Illinois
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:US state Template:Otheruses1 Illinois (pronounced Template:IPA or "ill-i-NOY") is the 21st U.S. state admitted in 1818 and is located in the American Midwest. The state is known for its large and diverse population, its balance of rural areas, suburbs and great metropolis, its highly diverse economic base, and its central location that has made it a transportion hub for 150 years. As much as any state it is a microcosm of the nation.
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Geography
Template:Main The northeastern border of Illinois is Lake Michigan. Its eastern border with Indiana is all land west of the Wabash River and a north-south line from Post Vincennes, or 87° 30' west longitude. Its northern border with Wisconsin was fixed at 42° 30' latitude. Its western border with Missouri and Iowa is the Mississippi River. Its southern border with Kentucky is the Ohio River.<ref>Wikisource. Illinois Constitution of 1818.</ref> Illinois also borders Michigan, but only via a water boundary in Lake Michigan.
Illinois has three major geographical divisions. The first is Chicagoland, including the city of Chicago, its suburbs, and the adjoining exurban area into which the metropolis is expanding. This region includes a few counties in Indiana and Wisconsin and stretches across much of northern Illinois toward the Iowa border, generally along Interstates 80 and 90. This region is cosmopolitan, densely populated, industrialized, and settled by a variety of ethnic groups.
Southward and westward, the second major division is central Illinois, an area of mostly flat prairie. The western section (west of the Illinois River) was originally part of the Military Tract of 1812 and forms the distinctive western bulge of state. Known as the Land of Lincoln or the Heart of Illinois, it is characterized by small towns and mid-sized cities. Agriculture, particularly corn and soybeans, as well as educational institutions and manufacturing centers, figures prominently. Major cities include Peoria - the second largest metropolitan area in Illinois at 370,000, Springfield - the state capital, Decatur, Bloomington-Normal and Champaign-Urbana.
Image:National-atlas-illinois.png
The third division is southern Illinois, comprising the area south of U.S. Route 50, and including Little Egypt), near the juncture of the Mississippi River and Ohio River. This region can be distinguished from the other two by its warmer climate, different mix of crops (including some cotton farming in the past), more rugged topography (unglaciated and older, Illinoian Age, glaciated), as well as small-scale oil deposits and coal mining. The area is a little more populated than the central part of the state with the population centered in two areas: the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan Area (the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis are collectively known as "Metro-East") and the Carbondale, Marion, West Frankfort, Herrin, Murphysboro area, which is home to around 200,000 residents.
Collectively, all of Illinois outside the Chicago Metropolitan area is called "downstate Illinois" (even though a portion is north or west of Chicago)
McLean County is the largest county in terms of land area, at 1,184 square miles (3,066 sq.km.). It is larger than Rhode Island. Cook County is the largest county in terms of population, at 5,327,777 (as of 2004).
In extreme northwestern Illinois, the Driftless Zone, a region of unglaciated and therefore higher and more rugged topography, occupies a small part of the state. Charles Mound, located in this region, is the state's highest natural elevation above sea level. The highest true elevation in Illinois is the Sears Tower with an elevation at the top of its roof of approximately 2,030 feet (the elevation of Chicago is approximately 580 feet and the height of the roof is approximately 1450 feet). On a clear day, you can see four states - Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. Visibility from the Sears Tower Skydeck is approximately 40-50 miles (65 - 80 km).
The floodplain on the Mississippi River from Alton to the Kaskaskia River is the American Bottom, and is the site of the ancient city of Cahokia. It was a region of early French settlement, as well as the site of the first state capital, at Kaskaskia which is separated from the rest of the state by the Mississippi River.
The southern tip of Illinois is in the Gulf Coastal Plain.
See also List of Illinois counties, List of Illinois county name etymologies
History
Image:Sunset at Grain Elevator 012 Cropped more.jpg Template:Main
Pre-Columbian
Cahokia, the urban center of the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, was located near present-day Collinsville, Illinois. That civilization vanished circa 1400–1500AD for unknown reasons. The next major power in the region was the Illiniwek Confederation or Illini, a political alliance among several tribes. The Illiniwek gave Illinois its name. The Illini suffered in the seventeenth century as Iroquois expansion forced them to compete with several tribes for land. The Illini were replaced by the Potawatomi, Miami, Sauk, and other tribes.
