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Indiana, meaning the "Land of the Indians," is a state in the Great Lakes region of the Midwestern United States. Residents of Indiana are called Hoosiers. Indiana is 15th in population at nearly 6.3 million, and 38th in size, making it 17th in population density. Geography
Northern Indiana The northwest corner of the state is part of the greater metropolitan area of Chicago and is therefore more densely populated with almost one million residents.• 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. They are all in the Central Time Zone along with Chicago & are served by the South Shore Electric commuter rail line.• The Kankakee River, which winds through northern Indiana, serves somewhat as a demarcating line between suburban northwest Indiana and the rest of the state.• South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart and Goshen, in north central Indiana, make up the region known as Michiana. Fort Wayne, the state's second largest city, is located in the northeastern part of the state. Central Indiana The state capital, Indianapolis, is situated in the central portion of the state. It is intersected by numerous Interstate and U.S. highways, giving the state its motto as "The Crossroads of America".• Other cities located within the area include Anderson, Bloomington, Columbus, Lafayette, Muncie, and Terre Haute. 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. 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 and generally contains more hills and geographic variation than the northern portion, such as the "Knobs," a series of 1,000 ft. hills that run parallel to the Ohio River in south-central Indiana. The limestone geology of Southern Indiana has created numerous caves and one of the largest limestone quarry regions in the USA. History The area of Indiana has been settled since before the development of the Hopewell culture (ca. 100–400 CE).• Pioneer Era: 1816-1860 On June 29, 1816, Indiana adopted a constitution, and on December 11, 1816, became the 19th State to join the Union.• No slavery was allowed, making the state an attractive destination for people like Abraham Lincoln's family, which was disgusted with slavery in Kentucky. Indiana filled up from the Ohio River north. Emigration, 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 southern Indiana in Corydon.• 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. 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. The expense and time attending shipment of merchandise from the east at that time were almost prohibitive. Yet 100,000 bushels of salt came to the State each year from central New York, because it was a necessity, regardless of price. Work began on the Wabash and Erie Canal in 1832, on the White Water in 1836, on the Central in 1837. Bad financing and "bad times" nearly wrecked the whole scheme; yet, the Wabash and Erie Canal was completed from Toledo to Evansville. It was a great factor in the development of the State, although it brought heavy loss upon the bondholders on the advent of the railroad, which competition the canal at that time could not stand. Before the canal was in operation wheat sold at 37 to 45 cents, and corn at 16 to 20 cents per bushel. Salt brought $10 per barrel, and sugar from 25 to 35 cents per pound. But the canal increased prices of farm products three or four fold and reduced prices of household needs 60%, a tremendous stimulus to agricultural development. By 1840, the population of the upper Wabash Valley had increased from 12,000 to 270,000. The canal boat that hauled loads of grain east came back loaded with immigrants. In 1846, it is estimated that over thirty families settled every day in the State. Manufacturing also developed rapidly. In the ten years between 1840 and 1850, the counties bordering the canal increased in population 397%; those more fertile, but more remote, 190%. The tide of trade, which had been heretofore to New Orleans, was reversed and went east. The canal also facilitated and brought emigration from Ohio, New York, and New England, in the newly established counties in the northern two-thirds area of the State. The foreign immigration was mostly from Ireland and Germany. Later, this great canal fell into disuse, and finally was abandoned, as railway mileage increased. In the next ten years, by 1840, of the public domain 9,122,688 acres (14,250 mi2; 36,918 km²) had been sold. But the State was still heavily in debt, although growing rapidly. In 1851 a new constitution (now in force) was adopted. The first constitution was adopted at a convention assembled at Corydon, which had been the seat of government since December, 1813. The original statehouse, built of blue limestone, still stands; but, in 1821, the site of the present capital (Indianapolis) was selected by the legislature; it was in the wilds sixty miles from civilization. By 1910, it was a city of 225,000 inhabitants and the largest inland steam and electric railroad center not on navigable a waterway in the United States. No railroad reached it before 1847. The State sent three regiments to the Mexican-American War. Lew Wallace (afterwards general in the Civil War and the author of "Ben Hur") was a second lieutenant. All her regiments were officered by volunteer officers. Demographics
Religion Religiously, Indiana is predominantly Protestant, although there is also a significant Roman Catholic population. The Catholic presence is perhaps better known than its size would imply due to the existence of the University of Notre Dame, as well as a thriving parochial school system in the larger metropolitan areas. Southern Indiana is the home to a number of Catholic monasteries and one of the two archabbeys in the United States, St. Meinrad Archabbey. Indiana is home to a sizable and influential proportion of Mennonite and Amish Christians, particularly in Elkhart and LaGrange Counties in the north, and a smaller number in Parke County in the west. The state has the nation's largest population of members of the Protestant "Churches of Christ" denomination. Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant churches are strong in the cities, but in rural areas evangelical and fundamentalist churches, such as independent Baptist and Pentecostal churches, tend to dominate. Two conservative denominations, the Free Methodist Church and the Wesleyan Church, have their headquarters in Indianapolis. The Islamic Society of North America is headquartered just off Interstate 70 in Plainfield, west of Indianapolis. There are significant numbers of Jews in urban areas, particularly Indianapolis, South Bend, Fort Wayne and Terre Haute. The current religious affiliations of the people of Indiana are shown below: In 1906, the Census reported there were 938,405 members of different religious denominations; of this total, 233,443 were Methodists (210,593 of the Northern Church); 174,849 were Roman Catholics, 108,188 were Disciples of Christ (and 10,219 members of the Churches of Christ); 92,705 were Baptists (60,203 of the Northern Convention, 13,526 of the National (African American) Convention; 8,132 Primitive Baptists, and 6,671 General Baptists); 58,633 were Presbyterians (49,041 of the Northern Church, and 6,376 of the Cumberland Church—since united with the Northern); 55,768 were Lutherans (34,028 of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference, 8,310 of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio and other states), 52,700 were United Brethren (48,059 of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ; the others of the " Old Constitution ") and 21,624 of the German Evangelical Synod. Important cities and towns Law and government Indiana's government has three branches: executive, legislative and judicial. The governor, elected for a four-year term, heads the executive branch. The General Assembly, the legislative branch, consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Indiana's fifty State Senators are elected for four-year terms and one hundred State Representatives for two-year terms. In odd-numbered years, the General Assembly meets in a sixty-one day session. In even-numbered years, the Assembly meets for thirty session days. The judicial branch consists of the Indiana Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, the Indiana Tax Court, and local circuit courts. On the national level, Indiana is represented in Congress by two Senators and nine Representatives. The current governor of Indiana is Mitch Daniels, whose campaign slogan was "My Man Mitch," an appellation given by President George W. Bush for whom Mitch Daniels was the director of the Office of Management and Budget. He was elected to office on November 2, 2004. The state's U.S. senators are senior Sen. Richard G. Lugar (Republican) and junior Sen. B. Evans "Evan" Bayh III (Democrat). Politics The state votes almost solidly Republican in federal elections. Since it supported Lyndon B. Johnson over Barry Goldwater in 1964, Indiana has not backed a single Democratic presidential candidate. During presidential campaigns, little attention is paid to Indiana by either Republican or Democrat candidates. Republicans have generally reliable assurance that they will win the state, while Democrats do not appear to want to make the effort to win votes there because of all-but-assured Republican dominance making Indiana. During a 2005 speaking engagement, former President Bill Clinton half-jokingly thanked supporters for "allowing" him into such a "red state". However, half of Indiana's governors in the 20th century were Democrats, though their policies were considerably more right-of-center than Democrats in other parts of the country. Former governor and current U.S. Senator Evan Bayh is an all-but-announced candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. His father was a three-term senator with a liberal record who was turned out of office in the 1980 "Reagan Revolution" by conservative Republican (and future Vice-President) Dan Quayle, a native of the small town of Huntington in the northeastern part of the state. Until the election of former Governor Evan Bayh to the U.S. Senate, Indiana had an all-Republican Senatorial delegation, composed of the strongly conservative Dan Coats (later appointed Ambassador to Germany) and the relatively moderate Richard Lugar, who is widely respected in both parties for his experience in world affairs. Most Hoosiers identify themselves as "conservative", and right-wing talk radio programming such as Rush Limbaugh is widely listened to (the first "Rush Room" in the United States was formed in Mishawaka). Gun politics (Indiana was the first state to enact a lifetime concealed-carry license for handguns), unions, gay marriage, taxes or workers' rights issues (Indiana is a staunchly pro-management, at-will employment state) are not popular issues among many Hoosiers, which can explain their attachment to the GOP. However, attempts by political pressure groups or even individual state legislators at making the state "more conservative" have met with little success. Economy
Highways The major U.S. Interstate highways in Indiana are I-69, I-65, I-94, I-70, I-74, I-64, I-80, and I-90. In the state of Indiana there were 947 traffic deaths in 2004. Airports Major airports are in Indianapolis, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, and South Bend. A long-standing proposal to build a major Chicago airport in the Gary area received a boost in early 2006 with the approval of $48 million in federal funding over the next ten years. Terre Haute's airport is listed as "international", but there are no airlines operating out of the facility. The only flying done out of the airport is private flying and the F-16's of the Air National Guard's 181st Fighter Wing, which is scheduled to lose its aircraft and become a non-flying unit over the next few years. Education Professional sports teams Indiana currently has two major professional sports league franchises, both of which are based in Indianapolis: Several minor league professional teams also play in Indiana: Miscellaneous topics There are 24 Indiana state parks, nine man-made reservoirs, and hundreds of lakes in the state. Several vessels of the United States Navy have borne the name USS ''Indiana'' in honor of this state. Military installations Indiana was formerly home to two major military installations, Grissom Air Force Base near Peru (reduced to reservist operations in 1994) and Fort Benjamin Harrison near Indianapolis, now largely reduced to reservist operations, though the Department of Defense continues to operate a large financial institution there. Current active installations include Air National Guard fighter units at Fort Wayne, and Terre Haute airports (to be consolidated at Fort Wayne under the 2005 BRAC proposal, with the Terre Haute facility remaining open as a non-flying installation). The Army National Guard conducts operations at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, Indiana and helicopter operations out of Shelbyville Airport. The Crane Naval Weapons Center is in the southwest of the state and the Army's Newport Chemical Depot, which is currently heavily involved in neutralizing dangerous chemical weapons stored there, is in the western part of the state. Time zones
State symbols Famous Hoosiers Indiana is the home state of many astronauts, including such notables as "Gus" Grissom, Frank Borman and David Wolf. The state was birthplace of numerous entertainers and sportsmen: | |||||||||||||||
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