Wisconsin

The state is named for the Wisconsin River . Although the exact etymology of this name is unknown, it is believed that it came to English through the French interpretation of the Indian name. French explorer Jacques Marquette became the first European to reach the Wisconsin River, he visited there in 1673 and named this river Meskousing in his journal ^[4] . Most likely, the French recorded Meskousing as the word Miskasinsin from Algonquian languages , meaning "the place of the red stone" ^[5] . However, it is possible that the name originated from the Ojibwe language and means “collection of waters” or “large rock” ^[6] . Later, the name was distorted by other French researchers as Ouisconsin , under this name the river and its surroundings were marked on French maps, and at the beginning of the 19th century, newly arrived English-speaking settlers angled it to its current form.

The current pronunciation was officially approved by the Wisconsin Legislature in 1845 ^[7] . The name is usually abbreviated as WI , Wis or Wisc .

Over the past 12,000 years, many cultures have changed in Wisconsin. The first people appeared here about 10,000 years BC. e., during the Wisconsin glaciation . These were Paleo-Indians who hunted the now extinct animals of the ice age, as evidenced by the Boaz mastodon, the skeleton of a mastodon , found together with a hunting spear in southwest Wisconsin ^[8] . After the end of the ice age about 8,000 years BC. e. people of the subsequent archaic period lived by hunting, fishing and collecting wild plants. The agricultural society gradually emerged during the Woodland period (about 1000 BC. E. - 1000 AD. E.). By the end of this period, Wisconsin was the center of culture for the builders of the mounds , which left thousands of figured mounds behind. The number of burial mounds in Wisconsin exceeds their number throughout the rest of the United States. Later, between 1000 and 1500, quite large settlements were built by the Mississippian and Oneean cultures, including a fortified in the southeast of the state. Oneota may be the ancestors of modern Ioway and Winnebago , who shared the Wisconsin region with the Menomini at the time of contact with Europeans ^[9] . The rest of the American Indians who inhabited Wisconsin during European colonization, including the Ojibwe , Potawatomi , Sauk , Meskvoki and Kikapu tribes, migrated to Wisconsin from the east in the period of the 16th — 17th centuries ^[10] .

In 1634, French discoverer Jean Nicole , trying to find the Northwest Passage , landed near Green Bay and became the first European in present-day Wisconsin ^[11] . Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Shouar de Groselye visited the Green Bay area in 1654–1666 and the Shequamegon Bay of Upper Lake in 1659–1660, where they traded in fur with local Indians ^[12] . In 1673, Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolier crossed Wisconsin for the first time in a canoe along the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, thus reaching the Mississippi ^[13] . The region belonged to France until 1763 , but after the Seven Years' War, it withdrew to Great Britain .

After the American Revolution, Wisconsin became part of the US Northwest Territory , but until the Anglo-American War of 1812-1815, the British actually continued to control this area ^[14] . As this territory split, Wisconsin became part of the Indian , Illinois, and Michigan territories. The territory of Wisconsin was organized on July 3, 1836, and became the thirtieth state on May 29, 1848 .

Under the control of the United States, the main industry of the economy of Wisconsin, instead of fur trading, was mining . In the first half of the nineteenth century, Wisconsin was an important source of lead . When treaties and wars with the Indians opened up the territory to white settlers, thousands of miners rushed to the southern part of Wisconsin, many of them were immigrants from Cornwall . At one time, Wisconsin produced more than half of American lead. During the lead boom it even seemed that the metal -rich southwest of the state would become the most populated, and the city of Belmont would briefly become its capital. True, by the end of the 1840s, readily available reserves were largely depleted, and many miners were dragged by the California gold rush . Wisconsin is still full of echoes of the events of this period. Galena is a symbol (“official mineral”) of the state, and Wisconsin is nicknamed the “ Badger State”, as many miners who came faster than housing was built, lived with their families right in the mines, like badgers in burrows. Place names like Mineral Point are also reminiscent of this period in the history of Wisconsin.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries , thousands of immigrants from Germany and the Scandinavian countries settled in Wisconsin.

In 1941–1943, the world's largest ammunition production plant, the was built in Wisconsin near over an area of ​​30 km².

Two battleships were named after the state: USS Wisconsin (BB-9) and USS Wisconsin (BB-64) .

