Missouri

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State of Missouri
Flag of Missouri Seal Nickname(s): The Show-Me State Motto(s): Salus populi suprema lex esto Before Statehood Known as The Missouri Territory
Official language(s)	English
Demonym	Missourian
Capital	Jefferson City
Largest city	Kansas City
Largest metro area	St Louis[1]
Area	Ranked 21st in the US
- Total	69,704 sq mi (180,533 km²)
- Width	240 miles (385 km)
- Length	300 miles (480 km)
- % water	1.17
- Latitude	36° N to 40° 37′ N
- Longitude	89° 6′ W to 95° 46′ W
Population	Ranked 18th in the US
- Total	5,878,415[2]
- Density	84.82/sq mi  31/km² (27th in the US)
- Median income	$32,705 (31st)
Elevation
- Highest point	Taum Sauk Mountain[3] 1,772 ft  (540 m)
- Mean	800 ft  (240 m)
- Lowest point	Saint Francis River[3] 230 ft  (70 m)
Admission to Union	August 10, 1821 (24th)
Governor	Matt Blunt (R)
Lieutenant Governor	Peter Kinder (R)
U.S. Senators	Kit Bond (R) Claire McCaskill (D)
Congressional Delegation	List
Time zone	Central : UTC-6/-5
Abbreviations	MO US-MO
Website	www.mo.gov

Missouri (pronounced /mɪˈzʊri/ or /mɪˈzʊrə/) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States^[4] bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 18th most populous state. It comprises 114 counties and one independent city. Missouri's capital is Jefferson City. The four largest urban areas are, in descending order, St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia.^[5] Missouri was originally acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became defined as the Missouri Territory. Part of the Missouri Territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state in 1821.

Missouri mirrors the demographic, economic and political makeup of the nation with a mixture of urban and rural culture. It has long been considered a political bellwether state.^[6] It has both Midwestern and Southern cultural influences, reflecting its history as a border state. It is also a transition between the eastern and western United States, as St. Louis is often called the "western-most eastern city" and Kansas City the "eastern-most western city." Missouri's geography is highly varied. The northern part of the state lies in dissected till plains while the southern part lies in the Ozark Mountains, with the Missouri River dividing the two. The confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers is located near St. Louis.^[7]

Etymology and pronunciation

The state is named after the Missouri River which in turn is named after the Siouan Indian tribe whose Illinois name, ouemessourita (wimihsoorita^[8]), means "those who have dugout canoes".^[9] The etymology lies behind Bob Dyer's tribute, "River of the Big Canoes."

The pronunciation of the final syllable of "Missouri" is a matter of controversy, with significant numbers insisting on a relatively tense vowel (as in "meet") or lax ("mitt" or "mutt"). The most thorough study of the question was done by dialectologist Donald Max Lance. From a linguistic point of view, there is no correct pronunciation, but rather, there are simply patterns of variation, diachronic as well as synchronic, according to such divisions as geography, age, education, and/or rural vs. urban location.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Missouri

Missouri, showing major cities and roads

Missouri borders eight different states, as does its neighbor, Tennessee. No state in the U.S. touches more than eight states. Missouri is bounded on the north by Iowa; on the east, across the Mississippi River, by Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee; on the south by Arkansas; and on the west by Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska (the last across the Missouri River.) The two largest Missouri rivers are the Mississippi, which defines the eastern boundary of the state, and the Missouri, which flows from west to east through the state, practically connecting the two largest cities, Kansas City and St. Louis.

Although today the state is usually considered part of the Midwest,^[10][11] historically Missouri was sometimes considered a Southern state,^[12] chiefly because of the settlement of migrants from the South and its status as a slave state before the Civil War. The counties that made up "Little Dixie" were those along the Missouri River in the center of the state, settled by Southern migrants who held the greatest concentration of slaves.

Residents of cities farther north and of the state's large metropolitan areas, including those where most of the state's population resides (Kansas City, St. Louis, and Columbia), typically consider themselves Midwestern. In rural areas and cities farther south, such as (Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, Springfield, and Sikeston), residents typically self-identify as more Southern.

Topography

A physiographic map of Missouri

North of the Missouri River lie the Northern Plains that stretch into Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. Here, gentle rolling hills remain behind from the glaciation that once extended from the north to the Missouri River. Missouri has many large river bluffs along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Meramec Rivers. The Ozark foothills begin around Rolla. The Ozark plateau begins around Springfield and extends into northwestern Arkansas, southeast Kansas, and northeast Oklahoma. Springfield in southwestern Missouri lies on the most northwestern part of the Ozark plateau. Southern Missouri rises to the Ozark Mountains, a dissected plateau surrounding the Precambrian igneous St. Francois Mountains.

The southeastern part of the state is the Bootheel region, part of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain or Mississippi embayment. It is in this part of the state as well as the South Central part that speech patterns are comparable to those of Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tennessee. This region is the lowest, flattest, and wettest part of the state, and among the poorest, as the economy is mostly agricultural.^[13] It is also the most fertile, with cotton and rice crops predominant. The Bootheel was the epicenter of the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811–1812.

Climate

Main article: Climate of Missouri

Missouri generally has a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa), with cold winters and hot and humid summers. In the southern part of the state, particularly in the Bootheel, the climate borders on a humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa). Located in the interior United States, Missouri often experiences extremes in temperatures. Without high mountains or oceans nearby to moderate temperature, its climate is alternately influenced by air from the cold Arctic and the hot and humid Gulf of Mexico.