European exploration
French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet explored the Illinois River in 1673. As a result of their exploration, Illinois was part of the French empire until 1763, when it passed to the British as a result of the French and Indian War. George Rogers Clark claimed the Illinois Country for the Commonwealth of Virginia during his military campaigns there in 1778. The area was ceded to the new United States in 1783 and became part of the Northwest Territory.
19th century
| Historical populations | |
|---|---|
| Census year | Population |
| 1800 | 2,458 |
| 1810 | 12,282 |
| 1820 | 55,211 |
| 1830 | 157,445 |
| 1840 | 476,183 |
| 1850 | 851,470 |
| 1860 | 1,711,951 |
| 1870 | 2,539,891 |
| 1880 | 3,077,871 |
| 1890 | 3,826,352 |
| 1900 | 4,821,550 |
| 1910 | 5,638,591 |
| 1920 | 6,485,280 |
| 1930 | 7,630,654 |
| 1940 | 7,897,241 |
| 1950 | 8,712,176 |
| 1960 | 10,081,158 |
| 1970 | 11,113,976 |
| 1980 | 11,426,518 |
| 1990 | 11,430,602 |
| 2000 | 12,419,293 |
The Illinois-Wabash Company was an early claimant to much of Illinois. The Illinois Territory was created on February 3, 1809. In 1818, Illinois became the 21st U.S. state, its northern border was controversially moved at the last minute from the southern tip of Lake Michigan, 50 miles north to its current location to include the port of Chicago. Early U.S. settlement began in the south part of the state and quickly spread northward, driving out the native residents. With the 1832 Black Hawk War, the last native tribes were driven out of northern Illinois.
The winter of 1830-1831 is called the "Winter of the Deep Snow". A sudden, deep snowfall blanketed the state, making travel impossible for the rest of the winter. Travelers lucky enough to find shelter had to stay where they were. Many others perished. Several severe winters followed, including the "Winter of the Sudden Freeze". On December 20, 1836, a fast-moving cold front passed through, freezing puddles in minutes, killing many travelers who could not reach shelter. The adverse weather resulted in crop failures in the northern part of the state. The southern part of the state shipped food north and this may have contributed to its name: "Egypt", after the Biblical story of Joseph in Egypt supplying grain to his brothers.
As early as 1840, Illinois was called the "Sucker State". Illinois is known as the "Land of Lincoln" because it is here that the 16th President spent most of his life, practicing law and living in Springfield.
Even so, Illinois was not a strong anti-slavery state. In 1853 Illinois passed a Black Code which, among other things required any black entering the state and staying more than ten days to pay a fine of $50. If he could not pay, the black could be sold into slavery for a period commensurate with the fine.
Chicago gained prominence as a Great Lakes port and then as a canal port after 1848, and as a rail hub soon afterward. By 1857, Chicago was Illinois' largest city. Template:Further
Civil War
During the Civil War, over 250,000 Illinois men served in the Union Army, more than any other northern state except New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Beginning with President Lincoln's first call for troops and continuing throughout the war, Illinois mustered 150 infantry regiments, which were numbered from the 7th IL to the 156th IL. Seventeen cavalry regiments were also gathered, as well as two light artillery regiments.
Demographics
As of 2005, Illinois has an estimated population of 12,763,371, which is an increase of 51,355, or 0.4%, from the prior year and an increase of 343,724, or 2.8%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 406,425 people (that is 959,470 births minus 553,045 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 63,011 people out of the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 328,020 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 391,031 people. As of 2004 there were 1,682,900 foreign-born (13.3%).
