Illinois Geostatistics
Land area:
(land) 55,584 sq. miles
(water) 2,325 sq. miles
(TOTAL) 57,909 sq. miles
Land area: (all states)
- Horizontal Width: 211 miles from Indiana border under Danville, due west to Missouri border
- Vertical Length: 389 miles from the Wisconsin border, immediately north of Waukegan, south to Cairo on the state’s southern borderNote: Lengths and widths are two-point, rectilinear measurements from the Mercator map projection and will vary some usage of other map projections
- Border States: (5) Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin
- Counties: (102) Map
- County: ( largest in population) Cook 5,288,655
- Geographic Center: Located in Chestnut, 28 miles northeast of Springfield in Logan County
- Tallest Point: Charles Mund, at 1,235 feet.
- Lowest Point: 279 feet near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers
- Latitude and longitude
- Average Elevation: 611 ft.
Illinois Lat / long
- Latitude/Longitude (Absolute Locations)
Springfield: (capital) 39º 83′ N, 89º 64′ W
Chicago: 41º 88′ N, 87º 63′ W
Cairo: 37º 00′ N, 89º 17′ W - Latitudes and Longitudes: (specific details)
- Find any Latitude & Longitude
- Relative locations: (specific details)
RELATIVE LOCATION:
Illinois is placed in both the northern and western hemispheres. As part of North America, Illinois is located in the East North Central region of the United States. It is bounded by the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and Lake Michigan.
Illinois, a state in the Midwestern United States, in the north of the country, in the Great Lakes region. Area 140.9 thousand km 2. Population 12.9 million (2009). The capital is Springfield. The largest city is Chicago (the third largest in the United States). Other major cities: Rockford, Peoria, Aurora, Naperville, Decatur. See counties in Illinois.
Illinois borders Wisconsin to the north, Indiana to the east and southeast, Kentucky to the south, and Lake Michigan to the northeast. To the west and southwest, the border runs along the Mississippi River.
Located on the Central Plains, 60% of the territory is occupied by prairies, the rest is hills. 950 lakes. More than 500 rivers (the largest is Illinois). The climate is temperate continental.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, Illinois has been one of the first places in industrial development in the country (the center of industry in the Chicago area). Chemical industry, oil refining, mechanical engineering, electrical equipment production. Food industry, manufacturing industry – meat processing, woodworking. Rich mineral resources: coal, oil, natural gas, zinc, sandstone. Large farms are developed (cattle breeding, pig breeding; growing corn, soybeans, wheat). Since the late 19th century, the state has been the site of many agricultural innovations. Fishing is developed (carp, catfish, etc.). Tourism and service industry. Leading diversified transport center of the country.
- AbbreviationFinder: Introduction to the state of Illinois, covering commonly used acronyms and the list of main cities and town in Illinois.
Cultural and scientific center of the USA. Universities: Normal (1857); Urban, Chicago (1867, one of the finest laboratories in the world for the study of speech and hearing); Bloomington (1850) is a private senior college. Chicago is home to the Institute of Technology (known for its department of architecture and design), Springfield Sangammon University; symphony orchestras, ballet, country music center.
Indian tribes inhabited the territory of the state already in the 9th millennium BC. e. The lands of the state were first surveyed by Europeans (French Jesuits) at the end of the 17th century. In 1673, a trading post was founded in the area of modern Chicago. The territory of Illinois began to develop the British. During the Revolutionary War they were expelled from these places. In 1799, Illinois was conquered from the Indians by military formations under the command of J. R. Clark, its territory became part of Virginia. But conflicts with Indian tribes continued later. In 1803, the military fort Dearborn was built, in 1809 Illinois was founded with the status of a territory. Its mass settlement began. In 1818, Illinois became the 21st state of the United States, at the same time the first state constitution was adopted (subsequently, the constitution was also adopted in 1848, 1870 and 1970).
In the 1830s, the construction of canals and railways intensified. A canal was built connecting Lake Michigan and the Mississippi across the Illinois River (1836), abandoned in 1930; canal in the northwest of the state between Rock Island on the Mississippi and Hennepin on the Illinois River (1907-1951) (state protected). From the middle of the 19th century, Illinois began to occupy one of the first places in the country’s economy. Historically, the manufacturing industry has played an important role in the state’s economy – meat processing, woodworking, food industries.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the trade union and labor movements developed intensively in the state. By the end of the 19th century, workers achieved a reform of industrial inspection and recognition of trade unions, in 1903 – the introduction of an eight-hour working day, limiting the working week of adolescents to 48 hours, in 1909 – a ten-hour working day for women.
During both world wars, the economic and social growth of the state continued. After the Second World War began the modernization of industry and agriculture, the rapid growth of the population. The process of formation of large farms continued. From the end of the 20th century, the ethnic composition of large cities began to change, mainly due to external and internal emigration.
Illinois is one of the most important trade and financial centers of the country, it has a great influence on the political life of the United States as a whole. In the 19th century, Republican influence prevailed; in the 20th century, both parties, the Republican and the Democratic, rely on an approximately equal electorate.
Among the attractions: the reconstructed house of A. Lincoln and his family, their graves, the building of the State Capitol, the historical library, the house-museum of the poet W. Lindsay, the Museum of the Springfield Art Association. The Art Institute of Chicago has a large collection of paintings. Skyscrapers in Chicago (above 160 m). An architectural monument is a water tower (Water Tower, 1871), many parks, the famous Chicago Zoo.
