Michigan
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State flag
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MICHIGAN,
one of the East North Central states of the U.S., consisting
mainly of two large peninsulas—the Lower Peninsula and
the smaller Upper Peninsula. The state is bordered on the N and
E by Ontario, on the S by Ohio and Indiana, and on the W by Wisconsin.
Most of its boundaries are formed by four of the Great Lakes—Superior,
Huron, Erie, and Michigan.
Michigan entered the Union on Jan. 26, 1837, as the 26th state.
Its economy, dominated in the 19th century by fur trapping, farming,
lumbering, and mining, became highly industrialized after 1900 as
the state developed into the major center of the U.S. automobile
industry. As the 21st century began, service industries (including health services and tourism), agriculture, and mining also were important economic activities. President Gerald
R. Ford lived for many years in Michigan. The name of the state
is taken from that of Lake Michigan, the name of which is derived
from an Algonquian Indian term meaning “big water.” Michigan
is called the Wolverine State and the Great Lake State.
| MICHIGAN STATE FACTS |
| DATE OF STATEHOOD: |
January 26, 1837; 26th state |
| CAPITAL: |
Lansing |
| MOTTO: |
Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice (If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you) |
| NICKNAMES: |
Wolverine
State; Great Lake State |
| STATE SONG: |
“Michigan, My Michigan” (words by Douglas M. Malloch) |
| STATE TREE: |
White pine |
| STATE FLOWER: |
Apple blossom |
| STATE BIRD: |
Robin |
| POPULATION (2000 census): |
9,938,444; 8th among the states |
| AREA: |
250,738 sq km (96,810 sq mi);
11th largest state; includes 103,603 sq km (40,001 sq mi) of inland water |
| HIGHEST POINT: |
Mt. Arvon, 603 m (1979 ft) |
| LOWEST POINT: |
174 m (572 ft), at the shore of Lake Erie |
| ELECTORAL VOTES: |
17 |
| U.S. CONGRESS: |
2 senators; 15 representatives |
| GOVERNOR: |
Jennifer Granholm (Dem.)
Took office January 2003 |
Michigan, with an area of 250,738 sq km (96,810 sq mi), is
the 11th largest of the U.S. states; 9.8% of its land area
is owned by the federal government. The extreme dimensions of the
Lower Peninsula, which is shaped like a mitten, are about 460 km
(about 285 mi) from N to S and about 315 km (about 195 mi) from
E to W. The greatest distances in the Upper Peninsula, which has
a roughly rectangular shape, are about 525 km (about 325 mi) from
E to W and about 280 km (about 175 mi) from N to S. The lowest point
in the state is 174 m (572 ft), along Lake Erie in the SE, and the
highest is 603 m (1979 ft), atop Mt. Arvon in the NW; the approximate
mean elevation is 274 m (900 ft). Michigan has a Great Lakes shoreline
of about 5310 km (about 3300 mi).
The W portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is composed
of rather bold NE- to SW-trending ranges forming part of the Superior
Upland, a region that also includes Isle Royale and extends W into
Wisconsin and Minnesota. These highlands consist of hard rock, mainly
granite. Mountains in the area include the Porcupine Mts. and the
Gogebic and Copper ranges; the last-named is partly situated on
the Keweenaw Peninsula, which projects into Lake Superior. Differences
in elevation of neighboring areas in this region are greater than
in the remainder of the state.
The E section of the Upper Peninsula and the entire Lower
Peninsula are part of the Eastern Great Lakes Lowland. This region
has a low to gently rolling topography, the result of glacial action.
Numerous lakes and bogs are in the area, which has poor natural
drainage.
The soils of the Upper Peninsula and the N half of the Lower
Peninsula are gray and gray-brown and acidic and were formed from
glacially deposited material. They have limited fertility. SE of
Saginaw Bay, in the “thumb” area, soils are heavier
loams. The soils of most of the S half of the Lower Peninsula are
very fertile, and considerable farmland is found in this area. Sand
dunes occur along the Lake Michigan shore.
