United States, Michigan
Welcome to Michigan, the Great Lake state. Michigan is quite unique among the states in that it is divided into two distint geographic sections, the Upper peninsula, and the Lower peninsula. Lake Michigan lies between the two peninsulas. The Upper peninsula is very sparsely populated, more than 90% of the peninsula being forested. The Lower peninsula contains the cities, industry, and agriculture. The Upper and Lower Peninsulas were connected in 1957 with the construction of Big Mac, the Mackinac Bridge.
Almost half of Michigan is comprised of water and, except for Alaska, Michigan has more shoreline than any other state, fronting four of the Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie. With 3,177 miles of Great Lakes shoreline it is easy to see why Michigan boasts a thriving recreational industry, and leads the nation with approximately one million registered pleasure boats.
Author John Steinbeck: "Michigan, handsome as a well made woman, and dressed and jewelled. It seemed to me that the earth was generous and outgoing here in the heartland, and, perhaps, its people to a cue from it."
The word Michigan originally referred to a clearing on the lower peninsula and was derived from the Chippewa Indian word "majigan" which means clearing. Lake Michigan was named after this clearing by European explorers in the area in the 1670's. The state later took the name of the clearing as well.
