Geography and Industry

The terrain of Iowa is a combination of rolling hills and broad prairies. The Mississippi River borders Iowa on the east, and two-thirds of Iowa's rivers and streams flow eastward into the Mississippi. The Missouri River flows along Iowa's western border. Iowa was once covered by hardwood forests, but logging and clearing of the area for farming destroyed much of them. Farm fields also took their toll on Iowa's original prairies in much the same way.

Iowa has some of the richest farmland in the world. Almost three-quarters of the state's land is still farmland! In Iowa, farmland means a bit of hay, a bit of oats, and some soybeans, but most of all it means corn. And that corn in turn often goes to feed prize-winning Iowa hogs (which means that these hogs are “corn-fed,” naturally!).

Aside from farming, Iowa also supports such farming-dependent industries as food processing (which makes sense, because so much food is produced in Iowa). Another important industry is the manufacture of farm machinery (which also makes sense!).

Outdoor recreation including hunting and fishing are pivotal to Iowa. Iowa is in the path of migratory birds like ducks and geese. These birds and the European pheasant, among others, are hunted in the autumn. With so many rivers running in and around Iowa, there is year-round fishing there as well.

History

Long before the coming of the Europeans to what is now Iowa, the Mississippian culture flourished here. These people were mound builders, like their neighbors throughout the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. Their culture collapsed and they disappeared around 1500.

When the first French explorers visited the region, there were a number of Native American tribes living there. These included the Sauk and Fox, the Sioux, and the Iowa (a tribe from which the state gets its name).

After the United States acquired Iowa as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, settlers began moving across the Mississippi River and cutting down Iowa's forest and plowing under its prairies, converting the state to agriculture. After the disastrous Black Hawk War (1832) the remaining Native Americans were removed across the Missouri River to Indian Territory (what is now Oklahoma). Within a decade Iowa had not just river access to eastern markets for its corn and other vegetables, but railroad access as well.