EARLY MICHIGAN HISTORY

When Europeans first set foot in present-day Michigan, the area was already home to the Ojibwa, Ottawa, Miami, Potawatomi and Wyandot, or Huron. The state gets its name from an Indian term, Michigama, meaning "great lake." Michigan's first European settlement, a mission at Sault Ste. Marie, was founded by a French Jesuit, Jacques Marquette, in 1668. Detroit, today Michigan's largest city, was founded as Pontchartrain d'Étroit in 1701. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War (175463), gave control of these French settlements to the British, who quelled an Indian uprising under Pontiac that same year. During the American Revolution, Michigan was a base for British-instigated Indian raids against the Americans.

In 1805, Michigan became a separate U.S. territory, with an economy based around the fur trade. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, plus new land laws and Native American cessions, paved the way for an influx of settlers. By 1835, the population was large enough to make Michigan eligible for statehood, but because of a boundary controversy with Ohio over Toledo and the surrounding area, Congress would not sanction a constitutional convention. Ohio, already a state, had more political power, and Michigan eventually agreed to let its neighbor have Toledo in exchange for the greater portion of the Upper Peninsula. On January 26, 1837, Michigan became the 26th state.

MICHIGAN'S MIDDLE HISTORY

Nearly 380,000 new settlers came to Michigan between 1840 and 1860. Agricultural growth was rapid, and railroads spread out across the state. Commercial copper and iron mining began during this time, along with lumbering.

The antislavery movement was strong in Michigan and its residents enlisted in the Union army during the American Civil War. The war spurred Michigan's transformation from an agricultural to an industrial state.

The automobile industry dominated Michigan in the 20th century, with Detroit becoming known as the Motor Capital of the World. The automobile industry grew rapidly between 1900 and 1930, when it was crippled by the Great Depression. World War II restored prosperity and full employment, as Michigan led the nation in the production of military equipment. War work in the auto factories attracted black migrants from the South, and racial tensions followed. Racial hatred exploded again during the civil rights era in the 1960s, especially in Detroit, where riots in 1967 left blocks of the city in ruins and 43 people dead. The election in 1973 of Coleman Young (191897), Detroit's first black mayor, helped heal the community's wounds.

MICHIGAN TODAY

The Wolverine State remains the center of auto manufacturing in the United States, despite plant closings, layoffs and competition from foreign imports in recent decades. Tourism and agriculture also contribute to the economy. Michigan ranks eighth among the 50 states in terms of population, with over 10 million citizens. Only Alaska has more shoreline than Michigan.

Famous Michiganians include Berry Gordy, who founded Motown Records in Detroit in 1959; Gerald Ford, who became the 38th U.S. president in 1974, the first Michigan resident to do so; and Jennifer Granholm, who became the states first female governor in 2002.

Flag Seal

Nickname(s): The Great Lakes State;

The Wolverine State;

The Automotive State;

Water-Winter Wonderland;

The Lady of Lake;

The Auto State

Motto(s): Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice

(If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you)

before statehood, known as

the Michigan Territory

Official language(s) None (English, de-facto)

Demonym Michigander

Michiganian

Capital Lansing

Largest city Detroit

Largest metro area Metro Detroit

Area Ranked 11th in the US

Population Ranked 8th in the US

- Total 10,045,697 (2008 est.)

- Density 179/sq mi

Ranked 16th in the US

- Median income $44,627 (21st)

Elevation

- Highest point Mount Arvon

1,979 ft

- Mean 902 ft

- Lowest point Lake Erie

571 ft

Admission to Union January 26, 1837 (26th)

Time zones

- most of state Eastern: UTC-5/-4

- 4 U.P. counties Central: UTC-6/-5

Abbreviations MI Mich. US-MI

The State of Michigan (i /ˈmɪʃɪɡən/) is located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe word mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake".

Michigan is the eighth most populous state in the United States. It has the longest freshwater shoreline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair. In 2005, Michigan ranked third among US states for the number of registered recreational boats, behind California and Florida. Michigan has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds. A person in the state is never more than six miles  from a natural water source or more than 87.2 miles  from a Great Lakes shoreline. It is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River.

Michigan is the only state to consist entirely of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often dubbed "the mitten" by residents, owing to its shape. When asked where in Michigan one comes from, a resident of the Lower Peninsula may often point to the corresponding part of his or her hand. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as "The U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km)-wide channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The Upper Peninsula is economically important for tourism and natural resources.

History

See also: Timeline of Michigan history, History of railroads in Michigan, History of Michigan, and History of Detroit

Michigan was home to various Native American cultures for thousands of years before colonization by Europeans. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous and influential tribes were Algonquian peoples, specifically, the Ottawa, the Anishnabe (called Chippewa in French, after their language Ojibwe), and the Potawatomi. The Anishnabe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the most populous.

Although the Anishnabe were well-established in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula, they also inhabited northern Ontario, northern Wisconsin, southern Manitoba, and northern and north-central Minnesota. The Ottawa lived primarily south of the Straits of Mackinac in northern and western Michigan, while the Potawatomi were primarily in the southwest. The three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. Other First Nations people in Michigan, in the south and east, were the Mascouten, the Menominee, the Miami, and the Wyandot, who are better known by their French name, Huron.

17th century

French voyageurs, explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what later became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlé's expedition in 1622. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Father (Père, in French) Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a Catholic mission to minister to the Ottawa Indians, and to serve as a regional headquarters for further Catholic missionary activities in the upper Great Lakes area.[9] It was here that the first European building was erected in Michigan, within the US Midwest, and also within what is now the Canadian province of Ontario.