Image:Illinois population map.png At the northern edge of the state on Lake Michigan lies Chicago, the nation's third largest city. In 2000, 23.3% of the population lived in the city of Chicago, 43.3% in Cook County and 65.6% in Illinois's part of Chicagoland, the leading industrial and transportation center in the region, which includes Will, DuPage, Kane, and Lake Counties as well as Cook County. The rest of the population lives in the smaller cities and in the rural areas that dot the state's plains. According to the 2000 census, the state population center was Template:Coor d in Grundy County northeast of Mazon.<ref>American Congress on Surveying and Mapping. State Centers of Population. Accessed April 20, 2006.</ref>
The racial makeup of the state is as follows:
- 67.8% White
- 15.9% Black
- 12.3% Hispanic
- 3.4% Asian
- 0.2% Native American
- 1.9% Mixed Race
| Religious affiliation | |
| Christian: | 80% |
| Roman Catholic: | 30% |
| Protestant: | 49% |
| Baptist: | 12% |
| Lutheran: | 7% |
| Methodist: | 7% |
| Presbyterian: | 3% |
| Other/general Protestant: | 20% |
| Other Christian: | 1% |
| Other religions: | 4% |
| Non-religious: | 16% |
The top five ancestry groups in Illinois are: German (19.6%), African American (15.1%), Irish (12.2%), Mexican (9.2%), and Polish (7.5%) Nearly three in ten whites in Illinois claimed at least partial German ancestry on the Census, making the Germans the largest ancestry group in the state. Blacks are present in large numbers in the city of Chicago, East St. Louis, and the southern tip of the state. Residents of American and British ancestry are especially concentrated in the southeastern part of the state. Metropolitan Chicago has the greatest numbers of people of Irish, Mexican, and Polish ancestry.
7.1% of Illinois' population was reported as under 5, 26.1% under 18, and 12.1% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51% of the population.
Religion
Protestants are the largest religious group in Illinois, however unlike the other Midwestern states, Illinois is not overwhelmingly Protestant (just under half of the people identify themselves as such). Roman Catholics, who are heavily concentrated in and around Chicago, account for 30% of the population.
Economy
Image:Illinoisquarter2003 geraldfarinas.PNG Template:Main
The 2004 total gross state product for Illinois was US$528 billion, placing it 5th in the nation. The 2003 per capita income was US$32,965.
Illinois' agricultural outputs are corn, soybeans, hogs, cattle, dairy products, and wheat. Its industrial outputs are machinery, food processing, electrical equipment, chemical products, publishing, fabricated metal products, transportation equipment, petroleum and coal.
Illinois' state income tax is calculated by multiplying net income by a flat rate, currently 3 percent. There are two rates for state sales tax: 6.25 percent for general merchandise and 1 percent for qualifying food, drugs and medical appliances. The property tax is the largest single tax in Illinois, and is the major source of tax revenue for local government taxing districts. The property tax is a local—not state—tax, imposed by local government taxing districts which include counties, townships, municipalities, school districts, and special taxing districts. The property tax in Illinois is imposed only on real property.
Energy
It could be said that Nuclear power began in Illinois at with the Chicago Pile-1, the world's first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in the world's first nuclear reactor, built on a squash court under the abandoned west stands of the Alonzo Stagg Field stadium on the University of Chicago campus. As of 2006, Illinois has 6 Nuclear power plants which contain 11 electricity producing reactors. As of January 1, 2005, Illinois ranked 1st among the 31 States with nuclear capacity. <ref name="EIA_glance">United States Department of Energy. Illinois Nuclear Industry. Accessed April 4, 2006.</ref>
Illinois is a leading refiner of petroleum in the American Midwest with a combined crude oil distillation capacity of nearly 0.9 million barrels per day. However, Illinois has very limited crude oil proved reserves that account for less than 1 percent of U.S. crude oil proved reserves. Residential heating is 81 percent natural gas compared to less than 1 percent heating oil. <ref name="EIA_petro">United States Department of Energy. Petroleum Profile: Illinois. Accessed April 4, 2006.</ref>
About 68% of Illinois has coal-bearing strata of this geologic period. According to the Illinois State Geological Survey, 211 billion tons of bituminous coal are estimated to lie under the surface, having a total heating value greater than the estimated oil deposits in the Arabian Peninsula.<ref>Illinois State Geological Survey. Coal in Illinois. Accessed April 20, 2006.</ref> However, this coal has a high sulfur content, which requires special equipment to reduce air pollution.
Transportation
Illinois has an extensive rail network. Its in-state passengers are served by Amtrak's Illinois Service featuring the Chicago to Carbondale Illini and Chicago to Quincy Illinois Zephyr. In addition to the states rail lines, the Mississippi River and Illinois River provide major routes for the states agricultural interests.
O'Hare International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world and is a major airport serving numerous domestic and international destinations. It is a hub for United Airlines and American Airlines and a major airport expansion project is currently underway.
