Missouri

Missouri (State)

Area: 69,695 sq. mi.

Capital: Jackson City

Popular name: Show Me State

The state of Missouri (from the Indian name "place of the big canoes"), in the central Midwest, is divided by the Missouri River into a northern and a larger southern part. Southern Missouri is occupied by the rolling Ozark Plateau, which is broken up by deep, narrow gorges. The northern part of the state lies in the Central Lowlands, a fertile morainic region covered with loess; the state is bounded on the east by the Mississippi plain, while in the west grass prairie predominates. The climate is warm in summer; there are frequent tornadoes, particularly in the summer months. History The territory was occupied by Osage Indians when French settlers arrived in the 18th c., founding Ste Genevieve in 1735 and St Louis in 1764. Originally part of the French colony of Louisiana and from 1763 Spanish, the area passed to the United States in 1803 (the Louisiana Purchase). After separating from Arkansas in 1819 Missouri was admitted to the Union on August 10th 1821 as the 24th state. In subsequent decades the state was an area of passage for settlers travelling to the West, and St Louis became the "Gateway to the West". The Civil War threatened to split the state; but although Missouri was a slave-owning state it did not join the Confederates.

Economy The main crops grown on the productive loess and clay soils of the plains are maize, rice, cotton and soya beans. Cattle rearing and, particularly in the Ozark Mountains, sheep farming play an important part in the economy. Missouri is the largest producer of lead in the United States. In the two industrial centres of Kansas City and St Louis the principal activities are the aircraft and space industries, automobile construction, engineering and metalworking.