The northern boundary of the state is Lake Superior with the Apostle Islands and the complex border with Michigan , which runs in places along the Montreol and Menominee rivers. In the east, Wisconsin is bordered by Lake Michigan , in the south by Illinois along parallel 42 ° 30 ', and in the west by Iowa and Minnesota , mainly along the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers.

Wisconsin is divided into five geographical areas. Gradually rising to the south, the plain along the Lake Superior is covered with ash - birch forests . To the south of it lies the Northern Highlands covered with a mixed forest , in which there is the highest point of the state, 595-meter mountain Timms-Hill . In the middle of the state, the Central Plain contains characteristic sandstone formations like the gorge through which the Wisconsin River flows. It is the most fertile part of the state, although not densely populated, and it still has a large part of deciduous forests. The eastern part of the state consists of two parallel chains of low hills surrounded by plains. It is home to most of the population of the state, and the forest there has largely given way to cities and farms. Finally, the Western Elevation is a rugged, with a rare population, the terrain - the remnants of mountains, not smoothed by glaciers in the Ice Age .

The diverse landscape of the state, especially the thousands of lakes formed by glaciers, attracts tourists . In winter, such activities as skiing , ice fishing and racing on snowmobiles are popular. In the summer they practice water sports , fishing and picking berries .

The self-promotion of Wisconsin as a “dairy farm of America” often leads to the delusion that this is an exclusively agricultural state. In fact, there are cities of all sizes in Wisconsin - from Milwaukee, cities a little larger than Boston to small towns that serve as centers for the surrounding agricultural areas.

Climate

The climate of Wisconsin is sharply continental , slightly softened in the area of ​​the Lakes of Michigan and Upper . The highest temperature in the entire history of observations was recorded July 13, 1936 in Wisconsin-Dells - +46 ° C. The lowest temperature was recorded on February 2 and 4, 1996 in the village of Cowdery, when it dropped to −48 ° C. During the winter usually falls from 75 cm of snow in the south to 250 cm in the northern part of the state ^[15] .

Demographics

According to estimates by the US Census Bureau , the population of Wisconsin was 5,726,398 inhabitants as of July 1, 2012, which is 0.7% more compared to the 2010 census data ^[18] .

Since the founding of the state, its population has been ethnically heterogeneous. After the French fur traders, the next wave of settlers consisted of miners, many of whom were Kornish , settled in the southwestern part of the state. The next wave was dominated by the “ Yankees ”, migrants of English descent from New England and the state of New York , during the years of the formation of the state they dominated the spheres of heavy industry, finance, politics and education. In the period 1850-1900, a large number of European immigrants followed them, including Germans , Scandinavians (mostly Norwegians ) and small groups of Belgians , Dutch , Swiss , Finns , Irish , Poles , Italians and others. In the twentieth century, a large number of Mexicans and African Americans arrived, who settled mainly in Milwaukee, and after the end of the Vietnam War, there was an influx of Hmong .

According to 2012, the racial composition of the state's population is 88.2% of whites , 6.5% of African Americans, 1.1% of Native Americans, 2.5% of Asians, 1.7% of mixed origin. 6.2% of the total population are of Spanish or Latin American origin (of any race) ^[19] .

By ethnicity in Wisconsin, there are six major groups: Germans - 42.6%, Irish - 10.9%, Poles - 9.3%, Norwegians - 8.5%, British - 6.5%, Italians - 6.1 % ^[20] . The ethnic group of German origin is the largest in each district, except for Menominee (American Indians), Trempolo and Vernon (both are Norwegians) ^[21] . In Wisconsin, the largest proportion of people of Polish descent among all states ^[20] . Although the Germans were settled throughout the state, their greatest concentration in the Milwaukee area. Norwegians inhabit mostly logging and agricultural regions in the north and west of the state. Irish, Italian and Polish immigrants settled mainly in cities ^[22] . African Americans, starting in the 1940s, have come and settle in Milwaukee. Menominee County is the only Native American county in the eastern United States.

Every third inhabitant of Asian descent is Hmong ; there are significant communities of this ethnic group in Milwaukee, Wausau, Green Bay, Sheboygan, Appleton, Madison, La Crosse, O-Claire, Oshkosh and Manitowoka ^[23] .