Soon afterward, in 1671 the outlying mission of Saint Ignace was founded approximately 50 miles south. Then in 1675 the mission of Marquette was also founded approximately 200 miles to the west of Sault Ste. Marie, on the south shore of Lake Superior. Together with Sault Ste. Marie, these three original Jesuit missions are the first three European-founded cities in Michigan. Due to the generally skilled, tolerant and helpful manner of these early Jesuit missionaries, the Indian populations in the area received these missions well, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities, despite the fact that the ratio of the European populations, vs: the native populations of these settlements was usually in favor of the native Indians from early on. "The Soo" (Sault Ste. Marie) has the distinction of being the oldest city in both Michigan and Ontario. It was split into two cities in 1818, a year after the U.S.-Canada boundary in the Great Lakes was finally established by the U.S.-U.K. Joint Border Commission following the War of 1812.

In 1679, Lord La Salle of France directed the construction of the Griffin, the first European sailing vessel built on the upper Great Lakes. That same year, La Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph.

18th century

Michigan in 1718, Guillaume de L'Isle map, approximate state area highlighted.In 1701 French explorer and army officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Le Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit or "Fort Ponchartrain on-the-Strait" on the strait, known as the Detroit River, between lakes Saint Clair and Erie. Cadillac had convinced King Louis XIV's chief minister, Louis Phélypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, that a permanent community there would strengthen French control over the upper Great Lakes and repel British aspirations.

The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent (about .85 acre, the equivalent of just under 200 feet  and named it Fort Pontchartrain. Cadillac's wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post. The Église de Saint-Anne (Church of Saint Ann) was founded the same year. While the original building does not survive, the congregation of that name continues to be active today.

At the same time, the French strengthened Fort Michilimackinac at the Straits of Mackinac to better control their lucrative fur-trading empire. By the mid-eighteenth century, the French also occupied forts at present-day Niles and Sault Ste. Marie, though most of the rest of the region remained unsettled by Europeans.

From 1660 to the end of French rule, Michigan was part of the Royal Province of New France. In 1759, following the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in the French and Indian War (1754–1763), Québec City fell to British forces. This marked Britain's victory in the Seven Years War. Under the 1763 Treaty of Paris, Michigan and the rest of New France east of the Mississippi River passed to Great Britain.

During the American Revolutionary War, Detroit was an important British supply center. Most of the inhabitants were French-Canadians or Native Americans, many of whom had been allied with the French. Because of imprecise cartography and unclear language defining the boundaries in the 1763 Treaty of Paris, the British retained control of Detroit and Michigan after the American Revolution. When Quebec was split into Lower and Upper Canada in 1790, Michigan was part of Kent County, Upper Canada. It held its first democratic elections in August 1792 to send delegates to the new provincial parliament at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake).

Under terms negotiated in the 1794 Jay Treaty, Britain withdrew from Detroit and Michilimackinac in 1796. Questions remained over the boundary for many years, and the United States did not have uncontested control of the Upper Peninsula and Drummond Island until 1818 and 1847, respectively.

19th century

During the War of 1812, Michigan Territory (effectively consisting of Detroit and the surrounding area) was captured by the British and nominally returned to Upper Canada. United States forces pushed the British out in 1813 and moved into Canada.

The Treaty of Ghent implemented the policy of Status Quo Ante Bellum or "Just as Things Were Before the War." That meant Michigan would remain as part of the United States, and the agreement to establish a joint US-UK boundary commission also remained valid. Subsequent to the findings of that commission in 1817, control of the Upper Peninsula and of islands in the St. Clair River delta was transferred from Ontario to Michigan in 1818. Mackinac Island (to which the British had moved their Michilimackinac army base) was transferred to the U.S. in 1847.

Lumbering pines in the late 1800sThe population grew slowly until the opening of the Erie Canal in New York State 1825. This brought a large influx of settlers from New York and New England to Ohio and Michigan because it made transportation by ships through the Great Lakes possible. Farm products, such as grain, and resource commodities, such as lumber and iron ore, could be shipped to the port of New York and elsewhere by Great Lakes and Erie Canal-Hudson River traffic. By the 1830s, Michigan had 80,000 residents, which were more than enough to allow it to qualify and apply for statehood. The connection between the Great Lakes states and New York increased the wealth of all.

In October 1835 the people approved the Constitution of 1835, thereby forming a state government, although Congressional recognition was delayed pending resolution of a boundary dispute with Ohio. Both states claimed a 468-square-mile  strip of land that included the newly incorporated city of Toledo on Lake Erie and an area to the west then known as the "Great Black Swamp." The dispute came to be called the Toledo War. Michigan and Ohio militia maneuvered in the area but never exchanged fire. Congress awarded the "Toledo Strip" to Ohio. Michigan received the western part of the Upper Peninsula as a concession and formally entered the Union on January 26, 1837.

Thought at first to be nearly valueless, the Upper Peninsula was discovered to be a rich and important source of lumber, iron and copper. These became the state's most sought-after natural resources and generated early wealth. Geologist Douglass Houghton and land surveyor William Austin Burt were among the first to document many of these resources. Developers rushed to the state. Michigan led the nation in lumber production from 1850s to the 1880s. The lumber harvested in Michigan was shipped to the rapidly developing prairie states, Chicago, the eastern states, and all the way to Europe.

The first official meeting of the Republican Party took place July 6, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan, where the party adopted its platform. Michigan made a significant contribution to the Union in the American Civil War and sent more than forty regiments of volunteers to the Federal armies.

