a US state in the Middle West , the most central of all the states. It forms part of the Great Plains and suffered badly during the Dust Bowl years. Its popular name is the Sunflower State. The capital city is Topeka, and the largest cities are Wichita, Overland Park and Kansas City (2). Kansas was part of the Louisiana Purchase and became a state in 1861. Its main products include wheat, corn, cattle, oil, salt and helium (= a gas used to fill balloons and to freeze things).
See also Kansas-Nebraska Act .