Most of Michigan’s rivers are relatively short and
have a small volume of flow. Several of the larger rivers, including
the Grand R., the state’s longest, are in the W part of
the Lower Peninsula. Others in this area are the Manistee, Pere
Marquette, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, and Saint Joseph rivers. In the
E Lower Peninsula are the Au Sable, Saginaw, Cass, Saint Clair, and
Detroit rivers, and in the Upper Peninsula are the Ontonagon,
Menominee, Escanaba, and Manistique rivers. The Upper Peninsula has
many picturesque waterfalls, including Tahquamenon Falls.
Besides parts of the Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie, and Michigan,
the state encompasses more than 11,000 lakes, the largest being
Houghton Lake, in the N part of the Lower Peninsula. Michigan’s
sections of the Great Lakes contain many islands, notably Isle Royale
in Lake Superior, Bois Blanc and Mackinac islands in the Straits
of Mackinac, Drummond Island in Lake Huron, and Beaver and Manitou
islands in Lake Michigan.
Michigan has a humid continental climate with short summers;
the Upper Peninsula generally has cooler temperatures than the Lower
Peninsula. The climate is somewhat moderated by breezes from the
Great Lakes, which tend to cool the state in summer and warm it
in winter. Areas of the Upper Peninsula have a yearly frost-free
season of 60 to 120 days, and annual precipitation ranges from about 405
to 810 mm (about 16 to 32 in). Sault Sainte Marie on the Upper Peninsula
has a mean yearly temperature of 4.4° C (40° F) and an average annual precipitation of 813 mm (32 in). In areas
of the Lower Peninsula the yearly frost-free season lasts from 120
to 180 days, and annual precipitation ranges from about 760 to 1220 mm
(about 30 to 48 in). Detroit, for example, has an average annual
temperature of 10° C (50° F) and receives about
787 mm (about 31 in) of moisture per year. Most of the state receives
considerable snowfall each year, with the heaviest accumulations
in the W part of the Upper Peninsula. The recorded temperature in
Michigan has ranged from –46.1° C (–51° F),
in 1934 at Vanderbilt in the N Lower Peninsula, to 44.4° C
(112° F), in 1936 at Mio, also in the N Lower Peninsula.
Michigan is struck by relatively few damaging storms. Tornadoes occasionally
strike the S half of the Lower Peninsula.
| MICHIGAN AVERAGE CLIMATE |
| |
Detroit |
Sault Ste. Marie |
| Average January temperature range |
–7.2° to 0° C |
19° to 32° F |
–14.4° to –5.6° C |
6° to 22° F |
| Average July temperature range |
17.2° to 28.3° C |
63° to 83° F |
11.7° to 23.9° C |
53° to 75° F |
| Average annual temperature |
10° C |
50° F |
4.4° C |
40° F |
| Average annual precipitation |
787 mm |
31 in |
813 mm |
32 in |
| Average annual snowfall |
813 mm |
32 in |
2794 mm |
110 in |
| Mean number of days per year with appreciable precipitation |
133 |
163 |
| Average daily relative humidity |
68% |
76% |
| Mean number of clear days per year |
80 |
66 |
About half of the land area of Michigan is forested. Most
of the woodland is in the Upper Peninsula and the N portion of the
Lower Peninsula. In the N, white and red pines predominate; in the
upper portion of the Lower Peninsula mixed pine and maple forests
are most common. Farther S, hardwoods such as oak, beech, and maple
are more numerous. On the whole, about three-quarters of Michigan’s
trees are hardwoods. The state also has numerous flowering plants,
such as arbutus, daisy, goldenrod, iris, lady’s-slipper,
tiger lily, and violet.
A variety of smaller wildlife, such as squirrels, foxes, woodchucks,
chipmunks, and rabbits, are found throughout Michigan. Many deer
inhabit the N Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula, which also
provide a habitat for snowshoe hare, porcupine, black bear, and
bobcat. Isle Royale contains moose and timber wolf. Among the diverse
varieties of fish inhabiting Michigan’s rivers and lakes
are pike, bass, perch, alewife, catfish, trout, smelt, crappie,
bluegill, chub, coho salmon, and sturgeon. The state’s
birds include the robin, thrush, meadowlark, wren, bluebird, oriole,
bobolink, and chickadee. Geese, ducks, grouse, pheasants, and quail
are among the notable game birds of Michigan.
