ILLINOIS

a confederation of small, Algonquian-speaking Indian tribes originally spread over what is now southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois and parts of Missouri and Iowa; the best-known tribes were the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Peoria, and Tamaroa. The Illinois were primarily hunters; small parties took forest mammals throughout the year, and most of the village participated in communal winter bison hunts on the prairie. Corn (maize) and other vegetables cultivated by women added to their diet. Their villages consisted of dwellings covered with rush mats, in which several families were housed. Little is known of Illinois social organization, but it was probably similar to that of the Miami, with a civil chief elected from among a village council and a war chief chosen according to his ability to lead raids. By the middle of the 17th century most of the Illinois had concentrated along the Illinois River from Starved Rock to the Mississippi, having moved there because of harassment by the Dakota, Fox, and other northern tribes. Iroquois raids greatly reduced their numbers, and the introduction of liquor by French traders further weakened the tribe. The murder of the Ottawa chief Pontiac by an Illinois provoked the vengeance of several northern Algonquian tribes, further reducing their population. The survivors took refuge with French settlers in Kaskaskia, in Illinois, while the Sauk, Fox, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi dispossessed them of most of their territory. In 1832 the remaining Illinois sold their lands, moving to Kansas and then to Oklahoma. The Midwest. constituent state of the United States of America, lying in the heart of the Midwest, bounded on the north by Wisconsin, on the east by Lake Michigan and Indiana, on the south by Kentucky, and on the west by Missouri and Iowa. The capital is Springfield. Indian settlement in Illinois dates from 8000 BC. The Mississippian people, whose religious centre was Cahokia in southwestern Illinois, probably constituted the largest pre-Columbian (around AD 1300) community north of Mexico. All the Illinois tribes inhabiting the area at the time of European settlement were of Algonquian stock. The French explorers Marquette and Jolliet entered the territory in 1673. Illinois was controlled by the French until 1763, when it passed to the British. Illinois became a territory of the United States after 1783 and was made the 21st state in 1818. Some 250,000 Illinoisans fought for the Union during the American Civil War. After the war the state grew rapidly into an industrial centre. Despite the great fire of 1871, the city of Chicago grew to be one of the largest cities in the country. Illinois consists primarily of flat prairie, although irregular plains cover some western, northern, and southern areas. Southernmost Illinois is characterized by open hills, but the hills of northwestern Illinois contain the state's highest point (1,235 feet above sea level). The deep black soil of much of northern and central Illinois is among the finest in the world in terms of agricultural quality. The state's great lengthequivalent to the distance from New England to Virginiagives it an unusual variety of northern and southern plant life. The climate is temperate with cold, snowy winters and hot summers. Mean winter temperatures are about 22 F (-6 C) in the north and 37 F (3 C) in the south; summer equivalents are 74 F (23 C) and 80 F (27 C). Mean annual precipitation in the north is about 34 inches (864 mm) and in the south about 46 inches (1,168 mm). Tornadoes can occur frequently during the spring. The first white U.S. settlers of Illinois were of Anglo-Saxon origin. Settlers from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee moved into southern Illinois, while New Englanders and New Yorkers moved into the northern parts by way of the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes. The great waves of European immigration that began in the 1840s and culminated after World War I left their mark on Illinois. Chicago still has numerous ethnic communities that preserve and maintain their native traditions. The migration of blacks to Illinois cities began during World War I, and by 1980 they constituted 15 percent of the total population of the state and 40 percent of Chicago's. The population of Illinois is highly urbanizedmore than 80 percentbut its rate of growth has slowed considerably and has fallen well below the national average. Like other states in the North, Illinois has experienced the emigration of its people and industries to locations in the south and west. Agriculture remains a major sector of the state's economy. Farms cover four-fifths of the land area, and most of them are family-owned. Illinois is a national leader in both soybean and corn (maize) production. Production of pork, milk and other dairy products, and beef are also important. The state has large deposits of coal, but seams are thin and sulfur content is high. There are limited reserves of petroleum, and production, although down from the 1940 high, is still significant. Lead, zinc, limestone, and silica are also extracted. There are several nuclear power stations. Illinois is one of the largest industrial centres of the nation. It ranks among the top states in the production of fabricated metals, food products, rubber products, and electrical-machinery manufacturing, as well as in its number of printing and publishing establishments. It