Michigan State Flag
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Michigan State Seal
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Michigan
Michigan
is a state in the United States. Its U.S. postal abbreviation is MI
(old style: Mich.). The name is derived from Lake Michigan, which in
turn is believed to come from the Chippewa word meicigama, meaning "great
water."
The state is known
as the birthplace of the automobile industry. However, it also has a
large tourist industry. Destinations like Traverse
City, Mackinac
Island, and the entire Upper Peninsula draw vacationers, hunters,
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 the state.
An individual from
Michigan is called a Michigander
or Michiganian. A resident of Michigan's Upper Peninsula (the UP) is
often called a Yooper (and in turn, residents of the lower peninsula
may be jokingly referred to as trolls because they live "below the Mackinac
Bridge".)
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 the most registered boats (over 1 million) of any state in the Union.
Although most famous for its automotive industry, over half of Michigan's
land is forested, much of it quite remote.
- State nicknames
include the Wolverine State, Great Lakes State, Mitten State, and
Winter Water Wonderland.
- The state motto,
Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice is Latin for "If you seek
a pleasant peninsula, look about you", a paraphrase of a statement
made by British architect Sir Christopher Wren about his influence
on London.
- The state stone,
the Petoskey stone (Hexagonaria pericarnata), is composed of fossilized
diatoms from long ago when the middle of the continent was covered
with a shallow sea.
- The state gem
chlorastrolite, literally the green star stone, also known as the
Isle Royale greenstone is found on Isle Royale and the Keweenaw.
- The state wildflower,
the Dwarf Lake Iris (Iris lacustris), is a federal-listed threatened
species.
- The state soil,
Kalkaska Sand, ranges in color from black to yellowish brown, covers
nearly a million acres (4,000 km²) in 29 counties.
- Michigan
is the only state composed of two separate peninsulas.
State
nickname |
Wolverine
State |
Capital |
Lansing |
Largest
City |
Detroit |
Governor
(2004) |
Jennifer
Granholm |
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
Ranked 15th 67.55 /km² |
Admittance
into Union
- Order
- Date |
26th
January 26, 1837 |
Time
zone |
Eastern:
UTC-5/-4 (Some Upper Peninsula counties bordering Wisconsin are
Central time.) |
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 |
State
Motto |
Si
Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice |
State
Song |
My
Michigan (official, but disputed amongst Michiganders) |
State
Bird |
American
Robin |
State
Mammal |
White-tailed
Deer |
State
Fossil |
Mastodont |
State
Fish |
Brook
Trout |
State
Reptile |
Painted
Turtle |
State
Flower |
Apple
Blossom |
State
Wildflower |
Dwarf
Lake Iris |
State
Tree |
White
Pine |
State
Stone |
Petoskey
stone |
State
Gem |
Isle
Royale greenstone |
State
Soil |
Kalkaska
Sand |
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 Étienne
Brûlé and his fellow explorers from Grenoble, France, were probably
the first white men to see Lake Superior.
- 1668 Père (Father)
Jacques Marquette establishes Sault
Ste. Marie, Michigan, first European settlement in Michigan
- 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 minor conflict with Ohio
over the city of Toledo,
(now Toledo, Ohio)
known as the Toledo War the same year: Ohio
was awarded Toledo
but Michigan was given
a majority of Michigan's upper peninsula.
- 1837 Admitted
as a free state into the union (the 26th state), it was admitted with
the slave state of Arkansas
Major historical events
- January 26, 1837
Michigan became the 26th
US State.
- 1838 Patriot
War
- 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. 1890s and 1900s Ford, Chrysler and
General Motors founded in southeastern Michigan.
- 1937 Flint Sit-down
Strike ends with official recognition of the United Auto Workers by
General Motors.
- 1957 Five-mile
long Mackinac Bridge opened November 1.
- 1974 Gerald
R. Ford of Grand
Rapids became the 38th President of the United States.
- 1976 Throw away
bottles banned by referendum vote.
- 1987 Michigan
celebrated 150 years of statehood.
