| State of Indiana | |
| Coordinates | 39°56’NB, 86°13’WL |
| General | |
| Surface | 94.321 km² (1,5% water) |
| Residents | 6.516.922 (70,2 inhabitants/km²) |
| Capital city | Indianapolis |
| Politics | |
| Governor | Eric Holcomb (R) |
| Other | |
| Time zone | −5 / −6 |
| Joined | 11 December 1816 |
| Nickname | Hoosier State |
| ISO 3166-2 | US-IN |
| Website | in.gov |
Indiana is one of the states of the United States, located in the Great Lakes region. The default abbreviation is IN. Indiana was the 19th state to join the United States. The surface of the state is 94,321 km² and there are 6,237,569 inhabitants. The largest city and capital is Indianapolis. The state is named after the English name of its original inhabitants – the name dates back to at least the 1760s and was first used by the United States Congress.
Before the colonization period, Indiana was inhabited by all kinds of indigenous peoples. Angel Mounds National Historic Site is one of the best preserved pottery archaeological sites in the United States and can be found in southwestern Indiana near Evansville.
The state’s nickname is Hoosier State, and its residents have often been referred to as Hoosiers since the 1830s. There are various theories about the origin of this nickname.
Geography and Climate
According to JIBIN123.COM, the state of Indiana covers 94,321 km², of which 1.5% is water. The state is mostly in the Eastern time zone, except the Northwest, which belongs to the Central time zone.
Indiana is bordered by Michigan to the north, Illinois to the west , Ohio to the east, and Kentucky to the south. It is located on Lake Michigan. The entire southern border is formed by the Ohio River, part of the western border by the Wabash River, which flows into it.
The state is quite flat; the highest point is only 383 m above sea level: Hoosier Hill. Because of this, it usually blows very hard in Indiana, in addition, about 20 tornadoes occur annually.
Indiana is characterized by a very fluctuating climate. It generally has a humid continental climate, with the exception of the extreme south where a humid subtropical climate prevails.
History
Shawnee chief Tecumseh loses his temper during negotiations with US Governor William Henry Harrison in 1810. Tecumseh demanded the invalidation of the Treaty of Fort Waine, which regulated the sale of large tracts of Native American land.
Before Europeans colonized present-day Indiana, the area was populated by several Native American tribes.
The first European explorer in the area was the Frenchman Sieur de la Salle, who reached what is today South Bend in 1679. French traders entered the area from Canada to trade hides with the Indians for weapons, alcohol and blankets. The first French trading post was founded in 1702. Around 1750, the British also arrived in the area, who contested the trade in skins with the French. In the armed conflicts between the two colonial powers, the Indians usually sided with the French. However, the British convincingly won the French and Indian War (1754-1762), in which all the area east of the Mississippiunder which present-day Indiana became British.
Two decades later, however, the British were expelled during the American Revolutionary War (1777-1783). Although most of the fighting took place in the Thirteen Colonies on the east coast, the British territory west of the Appalachians was also important, as the British could continue to threaten the American revolutionaries from here. American commander George Rogers Clark invaded the area in 1779 to isolate and defeat British forces. After the war, the area south of the Great Lakes was assigned to the Americans and renamed the Northwest Territory.
After Ohio was formally declared a state in 1803, the remainder of the Northwest Territory was renamed Indiana Territory. In addition, in 1805 the northernmost part was split off under the name Michigan Territory. Indiana Territory’s first governor, later president William Henry Harrison, bought large tracts of land from the Native Americans. This freed up more area for colonization and resulted in thousands of new settlers from the east coming to live in the area every year. The settlers settled mainly around the largest rivers (Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash) and the Great Lakes coast. The interior remained largely in the hands of the Indians.
Although slavery was initially not allowed in the area, Harrison lifted the ban, believing it would benefit the area’s economic development. He opposed the humanistic Quakers. Opponents of slavery managed to split off the eastern part of the area (present-day Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota and part of Michigan) in 1809 under the name Illinois Territory. In the same year, Indiana Territory also gained its own elected parliament, which, against the governor’s will, reintroduced the ban on slavery.
