Welcome to Kansas, nicknamed the Sunflower State, but also known as the Jayhawk State, the Midway State, and the Wheat State. This region of plains and prairie is the breadbasket of the country, growing more wheat than any other state in the union.

The state of Kansas was named after the river.

The Kansas River was named by the French after the Kansas, Omaha, Kaw, Osage and Dakota Sioux Indian word "KaNze" meaning, in the Kansas language "south wind." The state name for Arkansas shares its origins with Kansas.

In 1822, the Santa Fe Trail brought hundreds and hundreds of wagons through Kansas, and as the population grew, Kansas became a state in 1861. Cattle drives and railroads continued to change the face of the state, and Dodge City became home to the largest cattle market in the world, gaining notoriety in the process as the rough and tumbling home to the likes of Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, and Bat Masterson. Today, cattle, wheat, corn, and soybeans form the base for the agricultural economy.