Michigan has substantial deposits of a number of minerals.
Sand and gravel are found throughout the state, and limestone is
common in the Upper Peninsula and the N portion of the Lower Peninsula.
Other resources of the Upper Peninsula include great quantities
of iron ore and some marble. Petroleum and natural gas are important
minerals of the Lower Peninsula. The state’s numerous bogs
contain abundant resources of peat. Other mineral deposits include
copper, clay, coal, gypsum, magnesium, marl, shale, and silver.
According to the 2000 census, Michigan had 9,938,444 inhabitants,
an increase of 6.9% over 1990. The average population density
for the whole of Michigan in 2000 was 175 people per sq mi of
land area. Most of the population was concentrated in the S half
of the Lower Peninsula. Whites made up 80.2% of the population and blacks 14.2%; additional population groups included
58,479 American Indians and Alaska Natives, 176,510 Asians, and
2692 Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. (These figures
do not include the 1.9% of the population who reported
more than one race.) The principal American Indian groups included
Ojibwa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi. A total of 323,877 persons, or about
3.3% of the population, reported Hispanic ancestry. The
state’s most populous cities were Detroit; Grand Rapids; Warren; Flint;
Sterling Heights; and Lansing, the capital. Dearborn has one of the largest Arab-American communities in the U.S.
Religious congregations in Michigan are diverse. According to a 2000 survey, Roman Catholics accounted for about 20% of the total population and nearly half of all religious adherents in the state; other Christian denominations included the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (2.5% of the total population), United Methodist Church (2.2%), and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (1.6%). The Jewish population was estimated at 1.1%. The Muslim population, estimated at about 1% in 2000, has been growing in size and influence.
In 2000 about 75% of all people in Michigan lived in areas defined as urban, and the rest
lived in rural areas.
| POPULATION OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1810 |
| Year of Census |
Population |
Classified As Urban |
| 1810 |
5,000 |
0% |
| 1830 |
32,000 |
0% |
| 1850 |
398,000 |
7% |
| 1870 |
1,184,000 |
20% |
| 1900 |
2,421,000 |
39% |
| 1920 |
3,668,000 |
61% |
| 1940 |
5,256,000 |
66% |
| 1960 |
7,823,000 |
73% |
| 1980 |
9,262,000 |
71% |
| 1990 |
9,295,297 |
71% |
| 2000 |
9,938,444 |
75% |
| POPULATION OF TEN LARGEST CITIES IN MICHIGAN |
| |
2000 Census |
1990 Census |
| Detroit |
951,270 |
1,027,974 |
| Grand Rapids |
197,800 |
189,126 |
| Warren |
138,247 |
144,864 |
| Flint |
124,943 |
140,761 |
| Sterling Heights |
124,271 |
117,810 |
| Lansing |
119,128 |
127,321 |
| Ann Arbor |
114,024 |
109,592 |
| Livonia |
100,545 |
100,850 |
| Dearborn |
97,775 |
89,286 |
| Westland |
86,602 |
84,724 |
Michigan has a number of noted educational and cultural institutions and a wide variety of facilities for outdoor recreation.
About 1800, Father Gabriel Richard (1767–1832), a
French-born Roman Catholic missionary and educator, established
schools for Indians and whites in the Detroit area. A statewide public
education system was established in 1837, the year Michigan entered
the Union. In 2002 Michigan public schools had a combined enrollment of 1, 785,000 pupils, with 1,254,000 children in prekindergarten through grade 8 and 531,000 students in grades 9 through 12.
