 Kansas
Information
Capital City: Topeka
Economy: Agriculture and manufacturing.
Population: 2,629,067
Time Zone: 6-7 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time
(-6 and -7 GMT). Daylight Saving Time is observed from the first
Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October.
Kansas's Flag:
On a navy blue field is a sunflower, the state flower. Also, the
state seal and the words "Kansas". In the picture of the
state seal are thirty-four stars representing the order of statehood.
Above the stars is the motto "To the Stars Through Difficulties".
On the seal a sunrise overshadows a farmer plowing a field near
his log cabin, a steamboat sailing the Kansas River, a wagontrain
heading west and Native Americans hunting bison.
History of Kansas:
Spanish explorer Francisco de Coronado, in 1541, is considered the
first European to have traveled this region. Sieur de la Salle's
extensive land claims for France (1682) included present-day Kansas.
Ceded to Spain by France in 1763, the territory reverted back to
France in 1800 and was sold to the U.S. as part of the Louisiana
Purchase in 1803. Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, and Stephen H.
Long explored the region between 1803 and 1819. The first permanent
settlements in Kansas were outposts—Fort Leavenworth (1827),
Fort Scott (1842), and Fort Riley (1853)—established to protect
travelers along the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. Just before the
Civil War, the conflict between the pro- and anti-slavery forces
earned the region the grim title of Bleeding Kansas. Today, wheat
fields, oil-well derricks, herds of cattle, and grain-storage elevators
are chief features of the Kansas landscape. A leading wheat-growing
state, Kansas also raises corn, sorghums, oats, barley, soybeans,
and potatoes. Kansas stands high in petroleum production and mines
zinc, coal, salt, and lead. It is also the nation's leading producer
of helium. Wichita is one of the nation's leading aircraft-manufacturing
centers, ranking first in production of private aircraft. Kansas
City is an important transportation, milling, and meat-packing center.
Points of interest include the Kansas Museum of History at Topeka,
the Eisenhower boyhood home and the new Eisenhower Memorial Museum
and Presidential Library at Abilene, John Brown's cabin at Osawatomie,
recreated Front Street in Dodge City, Fort Larned (once the most
important military post on the Santa Fe Trail), and Fort Leavenworth
and Fort Riley.
Other Kansas Links:
Blue Skyways
Kansas State Library
Kansas Communities
Kansas Counties
Kansas Chamber of Commerce
and Industry
Kansas Department of Education
League of Kansas Municipalities |
