Geography and Industry

Michigan is one of the most oddly and interestingly shaped states in the union. It is really nothing more than two peninsulas that are surrounded by a lot of lake water and not physically connected to each other at all! These two peninsulas are called the Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula, respectively.

The Lower Peninsula is roughly hand-shaped, and juts out into two of the Great Lakes (Michigan and Huron). The majority of Michigan's population lives in this peninsula. Michigan's largest city, Detroit, is near the “thumb” of the hand-shaped peninsula. The Lower Peninsula is mostly lowland forest and rolling hills.

Michigan's Upper Peninsula is northwest of the Lower Peninsula and across Lake Michigan from it. It extends eastward from northeastern Wisconsin, with Lake Superior to the north and Lake Michigan to the south. Less than ten percent of Michigan's population lives here. It has lots of forest land, and the western portion is pretty rugged. These mountains have lots of copper and iron deposits. People come from all over the Northeast to ski in Michigan's western mountains, and to summer on its cool and temperate northern Lake Superior shore.

Most of Michigan's economy for the past century has been tied to Detroit's massive auto industry. As American car makers have lost their foremost position as makers of cars, the entire state has suffered. The last couple of decades in particular have been tough times in Detroit.

History

Michigan, before European exploration and settlement, was inhabited by Algonquin-speaking tribes of Native Americans such as the Chippewa, Ojibwa, Ottawa, Mingoes, and Potawa-tomi. French explorers and fur traders visited Michigan beginning in the seventeenth century. They founded trading posts at such spots as Detroit and Michilimackinac. Detroit in particular became an important French fort, because it commanded access to the upper Great Lakes, with its site on the strategic Detroit River.

When the French lost all of their holdings to the British in 1763, Michigan became a British possession for just over twenty years. In 1783, it changed hands again, going to the Americans in the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution. For a time Michigan was part of the Old Northwest Territory, then of the Ohio Territory, then of the Indiana Territory.

When Michigan was ready to become a state itself, it got into a border dispute with neighboring Ohio. This dispute was called the Toledo War, because the site of what is now Toledo, Ohio, at the southwestern end of Lake Erie, was smack in the middle of the disputed territory. Ohio eventually won the “war” (which had only one injury and no deaths), and claimed Toledo as its prize. As compensation for losing the Toledo corridor, the federal government gave the entire Upper Peninsula over to Michigan when it became a state, in early 1837.

TRY THIS!

Michigan: The “Hand” State

Michigan's Lower Peninsula is shaped like a hand. You can locate places in the state by looking at your left hand with the palm down, the thumb extended out a bit, and the fingers extended outward. For example, Chicago, Illinois would be placed on the left part of your wrist and Detroit would be near your thumb. Give this a try and see what other sorts of “hand directions” you can come up with!