Indiana, also known as the Hoosier State, was admitted into the Union
on December 11, 1816, the nineteenth state to join. A small state, it
ranks thirty-eighth in size among the fifty states and measures 36,185
square miles (93,719 square kilometers). Indiana is in the eastern northcentral region of the United States and is bordered by Ohio, Kentucky,
Illinois, Michigan, and Lake Michigan.
French explorers first visited Indiana in the 1670s. There they found
Native Americans, probably the Miami and Potawatomi tribes. By 1765,
Indiana was controlled by the English. The first town plotted was
Clarksville, in 1784.
In 1816, Thomas Lincoln moved from Kentucky to Indiana, and his
son, future U.S. president Abraham Lincoln (1809–1965; served
1861–65), spent his life there from the age of seven until he was twentyone. Although Indiana was not the site of any battles during the
American Civil War (1861–65), it did send some two hundred thousand
soldiers off to fight. After the war, industry exploded in Indiana with the
discovery of natural gas in 1886.
As America became enamored of the automobile, a racetrack for
testing cars was built outside Indianapolis in 1908, and the now-famous
500-mile (805-kilometer) race on Memorial Day weekend, the
Indianapolis 500, began three years later. U.S. Steel built a plant and a
city to house its workers. This city is called Gary, and it grew rapidly with
the onset of World War I (1914–18).
Indiana’s population is primarily white (86.1 percent), with another
8.6 percent African American and 1.2 percent Asian. The capital city of
Indianapolis is the largest, with a population of nearly eight hundred
thousand.
The state’s economy is divided between industry and agriculture,
and it is a leader in both. In addition to providing natural resources such
as coal, gas, and stone, Indiana is the site of heavy industrialization, especially steel. Eighty percent of the state’s farmers live on their farms,
while more than 55 percent have another occupation outside of farming.
The Indianapolis 500 is the state’s biggest yearly sporting event, and
it attracts crowds of over three hundred thousand spectators. No other
sporting event in the world is attended by as many people. Other than
auto racing, Indiana is known for its amateur basketball—both high
school and college. The Fighting Irish football team from the University
of Notre Dame competes as an independent team and has won twelve
bowl games.