Illinois

Illinois

(Flag of Illinois) (Seal of Illinois)
State nickname: The Prairie State
Missing image Map_of_USA_highlighting_Illinois_.png Map of the U.S. with Illinois highlighted
Other U.S. States
Capital	Springfield
Largest City	Chicago
Governor	Rod Blagojevich
Official languages	English
Area   - Total   - Land   - Water   - % water	Ranked 25th 149,998 km² 143,968 km² 6,030 km² 4.0 %
Population   - 2000 Census	Ranked 5th 12,419,293
Population density   - 2000 Census	Ranked 11th 86.27 /km²
Admittance into Union   - Order   - Date	21st December 3, 1818
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Latitude	36°58'N to 42°30'N
Longitude	87°30'W to 91°30'W
Width Length Elevation   - Highest   - Mean   - Lowest	340 km 630 km   376 meters 182 meters 85 meters
ISO 3166-2	US-IL
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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.

Illinois is pronounced ill-len-NOY, or jokingly, ill-len-NWAH.

The USS Illinois was named in honor of this state.

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.

Law and 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. He will be replaced by Barack Obama (Democrat), who defeated Alan Keyes (Republican), Jerry Kohn (Libertarian), and Albert Franzen, an independent http://www.alfranzen.org. Keyes was selected for the Republican ticket to replace Jack Ryan (Republican), who had withdrawn from the race.

• List of Illinois Governors.

Geography

See List of Illinois counties

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 4^th 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

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2003, the population of Illinois was 12,653,544. At the northern edge of the state on Lake Michigan lies Chicago, the nation's third largest city. More than half of the population of Illinois 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.

The racial makeup of the state is:

• 67.8% White Non-Hispanic
• 15.1% Black
• 12.3% Hispanic or Latino
• 3.4% Asian
• 0.2% American Indian
• 1.9% are mixed race

The top 5 ancestry groups in Illinois are German (19.6%), African-American (15.1%), Irish (12.2%), Mexican (9.2%), Polish (7.5%).

The 5 largest religious denominations in Illinois are Roman Catholic (30%), Baptist (11%), Lutheran (7%), "Christian" (7%), Methodist (6%). 16% of the population is nonreligious.

7.1% of Illinois' population were reported as under 5, 26.1% under 18, and 12.1% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51% of the population.

Important cities and towns

list of towns (http://factfinder.census.gov/bf/_lang=en_vt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_GCTPH1_ST7_geo_id=04000US17.html)

Counties of Illinois

Education

Colleges and universities

Professional sports teams

State symbols

• State animal: White-tailed deer
• State bird: Cardinal
• State capital: Springfield
• State fish: Bluegill
• State flower: Purple violet
• State insect: Monarch butterfly
• State slogan: "Land of Lincoln"
• State song: "Illinois"
• State tree: White oak

Miscellaneous information

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.

See also

• Little Egypt
• Fort Sheridan, Illinois
• List of ZIP Codes in Illinois

External links

• State of Illinois Web Site (http://www.illinois.gov)
• Illinois News (http://www.HavenWorks.com/illinois)
• US Census Bureau (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/17000.html)
• Illinois Data (http://www.illinoisdata.com/index.htm)

Political divisions of the United States

States Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming Federal district District of Columbia Insular areas American Samoa | Baker Island | Guam | Howland Island | Jarvis Island | Johnston Atoll | Kingman Reef | Midway Atoll | Navassa Island | Northern Mariana Islands | Palmyra Atoll | Puerto Rico | Virgin Islands | Wake Island Edit (http://www.centipedia.com/index.php?title=Template:United_States&action=edit)

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