Communities and the state rapidly set up systems for public education, including founding the University of Michigan, for a classical academic education, and Ypsilanti Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University, for the training of teachers. Michigan State University in Lansing was founded as a land-grant college. In the early 1900s, Michigan was the first state to offer a four-year curriculum in a normal college.

20th century to present

See also: History of Ford Motor Company

Michigan's economy underwent a transformation at the turn of the 20th century. The birth of the automotive industry, with Henry Ford's first plant in Highland Park, marked the beginning of a new era in transportation. Like the steamship and railroad, it was a far-reaching development. More than the forms of public transportation, the automobile transformed private life. It became the major industry of Detroit and Michigan, and permanently altered the socio-economic life of the United States and much of the world.

With the growth of the auto industry, jobs were created in Detroit that attracted immigrants from eastern and southern Europe and migrants from across the country, including both whites and blacks from the rural South. By 1910 Detroit was the fourth largest city in the nation. Residential housing was in short supply, and it took years for the market to catch up with the population boom. By the 1930s, so many immigrants had arrived that more than 30 languages were spoken in the public schools, and ethnic communities celebrated in annual heritage festivals.

Skyscrapers in downtown Detroit.Blacks moved to Detroit as one of the destinations in the Great Migration from the South, as they could find better work there. Over the years they contributed greatly to its diverse urban culture. African Americans from Detroit created national popular music trends, such as the influential Motown Sound of the 1960s led by a variety of individual singers and groups.

Grand Rapids, the second-largest city in Michigan, is also a center of automotive manufacturing. Since 1838, the city had also been noted for its thriving furniture industry. Started because of ready sources of lumber, the furniture industry declined in the late 20th century through competition with other regional firms and overseas industry.

Michigan held its first United States presidential primary election in 1910. With its rapid growth in industry, it was an important center of union industry-wide organizing, such as the rise of the United Auto Workers.

In 1920 WWJ in Detroit became the first radio station in the United States to regularly broadcast commercial programs. Throughout that decade, some of the country's largest and most ornate skyscrapers were built in the city. Particularly noteworthy are the Fisher Building, Cadillac Place, and the Guardian Building, each of which is a National Historic Landmarks (NHL).

Detroit boomed through the 1950s, at one point doubling its population in a decade. After World War II, housing development spread outside cities to answer pent-up demand. Newly built highways allowed commuters to navigate the region more easily. In Detroit as elsewhere, those who could afford to, began to move to newer housing in the suburbs.

Michigan is the leading auto-producing state in the U.S., although some of the industry has shifted to less-expensive labor in the Southern United States and overseas. With more than ten million residents, Michigan remains a large and influential state, ranking eighth in population among the fifty states.

The Metro Detroit area in the southeast corner of the state is the largest metropolitan area in Michigan (roughly 50% of the population resides there) and one of the ten largest metropolitan areas in the country. The Grand Rapids/Holland/Muskegon metropolitan area on the west side of the state is the fastest-growing metro area in the state, with over 1.3 million residents as of 2006.

Metro Detroit's population is growing. Detroit's population is stabilizing with a strong redevelopment in the city's central district with a significant rise in population in its outskirts are contributing to some population inflow. A period of economic transition, especially in manufacturing, has caused economic difficulties in the region since the recession of 2001.

Government

Michigan State Capitol in LansingSee also: List of Governors of Michigan and United States congressional delegations from Michigan

 State government

 Government of Michigan

Michigan is governed as a republic, with three branches of government: the executive branch consisting of the Governor of Michigan and the other independently elected constitutional officers; the legislative branch consisting of the House of Representatives and Senate; and the judicial branch consisting of the one court of justice. The state also allows direct participation of the electorate by initiative, referendum, recall, and ratification. Lansing is the state capital and is home to all three branches of state government.

The Governor of Michigan and the other state constitutional officers serve four-year terms and may be re-elected only once. The current Governor is Jennifer Granholm. Michigan has two official Governor's Residences; one is in Lansing, and the other is at Mackinac Island.

The Michigan Legislature consists of a 38-member Senate and 110-member House of Representatives. Senators serve four-year terms and Representatives two. The Michigan State Capitol was dedicated in 1879 and has hosted the state's executive and legislative branches ever since.

Law

Michigan Supreme Court at the Hall of JusticeThe Michigan Court System consists of two courts with primary jurisdiction (the Circuit Courts and the District Courts), one intermediate level appellate court (the Michigan Court of Appeals), and the Michigan Supreme Court. There are several administrative courts and specialized courts. The Michigan Constitution provides for voter initiative and referendum (Article II, § 9, 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").

In 1846 Michigan was the first state in the Union, as well as the first English-speaking government in the world, to abolish the death penalty. Historian David Chardavoyne has suggested that the movement to abolish capital punishment in Michigan grew as a result of enmity toward the state's neighbor, Canada. Under British rule, it made public executions a regular practice.

Michigan was the home of Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States. He was born in Nebraska and moved as an infant to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and grew up there. The Gerald R. Ford Museum is located in Grand Rapids.

Administrative divisions

Main article: Administrative divisions of Michigan

See also: List of Michigan county seats, List of counties in Michigan, and List of municipalities in Michigan (by population)

State government is decentralized among three tiers — statewide, county and township. Counties are administrative divisions of the state, and townships are administrative divisions of a county. Both of them exercise state government authority, localized to meet the particular needs of their jurisdictions, as provided by state law. There are 83 counties in Michigan.

