Missouri Wikipedia

State in the United States

Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States.[6] Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas to the south and Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska to the west. In the south are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. The Missouri River, after which the state is named, flows through the center into the Mississippi River, which makes up the eastern border. With more than six million residents, it is the 19th-most populous state of the country. The largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia; the capital is Jefferson City.

Humans have inhabited what is now Missouri for at least 12,000 years. The Mississippian culture, which emerged at least in the ninth century, built cities and mounds before declining in the 14th century. When European explorers arrived in the 17th century, they encountered the Osage and Missouria nations. The French incorporated the territory into Louisiana, founding Ste. Genevieve in 1735 and St. Louis in 1764. After a brief period of Spanish rule, the United States acquired Missouri as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Americans from the Upland South, including enslaved African Americans, rushed into the new Missouri Territory. Missouri was admitted as a slave state as part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Many from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee settled in the Boonslick area of Mid-Missouri. Soon after, heavy German immigration formed the Missouri Rhineland.

Missouri played a central role in the westward expansion of the United States, as memorialized by the Gateway Arch. The Pony Express, Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail and California Trail all began in Missouri.[7] As a border state, Missouri’s role in the American Civil War was complex, and it was subject to rival governments, raids, and guerilla warfare. After the war, both Greater St. Louis and the Kansas City metropolitan area became centers of industrialization and business. Today the state is divided into 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis.

Missouri’s culture blends elements of the Midwestern and Southern United States. It is the birthplace of the musical genres ragtime, Kansas City jazz and St. Louis blues. The well-known Kansas City-style barbecue, and the lesser-known St. Louis-style barbecue, can be found across the state and beyond. Missouri is a major center of beer brewing and has some of the most permissive alcohol laws in the U.S.[8] It is home to Anheuser-Busch, the world’s largest beer producer, and produces an eponymous wine produced in the Missouri Rhineland and Ozarks. Outside the state’s major cities, popular tourist destinations include the Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake and Branson.

Well-known Missourians include Chuck Berry, Sheryl Crow, Walt Disney, Edwin Hubble, Nelly, Brad Pitt, Harry S. Truman, and Mark Twain. Some of the largest companies based in the state include Cerner, Express Scripts, Monsanto, Emerson Electric, Edward Jones, H&R Block, Wells Fargo Advisors, Centene Corporation, and O’Reilly Auto Parts. Well-known universities in Missouri include the University of Missouri, Saint Louis University, Washington University in St. Louis.[9] Missouri has been called the “Mother of the West” and the “Cave State”, but its most famous nickname is the “Show Me State”.[10]

Etymology and pronunciation
The state is named for the Missouri River, which was named after the indigenous Missouri Indians, a Siouan-language tribe. It is said they were called the ouemessourita (wimihsoorita),[11] meaning “those who have dugout canoes”, by the Miami-Illinois language speakers.[12]

Assuming Missouri were deriving from the Siouan language, it could come from “Maya Sunni” (MAH-yah SOO-nee), which translates as “It connects to the side of it”, in reference to the river itself.[13] Most likely, though, the name Missouri comes from Chiwere, a Siouan language spoken by people who resided in the modern-day states of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, and Nebraska.

The linguistic history was treated definitively by Donald M. Lance, who acknowledged that the question is sociologically complex, but no pronunciation could be declared “correct”, nor could any be clearly defined as native or outsider, rural or urban, southern or northern, educated or otherwise.[20] Politicians often employ multiple pronunciations, even during a single speech, to appeal to a greater number of listeners.[14] In informal contexts respellings of the state’s name, such as “Missour-ee” or “Missour-uh”, are occasionally used to distinguish pronunciations phonetically.

Nicknames
There is no official state nickname.[21] However, Missouri’s unofficial nickname is the “Show Me State,” which appears on its license plates. This phrase has several origins. One is popularly ascribed to a speech by Congressman Willard Vandiver in 1899, who declared that “I come from a state that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I’m from Missouri, and you have got to show me.” This is in keeping with the saying “I’m from Missouri,” which means “I’m skeptical of the matter and not easily convinced.”[22] However, according to researchers, the phrase “show me” was already in use before the 1890s.[23] Another one states that it is a reference to Missouri miners who were taken to Leadville, Colorado to replace striking workers. Since the new men were unfamiliar with the mining methods, they required frequent instruction.[21]

Other nicknames for Missouri include “The Lead State”, “The Bullion State”, “The Ozark State”, “The Mother of the West”, “The Iron Mountain State”, and “Pennsylvania of the West”.[24] It is also known as the “Cave State”[25]: 53 because there are more than 7,300 recorded caves in the state (second to Tennessee). Perry County is the county with the largest number of caves and the single longest cave.[26][27]

The official state motto is Latin: “Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto”, which means “Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law.”[28]

History
External video