The first university in Michigan, the
University of Michigan, was founded in Detroit in 1817; soon after
Michigan became a state, the school was moved to Ann Arbor as the
University of Michigan. In the early 2000s Michigan had about 90 institutions of higher education with a combined enrollment of more than 600,000 students, of whom about 500,000 attended public institutions. Besides the University of Michigan, notable schools include
Wayne State University (1868) and the University of Detroit Mercy
(1877), in Detroit; Kalamazoo College (1833) and Western Michigan
University (1903), in Kalamazoo; Michigan State University (1855),
in East Lansing; Hope College (1862), in Holland; Eastern Michigan
University (1849), in Ypsilanti; Central Michigan University (1892),
in Mount Pleasant; Northern Michigan University (1899), in Marquette;
Michigan Technological University (1885), in Houghton; and Oakland
University (1957), in Rochester.
Michigan contains several noted museums. These include
the Detroit
Institute of Arts (1885), with fine collections of American, European,
and Oriental art from ancient to modern times, the Detroit Historical
Museum (1928), the Detroit Science Center (1978), the Children’s Museum
(1986), and the Museum of African American History (1997), all located
in the University Cultural Center, and the Motown Historical Museum
(1985), in Detroit; the University of Michigan Museum of Art (1946),
in Ann Arbor, with extensive exhibitions of Western, African, and
Asian art; the Flint Institute of Arts (1928); the Grand Rapids
Art Museum (1910); and the Genevieve and Donald Gilmore Art Center,
in Kalamazoo. Also of interest are the Michigan Historical Museum
(1879), in Lansing; the Kingman Museum of Natural History (1871),
in Battle Creek; the Great Lakes Area Paleontological Museum, in
Traverse City; the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village (1929),
a collection of reconstructed Early American houses and workshops, and
the Automotive Hall of Fame (1997), in Dearborn; and the U.S.
National Ski Hall of Fame and Museum (1953), in Ishpeming.
Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, and Saginaw
support orchestras; also in Detroit are the Michigan Opera Theatre and the state’s largest public library. Each summer the
Interlochen Center for the Arts hosts the National Music Camp. Papers
of President Gerald Ford are housed in the Gerald R. Ford Library (1981)
in Ann Arbor and the Gerald R. Ford Museum (1981) is located in
Grand Rapids.
Some of Michigan’s historical sites commemorate early
settlers. Saint Ignace Mission, in Saint Ignace, was established
in 1671 by the French explorer Father Jacques Marquette; Fort Michilimackinac,
in Mackinaw City, is a reproduction of a fort built in the early
18th century by the French; and the Dutch Village, in Holland, commemorates
the settlers who came to the area in 1847. Mackinac Island contains
several old structures, including a late 18th-century British fort.
Also of historical interest is the grave, in Battle Creek, of Sojourner
Truth, a 19th-century abolitionist and advocate of women’s rights.
The Great Lakes and many thousands of smaller lakes, as
well
as rivers and streams, make Michigan a paradise for fishing, swimming,
and boating enthusiasts. Other popular outdoor recreational activities
include hunting, skiing, hiking, golf, and tennis. Bois Blanc Island
is a favorite deer-hunting area.
Michigan’s professional sports teams include the
Detroit Tigers (major league baseball) and the Detroit Red Wings
(ice hockey) based in Detroit; the Detroit Pistons (basketball)
play in Auburn Hills, and the Detroit Lions (football) play in Pontiac.
The University of Michigan and Michigan State University are known
for fielding excellent sports teams, especially in football and
basketball.
The first radio broadcasting station
in the state, WWJ in Detroit, went into operation in 1920. Michigan’s
first commercial television station was WWJ-TV in Detroit, which
began regular broadcasts in 1947. The Detroit Gazette,
Michigan’s first newspaper, was initially published in
Detroit in 1817. In 2004 Michigan had 48 daily newspapers
with a total daily circulation of approximately 1.7 million. Influential
newspapers in the state include the Detroit Free Press,
the Detroit News, the Flint Journal,
the Grand Rapids Press, and the Lansing
State Journal. In 2003, 59% of Michigan households had computers, and 52% had Internet access.
Michigan is governed under a constitution adopted in 1963 and put into effect in 1964, as amended. Three earlier constitutions
had been adopted in 1835, 1850, and 1908. An amendment to the constitution
may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of the legislature, by constitutional
convention, or by voters’ initiative. To become effective,
an amendment must be approved by a majority of the persons voting
on the issue in an election.
