Michigan

Michigan is a state in the United States. The name is derived from Lake Michigan, which in turn is believed to come from the Chippewa Indian word meicigama, meaning "great water." Bounded by four of the Great Lakes, Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the continental United States, the longest total shoreline after Alaska (including island shorelines http://www.michigan.gov/som/0,1607,7-192-29938_30243-103397--,00.html), and more recreational boats than any other state in the union.

Michigan history timeline

Early European history

• 1622 Étienne Brûlé and his fellow explorers from Grenoble, France, were probably the first white men to see Lake Superior.
• 1668 Père (Father) Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, the first European settlement in Michigan
• 1701 Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac, with his lieutenant Alphonse de Tonty, established a trading post on the Detroit River which they name Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit; now the present site of Detroit.
• 1760 Detroit was captured by the British.
• 1760s Chief Pontiac led a major revolt of the Ottawa tribe against the British.
• 1783 The area that is now Michigan is included with the territory ceded by Great Britain to the United States by the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolutionary War. The U.S. did not take control of the territory until 1796.
• 1796 Detroit and other posts in Michigan were turned over to the United States under terms of the Jay Treaty. Wayne County was established as an administrative division of the Northwest Territory.

U.S. history

• 1805 Michigan Territory was created, with Detroit designated as the seat of government. William Hull appointed as governor. Detroit was destroyed by fire.
• 1813 Lewis Cass became Territorial Governor.
• 1819 In the Treaty of Saginaw, the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi ceded more than six million acres, or 24,000 km² in the central portion of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan to the United States.
• 1821 With the Treaty of Chicago, the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi ceded all the lands south of the Grand River to the United States.
• 1823 Congress transferred legislative powers previously exercised by the Territorial Governor and Judges to a nine-member Legislative Council, appointed by the U.S. President who selected them from eighteen persons chosen by the people. The Council was expanded to thirteen members in 1825 and made an elected body in 1827.
• 1828 Territorial Capitol built in Detroit at a cost of $24,500.
• 1835 First Constitutional Convention. Stevens T. Mason inaugurated as the first Governor. A minor conflict with Ohio over the city of Toledo, Ohio, known as the Toledo War, contributed to delaying Michigan's statehood. As a resolution, Ohio received Toledo and the Toledo Strip but Michigan gained the western two-thirds of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
• 1837 Admitted as a free state into the union (the 26th state), it was admitted a few months after the slave state of Arkansas.

Major historical events

• 1817 The University of Michigan is established in Detroit, the first public university in the state.
• January 26, 1837 Michigan became the 26th US State.
• 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a severe setback to the nascent state bank and to several ambitious programs of public improvements, including the Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal
• 1838 Patriot War
• 1840 Douglass Houghton reported finding copper deposits on the Keweenaw Peninsula.
• 1846 Marji-Gesick, an Ojibwa Indian, pointed out a large deposit of iron ore to prospector Philo Everett near the present-day city of Negaunee.
• 1847 A law was passed by the State Legislature to re-locate from Detroit the State Capital to a site "in the township of Lansing, in the county of Ingham."
• 1855 Michigan State University is founded as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, becoming the first land grant university in the United States.
• 1879 New State Capitol dedicated in Lansing. The structure cost $1,510,130.
• 1890s and 1900s Ford, Chrysler and General Motors were founded in southeastern Michigan.
• 1937 Flint Sit-Down Strike ended with official recognition of the United Auto Workers by General Motors.
• 1943 Riot broke out pitting whites against blacks during wartime.
• 1957 Five-mile long Mackinac Bridge opened November 1.
• 1967 Race riots struck the city of Detroit. After 5 days of rioting, 43 people lay dead, 1189 injured and over 7000 people had been arrested. The riot had lasting effects on the entire metro region and is usually cited as one of the reasons the Detroit area is among the most segregated areas in the United States.
• 1968 The Detroit Tigers win the World Series.
• 1974 Gerald R. Ford of Grand Rapids became the 38th President of the United States.
• 1984 The Detroit Tigers win the World Series again.
• 1987 Michigan celebrated 150 years of statehood.
• 1997 The Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup after a 42 year drought dating back to 1955.
• 2002 Michigan elects its first woman governor, Jennifer Granholm (D).