Michigan (MISH-ig-əə n) is a peninsular state in the Great Lakes area of the Upper Midwestern USA. It shares water and land borders with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, Indiana and Illinois to the southwest, Ohio to the southeast, and the Canadian province of Ontario to the east, northeast and north. With a population of 10. 14 million and an area of 96,716 sq mi (250,490 km2), Michigan is the tenth-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the largest by complete location eastern of the Mississippi River. The state funding is Lansing, while its most populated city is Detroit. The City Detroit area in Southeast Michigan is among the nation's most populated and biggest city economies. Other essential cities include Grand Rapids, Flint, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, the Tri-Cities, and Muskegon. Michigan includes 2 peninsulas: the greatly forested Upper Peninsula (frequently called "the U. P. "), which juts eastward from north Wisconsin, and the much more inhabited Reduced Peninsula, stretching north from Ohio and Indiana. The peninsulas are separated by the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and are linked by the 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridge along Interstate 75. Bordering four of the five Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair, Michigan has the longest freshwater coast of any U. S. political class, determining 3,288 miles. The state ranks second behind Alaska in water insurance coverage by square miles and initially in portion, with roughly 42%, and it additionally has 64,980 inland lakes and fish ponds. The Great Lakes region has actually mostly been occupied for thousands of years by Native individuals such as the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, and Wyandot. Some people compete that the area's name is stemmed from the Ojibwe word ᒥᓯᑲᒥ ᒥ ᓯ ᑲ ᒥ (mishigami), suggesting "big water" or "huge lake". While others say that it comes from the Mishiiken Tribe of Mackinac Island, likewise called Michinemackinawgo by Ottawa historian Andrew Blackbird, whose surrounding lands were described as Mishiiken-imakinakom, later on shortened to Michilimackinac. In the 17th century, French explorers asserted the location for New France. French settlers and Métis established forts and negotiations. After France's loss in the French and Indian Battle in 1762, the location came under British control and later on the U. S. complying with the Treaty of Paris (1783 ), though control stayed contested with Indigenous people up until treaties in between 1795 and 1842. The location became part of the larger Northwest Territory; the Michigan Territory was arranged in 1805. Michigan was confessed as the 26th state on January 26, 1837, going into as a totally free state and promptly turning into an industrial and profession hub that brought in European immigrants, specifically from Finland, Macedonia, and the Netherlands. In the 1930s, migration from Appalachia and the Middle East and the Great Migration of Black Southerners better shaped the state, especially in City Detroit. Michigan has a varied economy with a gross state item of $725. 897 billion as of Q1 2025, placing 14th amongst the 50 states. Although the state has established a varied economy, in the very early 20th century it ended up being widely referred to as the center of the U. S. auto market, which established as a significant national economic force. It is home to the country's 3 significant automobile companies (whose head offices are done in Metro Detroit).As soon as made use of for logging and extracting, today the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula is very important for tourism because of its wealth of natural deposits. The Lower Peninsula is a center of production, forestry, farming, solutions, and modern industry.
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