The chief executive of Michigan is a governor, who is
popularly elected to a term of four years and (under a law approved by
voters in 1992) may serve a maximum of two terms. The same regulations
apply to the lieutenant governor, who succeeds the governor should the
latter resign, die, or be removed from office. Other elected state
officials include the secretary of state and the attorney general.
The bicameral Michigan legislature is made up of a
senate and a house of representatives. Under the 1992 term-limits law,
the 38 members of the senate are elected to a maximum of two 4-year
terms, and the 110 members of the house may serve up to three 2-year
terms.
Michigan’s highest court, the supreme court, is made
up of seven judges popularly elected to 8-year terms; one of the
judges is elected by the court to serve a 2-year term as chief justice.
The state’s intermediate appellate court, the court of
appeals, consists of 28 popularly elected judges. The major trial courts are the circuit courts, with 210 judges popularly elected to 6-year terms; a separate system of Detroit trial courts, known as the recorder’s court, was abolished under a judicial reorganization plan enacted by the state legislature in 1996. Courts of more limited jurisdiction include district courts, probate courts, and municipal courts.
In the early 2000s, Michigan had 83 counties, 533 municipalities, 1242 townships, 580 school districts, and 366 special districts. Each county was governed by an
elected board of commissioners. Other county officials included
the treasurer, prosecuting attorney, clerk, registrar of deeds, and
sheriff. Most cities have either the mayor-council or the
council-manager
form of government.
Until the 1930s, the Republican party dominated
national, state, and local elections in Michigan. Since that time,
Democrats and Republicans have been fairly evenly divided in the state,
with the Republicans strongest in rural areas and the Democrats
strongest in Detroit and other urban centers. Gerald R. Ford, a
Republican, was part of Michigan’s delegation in the U.S. House of
Representatives (1949–73) before becoming vice-president (1973–74)
under Richard M. Nixon and succeeding him as president (1974–77).
Another Republican, John Engler (1948– ), was the dominant figure in
Michigan politics in the 1990s, having been elected governor in 1990
and reelected in 1994 and 1998. Ineligible to run again in 2002 because
of a new term limits law, Engler was succeeded by the state’s first female governor, Jennifer
Granholm (1959– ), a Canadian-born Democrat who had served as state
attorney general since 1999. Granholm won a second 4-year term as governor in November 2006. John Conyers (1929– ), an influential Democrat and a founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, has represented the Detroit area in the House since 1965.
During the colonial period, when the area had few European
settlers, fur trapping and trading were major economic activities.
In the first half of the 19th century farming and lumbering became
important, and subsequently large-scale mining operations were started.
By the early 20th century manufacturing was the state’s chief economic activity.
Michigan became a center for producing motor vehicles and the cities of Detroit, Dearborn, Flint, Pontiac, and Lansing are historically centers for automobile manufacturing. This industry, with its mass-production methods, contributed to the nation’s industrial revolution of the early 20th century. Although there has been a dramatic decline in production beginning in the 1970s, the automobile industry has remained important to the state’s economy, which, since then has diversified, with the most growth in commercial and professional services. The chemical industry is centered in Midland, home of the Dow Chemical Co.; paper manufacturing and pharmaceuticals in Kalamazoo; furniture in Grand Rapids; and breakfast cereal industry in Battle Creek, home to the Kellogg Company. The state is noted for its mineral production (especially iron ore, cement, sand and gravel).
