Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. Its name comes from the Ojibwe word mishigami, meaning “large water” or “large lake” Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Upper Peninsula is important for tourism due to its abundance of natural resources. The Lower Peninsula is a center of manufacturing, forestry, agriculture, services and high-tech industry.

About Michigan in brief

Summary MichiganMichigan is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. Its name comes from the Ojibwe word mishigami, meaning “large water” or “large lake” Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Upper Peninsula is important for tourism due to its abundance of natural resources. The Lower Peninsula is a center of manufacturing, forestry, agriculture, services, and high-tech industry. Michigan is widely known as the center of the U.S. automotive industry, which developed as a major economic force in the early 20th century. It is home to the country’s three major automobile companies, Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bordered by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. The state is the 11th most extensive by area, being slightly larger than the United Kingdom, and the largest by area east of the Mississippi River. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit. The area was first occupied by a succession of Native American tribes over thousands of years. Inhabited by Natives, Métis, and French explorers in the 17th century, it was claimed as part of New France colony. After France’s defeat in the French and Indian War in 1762, the region came under British rule. Michigan was admitted into the Union in 1837 as the 26th state, a free one. It soon became an important center of industry and trade in theGreat Lakes region and a popular émigré destination in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The first Europeans to reach what is now Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlé’s expedition in 1622. French voyageurs and coureurs bois explored in Michigan in the 18th century and settled in the area in 1668. In 1679, Robert Sieur de la Salier built a trading post along the St. Joseph River along the present-day St-Joseph River at the present day city of St. Ignace Marquette. The city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, was established in 1671 as a base for a Catholic Missionaries’ missions. The Ottawa lived primarily south of the Straits of Mackinac in northern, western and southern Michigan, but also in southern Ontario, northern Ohio and eastern Wisconsin. The Potawatomi were in southern and western Michigan, in addition to northern and central Indiana, northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, and southern Ontario. Other Algonquian tribes in Michigan were the Mascouten, the Menominee, the Miami, the Sac, and the Meskwaki. The Wyandot were an Iroquoian-speaking people in this area; they were historicallyknown as the Huron by the French. The first European explorers arrived in what is today Michigan in 1624 and established a post on the site where Sault Sault Marie, Ste. Joseph, Joseph Joseph, and Joseph St Joseph were outlying stations.