Government
- Capital: Lansing
- Law/Government
of state
- governor
-- current, previous governors
- Current:
Jennifer Granholm
- Michigan Legislature
-- bicameral
- Michigan
State House of Representatives
- Michigan
Senate
- structure of
state judicary
- state constitution
- Referendum and
Voter Initiative: Michigan's constitution provides for voter initiative
and referendum (Article II, § 9 [ [1] ] ), 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."
Michigan
counties and townships are statutory units of government, meaning that
they have only those powers expressly provided or fairly implied by
state law. Cities and villages are vested with home rule powers, meaning
that they can do almost anything not prohibited by law.
There are two types
of townships in Michigan:
general law and charter. Charter township status was created by the
state legislature in 1947 and grants additional powers and stream-lined
administration in order to provide greater protection against annexation
by a city. As of April 2001, there were 127 charter townships in Michigan.
Geography
Michigan
borders Indiana and Ohio
to the south, and Wisconsin
to the southwest of the Upper Peninsula. Michigan
also borders Minnesota,
Illinois and Ontario
but only on water boundaries in the Great Lakes system. The highest
point is Mount Arvon in the Upper Peninsula at 1979 feet (603 m). The
highest point in the Lower Peninsula is Briar Hill at 1705 feet (520
meters).
Michigan
consists of two peninsulas:
- the Lower Peninsula
- and the Upper
Peninsula
The Lower Peninsula
is shaped like a mitten and is 277 miles long from north to south and
195 miles from east to west. The Upper Peninsula (often called simply
"The U.P.") is as big as Connecticut, Delaware,
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island
combined, but has less than 320,000 inhabitants, who are sometimes called
"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. 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
- Isle Royale National
Park
- Keweenaw National
Historical Park
- Pictured Rocks
National Lakeshore
- Sleeping Bear
Dunes National Lakeshore
- Father Marquette
National Memorial
Economy
- State income
- Major industries/products
- Automobiles
(General Motors, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler), Amway, Cereal (Kellogg's),
Copper, Furniture (Steelcase, 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
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
University, 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
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- Lawrence
Technological University
- 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
- Siena Heights
University
- Spring
Arbor University
- University
of Detroit Mercy
- University
of Michigan System
- University
of Michigan Ann Arbor main campus
- University
of Michigan-Dearborn
- University
of Michigan-Flint
- Walsh College
- Wayne State
University
- Western
Michigan University
- William
Tyndale College
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Community
Colleges and Technical Schools
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- American
College of Computer and Information Sciences
- Alpena
Community College
- Bay de
Noc Community College
- Bay Mills
Community College
- Delta College
- Ellis College
of NYIT
- Glen Oaks
Community College
- Gogebic
Community College
- Grand Rapids
Community College
- Henry Ford
Community College
- ITT Technical
Institute - Canton, Grand Rapids and Troy
- Jackson
Community College
- Kalamazoo
Valley Community College
- Kellogg
Community College
- Kennedy-Western
University
- Kirtland
Community College
- Lake Michigan
College
- Lansing
Community College
- Macomb
Community College
- Mid-Michigan
Community College
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- Monroe
County Community College
- Montcalm
Community College
- Mott Community
College
- Muskegon
Community College
- National
Institute of Technology - Southfield
- National
Institute of Technology - Wyoming
- North Central
Michigan College
- Northwestern
Michigan College
- Oakland
Community College
- Olympia
Career Training Institute - Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Olympia
Career Training Institute - Kalamazoo, Michigan
- Saint Clair
County Community College
- Schoolcraft
College
- Southwestern
Michigan College
- Suomi College
- University
of Phoenix - Detroit, Michigan
- University
of Phoenix - Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Washtenaw
Community College
- Wayne County
Community College
- West Shore
Community College
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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,
Women's National Basketball Association
- Minor League
baseball teams
- West Michigan
Whitecaps
- Battle Creek
Yankees (formerly the Michigan Battle Cats)
- Lansing Lugnuts
Other notable sports teams
- Detroit Fury,
Arena Football League
- Detroit Demolition,
National Women's Football Association
- Grand Rapids
Rampage, Arena Football League
- Grand Rapids
Griffins, American Hockey League
- Muskegon Fury,
United Hockey League
- Port Huron Beacons,
United Hockey League
- Flint Generals,
United Hockey League
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