| MICHIGAN STATE ECONOMY |
| STATE BUDGET (in thousands) |
| General revenue |
$57,461,347 |
| General expenditure |
$52,684,622 |
| Accumulated debt |
$20,959,946 |
 |
| STATE TAXES PER CAPITA |
$2,381 |
|
| PERSONAL INCOME, PER CAPITA |
$33,116 |
|
| POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LEVEL |
11.4% |
|
| EMPLOYMENT DISTRIBUTION |
| Management, business, finance |
578,000 |
| Professional and related |
929,000 |
| Services |
815,000 |
| Sales and related |
491,000 |
| Office and administrative support |
651,000 |
| Farming, fishing, forestry |
NA |
| Construction and extraction |
236,000 |
| Installation, maintenance, repair |
154,000 |
| Production |
515,000 |
| Transportation and moving |
285,000 |
|
| GROSS STATE PRODUCT |
$378 billion |
|
| NET FARM INCOME |
$444 million |
| Principal products |
dairy products, greenhouse/nursery, corn |
Although good farmland is generally confined to the S
half
of the Lower Peninsula, Michigan has an important agricultural
industry. More than half of the state’s farm is derived from sales of crops, and the rest came from sales of livestock and livestock products. In 2004 Michigan had about 53,000 farms, with an average size of about 81 ha (200 acres). The leading agricultural commodities in the state are dairy products, greenhouse/nursery products, and corn,; hay, soybeans, beef cattle, and hogs are also important. Michigan’s other major crops include beans, wheat, oats, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, asparagus, sugar
beets, and fruit. Orchards are concentrated along Lake Michigan, and
the state is a leading producer of cherries, apples, peaches, plums, and
pears. In addition, large quantities of blueberries, strawberries, and
wine grapes are grown. Substantial numbers of turkeys and chicken
eggs also are produced in Michigan.
Forests cover a large share of the Upper Peninsula of
Michigan and a good portion of the N half of the Lower Peninsula, but, except
in the W part of the Upper Peninsula, forestry is relatively
unimportant economically. About 10% of the state’s timber
harvest is made up of softwoods, and the remainder is composed of
hardwoods. The timber is used principally to make pulp for paper and to
make lumber. Large numbers of Christmas trees are cut each
year. Fishing also contributes relatively little to Michigan’s
economy. The leading commercial species include whitefish, alewife, catfish,
trout, and perch. Commercial fishing earned $6.2 million in 2004.
Michigan’s most valuable mineral products include natural gas, iron ore, petroleum, and cement. Most of the oil and natural gas is produced in the N central,
S central, and S parts of the Lower Peninsula. Iron and copper ores
are mined in the W part of the Upper Peninsula, and limestone is
produced in the N and SE parts of the Lower Peninsula. In addition,
Michigan is a leading U.S. producer of nonfuel minerals (salt, clay, gypsum, magnesium, peat, potash, and sand and gravel) valued at about $1.7 billion in 2005. Silver is also a valuable product.
Michigan is one of the leading manufacturing states in
the U.S., but has been hit by heavy declines in recent years, especially its automotive industry. Michigan is the most important U.S. state for producing passenger cars, and
three of the biggest U.S. automobile companies—General Motors
(GM), Ford, and Chrysler—have their world headquarters
in the Detroit (the Motor City) area, but the industry was faced with a wide range of problems, including foreign competition, resulting in job losses. In 2007 the Japanese automaker Toyota edged ahead of GM, which had ranked as the world’s largest automaker since 1931.
In 2005, Michigan’s manufacturing sector represented about 18% of the state’s gross state product and provided jobs for some 640,000 workers, a precipitous decline of almost 260,000 since the year 2000. The leading types of manufactures are transportation equipment, followed at distance by industrial machinery, and fabricated metal. Industrial machinery manufactured in the state includes engines and
office and construction equipment, and among the fabricated metal
products are tools, cutlery, and motor-vehicle parts. Other
major manufactures include iron and steel (produced mainly in Detroit),
breakfast cereals (made particularly in Battle Creek) and other processed
food, and chemicals (Midland) and pharmaceuticals (Ann Arbor, Detroit,
Kalamazoo). Additional products are electronic equipment, printed
materials, rubber and plastic items, clothing, paper, furniture, and refined
petroleum.
The travel industry is very important to Michigan, which gains
more about $7 billion annually from tourist spending.
Michigan’s scenic and recreation resources, which exceed
those of neighboring, equally densely populated states, include
lengthy, often spectacular shorelines on lakes and rivers; hilly
terrain; large areas covered by forests; a climate that provides
relief from summer heat and is more conducive to winter sports than
areas farther S; and bountiful fish and wildlife populations. Popular
units of the National Park Service in Michigan are Isle Royale National
Park, in Lake Superior; Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which
includes multicolored sandstone cliffs as well as beaches and marshes
along Lake Superior; and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore,
which encompasses great sand dunes and beaches along Lake Michigan.
