People may have lived in what is now Missouri for as long as 20,000 years. Many centuries later, Native American tribes lived on this land, including the Chickas, Illini, Missouri, and Osage. In 1682, France claimed a huge strip of land called the Louisiana Territory, which included land that was to become Missouri. Spain took control of it eighty years later, but this did not last long: Spain returned the territory to France in 1800. In 1803, the United States purchased the land when they signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty. A year later, American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out from the city of St. Louis to explore and map this vast land. In 1821 Missouri became his own state.
Missouri would be home to a historic lawsuit in 1846 when Dred Scott, a slave, sued for his freedom and lost in 1857. This was one of the events that led to the civil war that was fought between the states that wanted to abolish (or end) slavery in the country and those that wanted to keep it legal. During the Civil War that began in 1861, slavery was legal in Missouri, but the state never seceded (or seceded) from the Union, as other states did with slavery. Missouri is named after the Missouri Native American tribe. It comes from the word ouemessourita, which roughly translates to “wooden canoe people” or “those who have canoes”. Not everyone agrees on how Missouri got its nickname, Show Me State. The most popular legend has it that the name was coined when a Missouri congressman said, “I’m from Missouri. You must show me.” His statement meant that actions speak louder than words.
Geography of Missouri
According to itypetravel.com, Missouri borders Iowa to the north; Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee in the east; Arkansas in the south; and Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska to the west. The state’s undulating eastern border is almost entirely created by the Mississippi River. Missouri can be divided into four geographic regions. Scattered to the plains cross the far north, over the Missouri River. The area is mostly flat prairie with fertile soil, rivers and streams. The Osage Plains in western Missouri are mostly flat with a few hills. The soil is finer and less rich than on the Til Plains. A tall grass that can grow high enough to cover a horse rider covered 15 million acres of the state. But now there is very little left. The Prairie State Park in this region is one of the few places where these supertallies have been preserved. The Ozark Plateau is Missouri’s largest geographic region and covers much of the southern part of the state. Gradual water erosion here has created high wooded ridges, springs and caves. The area is home to the state’s highest point, Mount Taum Sauk. Like Lake of the Ozarks, a reservoir where many visitors come to fish, camp, and boat. The Mississippi Alluvial Plain is a lowland in the southeastern part of the state (called the “heel of the state”). Flooding in the Mississippi River has made this land very fertile, and cotton, soybeans, and rice are grown in the region.
Wildlife of Missouri
Missouri is home to the largest mammal in North America, the American bison. The state is also home to black bears, bobcats, mountain lions and endangered gray wolves. Peregrine falcons, eastern owls and purple finches are some of the birds that fly across the Missouri. The state’s reptiles include alligator turtles, Great Plains rat snakes, and steppe masses (a type of rattlesnake). Meanwhile, cave salamanders and American bullfrogs are some of the amphibians that live here. Missouri has a wide variety of trees such as oriental redbud, white oak, black walnut, and oriental wow. But the state is even more famous for its prairies, where hundreds of grass species grow, including sagging grass, Indian grass, bluegrass and June grass. Missouri wildflowers include putty root (which has sticky roots once used as glue), lady’s slipper yellow; and Ozark Bluestar.
KANSAS CITY
Population: 463.202 thousand people (2011)
Area: 818.4 sq. km
Founded: 1853
City status since: 1853
Time zone: UTC
Altitude: 277 m
The American city of Kansas City is part of the state of Missouri. Kansas City is located on the Missouri and belongs to Jackson County. Initially, even before colonization by Europeans, the territory of today’s city was inhabited by the tribes of the Algonquian group. The first of the white people who visited these places was the explorer from France, Etienne de Vinyard. This happened in 1713. Later, the territory was a French possession, and in 1763 went under the rule of Spain.. But neither the French nor the Spaniards managed to advance in the development of the territory further than shipping and the fur trade. In fact, the area belonged to no one. Since 1803, colonists from America began to inhabit this area. After 18 years, Kansas City became part of the United States as part of Missouri. In 1831, the first settlement of white people appeared here. Being one of the main transport hubs in the development of the Wild West, the area was actively developing. Officially, the city was founded in 1853. The key moment in the political life of the city since its formation was the conflict between northerners and southerners. Residents of the city actively participated in the bloody events in Kansas and the civil war that followed. In 1865, the city received a railroad, which gave impetus to the stable economic growth of the city. This growth lasted until the early 1960s. Then came the decline. This led to the relocation of residents to the suburbs and the creation of Negro ghettos with a high crime rate and a low standard of living. Since the mid-1990s, the city has been growing economically again, projects are being created and implemented related to the revitalization of areas that have fallen into decay. See Missouri cities.
Today, the chemical, oil refining, woodworking and mechanical engineering industries are well developed in the city. Among the main attractions in the city is the public library building. Externally, the building of the city’s central library looks like books standing side by side. There are also a large number of fountains (more than 200). In terms of the number of fountains, Kansas City ranks second in the world. Other attractions in the city include the City Zoo, City Museum, International Exhibition Center, National World War I Museum, Modern Art Museum, Midland Theatre, Harris Carney House Museum, Royal American Museum, Jazz Museum and many others.
