Michigan

Michigan

(In Detail[?]) (Full size)
State nickname: Wolverine State
(In Detail)
Capital	Lansing
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water  - % water	Ranked 11th 250,941 km2 147,255 km2 103,687 km2 41.3%
Population  - Total (2000)  - Density	Ranked 8th 9,938,444 40/km2
Admittance into Union  - Order  - Date	26th January 26, 1837
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Latitude Longitude	41°41'N to 47°30'N 82°26'W to 90°31'W
Width Length Elevation   -Highest   -Mean   -Lowest	385 km 790 km   603 meters 275 meters 174 meters
ISO 3166-2:	US-MI

Michigan is a state in the United States. Its U.S. postal abbreviation is MI.

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 sportsmen 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.

Table of contents 1 History 1.1 Early European History 1.2 U.S. History 1.3 Major Historical Events 2 Law and Government 3 Geography 3.1 National parks 4 Economy 5 Demographics 6 Important Cities and Towns 7 Education 7.1 Colleges and Universities 8 Professional sports teams 9 Miscellaneous Information 10 External Links

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 Etienne Brule[?] 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 war with Ohio over the city of Toledo, (now Toledo, Ohio) known as the Toledo War the same year: Ohio won Toledo but Michigan was given Michigan's upper peninsula which was part of the Territory of Wisconsin at the time.
• Admitted into the union in 1837 as the 26th state, its slave state twin is Arkansas

Major Historical Events

• January 26, 1837 Michigan became the 26th US State.
• 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.
• 1957 Five-mile long Mackinac Bridge opened November 1.
• 1974 Gerald R. Ford of Grand Rapids became the 38th President of the United States of America.
• 1976 Throw away bottles banned by referendum vote.
• 1987 Michigan celebrated 150 years of statehood.

Law and Government

See: List of Michigan Governors

• Capital: Lansing
• Law/Government of state [Note that all the U.S. states have similar legal and political systems, so maybe we only need to mention anything that makes the state distinct]
  • 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] (http://www.michiganlegislature.org/mileg.asp?page=getObject&objName=mcl-Constitution-II-9&queryid=3791545&highlight=referendum)] ), 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
	Michigan/Islands

Michigan borders Indiana. Ohio, and Illinois to the south, Minnesota and Wisconsin to the southwest of the Upper Peninsula. It consists of two peninsulas:

• the Lower Peninsula and
• the Upper Peninsula

The Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten and it's 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 300,000 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. This unique geography has been credited (or blamed) for the especially dramatic weather of the state. 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 (Kellogs[?]), Copper, Furniture (Steelecase[?], Herman Miller[?]), Iron
• state taxes

Demographics

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

Mercator projection: public domain Online Map Creation (http://www.aquarius.geomar.de/omc/)

Important Cities and Towns

See: List of cities in Michigan

Largest City: Detroit (Motor City, Motown)

Education

Colleges and Universities

Adrian College[?] Albion College[?] Alma College[?] Andrews University[?] Aquinas College[?] Baker College[?] Calvin College[?] Center for Creative Studies College of Art and Design[?] Central Michigan University[?] Cleary College[?] Concordia College, Ann Arbor[?] Cornerstone University[?] Davenport University[?] Eastern Michigan University Ferris State University Finlandia University[?] Grace Bible College[?] Grand Valley State University[?] Hillsdale College Hope College[?] Kalamazoo College Kendall College of Art and Design[?] Kettering University Lake Superior State University[?] Lawrence Technological University[?] Macomb Community College[?]

Madonna University[?] Marygrove College[?] Michigan State University Michigan Technological University Northern Michigan University Northwood University[?] Oakland University[?] Olivet College[?] Rochester College[?] Saginaw Valley State University[?] Saint Mary's College[?] Siena Heights University[?] Spring Arbor University[?] University of Detroit Mercy[?] University of Michigan System University of Michigan Ann Arbor[?] University of Michigan Dearborn[?] University of Michigan Flint[?] Walsh College[?] Wayne State University[?] Western Michigan University William Tyndale College[?]

Professional sports teams

Detroit Tigers, Major League Baseball Detroit Lions, National Football League Detroit Red Wings, National Hockey League Detroit Pistons, National Basketball Association

Detroit Shock, WNBA Minor League baseball teams West Michigan Whitecaps[?] Michigan Battle Cats[?] Lansing Lugnuts[?]

Miscellaneous Information

• Highways of Michigan
• Quick Trivia

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.

External Links

• http://www.state.mi.us
• State Website: http://www.michigan.gov/