Cities, state universities, and villages are vested with home rule powers of varying degrees. Home rule cities can generally do anything that is not prohibited by law. The fifteen state universities have broad power and can do anything within the parameters of their status as educational institutions that is not prohibited by the state constitution. Villages, by contrast, have limited home rule and are not completely autonomous from the county and township in which they are located.

There are two types of township in Michigan: general law township and charter. Charter township status was created by the 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. In general, charter townships have many of the same powers as a city but without the same level of obligations. For example, a charter township can have its own fire department, water and sewer department, police department, and so on—just like a city—but it is not required to have those things, whereas cities must provide those services. Charter townships can opt to use county-wide services instead, such as deputies from the county sheriff's office instead of a home-based force of ordinance officers.

Geography

See also: Protected areas of Michigan, List of Michigan state parks, and Geography of Michigan

Michigan map, including territorial waters.

Aerial view of Sleeping Bear Dunes.

The Pointe Mouillee State Game Area.Michigan consists of two peninsulas that lie between 82°30' to about 90°30' west longitude, and are separated by the Straits of Mackinac. The 45th parallel north runs through the state—marked by highway signs and the Polar-Equator Trail - along a line including Mission Point Light near Traverse City, the towns of Gaylord and Alpena and Menominee in the Upper Peninsula. With the exception of two small areas that are drained by the Mississippi River by way of the Wisconsin River in the Upper Peninsula and by way of the Kankakee-Illinois River in the Lower Peninsula, Michigan is drained by the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed and is the only state with the majority of its land thus drained.

The Great Lakes that border Michigan from east to west are Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. It has more lighthouses than any other state. The state is bounded on the south by the states of Ohio and Indiana, sharing land and water boundaries with both. Michigan's western boundaries are almost entirely water boundaries, from south to north, with Illinois and Wisconsin in Lake Michigan; then a land boundary with Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula, that is principally demarcated by the Menominee and Montreal Rivers; then water boundaries again, in Lake Superior, with Wisconsin and Minnesota to the west, capped around by the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and east.

The heavily forested Upper Peninsula is relatively mountainous in the west. The Porcupine Mountains, which are part of one of the oldest mountain chains in the world, rise to an altitude of almost 2,000 feet  above sea level and form the watershed between the streams flowing into Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. The surface on either side of this range is rugged. The state's highest point, in the Huron Mountains northwest of Marquette, is Mount Arvon at 1,979 feet (603 m). The peninsula is as large as Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island combined but has fewer than 330,000 inhabitants. They are sometimes called "Yoopers" (from "U.P.'ers"), and their speech (the "Yooper dialect") has been heavily influenced by the numerous Scandinavian and Canadian immigrants who settled the area during the lumbering and mining boom of the late nineteenth century.

Tahquamenon Falls in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.The Lower Peninsula, shaped like a mitten, is 277 miles (446 km) long from north to south and 195 miles  from east to west and occupies nearly two-thirds of the state's land area. The surface of the peninsula is generally level, broken by conical hills and glacial moraines usually not more than a few hundred feet tall. It is divided by a low water divide running north and south. The larger portion of the state is on the west of this and gradually slopes toward Lake Michigan. The highest point in the Lower Peninsula is either Briar Hill at 1,705 feet, or one of several points nearby in the vicinity of Cadillac. The lowest point is the surface of Lake Erie at 571 feet.

The geographic orientation of Michigan's peninsulas makes for a long distance between the ends of the state. Ironwood, in the far western Upper Peninsula, lies 630 highway miles (1,015 km) from Lambertville in the Lower Peninsula's southeastern corner. The geographic isolation of the Upper Peninsula from Michigan's political and population centers makes the U.P. culturally and economically distinct. Occasionally U.P. residents have called for secession from Michigan and establishment as a new state to be called "Superior."

A feature of Michigan that gives it the distinct shape of a mitten is the Thumb. This peninsula projects out into Lake Huron and the Saginaw Bay. The geography of the Thumb is mainly flat with a few rolling hills. Other peninsulas of Michigan include the Keweenaw Peninsula, making up the Copper Country region of the state. The Leelanau Peninsula lies in the Northern Lower Michigan region. See Also Michigan Regions

Numerous lakes and marshes mark both peninsulas, and the coast is much indented. Keweenaw Bay, Whitefish Bay, and the Big and Little Bays De Noc are the principal indentations on the Upper Peninsula. The Grand and Little Traverse, Thunder, and Saginaw bays indent the Lower Peninsula. Michigan has the ninth longest shoreline of any state—3,224 miles. An additional 1,056 miles  can be added if islands are included.

The state has numerous large islands, the principal ones being the North Manitou and South Manitou, Beaver, and Fox groups in Lake Michigan; Isle Royale and Grande Isle in Lake Superior; Marquette, Bois Blanc, and Mackinac islands in Lake Huron; and Neebish, Sugar, and Drummond islands in St. Mary's River. Michigan has about 150 lighthouses, the most of any U.S. state. 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 passenger ships and freighters traveling the Great Lakes. See Lighthouses in the United States.

The state's rivers are generally small, short and shallow, and few are navigable. The principal ones include the Detroit River, St. Marys River, and St. Clair River which connect the Great Lakes; the Au Sable, Cheboygan, and Saginaw, which flow into Lake Huron; the Ontonagon, and Tahquamenon, which flow into Lake Superior; and the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Grand, Muskegon, Manistee, and Escanaba, which flow into Lake Michigan. The state has 11,037 inland lakes and 38,575 square miles  of Great Lakes waters and rivers in addition to 1,305 square miles of inland water. No point in Michigan is more than six miles  from an inland lake or more than 85 miles  from one of the Great Lakes.

