USA Illinois - The People : USA  

USA Illinois - The People - Travel guide

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USA Illinois - The People

The People

Thousands of years before the French reached Illinois, Paleo-Indians, a nomadic people, and their descendants, archaic Indians, had explored Illinois. The culture of these hunters, dated before 5000 AD. Middle Mississippi Indians, who succeeded the Woodland Indians, built large earthen mounds and developed complex urban areas. These cities disappeared possibly because of overpopulation, disease, and exhaustion of resources. The descendants of the Mississippians were the Illiniwek tribes of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. After years of losing land and wars to other Indian groups and European colonists, the Illiniweks were moved to a Kansas reservation.

The French controlled areas along the Mississippi River valley in the American Bottoms between Cahokia and Kaskaskia. Their occupation, from about 1675 to 1763, left few lasting marks, as did the ineffective British rule. European control was ended by the U.S. militia of George Rogers Clark in 1778, whereupon Virginia claimed Illinois as within its territory.

By 1880, Illinois had become the fourth most populous state. It was a leader in grain production and manufacturing. Large-scale European immigration provided labor to mine coal, run steel mills, and enhance the economy and culture of the state. By 1920, Illinois was counted among the foremost states in nearly every significant growth variable coal mining, industry, farming, urbanization, transportation, and wholesaling. Its leadership was achieved despite the economic slumps of the 1880s, 1890s, and early 1900s; the labor disputes in coal mining and railroading; the Chicago fire of 1871; and the problems caused by organized crime.

Immigrants, families and workers added to overall state diversity and helped fuel a Chicago-area boom in which the city gained population for the first time in 50 years. The number of Hispanics grew by nearly 70 percent and the group now accounts for 12.3 percent of the state's population.

The 2000 census showed Illinois' population at 12,419,293. The State Capital is Springfield, other major cities or towns include Chicago, Rockford, Aurora, Naperville, Peoria, Joliet, Elgin, Decatur, Waukegan.