Shawnee anger over the sale of large tracts of land led to growing tensions between the Shawnee and the American settlers. Tenskwatawa, a leader considered a prophet by the Shawnee, managed to gain many followers with inflammatory language against the Americans. His brother Tecumseh tried to unite all Native American tribes in their struggle against the advancing settlers. In 1811, tensions led to the Battle of Tippecanoe, in which Harrison’s forces defeated the Shawnee of Tenskwatawa. During the War of 1812between the United States and the British, Tecumseh sided with the British. The Indian Rebellion ended with Tecumseh’s death at the Battle of the Thames in October 1813.
Although Indiana’s population was just over 50,000, a movement began around 1810 to make the area an official state. Thanks in large part to the efforts of Jonathan Jennings, the Indiana Territory delegate to Congress, Indiana formally became the 19th state of the United States on December 11, 1816. During the American Civil War, the state sided with the Union.
Demography and Economics
Indiana had a population of 6,080,485 (64 per km²), of which about 65% of the population lives in an urban area.
The largest city in Indiana is capital Indianapolis. Other cities include Fort Wayne, South Bend and Evansville. Gary, in the far northwest, is attached to Chicago in the state of Illinois.
After Pennsylvania and Ohio, most of the Amish live in Indiana. In 2020, their number was 59,305.
The gross product of the state in 2001 was 190 billion dollars.
Administrative division
According to COUNTRYAAH, Indiana is divided into 92 counties.
| County | Inhabitants 1 July, 2007 |
County Seat | Inhabitants 1 July, 2007 |
| Adams | 33.644 | Decatur | 9492 |
| Allen | 349.488 | Fort Wayne | 251.247 |
| Bartholomew | 74.750 | Columbus | 39.817 |
| Benton | 8810 | Fowler | 2211 |
| Blackford | 13.189 | Hartford City | 6347 |
| Boone | 54.137 | Lebanon | 15.259 |
| Brown | 14.670 | Nashville | 774 |
| Carroll | 19.987 | Delphi | 2889 |
| Cass | 39.193 | Logansport | 18.743 |
| Clark | 105.035 | Jeffersonville | 29.627 |
| Clay | 26.648 | Brazil | 8194 |
| Clinton | 33.795 | Frankfort | 16.314 |
| Crawford | 10.782 | English | 669 |
| Daviess | 30.035 | Washington | 11.367 |
| Dearborn | 49.759 | Lawrenceburg | 4840 |
| Decatur | 24.959 | Greensburg | 10.598 |
| DeKalb | 41.796 | Auburn | 12.837 |
| Delaware | 115.419 | Muncie | 65.410 |
| Dubois | 41.225 | Jasper | 13.936 |
| Elkhart | 197.942 | Goshen | 31.893 |
| Fayette | 24.273 | Connersville | 13.955 |
| Floyd | 73.064 | New Albany | 37.033 |
| Fountain | 17.143 | Covington | 2442 |
| Franklin | 23.234 | Brookville | 2921 |
| Fulton | 20.308 | Rochester | 6447 |
| Gibson | 32.754 | Princeton | 8470 |
| Grant | 68.847 | Marion | 30.363 |
| Greene | 32.692 | Bloomfield | 2486 |
| Hamilton | 261.661 | Noblesville | 41.561 |
| Hancock | 66.305 | Greenfield | 18.401 |
| Harrison | 36.810 | Corydon | 2751 |
| Hendricks | 134.558 | Danville | 8025 |
| Henry | 47.181 | New Castle | 18.347 |
| Howard | 83.776 | Kokomo | 45.902 |
| Huntington | 37.743 | Huntington | 16.633 |