Protected lands

See also: List of Michigan state parks

The state is home to one national park: Isle Royale National Park, located in Lake Superior, about 30 miles southeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Other national protected areas in the state include: Keweenaw National Historical Park, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Huron National Forest, Manistee National Forest, Hiawatha National Forest, Ottawa National Forest and Father Marquette National Memorial. The largest section of the North Country National Scenic Trail also passes through Michigan.

With 78 state parks, 19 state recreation areas, and 6 state forests, Michigan has the largest state park and state forest system of any state. These parks and forests include Holland State Park, Mackinac Island State Park, Au Sable State Forest, and Mackinaw State Forest.

Climate

Little Sable Point Light south of Pentwater, Michigan.

Michigan USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.Michigan has a humid continental climate, although there are two distinct regions. The southern and central parts of the Lower Peninsula (south of Saginaw Bay and from the Grand Rapids area southward) have a warmer climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa) with hot summers and cold winters. The northern part of Lower Peninsula and the entire Upper Peninsula has a more severe climate with warm, but shorter summers and longer, cold to very cold winters. Some parts of the state average high temperatures below freezing from December through February, and into early March in the far northern parts. During the winter through the middle of February the state is frequently subjected to heavy lake-effect snow. The state averages from 30–40 inches  of precipitation annually.

The entire state averages 30 days of thunderstorm activity per year. These can be severe, especially in the southern part of the state. The state averages 17 tornadoes per year, which are more common in the extreme southern portion of the state. Portions of the southern border have been nearly as vulnerable historically as parts of Tornado Alley. Farther north, in the Upper Peninsula, tornadoes are rare.

As of July 1, 2008, Michigan had an estimated population of 10,003,422, an increase of 64,930, or 0.7%, since the year 2000. As of 2000, the state had the eighth-largest population in the Union.

The center of population of Michigan is located in Shiawassee County, in the southeastern corner of the civil township of Bennington, which is located directly north of the village of Morrice.

As of 2005-2007 three-year estimate, the state had a foreign-born population of 610,173, or 6% of the total population. In recent years, the foreign-born population in the state has grown. Michigan has the largest Dutch-American, Finnish-American and Macedonian-American populations in the United States. As of 2008 the population of Caucasians made up 79.6% of the population, Black or African American at 14.2%, Hispanic or Latino at 4.1%, American Native at 0.6%, Asian at 2.4%, Hawaiian or other is less than 0.1%.

The five largest reported ancestries in Michigan are: German (20.4%), African American (14.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (9.9%), and Polish (8.6%).

A large majority of Michigan's population is white (79.6%). Americans of European descent including German, Irish, French, and British ancestry live throughout most of Michigan and Metro Detroit. People of Nordic (especially Finnish) and Cornish ancestry have a notable presence in the Upper Peninsula. Western Michigan is known for the Dutch heritage of many residents (the highest concentration of any state), especially in metropolitan Grand Rapids. Metro Detroit also has residents of Polish and Irish descent.

Dearborn has become the center of a large Arab-American community, now mostly Lebanese, who immigrated for jobs in the auto industry in the 1920s. About 300,000 people trace their roots to the Middle East. African-Americans, who came to Detroit and other northern cities in the Great Migration of the early 20th century, form a majority of the population of the city of Detroit and of other industrial cities, including Flint and Benton Harbor.

An individual from Michigan is called a "Michigander" or "Michiganian".Also at times, but rarely, a "Michiganite".Residents of the Upper Peninsula are sometimes referred to as "Yoopers" (a phonetic pronunciation of "U.P.ers"), and Upper Peninsula residents sometimes refer to those from the lower as "trolls" (they live below the bridge

 Some of the major industries/products/services include automobiles, cereal products, pizza, information technology, aerospace, military equipment, copper, iron, and furniture. Michigan is the third leading grower of Christmas trees with 60,520 acres  of land dedicated to Christmas tree farming. The beverage Vernors was invented in Michigan in 1866, sharing the title of oldest soft drink with Hires Root Beer. Faygo was founded in Detroit on November 4, 1907. Two of the top four pizza chains were founded in Michigan and are headquartered there: Domino's Pizza by Tom Monaghan and Little Caesars Pizza by Mike Ilitch.

As leading research institutions, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University,and Wayne State University are important partners in the state's economy and the state's University Research Corridor. Michigan's public university's attract more than $1.5 B in research and development grants each year.The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory is located at Michigan State University. Michigan's workforce is well-educated and highly skilled, making it attractive to companies. It has the third highest number of engineering graduates nationally.

Agriculture

A wide variety of commodity crops, fruits, and vegetables are grown in Michigan, making it second only to California among U.S. states in the diversity of its agriculture. Michigan is a leading grower of fruit, including blueberries, cherries, apples, grapes, and peaches. These fruits are mainly grown in West Michigan. Michigan produces wines, beers and a multitude of processed food products. Kellogg's cereal is based out of Battle Creek, Michigan and processes many locally grown foods. Thornapple Valley, Ballpark Franks, Koegel's, and Hebrew National sausage companies are all based in Michigan.

Michigan is home to very fertile land in the Flint/Tri-Cities and "Thumb" areas. Products grown there are corn, sugar beets, navy beans, and soy beans. Sugar beet harvesting usually begins the first of October. It takes the sugar factories about five months to process the 3.7 million tons of sugarbeets into 970 million pounds of pure, white sugar. Michigan's largest sugar refiner, Michigan Sugar Company[68] is the largest east of the Mississippi River and the fourth largest in the nation. Michigan Sugar brand names are Pioneer Sugar and the newly incorporated Big Chief Sugar. Potatoes are grown in Northern Michigan, and corn is dominant in Central Michigan. Michigan State University is dedicated to the study of agriculture.

