Illinois State Flag |
Illinois State Seal |
Illinois Location |
Illinois
Illinois
is a state in the United States
named after the Illiniwek Indian tribe, which used to live there. The
capital of Illinois is Springfield
and the U.S. postal abbreviation for the state is IL.
Abraham Lincoln,
the 16th President of the United States, lived in Illinois
from a young age, and eventually served four terms in the Illinois General
Assembly. Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, was born in Tampico,
Illinois.
The USS Illinois
was named in honor of this state.
| State
nicknames |
The
Prairie State or Land of Lincoln |
| Capital |
Springfield |
| Largest
City |
Chicago |
| Governor
(2004) |
Rod
Blagojevich |
Area
- Total
- Land
- Water
- % water |
Ranked
25th
149,998 km˛
143,968 km˛
6,030 km˛
4.0 % |
Population
- Total (2000)
- Density |
Ranked
5th
12,419,293
Ranked 11th 86.27 /km˛ |
Admittance
into Union
- Order
- Date |
21st
December 3, 1818 |
| Time
zone |
Central:
UTC-6/-5 |
Latitude
Longitude |
87°30'W
to 91°30'W
36°58'N to 42°30'N |
Width
Length
Elevation
- Highest
- Mean
- Lowest |
340
km
630 km
376 meters
182 meters
8 5 meters |
| ISO
3166-2 |
US-IL
|
| State
Animal |
White-tailed
deer |
| State
Bird |
Cardinal |
| State
Fish |
Bluegill |
| State
Flower |
Purple
violet |
| State
Insect |
Monarch
butterfly |
| State
Song |
"Illinois" |
| State
Tree |
White
oak |
History
Named for the Illiniwek
tribe of Native Americans, this state is known as the "Land of Lincoln,"
because it is where the 16th President spent his formative years. Illinois
became the 21st state in 1818. Illinois Territory was created on February
3, 1809 out of the Northwest Territory. Previous to that, its lands
were claimed by the Illinois-Wabash Company.
Government
The capital of the
state is Springfield.
The current Governor of Illinois is Rod Blagojevich (a Democrat) and
the U.S. Senators are Richard J. Durbin (a Democrat) and Peter G. Fitzgerald
(a Republican). Senator Fitzgerald will retire when his term ends. Currently
on the ballet to replace him are Barack Obama (Democrat), Alan Keyes
(Republican), Jerry Kohn (Libertarian), and Albert Franzen, an independent.
Keyes was selected for the Republican ticket to replace Jack Ryan (Republican),
who had withdrawn from the race.
Geography
It is in the north
central U.S. and borders on Lake Michigan. Surrounding states are Wisconsin
to the north, Iowa and Missouri
to the west, Kentucky to
the south, and Indiana to
the east. Illinois also
borders Michigan, but only
via a water boundary in Lake Michigan.
Economy
The 1999 total gross
state product for Illinois
was $446 billion, placing it 4th in the nation. The per capita income
was $32,259.
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.
Demographics
The 2000 population
of Illinois was 12,419,293.
At the northern edge of the state on Lake Michigan lies Chicago,
the nation's third largest city. More than half of the population lives
in and around Chicago,
the leading industrial and transportation center in the region. The
rest of the population lives in the smaller cities and on the farms
that dot the state's gently rolling plains.
Important Cities and Towns
|
Population
> 1,000,000
|
Important
Suburbs of Chicago
|
Other
Cities Population >10,000
|
|
|
|
|
|
Population
> 100,000
|
|
|
Colleges and Universities
- Augustana
College
- Aurora
University
- Barat College
- Benedictine
University
- Blackburn
College
- Bradley
University
- The Chicago
School of Professional Psychology
- Chicago
State University
- College
of DuPage
- Columbia
College
- Concordia
University, River Forest
- DePaul
University
- DeVry University,
DuPage
- Dominican
University
- East-West
University
- Eastern
Illinois University
- Elmhurst
College
- Erikson
Institute
- Eureka
College
- Governors
State University
- Greenville
College
- Illinois
College
- Illinois
Institute of Technology
- Illinois
State University
- Illinois
Wesleyan University
- Judson
College
- Kendall
College
- Knox College
- Lake Forest
College
- Lakeview
College of Nursing
- Lewis University
- Lincoln
Christian College and Seminary
- Loyola
University Chicago
- Lutheran
School of Theology at Chicago
- McKendree
College
- McMurray
College
- Midwestern
University
- Millikin
University
|
- Monmouth
College
- Moody Bible
Institute
- National
University of Health Sciences
- National-Louis
University
- North Central
College
- North Park
College and Theological Seminary
- Northeastern
Illinois University
- Northern
Illinois University
- Northwestern
University
- Olivet
Nazarene University
- Principia
College
- Quincy
University
- Robert
Morris College
- Rockford
College
- Roosevelt
University
- Rush University
- Saint Anthony
College of Nursing
- St. Xavier
University
- School
of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Shimer
College
- Southern
Illinois University System
- Southern
Illinois University Carbondale
- Southern
Illinois University Edwardsville
- Spertus
Institute of Jewish Studies
- Trinity
Christian College
- Trinity
International University
- University
of Chicago
- University
of Illinois System
- University
of Illinois at Chicago
- University
of Illinois at Springfield
- University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University
of St. Francis
- Western
Illinois University
- Wheaton
College
|
Professional Sports Teams
National Football
League
National Basketball
Association
National Hockey
League
Major League Soccer
Major League Baseball:
- Chicago Cubs
- Chicago White
Sox
Minor League baseball
teams:
- Peoria Chiefs
- Kane County Cougars
- Cook County Cheetahs
- Gateway Grizzlies
- Rockford RiverHawks
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