Michigan

The state is known as the birthplace of the automotive industry. However, it also has a large tourist industry. Destinations like Traverse City, Mackinac Island, and the entire Upper Peninsula draw vacationers, hunters, and nature lovers from all over the U.S. and Canada. Michigan has the longest coastline of any state except Alaska and more recreational boats than any other state.

USS Michigan was named in honor of this state.

History

Once a thriving lumber capital and supplier of iron and copper minerals, Michigan's declining natural resources gave way at the turn of the twentieth century. The birth of the automotive industry with Henry Ford's first plant in the Highland Park suburb of Detroit, marked the beginning of a new era in personal transportation that permanently changed the socio-economic climate of America. Many automotive manufacturing plants remain, however, Detroit lost its grandeur after World War II, as automotive companies abandoned huge industrial parks in the area for the cheaper labor found in Southern U.S. and offshore plants.

Early European History

1622 Étienne Brûlé and his companion Grenoble, French explorers, were probably the first white men to see Lake Superior.
1701 Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac, with his lieutenant Alphonse de Tonty, established a trading post on the Detroit River which they named Fort Pontchartrain; present site of Detroit.

U.S. History

1805 Michigan Territory was created, with Detroit designated as the seat of government. William Hull appointed as governor. Detroit was destroyed by fire.
1828 Territorial Capitol was built at Detroit at a cost of $24,500.
1835 First Constitutional Convention. Stevens T. Mason inaugurated as the first Governor. Stevens T. Mason started a minor conflict with Ohio over the city of Toledo, (now Toledo, Ohio) known as the Toledo War the same year: Ohio was awarded Toledo but Michigan was given a majority of Michigan's upper peninsula.
Admitted as a free state into the union in 1837 (the 26th state), it was admitted with the slave state of Arkansas

Major Historical Events

January 26, 1837 Michigan became the 26th US State.
1838 Patriot War
1847 A law was passed by the State Legislature to locate the State Capital "in the township of Lansing, in the county of Ingham."
1879 New State Capitol dedicated in Lansing. The structure cost $1,510,130.
1890s and 1900s Ford, Chrysler and General Motors founded in southeastern Michigan.
1957 Five-mile long Mackinac Bridge opened November 1.
1974 Gerald R. Ford of Grand Rapids became the 38th President of the United States.
1976 Throw away bottles banned by referendum vote.
1987 Michigan celebrated 150 years of statehood.

Law and Government

See: List of Michigan Governors
See: List of United States Senators from Michigan

Capital: Lansing
Law/Government of state
- governor -- current, previous governors
  - Current: Jennifer Granholm
- legislature -- bicameral
  - House of Representatives
  - Senate
- structure of state judicary
- state constitution

Referendum and Voter Initiative: Michigan's constitution provides for voter initiative and referendum (Article II, § 9 [[1]] ), defined as "the power to propose laws and to enact and reject laws, called the initiative, and the power to approve or reject laws enacted by the legislature, called the referendum. The power of initiative extends only to laws which the legislature may enact under this constitution."

Geography

See:	List of Michigan counties
	Islands of Michigan
	List of Michigan rivers

Michigan borders Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois to the south, and Wisconsin to the southwest of the Upper Peninsula. Michigan also borders Minnesota and Illinois but only on water boundaries in the Great Lakes.

Michigan consists of two peninsulas:

the Lower Peninsula and
the Upper Peninsula

The Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten and is 277 miles long from north to south and 195 miles from east to west. The Upper Peninsula (usually called simply "The U.P.") is as big as Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island combined, but has less than 320,000 inhabitants, who are known as "Yoopers" and whose speech has been heavily influenced by the large number of Scandinavian and Canadian immigrants who settled the area during the mining boom of the late 1800's.

These two sections are connected only by the Mackinac Bridge -- the third longest suspension bridge in the world. The two peninsulas are surrounded by an extensive Great Lakes shoreline. Other than Alaska, Michigan has the longest shoreline of any state -- 2,242 miles (and another 879 miles if islands are included). This equals the length of the Atlantic Coast, from Maine to Florida. The Great Lakes which touch the two peninsulas of Michigan are Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. No point in Michigan is more than 6 miles from an inland lake or more than 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes, and the state has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of rivers and streams.

National parks

Economy

State income
Major industries/products
- Automobiles (General Motors, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler), Amway, Cereal (Kellogg's), Copper, Furniture (Steelcase, Herman Miller), Iron
state taxes

Demographics

Michigan Resident Population (2000 Census): 9,938,444
racial/ethnic makeup of state
religious makeup of state

File:Mich.png

Important Cities and Towns

See: List of cities in Michigan

Detroit (Motor City, Motown)
Grand Rapids (The Furniture City)
Lansing (the state capital)

Education

Colleges and Universities

Professional sports teams

Miscellaneous Information

Michigan has 116 lighthouses. The first lighthouses in Michigan were built between 1818 and 1822. They were built to project light at night and to serve as a landmark during the day to safely guide the freighters traveling the Great Lakes.

Michigan has most registered boats (over 1 million) in the United States.

Although most famous for its automotive industry, Michigan is over half forest, much of it quite remote.

Quick Trivia

Nicknames: Water - Winter Wonderland
Features: Michigan is the only state composed of two separate peninsulas.
Motto: "Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice" which is Latin for "If You Seek a Pleasant Peninsula, Look about You.", a paraphrase of a statement made by British architect Sir Christopher Wren about his influence on London.
State Bird: red breasted robin
State Rock: Petoskey stone, which is composed of fossilized diatoms from long ago when the middle of the continent was covered with a shallow sea.
State Tree: White Pine

External Links

United States