Among state residents, 71.8% were born in Wisconsin itself, 22.7% in other US states, 0.8% in Puerto Rico , and 4.7% in other states ^[24] .

Religion

Christianity is the predominant religion of Wisconsin. As of 2000, there were three major denominations : Catholics , main Protestants and Evangelicals ^[25] . Most of the parishioners at the Catholic Church. Distribution of state population by religion ^[26] :

• Christians - 81%
  • Protestants - 50%
    • Lutheranism - 23%
    • Methodism - 7%
    • Baptism - 5%
    • Presbyterianism - 2%
    • United Church of Christ 2%
    • Other Protestant Churches - 15%
  • Roman Catholic Church - 29%
  • Other Christian churches - 2%
• Other religions - 1%
• Unattached - 15%

Major Cities

Crime

According to FBI statistics for 2012, in Wisconsin, 173 premeditated murders and negligence killings, 1,219 rapes, 4,622 robberies, 10,050 aggravated assaults and 140,513 property crimes were committed ^[27] . Calculated per 100 thousand inhabitants, the crime rate in the state is noticeably lower than in the USA as a whole, for example, more than a third less murders are committed ^{[28] [29]} .

In the political history of Wisconsin there are such different figures as Robert LaFollet , one of the heads of the Progressive Movement of the early twentieth century, and the instigator of the anti-communist panic (“ witch hunt ”) at the beginning of the Cold War, Joseph McCarthy . Recently, the state is considered one of the most left. In the last five presidential elections , residents voted for the Democratic Party’s candidate ; however, in 2000 and 2004, the Democrats won by a very small margin - 5,700 and 14,000 votes. In 1982, Wisconsin became the first state to prohibit discrimination on sexual orientation .

Like many other states, Wisconsin is divided into sharply defined political areas. The most conservative part of the state is the suburbs of Milwaukee , and the most liberal part is the city of Milwaukee, which in 1910 became the first big city in America to elect the mayor of a socialist .

In 2010, the gross domestic product of Wisconsin amounted to 248.3 billion USD , according to this indicator, the state ranks 21st among the rest ^[30] . Manufacturing , agriculture and health care are leading industries in the state. In 2008, Wisconsin produced industrial products worth $ 48.9 billion, which is the tenth result in the United States, accounting for 3% of the industrial production of the entire state ^[31] . Industrial production accounts for about 20% of GDP, here Wisconsin ranks third among all states ^[32] .

Wisconsin produces about a quarter of the country's total cheese , which is the largest in the United States ^[33] . The state also ranks second after California for milk production ^[34] , and in terms of milk production per capita, the state ranks third after Idaho and Vermont ^[35] . Wisconsin ranks second in butter production , producing about a quarter of the country's total oil ^[36] . Wisconsin is a major producer of not only dairy products, but also beer and sausages , as well as the largest state producer of cranberries ^[37] , ginseng ^[38] and paper products . The state is also a leading producer of oats , potatoes , carrots , sour cherries, maple syrup and sweet corn . The importance of agriculture for the state is indicated by the fact that the Wisconsin commemorative Wisconsin portrays a cow, a cheese head and corn cobs ^[39] .

In Wisconsin, there are several all-American festivals like the Oshkosh airplane show .

The city of Wisconsin-Dells ( eng. Wisconsin Dells ) claims to be the "World Capital of Water Parks ", being the leader of the relevant direction of the tourism industry. In this city, 18 aquaparks are concentrated only indoors.

Finally, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is an international center for stem cell research, led by a member of the US Academy of Sciences, Professor James Thomson .

Wisconsin is often called the “dairy farm of America,” because this state is famous for producing cheese . According to a common stereotype, Wisconsin is a remote place, where there is nothing but cows. State residents are sometimes jokingly called cheeseheads - "cheese heads." Since at the beginning of the 20th century , like other states of the continental north, Wisconsin was inhabited mainly by the Germans , it produces and consumes large quantities of beer .

The two main cities of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and the capital Madison - are the centers of state cultural life. Madison is home to the University of Wisconsin-Madison , one of the best public universities in the United States, and a small city built mostly around it. In contrast, Milwaukee is a big city and part of the Chicago megalopolis . The Milwaukee Art Museum is known for its distinctive architecture.

• wisconsin.gov (Eng.) - The official website of the State of Wisconsin