In addition, Michigan maintains 93 state parks and recreation areas.
It would be difficult to exaggerate the contribution of
the
Great Lakes to the economy of Michigan. The largest port of the
Great Lakes system in Michigan is Detroit, and other ports (such
as Calcite, near Rogers City, and Escanaba) along the Great Lakes
shore are major shippers of such raw materials as iron ore and
limestone and receivers of coal. Important components of the Great
Lakes shipping system are the Saint Marys R., which connects Lakes Superior and
Huron and contains the Sault Sainte Marie Canals (Soo Canals), and
the St. Clair and Detroit rivers and Lake St. Clair, which together
link Lakes Huron and Erie. The state is well served by an extensive highway
system of about 197,000 km (about 122,000 mi), including about 2000 km (1250 mi) of interstate highways. The interstate system is noticeably denser in the S half of the Lower Peninsula. The Mackinac Bridge (completed 1957) provides a vehicular link between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, and bridges at Detroit, Port Huron, and Sault Ste. Marie connect the state with Canada. Michigan is served by about 3600 km (2200 mi) of operated Class I railroad track, with Detroit as the main rail hub. Detroit Metropolitan–Wayne County Airport is the busiest of the state’s 228 public useairports and 57 heliports.
In 2003 Michigan’s electricity-generating
facilities produced some 111 billion kwh of electricity. About
three-fourths of the electricity was produced in conventional steam
generators burning fossil fuels, almost entirely coal, but also natural gas and petroleum; nuclear power plants accounted for nearly all the rest. Hydroelectric facilities, which
once were an important source of power in Michigan, produced less
than 1%.
The principal Indian tribes in Michigan when the first
Europeans
arrived were the Ojibwa, Ottawa, Miami, Potawatomi, and Wyandot,
or Huron. The Ojibwa lived in the north and were primarily hunters and
fishers. The Miami and the Potawatomi, agriculturalists, built
large stockaded villages near their farms in southeastern Michigan.
The Ottawa lived between them and were mostly traders.
The first European settlement in Michigan, a mission at Sault
Ste. Marie, was founded by Father Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit,
in 1668. Between 1679 and 1686 the French established fur-trading
posts at the Straits of Mackinac and at the mouth of the Saint Joseph
River. Detroit, founded as Pontchartrain d’Étroit
in 1701 by the French colonial administrator Antoine de La Mothe,
sieur de Cadillac, dominated the waterway between Lakes Huron and
Erie. The provisions of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the French and Indian War (1754-63), gave control of these French settlements to the British, who quelled an Indian uprising under
Pontiac in the same year. During the American Revolution Michigan
was a base for British-instigated Indian raids against the Americans.
Although the Michigan posts were assigned to the U.S.
by the
Treaty of Paris (1783), the British occupied them until 1796. Michigan
was a part of the Northwest Territory from 1796 to 1800. It was
split between the Northwest Territory and Indian Territory from 1800 to 1803, when the total area was returned to the latter. In 1805, Michigan became a separate U.S. territory. During the War
of 1812, the territorial governor, William Hull (1753–1825),
led an invasion of Canada, but in the face of British opposition and
their control of the lakes, he retreated and surrendered Detroit
to the enemy without firing a shot. After the U.S. victory in the
Battle of Lake Erie, the British withdrew to Canada again. Before
this happened, however, a band of British and Indians ambushed an
American force at the River Raisin, killing more than 1000, in the
bloodiest battle in Michigan’s history (January 1813).