is also among the top manufacturers of nonelectrical machinery, which accounts for the largest share of its foreign exports. The state is also a major insurance centre and the home of the Chicago Board of Tradethe nation's oldest and largest commodity marketand the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Illinois is the focal point of many transportation networks. It has three navigable rivers, one of which connects, by canal, Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River. It ranks high among the states in railway mileage. Chicago is a major hub for Amtrak passenger service and is the freight centre of the country. Its O'Hare International Airport is one of the nation's and the world's busiest airports, and the state has an extensive network of roads. Cultural activities are heavily concentrated in Chicago, with its many museums and theatres, its celebrated Chicago Symphony and other orchestras, its opera, and other cultural establishments. An extensive public university system brings cultural attractions to all corners of the state. Central Illinois is well known for its Lincoln landmarks and southern Illinois for the Shawnee National Forest. Western Illinois is known for its Spoon River country, immortalized by the poet Edgar Lee Masters. Architectural landmarks abound in Chicago, where Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe all worked. Area 56,345 square miles (145,934 square km). Pop. (1990) 11,430,602. constituent state of the United States of America. It encompasses 56,345 square miles (145,934 square kilometres) and stretches 385 miles (620 kilometres) from Wisconsin in the north to Cairo in the area that is known as Little Egypt, which lies farther south than Richmond, Va. In addition to Wisconsin, the state borders Lake Michigan on the northeast, Indiana on the east, Kentucky on the southeast, and Missouri and Iowa on the west. Illinois was named for the Illinois Indians. The capital is Springfield. Admitted as the 21st member of the Union on Dec. 3, 1818, Illinois has throughout the 20th century been profoundly divided. It lies within both the so-called old industrial belt and the fertile agricultural heart of the nation. The presence of Chicago, the nation's third largest city, creates sharp distinctions between the state's largely urban northeast and the more evenly balanced urbanrural population downstate. Because of its great length, Illinois exhibits both Northern and Southern regional characteristics. Still further contrasts derive from the racial and ethnic complexity of the population. These internal divisions, while not unique to Illinois, perhaps became magnified through the state's critical role in the economic and political life of the nation. Rich in coal and oil reserves and ideally located for the acquisition of raw materials and distribution of finished goods, Illinois ranks among the top states in value of exports, agricultural income, and value added by manufacturing. Chicago is a railroad hub of the nation; its O'Hare International Airport is among the world's busiest, and Illinois highways and waterways are thick with commercial traffic. Politically, Illinois has continued to be a swing state, its votes often mirroring fluctuating social tensions that underlie the growing, but unevenly distributed, economic prosperity. Additional reading Federal Writers' Project, Illinois: A Descriptive and Historical Guide (1939, reprinted as The WPA Guide to Illinois, 1983), provides a still-useful overview. Ronald E. Nelson (ed.), Illinois: Land and Life in the Prairie State (1978); and A. Doyne Horsley, Illinois (1986), are good geographic works. R. Dan Neely and Carla G. Heister (comps.), The Natural Resources of Illinois (1987), contains information on climate and biological and geologic features. Geography and history are combined in James N. Adams (compiler), Illinois Place Names, ed. by William E. Keller (1968, reissued 1989). John Clayton, The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 16731968 (1970), is a comprehensive compilation of political, geographic, and historical information. DeLorme Mapping Company, Illinois Atlas & Gazetteer, 2nd ed. (1996), details the state's topography. Paul Kleppner et al., Political Atlas of Illinois (1988), analyzes election returns. Baker Brownell, The Other Illinois (1958), offers a colourful historical portrait of southern Illinois from the early 18th to the mid-20th century; it is supplemented by C. William Horrell, Henry Dan Piper, and John W. Voigt, Land Between the Rivers: The Southern Illinois Country (1974, reissued 1982).Introductions to Illinois history include Robert P. Howard, Illinois (1972); and Richard J. Jensen, Illinois: A Bicentennial History (1978). The Sesquicentennial History of Illinois series includes Clarence Walworth Alvord, The Illinois Country, 16731818 (1920, reprinted 1987); Theodore Calvin Pease, The Frontier State, 18181848 (1918, reprinted 1987); Arthur Charles Cole, The Era of the Civil War, 18481870 (1919, reprinted 1987); John H. Keiser, Building for the Centuries: Illinois, 1865 to 1898 (1977); and Donald F. Tingley, The Structuring of a State: The History of Illinois, 18991928 (1980). Clyde C. Walton (ed.), An Illinois Reader (1970), is a retrospective anthology of journal articles on a variety of historical topics. Current research is reported in Illinois Historical Journal (quarterly). Richard T. Lockhart Vicki D. Sebela The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica