Michigan

Michigan
Nicknames
"The Great Lake State",[1] "The Wolverine State", "Water (Winter) Wonderland"
Motto(s)
Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice
(English: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you")
Anthem: "My Michigan"
Map of the United States with Michigan highlighted
Map of the United States with Michigan highlighted
CountryUnited States
Before statehoodMichigan Territory
Admitted to the UnionJanuary 26, 1837 (26th)
CapitalLansing
Largest cityDetroit
Largest county or equivalentWayne
Largest metro and urban areasDetroit
Government
 • GovernorGretchen Whitmer (D)
 • Lieutenant governorGarlin Gilchrist (D)
LegislatureMichigan Legislature
 • Upper houseSenate
 • Lower houseHouse of Representatives
JudiciaryMichigan Supreme Court
U.S. senatorsDebbie Stabenow (D)
Gary Peters (D)
U.S. House delegation7 Democrats
6 Republicans
(list)
Area
 • Total
96,716 sq mi (250,493 km2)
 • Land58,110 sq mi (150,504 km2)
 • Water38,606 sq mi (99,990 km2)  41.8%
 • Rank11th
Dimensions
 • Length456[2] mi (734 km)
 • Width386[2] mi (621 km)
Elevation
900 ft (270 m)
Highest elevation1,979 ft (603 m)
Lowest elevation571 ft (174 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
10,077,331[4]
 • Rank10th
 • Density174/sq mi (67.1/km2)
  • Rank17th
 • Median household income
$54,900[5]
 • Income rank
32nd
Demonym(s)Michigander, Michiganian, Yooper (Upper Peninsula)[6]
Language
 • Official languageNone (English, de facto)
 • Spoken languageEnglish 91.11%
Spanish 3.86%
Arabic 1.05%
Other 4.92%
Time zones
Most of stateUTC−05:00 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−04:00 (EDT)
4 U.P. counties (Gogebic, Iron, Dickinson, and Menominee)UTC−06:00 (Central)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−05:00 (CDT)
USPS abbreviation
MI
ISO 3166 codeUS-MI
Traditional abbreviationMich.
Latitude41°41 N to 48°18 N
Longitude82°7 W to 90°25 W
Websitemichigan.gov
State symbols of Michigan
List of state symbols
Living insignia
BirdAmerican robin (Turdus migratorius)
FishBrook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)
FlowerApple blossom (Malus domestica)
Wildflower: Dwarf lake iris (Iris lacustris)
MammalUnofficial: Wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus)
Game animal: White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
ReptilePainted turtle (Chrysemys picta)
TreeEastern white pine (Pinus strobus)
Inanimate insignia
FoodManoomin (state native grain)[7][8]
FossilMastodon (Mammut americanum)
GemstoneIsle Royale greenstone
RockPetoskey stone
SoilKalkaska sand
State route marker
Route marker
State quarter
Michigan quarter dollar coin
Released in 2004
Lists of United States state symbols

Michigan (/ˈmɪʃɪɡən/ MISH-ig-ən) is a state in the Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest region of the United States. It borders Wisconsin to the southwest in the Upper Peninsula, and Indiana and Ohio to the south in the Lower Peninsula; it is also connected by Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie to Minnesota and Illinois, and the Canadian province of Ontario. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of 96,716 sq mi (250,490 km2), Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the largest by area east of the Mississippi River.[b] Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit. Metro Detroit is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies. The name derives from a gallicized variant of the original Ojibwe word ᒥᓯᑲᒥ (mishigami),[c] meaning "large water" or "large lake".[2][9]

Michigan consists of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula resembles the shape of a mitten, and comprises a majority of the state's land area. The Upper Peninsula (often called "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km) channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The Mackinac Bridge connects the peninsulas. Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the United States, being bordered by four of the five Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair.[10] It also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds.[11] Michigan has the second-most water area of any state, behind only Alaska.[12]

The area was first occupied by a succession of Native American tribes over thousands of years. In the 17th century, French explorers claimed it as part of the New France colony, when it was largely inhabited by Indigenous peoples. French and Canadian traders and settlers, Métis, and others migrated to the area, settling largely along the waterways. After France's defeat in the French and Indian War in 1762, the region came under British rule. Britain ceded the territory to the newly independent United States after its defeat in the American Revolutionary War. The area was part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Michigan Territory was formed in 1805, but some of the northern border with Canada was not agreed upon until after the War of 1812. 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 the Great Lakes region, attracting immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from many European countries. Immigrants from Finland, Macedonia, and the Netherlands were especially numerous.[13] Migration from Appalachia and of Black Southerners as part of the Great Migration increased in the 1930s,[14][15] with many settling in Metro Detroit.

Although Michigan has developed a diverse economy, in the early 20th century it became widely known as the center of the U.S. automotive industry, which developed as a major national economic force. It is home to the country's three major automobile companies (whose headquarters are all in Metro Detroit). Once exploited for logging and mining, today the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula is important for tourism because of its abundance of natural resources.[16][17] The Lower Peninsula is a center of manufacturing, forestry, agriculture, services, and high-tech industry.

  1. ^ "License plate facts" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 25, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Michigan in Brief: Information About the State of Michigan (PDF). Library of Michigan. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 8, 2006. Retrieved November 28, 2006.
  3. ^ a b "Elevations and Distances in the United States". United States Geological Survey. 2001. Archived from the original on October 15, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
  4. ^ "Resident Population for the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: 2020 Census" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 26, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  5. ^ "Median Annual Household Income". The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  6. ^ Hansen, Liane (September 27, 2009). "What Is a Yooper?". Weekend Edition Sunday. NPR. Archived from the original on August 21, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2013.
  7. ^ "State Facts and Symbols". Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  8. ^ McWhirter, Sheri (December 1, 2023). "Do you know what manoomin is? Michigan's state native grain". mlive. Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  9. ^ "Ojibwe-English-Ojibwe online dictionary". FREELANG. Archived from the original on March 15, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
  10. ^ "Ocean and Coastal Management in Michigan". NOAA Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. Archived from the original on February 15, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
  11. ^ Breck, James E. "Compilation of Databases on Michigan Lakes" (PDF). Michigan Department of Natural Resources. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 14, 2009. Retrieved April 18, 2009. Another unique code (Unique_ID) was previously assigned to all 70,542 polygons, including 5,527 islands, 35 streams and 64,980 lakes and ponds down to 0.008 acres (31.4 m2, 338 ft2 ).
  12. ^ "United States Summary: 2010, Population and Housing Unit Counts, 2010 Census of Population and Housing" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. September 2012. pp. V–2, 1 & 41 (Tables 1 & 18). Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  13. ^ Ueda, Reed (2017). America's Changing Neighborhoods: An Exploration of Diversity through Places. Greenwood. ISBN 978-1-4408-2864-5.
  14. ^ Balestier, Courtney (November 10, 2016). "In search of the Hillbilly Highway". metromode. Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
  15. ^ "February: Shaping Black Detroit". Research Guides. Wayne State University Libraries. Archived from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
  16. ^ Kandell, Jonathan (May 2011). "The Wonderful Wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  17. ^ Archibald, Robert. "An Environmental History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan: An Outline". NMU Center for U.P. Studies. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2019.


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