Michigan

 250,941 km2

 147,255 km2 
 
 103,687 km2 

 41.3%
 

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.

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

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

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

Important Cities and Towns See: List of cities in Michigan

Largest City: Detroit (Motor City, Motown)

Education

Colleges and Universities

Professional sports teams

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/