Tourism

 The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island is a classic image of Michigan tourism.Michigan has a thriving tourist industry. Visitors spend $17.5 billion per year in the state, supporting 193,000 tourism jobs. Michigan's tourism website ranks among the busiest in the nation. Destinations draw vacationers, hunters, and nature enthusiasts from across the United States and Canada. Michigan is fifty percent forest land, much of it quite remote. The forests, lakes and thousands of miles of beaches are top attractions. Event tourism draws large numbers to occasions like the Tulip Time Festival and the National Cherry Festival.

In 2006, the Michigan State Board of Education mandated that all public schools in the state hold their first day of school after the Labor Day holiday, in accordance with the new Post Labor Day School law. A survey found that 70% of all tourism business comes directly from Michigan residents, and the Michigan Hotel, Motel, & Resort Association claimed that the shorter summer in between school years cut into the annual tourism season in the state.

Tourism in metropolitan Detroit draws visitors to leading attractions, particularly The Henry Ford, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Detroit Zoo, and to sports in Detroit. Other museums include the Detroit Historical Museum, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, museums in the Cranbrook Educational Community, and the Arab American National Museum. The metro area offers four major casinos, MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown, Motor City, and Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada; moreover, Detroit is the largest American city and metropolitan region to offer casino resorts.

Hunting and fishing are significant industries in the state. Charter boats are based in many Great Lakes cities to fish for salmon, trout, walleye and perch. Michigan ranks first in the nation in licensed hunters (over one million) who contribute $2 billion annually to its economy. Over three-quarters of a million hunters participate in white-tailed deer season alone. Many school districts in rural areas of Michigan cancel school on the opening day of firearm deer season, because of attendance concerns.

Michigan's Department of Natural Resources manages the largest dedicated state forest system in the nation. The forest products industry and recreational users contribute $12 billion and 200,000 associated jobs annually to the state's economy. Public hiking and hunting access has also been secured in extensive commercial forests. The state has highest number of golf courses and registered snowmobiles in the nation.

The state has numerous historical markers, which can themselves become the center of a tour. The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.

With its position in relation to the Great Lakes and the countless ships that have foundered over the many years in which they have been used as a transport route for people and bulk cargo, Michigan is a world-class scuba diving destination. The Michigan Underwater Preserves are 11 underwater areas where wrecks are protected for the benefit of sport divers.

Transportation

Mackinac Bridge.Michigan has nine international crossings with Ontario, Canada:

Ambassador Bridge, North America's busiest international border crossing the Detroit River (the only place in the contiguous United States where one can go due south to Canada).

Blue Water Bridge, a twin-span bridge (Port Huron, Michigan and Point Edward, Ontario, but the larger city of Sarnia, Ontario is usually referred to on the Canadian side.)

Blue Water Ferry (Marine City, Michigan and Sombra, Ontario)

Canadian Pacific Railway tunnel.

Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry (Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario)

Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

International Bridge (Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario)

St. Clair River Railway Tunnel (Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario)

Walpole Island Ferry (Algonac, Michigan and Walpole Island First Nation, Ontario

A second international bridge is currently under development between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario.[76]

 Railroads

See also: List of Michigan railroads and History of railroads in Michigan

Michigan is served by four Class I railroads: the Canadian National Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, CSX Transportation, and the Norfolk Southern Railway. These are augmented by several dozen short line railroads. The vast majority of rail service in Michigan is devoted to freight, with Amtrak and various scenic railroads the exceptions.

Main article: Michigan Services

Amtrak passenger rail services the state, connecting many southern and western Michigan cities to Chicago, Illinois. There are plans for commuter rail for Detroit and its suburbs (see SEMCOG Commuter Rail).

Roadways

Welcome sign.See also: Michigan Highway System

Interstate 75 is the main thoroughfare between Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw extending north to Sault Sainte Marie and providing access to Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario. The expressway crosses the Mackinac Bridge between the Lower and Upper Peninsulas. Branching highways include I-275 and I-375 in Detroit; I-475 in Flint; and I-675 in Saginaw.

Interstate 69 enters the state near the Michigan-Ohio-Indiana border, and it extends to Port Huron and provides access to the Blue Water Bridge crossing into Sarnia, Ontario.

Interstate 94 enters the western end of the state at the Indiana border, and it travels east to Detroit and then northeast to Port Huron and ties in with I-69. I-194 branches off from this freeway in Battle Creek. I-94 is the main artery between Chicago, Illinois and Detroit.

Interstate 96 runs east-west between Detroit and Muskegon. I-496 loops through Lansing. I-196 branches off from this freeway at Grand Rapids and connects to I-94 near Benton Harbor. I-696 branches off from this freeway at Novi and connects to I-94 near St Clair Shores.

U.S. Route 2 enters Michigan at the city of Ironwood and runs east to the town of Crystal Falls, where it turns south and briefly re-enters Wisconsin northwest of Florence. It re-enters Michigan north of Iron Mountain and continues through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the cities of Escanaba, Manistique, and St. Ignace. Along the way, it cuts through the Ottawa and Hiawatha National Forests and follows the northern shore of Lake Michigan. Its eastern terminus lies at exit 344 of I-75, just north of the Mackinac Bridge. This is generally regarded as the main route through the Upper Peninsula, although some prefer to travel on M-28 as it tends to save time (U.S. 2 hugs the Lake Michigan shoreline for much of its length.)

