Flag of Indiana	Seal of Indiana

The State of Indiana  was the 19th U.S. state admitted into the union. It is located in the midwestern region of the United States of America. With about 6.3 million residents, it is ranked 15th in population and 17th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area, and is the smallest contiguous state west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Indiana is a diverse state with a few large urban areas and a number of smaller industrial cities. It is known nationally for its sports teams and athletic events; the Indianapolis Colts, champions of the 2006 NFL season's Super Bowl, the NBA Indiana Pacers and for the Indianapolis 500 motorsports race, the largest single-day sporting event in the world, and for a strong basketball tradition, often called Hoosier Hysteria.

Residents of Indiana are often called Hoosiers. Although many stories are told, the origin of the term is unknown. The state's name means "Land of the Indians", or simply "Indian Land". The name dates back to at least 1800, when Indiana Territory was created, at which time the territory was unceded Indian land. Angel Mounds State Historic Site, one of the best preserved prehistoric Native American sites in the United States, can be found in south-western Indiana near Evansville.

Indiana is bounded on the north by Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan; on the east by Ohio; on the south by Kentucky, with which it shares the Ohio River as a border; and on the west by Illinois. Indiana is one of the Great Lakes states.

The northern boundary of the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois was originally defined to be a latitudinal line drawn through the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan. Since such a line would not provide Indiana with usable frontage on the lake, its northern border was shifted ten miles (16 km) north. The northern borders of Ohio and Illinois were also shifted from this original plan.

The 475 mile (764 km) long Wabash River bisects the state from northeast to southwest before flowing south, mostly along the Indiana-Illinois border. The river has given Indiana a few theme songs, such as On the Banks of the Wabash, The Wabash Cannonball and Back Home Again, In Indiana. The Wabash is also the longest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi; 400 miles (640 km) from the Huntington dam to the Ohio River. The White River (a tributary of the Wabash, which is a tributary of the Ohio) zigzags through central Indiana.

There are 24 Indiana state parks, nine man-made reservoirs, and hundreds of lakes in the state. Areas under the control and protection of the National Park Service or the United States

The area of Indiana has been settled since before the development of the Hopewell culture (ca. 100–400 AD). It was part of the Mississippian culture from roughly the year 1000 up to 1400. The specific Native American tribes that inhabited this territory at that time were primarily the Miami and the Shawnee. The area was claimed for New France in the 17th century, and handed over to the Kingdom of Great Britain as part of the settlement at the end of the French and Indian War (see Province of Quebec (1763-1791) for more on this era). During British colonial rule a war is fought with several Indian tribes between 1763-1766, called Pontiac’s Rebellion.

After the American Revolution, the area was officially handed over to the United States in 1783, without consulting the opinions of the indigenous Indian peoples. Their dissatisfaction with this handing over of their territory from British into U.S. jurisdiction, led to the Northwest Indian War between 1785-1795.

In 1787 the area became part of the newly formed Northwest Territory, in 1800 part of this was established into the Indiana Territory. In 1811 the Indians again rose up against their treatment since the peace treaty of Greenville of 1795, in Tecumseh's War, and were again defeated. In 1816 Indiana joined the Union as the 19th state. Indiana fought on the Union side during the American Civil War and prohibited slavery.