Welcome to TheseUnitedStates - Illinois

Illinois, our 21st state, was admitted to the Union December 3, 1818.   The 2000 census has Illinois' population at 12,419,293, ranking  5th in the US.  With a total area of  57,914 square miles, the state ranks 25th  in size.  Illinois' capital is Springfield; Chicago is its largest city.

Useful Internet Links for Illinois:

Official Website of Illinois  

http://www.illinois.gov/

Travel and Tourism Department  

http://www.enjoyillinois.com

Call toll free  1-800-2-CONNECT

Pick a Homepage - Illinois

Point of Interest Road Signs - Illinois

Congress.org - Illinois Elected Officials

Illinois Weather from Weather.com

National Park Service Sites in Illinois

Illinois News from USA Today

Illinois fun facts:

Illinois State Bird:  Cardinal

Illinois State Flower:  Native violet

Illinois State Motto:  State sovereignty - national union

Illinois State Song:  Illinois

Illinois State Tree:  White Oak

Nickname: Prairie State, Land of Lincoln

The geographic center of Illinois lies in Logan County, 28 miles NE  of Springfield.  At 1,235 feet, Charles Mound, NE of Scales Mound in the extreme NW corner is the state's highest point.  The name Illinois is French for Illini, or land of Illini, an Algonquin word meaning "men" or "warriors."

Brief History:  Semi-nomadic Algonquian peoples, including the Peoria, Illinois, Kaskaskia, and Tamaroa, lived in the region at the time of European contact.  Fur traders were the first Europeans in Illinois, followed shortly by Jolliet and Marquette in 1673, and La Salle in 1680, who built a fort near Peoria.  The first settlements were French, at Cahokia in 1699 and Kaskaskia in 1703.  France ceded the area to Britain in 1763, and in 1778 American General George Rogers Clark took Kaskaskia from the British without a shot.  Railroads brought change to the area, and in 1787 it became part of the Northwest Territory.  Post-Civil War Illinois became a center for the labor movement as bitter strikes, such as the Haymarket Square riot, occurred in the mid-1880's.

Illinois attractions include Chicagoland's Field Museum and Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and the Lincoln Park and Brookfield Zoos, Wrigley Field, Comiskey Park and Soldier Field.  Other destinations around the state include Lincoln shrines at Springfield, New Salem, and Sangamon County; Cahokia Mounds, Collinsville, Starved Rock State Park; Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge; Mormon settlement at Nauvoo; Forts Kaskaskia, Chartres, Massac (parks); Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois; Illinois State Museum, Springfield; Dickson Mounds Museum, between Havana and Lewistown.

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