Major bridges include the Ambassador Bridge, Blue Water Bridge, Mackinac Bridge, and International Bridge. Michigan also has the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel crossing into Canada.

Airports

See also: List of airports in Michigan

The Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is by far Michigan's busiest airport, followed by the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids.

Important cities and townships

The Detroit skyline along the Detroit River.

The Grand Rapids skyline centered on the Grand River.

A Lansing sunset.

Downtown Flint as seen from the Flint River.

The Ann Arbor skyline as seen from Michigan Stadium.Further information: List of cities, villages, and townships in Michigan

The largest municipalities in Michigan are (according to 2007 census estimates):

Rank City Population Image

1 Detroit 916,952

2 Grand Rapids 193,627

3 Warren 134,223

4 Sterling Heights 127,349

5 Ann Arbor 115,092

6 Lansing 114,947

7 Flint 114,662

8 Clinton Township 96,253

9 Livonia 93,931

10 Dearborn 89,252

Other important cities include:

Battle Creek ("Cereal City U.S.A.", world headquarters of Kellogg Company)

Benton Harbor / St. Joseph (headquarters of Whirlpool Corporation)

East Lansing (home of Michigan State University)

Fremont (home of the Gerber Products Company)

Holland (home of Tulip Time, the largest tulip festival in the U.S.)

Jackson (headquarters of CMS Energy)

Kalamazoo (Largest city in southwest Michigan and home to Western Michigan University)

Manistee (home to the world's largest salt plant, owned by Morton Salt)

Marquette (largest city in the Upper Peninsula with 19,661 people and home of Northern Michigan University)

Midland (headquarters of the Dow Chemical Company and the Dow Corning Corporation)

Mount Pleasant (home of Central Michigan University)

Muskegon (largest Michigan city on Lake Michigan)

Pontiac (major automobile manufacturing center, and home of the Pontiac Silverdome)

Port Huron (major international crossing and home of the Blue Water Bridge)

Saginaw (the largest of the Tri-Cities, which also consist of Bay City and Midland, and home to Saginaw Valley State University)

Sault Ste. Marie (home of the Soo Locks and Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge)

Traverse City ("Cherry Capital of the World", making Michigan the country's largest producer of cherries)

Ypsilanti (home of Eastern Michigan University)

Half of the wealthiest communities in the state are located in Oakland County, just north of Detroit. Another wealthy community is located just east of the city, in Grosse Pointe. Only three of these cities are located outside of Metro Detroit. The city of Detroit itself, with a per capita income of $14,717, ranks 517th on the list of Michigan locations by per capita income. Benton Harbor is the poorest city in Michigan, with a per capita income of $8,965, while Barton Hills is the richest with a per capita income of $110,683.

Education

See also: List of colleges and universities in Michigan and List of high schools in Michigan

 Colleges and universities

Adrian College

Albion College

Alma College

Andrews University

Aquinas College

Ave Maria School of Law

Baker College

Calvin College

Calvin Theological Seminary

Center for Humanistic Studies

Central Michigan University

Cleary University

College for Creative Studies

Concordia University

Cornerstone University

Cranbrook Academy of Art

Davenport University

Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary

Eastern Michigan University

Ecumenical Theological Seminary

Ferris State University

Finlandia University

Grace Bible College

Grand Rapids Theological Seminary

Grand Valley State University

Great Lakes Christian College

Great Lakes Maritime Academy

Hillsdale College

Hope College

Kalamazoo College

Kendall College of Art and Design

Kettering University

Kuyper College

Lake Superior State University

Lawrence Technological University

Lewis College of Business

Madonna University

Marygrove College

Michigan Jewish Institute

Michigan State University

Michigan Technological University

Moody Theological Seminary–Michigan

Northern Michigan University

Northwestern Michigan College

Northwood University

Oakland University

Olivet College

Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

Rochester College

Sacred Heart Major Seminary

Saginaw Valley State University

SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary

Siena Heights University

Spring Arbor University

Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches

Thomas M. Cooley Law School

University of Detroit Mercy

University of Michigan System

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

University of Michigan–Dearborn

University of Michigan-Flint

University of Phoenix

Walsh College of Accountancy and Business

Wayne State University

Western Michigan University

Western Theological Seminary

William Tyndale College

Yeshiva Gedolah Ateres Mordechai of Greater Detroit

 Community colleges and technical schools

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

Jackson Community College

Kalamazoo Valley Community College

Kellogg Community College

Kirtland Community College

Lake Michigan College

Lansing Community College

Macomb Community College

Michigan Career and Technical Institute

Michigan Institution of Aviation and Technology

Mid-Michigan Community College

Monroe County Community College

Montcalm Community College

Mott Community College

Muskegon Community College

National Institute of Technology

North Central Michigan College

Northwestern Michigan College

Oakland Community College

Olympia Career Training Institute

Ross Medical Education Center

Saint Clair County Community College

Schoolcraft College

Southwestern Michigan College

Washtenaw Community College

Wayne County Community College

West Shore Community College

 Professional sports teams

Michigan's major-league sports teams include: Detroit Tigers baseball team, Detroit Lions football team, Detroit Red Wings ice hockey team, Detroit Pistons men's basketball team, and Grand Rapids Rampage Arena Football League team.

