Illinois and Related Topics

Approximate areas of various Mississippian and related cultures

Mississippian culture

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Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, varying regionally.

A priest with a ceremonial flint mace and severed sacrificial head, based on a repoussé copper plate

Reconstruction of the Birdman burial at Cahokia.

Mass grave burial at Cahokia of fifty-three sacrificed Native American women

Shell tempered ceramic effigy jug with swirls painted in clay slip, Rose Mound, Cross County, Arkansas, U.S., 1400-1600 CE, 8" (20 cm) high

Replica of a Mississippian house from over 1000 years ago excavated at the Aztalan site of the Oneota region in an exhibit at the Wisconsin Historical Museum

A mound diagram of the Mississippian cultural period showing the multiple layers of mound construction, mound structures such as temples or mortuaries, ramps with log stairs, and prior structures under later layers, multiple terraces, and intrusive burials.

Cahokia, the largest Mississippian culture site

Kincaid, showing its platform mounds and encircling palisade

Map of the Caddoan Mississippian culture

Map showing the geographical extent of the Plaquemine culture and some of its major sites

A map showing the de Soto route through the Southeast

The largest city was Cahokia, believed to be a major religious center located in what is present-day southern Illinois.

Southern Illinois

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Artist's recreation of central Cahokia near East St Louis in St Clair County

Artist's representation of the Kincaid Site on the Ohio River in Massac County, as it may have looked during its peak

The French Fort de Chartres' powder magazine, restored, is thought to be the oldest standing building in Illinois. Made of limestone in 1756.

The Bank of Illinois in Shawneetown, built in 1839–1841, shown in 1937

The majority of Illinois voters in 1824 rejected a proposal for a new constitutional convention that could have made slavery legal outright. A map of Illinois free And slave counties in 1824 showing shaded counties that were favorable to legalizing slavery in Illinois

Belleville around the start of the 20th century.

Southern Illinois is also known as "Little Egypt".

Cairo panoramic map, 1885. The city sits between two rivers, reminding early settlers of the Egyptian Delta.

Southern Illinois, showing the Metro East region in red, East Central Southern Illinois in teal, West Central Southern Illinois in dark green, Southwest Illinois in light green, and Southeastern Illinois in purple.

Granite City downtown and city hall, population 27,549.

Edwardsville, Illinois, Population 26,808.

Grand Rapids Hotel Mount Carmel, Illinois on opening day in 1922

Bald Knob Cross rises 111 feet above the Shawnee National Forest west of Alto Pass, Illinois.

Harrisburg skyline. Harrisburg prospered with one of the largest Southern Illinois downtown districts during the 1920s and had a population of nearly 16,000 people. Today it has a population of about 9,000.

Garden of the Gods, south of Harrisburg, rests in the Shawnee Hills and has an elevation of nearly 800 feet 244(m).

Aerial of Jameson Island in the Big Muddy, view looking south.

Contemporary woodcut of the 1812 New Madrid earthquake.

Quakes in the New Madrid and Wabash Valley seismic zones over several decades.

The Clark Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across the Mississippi River between West Alton, Missouri and Alton, Illinois.

The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge connecting Missouri's Route 34 and Route 74 with Illinois Route 146 across the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau, Missouri and East Cape Girardeau, Illinois.

The New Harmony Toll Bridge is a through truss bridge that connected Illinois Route 14 and Indiana State Road 66 across the Wabash River between New Harmony, Indiana and rural White County, Illinois until its closure in 2012.

1940 Oil field, Marion County, near Salem, Illinois

Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64.

Greater St. Louis

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Bi-state metropolitan area that completely surrounds and includes the independent city of St. Louis, the principal city.

Brookings Hall, the administrative building for Washington University in St. Louis

It includes parts of both Missouri and Illinois.

Iowa

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State in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west.

Excavation of the 3,800-year-old Edgewater Park Site

Iowa in 1718 with the modern state area highlighted

Topography of Iowa, with counties and major streams

DeSoto Lake at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge

Landforms of Iowa, based on Prior (1991)

Köppen climate types of Iowa, using 1991-2020 climate normals.

Percent population changes by counties in Iowa, 2000–2009. Dark green counties have gains of more than 5%.

Population age comparison between rural Pocahontas County and urban Polk County, illustrating the flight of young adults (red) to urban centers in Iowa

Amana Colonies were founded by German Pietists.

The Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing at Iowa State University, Ames

Skyline of Des Moines, Iowa's capital and largest city

The Iowa Great Lakes located primarily in Dickinson County, in the northwestern section of Iowa near the Minnesota border.

Wood-heated floating sauna on the farm pond

Iowa gross state products by industry, 2009

Central Iowa cornfield and dairy in June

Mural in Mt. Ayr Post Office, "The Corn Parade" by Orr C. Fischer, commissioned as part of the New Deal

Ethanol plant under construction in Butler County

Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport is the first school of chiropractic in the world.