| Jackson | 42.184 | Brownstown | 2999 |
| Jasper | 32.275 | Rensselaer | 6248 |
| Jay | 21.514 | Portland | 6190 |
| Jefferson | 32.704 | Madison | 12.579 |
| Jennings | 28.106 | Vernon | 318 |
| Johnson | 135.951 | Franklin | 22.672 |
| Knox | 37.949 | Vincennes | 17.950 |
| Kosciusko | 76.115 | Warsaw | 13.396 |
| LaGrange | 37.032 | Lagrange | 2935 |
| Lake | 492.104 | Crown Point | 23.909 |
| LaPorte | 109.787 | LaPorte | 21.093 |
| Lawrence | 46.033 | Bedford | 13.489 |
| Madison | 131.312 | Anderson | 57.311 |
| Marion | 876.804 | Indianapolis | 795.458 |
| Marshall | 46.698 | Plymouth | 10.985 |
| Martin | 10.058 | Shoals | 791 |
| Miami | 36.641 | Peru | 12.484 |
| Monroe | 128.643 | Bloomington | 72.254 |
| Montgomery | 37.881 | Crawfordsville | 15.066 |
| Morgan | 69.874 | Martinsville | 11.714 |
| Newton | 14.014 | Kentland | 1679 |
| Noble | 47.526 | Albion | 2323 |
| Ohio | 5772 | Rising Sun | 2348 |
| Orange | 19.607 | Paoli | 3896 |
| Owen | 22.398 | Spencer | 2481 |
| Parke | 17.169 | Rockville | 2621 |
| Perry | 18.916 | Tell City | 7552 |
| Pike | 12.605 | Petersburg | 2457 |
| Porter | 160.578 | Valparaiso | 29.951 |
| Posey | 26.262 | Mount Vernon | 7047 |
| Pulaski | 13.778 | Winamac | 2501 |
| Putnam | 37.014 | Greencastle | 10.014 |
| Randolph | 25.859 | Winchester | 4616 |
| Ripley | 27.350 | Versailles | 1711 |
| Rush | 17.494 | Rushville | 6146 |
| St. Joseph | 266.088 | South Bend | 104.069 |
| Scott | 23.679 | Scottsburg | 5952 |
| Shelby | 44.063 | Shelbyville | 18.414 |
| Spencer | 44.063 | Rockport | 2068 |
| Starke | 23.542 | Knox | 3795 |
| Steuben | 33.450 | Angola | 7903 |
| Sullivan | 21.366 | Sullivan | 4480 |
| Switzerland | 9684 | Vevay | 1622 |
| Tippecanoe | 163.364 | Lafayette | 63.679 |
| Tipton | 16.069 | Tipton | 5063 |
| Union | 7203 | Liberty | 1928 |
| Vanderburgh | 174.425 | Evansville | 116.253 |
| Vermillion | 16.417 | Newport | 549 |
| Vigo | 104.915 | Terre Haute | 58.932 |
| Wabash | 32.918 | Wabash | 10.868 |
| Warren | 8482 | Williamsport | 1842 |
| Warrick | 57.090 | Boonville | 6726 |
| Washington | 27.920 | Salem | 6499 |
| Wayne | 68.260 | Richmond | 36.993 |
| Wells | 27.927 | Bluffton | 9359 |
| White | 23.819 | Monticello | 5294 |
| Whitley | 32.655 | Columbia City | 8202 |
Politics
The executive branch of the state is headed by a governor, who is directly elected by the voters in the state. Since January 2017, Eric Holcomb of the Republican Party has been the governor of Indiana. He succeeded his party colleague Mike Pence, who was elected Vice President of the United States in 2016.
The legislature is made up of the Indiana House of Representatives (Indiana House of Representatives) with 100 members and the Indiana Senate (Indiana Senate) with 50 members. Republicans have held the Senate for more than twenty years; the House changed majority more often, but since the 2010 elections has also continuously had a Republican majority. For several years now, this party has even had a two-thirds majority in both chambers.
Both governor and legislature are based in the Indiana Statehouse.