Major U.S. Interstate highways crossing the state include: I-24, I-39, I-55, I-57, I-64, I-70, I-72, I-74, I-80, I-88, I-90, and I-94. In 2005, there were 1,355 traffic deaths on Illinois roadways, the lowest in more than 60 years.<ref>Governor of Illinois. Press release. Accessed April 20, 2006.</ref>
Law and government
| Illinois Government | |
| Governor of Illinois | Rod Blagojevich (D) |
| Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: | Pat Quinn (D) |
| Attorney General of Illinois: | Lisa Madigan (D) |
| Secretary of State of Illinois: | Jesse White (D) |
| Comptroller of Illinois: | Daniel Hynes (D) |
| Treasurer of Illinois: | Judy Baar Topinka (R) |
| Senior United States Senator: | Richard J. Durbin (D) |
| Junior United States Senator: | Barack Obama (D) |
The state government of Illinois is modeled after the federal government with adaptations originating from traditions cultivated during the state's frontier era. As codified in the state constitution, there are three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial. The executive branch is led by the Governor of Illinois. Legislative functions are given to the Illinois General Assembly, composed of the 118-member Illinois House of Representatives and the 59-member Illinois Senate. The judiciary is comprised of the Supreme Court of Illinois, which oversees the lower appellate courts and circuit courts.
Image:Illinoiscapitol.jpg Illinois was always a major battleground between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party . Since 1992 it has moved steadily more Democratic at the national and state level. Illinois voted for Democratic presidential candidates in the last four elections. John Kerry easily won the state's 21 electoral votes in 2004 by a margin of 11 percentage points with 54.8% of the vote. Traditionally, the central cities were Democratic, especially Chicago and East St. Louis. The suburbs of Chicago were historically Republican. However, the "collar" counties of Lake and DuPage, while still mostly Republican, have been trending towards the Democrats. Small cities and towns are Republican strongholds (except for the old coal mining towns). Rural districts in the northern third of the state have historically been Republican; those in the middle third mixed, and those in Little Egypt (the southern third of the state), Democratic.
Politics in the state have not always been above board. Some examples include, George Ryan former Secretary of State and Governor was convicted of racketeering and bribery. Dan Rostenkowski former U.S. Congressman was imprisoned for mail fraud. Otto Kerner, Jr. former Governor and federal judge was imprisoned for bribery. Orville Hodge former State Auditor of Public Accounts (Comptroller) was imprisoned for embezzlement. Template:-
Important cities and towns
Image:Chitown jc01.jpg Template:See also
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Population over 1,000,000: Population 100,000 to 1,000,000:
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Education
Illinois State Board of Education
Template:Main The Illinois State Board of Education or ISBE, autonomous of the governor and the state legislature, administers public education in the state. Local municipalities and their respective school districts operate individual public schools but the ISBE audits performance of public schools with the Illinois School Report Card. The ISBE also makes recommendations to state leaders concerning education spending and policies.
Primary and secondary schools
Education is compulsory from kindergarten through the twelfth grade in Illinois, commonly but not exclusively divided into three tiers of primary and secondary education: elementary school, middle school or junior high school and high school. District territories are often complex in structure. In some cases, elementary, middle and junior high schools of a single district feed into high schools in another district.
Colleges and universities
Image:UIUCmainQuad.jpg Template:See also While many students enter the military or join the workforce directly from high school, students have the option of applying to colleges and universities in Illinois. Notable Illinois institutions of higher education include Northwestern University, University of Chicago and the several branches of the University of Illinois. Illinois is also home to 49 colleges in the Illinois community college system. Template:-
Recreation
Image:Wiki illinois.jpg Template:See also The Illinois state park system began in 1908 with what is now Fort Massac State Park becoming the first park in a system encompassing over 60 parks and about the same number of recreational and wildlife areas.