Iowa's major interstates, larger cities, and counties

The Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, completed in 1886, is the only state capitol in the United States to feature five domes, a central golden dome surrounded by four smaller ones. It houses the Iowa General Assembly, comprising the Iowa House of Representatives and Iowa Senate.

The Iowa Supreme Court, across from the capitol, is the state's highest court.

Samuel J. Kirkwood, founder of the Iowa Republican Party, abolitionist, and Iowa's Civil War Governor

The Union Block building, Mount Pleasant, scene of early civil rights and women's rights activities

Schaeffer Hall (University of Iowa, Iowa City)

South End Zone of Iowa State University's Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, IA.

Modern Woodmen Park is home to the Quad Cities baseball team.

It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the east and southeast, Missouri to the south, Nebraska to the west, South Dakota to the northwest, and Minnesota to the north.

Indiana

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U.S. state in the Midwestern United States.

Angel Mounds State Historic Site was one of the northernmost Mississippian culture settlements, occupied from 1100 to 1450.

Native Americans guide French explorers through Indiana, as depicted by Maurice Thompson in Stories of Indiana.

Indiana's Capitol Building in Corydon served as the state's seat of government from 1816 until 1825.

Rolling hills in the Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area of Hoosier National Forest, in the Indiana Uplands

The Wabash River converges with the Ohio River at Posey County.

Köppen climate types of Indiana, using 1991-2020 climate normals.

Indiana is home to the third largest population of Amish in the U.S.

Mike Pence at the Indiana State Fair, 2014

Members of the Indiana National Guard at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center near Butlerville

Indianapolis is home to the annual Indianapolis 500 race.

The Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League have been based in the state since 1984.

Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, home to Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball

Notre Dame Stadium, home to the Fighting Irish

Lake Michigan's beaches, popular with tourists, are juxtaposed with heavy industry.

Indiana is the fifth largest corn-producing state in the U.S., with over a billion bushels harvested in 2013.

Coal-fired electric plants, like Clifty Creek Power Plant in Madison, produced about 85 percent of Indiana's energy supply in 2014.

The Interstate 69 extension project in Monroe County

A South Shore commuter train in Michigan City

Barges are a common sight along the Ohio River. Ports of Indiana manages three maritime ports in the state, two located on the Ohio.

It is bordered by Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the south and southeast, and the Wabash River and Illinois to the west.

Metro East

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Region in southern Illinois that contains eastern and northern suburbs and exurbs of St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

The Metro East is the second largest urban area in Illinois after the Chicago metropolitan area and, as of the 2000 census, the population of the Metro East statistical area was 599,845 residents, a figure that had risen to above 700,000 in 2010.

Cahokia

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Site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (which existed c. undefined 1050–1350 CE ) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri.

A map showing approximate areas of various Mississippian and related cultures. Cahokia is located near the center of this map in the upper part of the Middle Mississippi area.

Artist's recreation of central Cahokia. Cahokia's east-west baseline transects the Woodhenge, Monk's Mound, and several other large mounds.

Mississippian period showing the multiple layers of mound construction, mound structures such as temples or mortuaries, ramps with log stairs, and prior structures under later layers, multiple terraces, and intrusive burials

An 1882 illustration of Monks Mound showing it with fanciful proportions

Incised sandstone tablet of a Birdman found in 1971 during excavations into the east side of Monks Mound

Mississippian culture repoussé copper plates

View of the reconstructed Woodhenge III and its alignment with the equinox pole and Monks Mound 0.5 mi away

A Mississippian-era priest, in the 13th century, Cahokia metropolis, holding a ceremonial flint mace and severed sacrificial head

Tamarois et Caouquias on a French map of Illinois in 1718, south of the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers (approximate modern state area highlighted) from {{lang|fr|Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi}} by Guillaume de L'Isle

The Rattlesnake Causeway leading from Monks Mound to Mound 66 is the city's ceremonial north-south axis.

The "Chunkey Player" statuette, made of Missouri flint clay, depicts the ancient Native American game of chunkey. The statuette is believed to have been originally crafted at or near Cahokia Mounds; it was excavated at a Mississippian site in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, revealing the reach of the trade network of this culture.

Clay statuette excavated at Cahokia site

This historic park lies in south-western Illinois between East St. Louis and Collinsville.

O'Hare International Airport

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Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat on display in O'Hare's Terminal 2, restored in the markings of "Butch" O'Hare's plane

Reconstructed Brachiosaurus skeleton, formerly in the Field Museum, exhibited at the airport since 1999

Control tower and terminals 3 & 2 seen from ATS (Airport Transit System)

The Terminal 1 underground tunnel connects Concourses B and C

Chicago O'Hare International Airport, typically referred to as O'Hare Airport, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport located on the Northwest Side of Chicago, Illinois, 17 mi northwest of the Loop business district.