south central Indiana. Southern Indiana's topography is more varied than that in the north and generally contains more hills and geographic variation than the northern portion, such as the "Knobs," a series of 1,000 ft (300 m). hills that run parallel to the Ohio River in south-central Indiana. Brown County is well-known for its hills covered with colorful autumn foliage, T.S. Eliot's former home, and Nashville, the county seat and shopping destination.

The limestone geology of Southern Indiana has created numerous caves and one of the largest limestone quarry regions in the USA. Many of Indiana's official buildings, such as the State capitol building, the downtown monuments, the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis, many buildings at Indiana University in Bloomington, and the Indiana Government Center are all examples of Indiana architecture made with Indiana limestone. Indiana limestone has also been used in many other famous structures in the US, such as the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium, the Empire State Building, the Pentagon, and the Washington National Cathedral. In addition, 35 of the 50 state capitol buildings are also made of Indiana Limestone.^[12]

For sixty years, from 1890 to 1950, the United States Census found the center of population to lie in southern Indiana.

Climate

Most of Indiana has a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa), with hot, humid summers and cool to cold winters. The extreme southern portions of the state border on a humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa) with somewhat milder winters. Summertime maximum temperatures average around 85 °F (29 °C) with cooler nights around 60 °F (16 °C). Winters are a little more variable, but generally cool to cold temperatures with all but the northern part of the state averaging above freezing for the maximum January temperature, and the minimum temperature below 20 °F (-8 °C) for most of the state.^[13]The state receives a good amount of precipitation, 40 inches (1,000 mm) annually statewide, in all four seasons, with March through August being slightly wetter.

The state does have its share of severe weather, both winter storms and thunderstorms. While generally not receiving as much snow as some states farther north, the state does have occasional blizzards, some due to lake effect snow. The state averages around 40-50 days of thunderstorms per year, with March and April being the period of most severe storms. While not considered part of Tornado Alley, Indiana is the Great Lakes state which is most vulnerable to tornadic activity. In fact, three of the most severe tornado outbreaks in U.S. history affected Indiana, the Tri-State Tornado of 1925, the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965 and the Super Outbreak of 1974. The Evansville Tornado of November 2005 killed 25 people, 20 people in Vanderburgh County and 5 in Warrick County.

History

The area of Indiana has been settled since before the development of the Hopewell culture (ca. 100–400 CE).^[15] It was part of the Mississippian culture from roughly the year 1000 up to 1400.^[16] The specific Native American tribes that inhabited this territory at that time were primarily the Miami and the Shawnee.^[17] The area was claimed for New France in the 17th century, handed over to the Kingdom of Great Britain as part of the settlement at the end of the French and Indian War, given to the United States after the American Revolution, soon after which it became part of the Northwest Territory, then the Indiana Territory, and joined the Union in 1816 as the 19th state. See Northwest Indian War.^[17]

Pioneer Era

On June 29, 1816, Indiana adopted a constitution, and on December 11, 1816, became the 19th State to join the Union.^[18]

Indiana filled up from the Ohio River north. Migration, mostly from Kentucky and Ohio, was so rapid that by 1820 the population was 147,176, and by 1830 the sales of public lands for the previous decade reached 3,588,000 acres (5,600 sq mi; 14,500 km²) and the population was 343,031. It had more than doubled since 1820. The first state capital was in the southern Indiana city of Corydon.^[19]

Transportation

Down the Mississippi and its tributaries (the Ohio and Wabash) was to be found the sole outlet for the increasing produce of the Middle West, whose waters drained into the great valley. Districts which were not upon streams navigable by even the lightest draught steamboat were economically handicapped. The small, flat boat was their main reliance. Roads suitable for heavy carriage were few up to the middle of the century. The expense and time attending shipment of merchandise from the east at that time were almost prohibitive. To meet this condition, the building of canals (espoused by the constitution of 1816) was long advocated, in emulation of Ohio which took example after New York State. In 1826, Congress granted a strip two and a half miles wide on each side of the proposed canal. A very extensive and ambitious scale of main and lateral canals and turnpikes was advocated in consequence.

Work began on the Wabash and Erie Canal in 1832, on the Whitewater Canal in 1836, on the Cent