Areas under the protection and control of the National Parks Service include:
- Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor near Lockport
- Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail
- Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield
- Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail
- Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
Professional sports teams
Miscellaneous topics
| Illinois Symbols<ref>State of Illinois. Illinois Symbols. Accessed on April 20, 2006</ref> | |
| State animal: | White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) |
| State amphibian: | Eastern Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum tigrinum) |
| State bird: | Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) |
| State capital: | Springfield |
| State dance: | Square dance |
| State fish: | Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) |
| State flower: | Purple violet (Viola sororia) |
| State fossil: | Tully Monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium) |
| State insect: | Monarch butterfly |
| State mineral: | Fluorite |
| State motto: | "State sovereignty, national union" |
| State Nickname: | The Prairie State |
| State prairie grass: | Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) |
| State reptile: | Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) |
| State slogan: | "Land of Lincoln" |
| State snack: | Popcorn |
| State soil: | Drummer Silty Clay Loam |
| State song: | "Illinois" |
| State tree: | White oak (Quercus alba) |
The name Illinois was given by the state's French explorers after the indigenous Illiniwek people, a consortium of Algonquian tribes that thrived in the area. The word Illiniwek means simply the "men" or "people."
The USS Illinois was named in honor of this state.
Selected list of famous residents
- Jane Addams, pioneer social worker, founded Hull House
- John Belushi, early member of The Second City and Jim Belushi, both born in Chicago but grew up in Weaton;
- Makataimeshekiakiak, or "Black Hawk", the Sac chief who defended Illinois natives against European incursion in the Black Hawk War
- Joseph Gurney Cannon longtime member of Congress and Speaker in early 20th century
- John Deere, farm machinery pioneer. Founded Deere & Company in Moline
- Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives;
- Hugh Hefner, creator of Playboy magazine, which he based in Chicago
- Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President, built his career in in Springfield
- Dick Durbin, currently the state's senior senator and United States Senate Minority Whip
- Barack Obama, currently the junior Senator
- Ronald Reagan, the 40th President; born in Tampico, attended Eureka College
- Donald Rumsfeld, current U.S. Secretary of Defense; based in Evanston
- Shel Silverstein, famous children's author; born and raised in Chicago
- Adlai E. Stevenson, elected Vice President, 1892
- Adlai Stevenson II, governor, 1952 and 1956 Presidential candidate
- Oprah Winfrey, talk show host, richest African American woman, lives in Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago
- Chris O'Donnell, actor, born in Winnetka raised in Chicago.
See also
- List of ZIP Codes in Illinois
- U.S. presidential election, 2004, in Illinois
- List of bands from Illinois
References
<references/>
Further reading
- Biles, Roger. Illinois: A History Of The Land And Its People (2005). ISBN 0875803490.
- Cole, Arthur Charles. The Era of the Civil War, 1848-1870 (1919). ISBN 083695646X.
- Davis, James E. Frontier Illinois (1998). ISBN 0253334233.
- Gove, Samuel K. and James D. Nowlan. Illinois Politics & Government: The Expanding Metropolitan Frontier (1996). ISBN 0803270143. Government text with guide to further sources.
- Hallwas, John E. ed., Illinois Literature: The Nineteenth Century (1986). OCLC 14228886.
- Horsley, A. Doyne. Illinois: A Geography (1986). ISBN 0865315221.
- Howard, Robert P. Illinois: A History of the Prairie State (1972). ISBN 0802870252.
- Jensen, Richard. Illinois: A History (2001). ISBN 0252070216. Uses a traditional-modern-postmodern model.
- Keiser, John H. Building for the Centuries: Illinois 1865-1898 (1977). ISBN 0252006178.
- Meyer, Douglas K. Making the Heartland Quilt: A Geographical History of Settlement and Migration in Early-Nineteenth-Century Illinois (2000). ISBN 0809322897.
- Kleppner, Paul. Political Atlas of Illinois (1988). ISBN 0875801366. Maps for 1980s.
- Pease, Theodore Calvin. The Frontier State, 1818-1848 (1918). ISBN 0252013387 . Volume II of a series published by the Illinois Centennial Commission
- James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, and Janice L. Reiff, eds. The Encyclopedia of Chicago (2004). ISBN 0226310159.
- Peck, J. M. A Gazetteer of Illinois (1837). ISBN 1556137826.
- Sutton, Robert P. ed. The Prairie State: A Documentary History of Illinois (1977). ISBN 0802816517.
- WPA. Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide (1939). ISBN 0394721950. One of the most famous surveys--covers every town and city and much more.
External links
- Encyclopedia of Chicago (2005)
- State of Illinois Web Site
- Illinois Employment - State and County Data
- U.S. Census Bureau
- County Maps Illinois Full color county maps. List of cities, towns and county seats
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