Indiana, meaning the "Land of the Indians," is a Midwestern state of the United States. It is the 15th largest state with a population approaching 6.1 million. It is also the 38th smallest state by means of size, although it is not a densely populated state. The majority of Indiana's population live in the metropolitian areas of Indianapolis, Northwest Indiana (due to proximity to Chicago), Fort Wayne, and Evansville. It was the 19th U.S. State to join the Union.
Anderson Angola Auburn Avon Batesville Bedford Bloomington Brazil Brownsburg Carmel Castleton Centerville Chesterton Clarksville Cloverdale Columbia City Columbus Corydon Crawfordsville Dale Daleville Decatur Edinburgh Elizabeth Elkhart Evansville Ferdinand Fishers Fort Wayne Frankfort Franklin Fremont French Lick Gas City Goshen Greenfield Greensburg Greenwood Hammond Hebron Hobart Howe Huntingburg Huntington Indianapolis Jasper Jeffersonville Kendallville Knox Kokomo La Porte Lafayette Lawrenceburg Lebanon Logansport Madison Marion Markle Martinsville Merrillville Michigan City Mishawaka Monticello Mount Vernon Muncie Nashville New Albany New Castle New Harmony Noblesville North Vernon Peru Plainfield Plymouth Portage Porter Portland Princeton Remington Rensselaer Richmond Rising Sun Rochester Rockport Schererville Scottsburg Sellersburg Seymour Shelbyville Shipshewana South Bend Speedway Sullivan Taylorsville Tell City Terre Haute Valparaiso Vevay Vincennes Wabash Warren Warsaw Washington West Baden Springs West Lafayette Westfield Winchester
Indiana is bounded on the north by Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan; on the east by Ohio; on the south by Kentucky, with which it shares the Ohio River as a border; and on the west by Illinois. Indiana is one of the Great Lakes states.
The 475 mile (764 km) long Wabash River bisects the state from northeast to southwest and has given Indiana two theme songs, the state song On the Banks of the Wabash as well as The Wabash Cannonball. The White River (a tributary of the Wabash, which is a tributary of the Ohio) zigzags through central Indiana. Indianapolis and Muncie are large cities on this river. Evansville, the third largest city in Indiana, is located on the Ohio River, which forms all of the Indiana-Kentucky border.
Northern Indiana is mostly farmland; however, the northwest corner of the state is part of the greater metropolitan area of Chicago and is therefore more densely populated. Gary, a city on Lake Michigan, is effectively a suburb of Chicago, even though it is in Indiana.
South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart and Goshen have become a single metropolitan area over the past 20 years (spanning two counties).
The Kankakee River, which winds through northern Indiana, serves somewhat as a demarcating line between rural and suburban northwest Indiana.
Southern Indiana is a mixture of farmland and forest. The Hoosier National Forest is a 200,000 acre (80,900 ha) nature preserve in south central Indiana. Southern Indiana's topography is more varied and generally contains more hills and geographic variation than the northern portion, such as the "Knobs," a series of 1,000 ft. hills that run parallel to the Ohio River in south-central Indiana. The limestone geology of Southern Indiana has created numerous caves and one of the largest limestone quarry regions in the USA.
Areas under the control and protection of the National Park Service include:
* George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Vincennes * Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore near Porter * Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City
Highways - The major U.S. Interstate highways in Indiana are I-69, I-65, I-94, I-70, I-74, I-64, I-80, and I-90.
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In the state of Indiana there were 932 traffic deaths in 2005.
Airports - Major airports are in Indianapolis, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, and South Bend. A long-standing proposal to build a major Chicago airport in the Gary area received a boost in early 2006 with the approval of $48 million in federal funding over the next ten years.
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