As the war drew to a close, President James Madison
appointed
Lewis Cass as territorial governor; he remained in office until
1831. After the war, Michigan settlements expanded slowly. Although
the Indians were forced to cede most of the southern half of the
Lower Peninsula, the territory’s main economic activity continued
to be the fur trade, controlled by John Jacob Astor’s American
Fur Co., operating from Mackinac Island. After 1825, however, the
opening of the Erie Canal—along with a new land law and
additional Indian cessions—opened the way for a flood of
settlers. The population swelled from 9000 in 1820 to 32,000 in 1830
and 212,000 in 1840. By 1835 it had grown sufficiently to make Michigan
eligible for statehood, but because of a boundary controversy with
Ohio over Toledo and the surrounding area, Congress would not authorize
a constitutional convention. Michigan and Ohio then engaged in the
so-called Toledo War; both sides called out their militia, but no
blood was shed. Ohio, already a state, had more political power, and
Michigan eventually agreed to let Ohio have Toledo in exchange
for the greater portion of the Upper Peninsula. On Jan. 26, 1837,
Michigan became the 26th state.
After a period of economic depression beginning in the
late
1830s, prosperity returned in the '50s. Agricultural growth
was rapid, and railroads spread out across the state. Nearly 380,000
new settlers came to Michigan between 1840 and 1860. In the Upper
Peninsula commercial mining of copper began in the 1840s, and the
opening of the Sault Canal in 1855 spurred iron mining around Negaunee
and Marquette. Lumbering also began at this time, particularly in
the Saginaw Valley.
The first state Republican party in the U.S. was organized
in July 1854 at the Convention Under the Oaks at Jackson. The antislavery
movement was strong in the state, and when the American Civil War
came, Michigan men were quick to enlist in the Union army. A Michigan
regiment was the first from the West to reach the eastern front.
The war hastened Michigan’s change from an agricultural
to an industrial state; by 1880 the state’s manufacturing
establishment had increased threefold, and invested capital had
doubled. Rapid industrialization continued, and Detroit’s
manufacturing in 1900 exceeded that for the entire state in 1870.
Politically, Michigan in the last half of the 19th
century
was Republican, but reformers—the most famous of whom was
the progressive mayor of Detroit and later governor, Hazen Pingree
(1840–1901)—attacked the abuses of uncontrolled
capitalism. Later progressives such as Governors Chase Osborn
(1860–1949) and Woodbridge N. Ferris (1853–1928) carried on the reform
tradition begun by Pingree.
During the 20th century, the automobile came to dominate Michigan’s economy.
A trained labor force, a manufacturing tradition, surplus capital
from lumbering, and an excellent transportation system played important
roles in making Detroit the Motor Capital of the world.
The automobile industry grew rapidly between 1900 and 1930,
when it was crippled by the Great Depression. During the 1930s the
economy slowly recovered with help from the federal government.
The election of Democrat Frank Murphy as governor in 1936 ended
the long dominance of the Republican party in state politics. The
coming of World War II restored prosperity and full employment,
as Michigan led the nation in the production of military equipment.
War work in the auto factories attracted black migrants from
the South, and racial tensions in Detroit led to a riot that took
34 lives in 1943. In succeeding decades community leaders—black and white—worked to develop lines of communication, but
racial hatred exploded again during the tense period of the civil
rights struggles in the 1960s. In July 1967 riots broke out in Detroit
that left blocks of the city in ruins and 43 people dead. Business
leaders, led by the auto manufacturer Henry Ford II, reacted by
investing in the Renaissance Center to revitalize the city’s
decaying downtown. The election in 1973 of Coleman Young (1918–97), Detroit’s first black mayor, helped heal the wounds of racial conflict.
As Michigan entered the 1980s, its economy was still
dominated
by the auto industry, which in the three decades after World War
II had employed one-third of Michigan’s industrial workers and produced
two-fifths of the state’s manufactures. During
the late 1970s and early '80s, high energy costs, obsolete
plants, and competition from imports hurt the industry. Growth in
the service sector helped Michigan make up for job losses in auto
manufacturing, but the recession of the early 1990s put further
pressure on the state’s economy. Michigan suffered additional economic setbacks in the following decade, losing more than 300,000 jobs (mostly in manufacturing) from mid-2000 through 2006. Detroit’s population declined by about 14 percent between 1990 and 2005, despite efforts to revitalize the city’s downtown area.