Michigan
State in north-central USA; nicknamed Wolverine State/Great Lakes State
Area:
151,600 sq km/58,518 sq mi
Capital:
Lansing
Cities:
Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint
Physical:
Great Lakes: Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie; Porcupine Mountains;
Muskegon, Grand, St Joseph, and Kalamazoo rivers; over 50% forested;
Isle Royale national park; the Upper Peninsula with Pictured Rocks National
Lakeshore and spectacular waterfalls; 94 state parks, including 23 in
the Upper Peninsula; Lake Michigan shore, with the highest sand dunes
outside the Sahara Desert in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
Features:
The Upper Peninsula has been connected to the rest of the state since
1957 by the Mackinac Bridge (pronounced Mackinaw); resort towns including
the artists' colony of Saugatuck, and the SS Keewatin, a passenger steamboat
converted into a maritime museum; Mackinac Island, a Victorian village
with no cars, including Old Fort Mackinac, a former British stronghold;
the Keweenaw Peninsula, the source of much of the world's copper (1840s-1960s),
with the Arcadian Copper Mine, Delaware Copper Mine, Coppertown USA,
and the Victorian town of Callumat; Detroit, with the Detroit Institute
of Art (1885), and the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village at Dearborn;
the Tulip Time Festival at Holland; the De Klomp Wooden Shoe and Delftware
Factory, Holland ; National Cherry Festival, Traverse City; National
Music Camp, Interlochen; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Products:
Motor vehicles and equipment; non-electrical machinery; iron and steel;
chemicals; pharmaceuticals; dairy products
Population:
(1995) 9,549,400
Famous People:
Edna Ferber, Gerald Ford, Henry Ford, Jimmy Hoffa, Iggy Pop, Diana
Ross, Walter Reuther (1907-70, a trade union leader)
History:
Temporary posts established in the early 17th century by French explorers
Etienne Brulé, Jacques Marquette, Louis Joliet, and Robert de
la Salle; first settled in 1668 at Sault Ste Marie; present-day
Detroit settled in 1701; passed to the British in 1763 and to
the USA in 1796; became a state in 1837. In 1973, 97% of the population
were contaminated by PBB (polybrominated biphenyl), a flame- retardant
chemical inadvertently mixed with livestock feed. Henry Ford's
establishment of the moving assembly line in 1913-14 made Detroit
the motor-vehicle-production capital of the world. Since then
the state's fortunes have been closely tied to the fortunes of
the motor industry, prospering in the 1920s, 1940s, and 1950s,
but badly damaged by the Great Depression of the 1930s and competition
from Japanese manufacturers since the 1970s. Walter Reuther, the
trade union leader, worked mainly in the motor industry. He gained
greater union recognition from management and achieved innovation
in worker benefits, including profit-sharing, pension plans, and
more holidays.
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