The Pistons played at Detroit's Cobo Arena until 1978 and at the Pontiac Silverdome until 1988 when they moved into the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Detroit Lions played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit until 1974, then moved to the Pontiac Silverdome where they played for 27 years between 1975-2002 before moving to Ford Field in 2002.The Detroit Tigers Played at Tiger Stadium (Detroit) (formerly known as Navin Field and Briggs Stadium) It hosted the Detroit Tigers Major League Baseball team from 1912 to 1999,In 2000 they moved to Comerica Park. The Red Wings played at Olympia Stadium before moving to Joe Louis Arena in 1979. The Rampage play at the Van Andel Arena in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids' entertainment district.

Ten-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams was born in Saginaw. Professional hockey got its start in Houghton, when the Portage Lakers were formed.

Other notable sports teams include:

Club Sport League

Alpena IceDiggers Ice hockey North American Hockey League

Battle Creek Revolution Ice hockey All American Hockey League

West Michigan Blizzard Ice hockey All American Hockey League

Flint Generals Ice hockey International Hockey League

Grand Rapids Griffins Ice hockey American Hockey League

Kalamazoo Wings Ice Hockey ECHL

Marquette Rangers Ice Hockey North American Hockey League

Motor City Machine Ice hockey North American Hockey League

Muskegon Lumberjacks Ice hockey International Hockey League

Plymouth Whalers Ice hockey Ontario Hockey League

Port Huron Icehawks Ice hockey International Hockey League

Saginaw Spirit Ice hockey Ontario Hockey League

Traverse City North Stars Ice hockey North American Hockey League

Battle Creek Bombers Baseball Summer Collegiate Baseball, Northwoods League

Lansing Lugnuts Baseball Minor League Baseball, Midwest League

Great Lakes Loons Baseball Minor League Baseball, Midwest League

Kalamazoo Kings Baseball Minor League Baseball, Frontier League

Traverse City Beach Bums Baseball Minor League Baseball, Frontier League

Oakland County Cruisers Baseball Minor League Baseball, Frontier League

West Michigan Whitecaps Baseball Minor League Baseball, Midwest League

Kalamazoo Xplosion Indoor football Continental Indoor Football League

Flint Phantoms Indoor football Continental Indoor Football League

Muskegon Thunder Indoor football Indoor Football League

Saginaw Sting Indoor football Indoor Football League

Detroit Demolition Football Independent Women's Football League

Detroit Ignition Indoor soccer Xtreme Soccer League

Kalamazoo Kingdom Soccer USL Premier Development League

Michigan Bucks Soccer USL Premier Development League

Michigan Hawks Soccer W-League

Michigan Phoenix Soccer Women's Premier Soccer League

West Michigan Edge Soccer USL Premier Development League

West Michigan Firewomen Soccer W-League

Motor City Machine Guns Wrestling TNAwrestling

Former professional teams

See also: List of Michigan sport championships

Club Sport League(s) Status

Detroit Gems Basketball National Basketball Association Moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and became the Minneapolis Lakers, would move again to Los Angeles, California and are now the Los Angeles Lakers

Detroit (NFL) (Heralds/Tigers/Panthers/Wolverines) Football National Football League Defunct

Detroit Wheels Football World Football League Moved to Charlotte, North Carolina for one game, then disbanded in the middle of the 1974 season

Detroit Falcons Basketball Basketball Association of America Defunct

Michigan Panthers Football USFL Defunct

Detroit Stars Baseball Negro National League, 2nd Negro National League, Negro American League The team ceased operations in 1960

Detroit Wolverines Baseball National League Disbanded, 1888

Michigan Stags Ice Hockey World Hockey Association Moved to Baltimore, Maryland and became the Baltimore Blades for the rest of the team's existence

Detroit Vipers Ice Hockey International Hockey League Disbanded when IHL became AHL

Detroit Fury Arena football Arena Football League Franchise terminated September 20, 2004

Grand Rapids Rampage Arena football Arena Football League Franchise terminated March 5, 2010

Michigan Mayhem Basketball Continental Basketball Association Disbanded after 2005-2006 season

Detroit Shock Basketball WNBA Moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

State symbols and nicknames

State nicknames: Wolverine State, Great Lakes State, Mitten State, Water-Winter Wonderland

State motto: Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice (Latin: If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you) adopted in 1835 on the coat-of-arms, but never as an official 'motto'. This is a paraphrase of the epitaph of British architect Sir Christopher Wren about his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral.

State song: My Michigan (official since 1937, but disputed amongst residents), Michigan, My Michigan (Unofficial State Song, since the civil war)

State bird: American Robin (since 1931)

State animal: Wolverine (traditional)

State game animal: White-tailed deer (since 1997)

State fish: Brook trout (since 1965)

State reptile: Painted Turtle (since 1995)

State fossil: Mastodon (since 2000)

State flower: Apple blossom (adopted in 1897, official in 1997)

State wildflower: Dwarf Lake Iris (since 1998). Known as Iris lacustris, it is a federally listed threatened species.

State tree: White pine (since 1955)

State stone: Petoskey stone (since 1965). It is composed of fossilized coral (Hexagonaria pericarnata) from long ago when the middle of the continent was covered with a shallow sea.

State gem: Isle Royale greenstone (since 1973). Also called chlorastrolite (literally "green star stone"), the mineral is found on Isle Royale and the Keweenaw peninsula.

State Quarter: U.S. coin issued in 2004 with the Michigan motto "Great Lake State."

State soil: Kalkaska Sand (since 1990), ranges in color from black to yellowish brown, covers nearly a million acres (400,000 ha) in 29 counties.

" Michigan's shores touch four of the five Great Lakes, and Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes. In Michigan, you are never more than six miles from an inland lake or more than 85 miles from a Great Lake."