Introduction
Land of Lincoln and Prairie State, those are the names the people used for the state Illinois, one of the fifty states of the United Nations of America. Springfield is the capital city of Illinois.
Illinois is one of the biggest cities of the USA and was added as the 21 th to the United States of America. It is also a very populated state in the country.
Central City: the biggest central city of Illinois is Chicago also called the global architecture capital. It is one of the most important business centers of the world.
Chicago is located in the north-east of Illinois on the shore of Lake Michigan near the border with Indiana. The city is in the central part of country giving it an advantage, Chicago is one of the USA leading commercial and industrial cities. It also has a important duty as important transportation place.
It has a central function to the culture and education of the country, with museums, universities and an opera company who is among the best in the country. Chicago is famous for its architecture because it is considered the birthplace of the Skyscraper. It has many high building including such skyscrapers in the commercial part of the city on the shore of Lake Michigan.
The city runs for about 25 miles/40 kilometers along Lake Michigan and goes into the land until 12 miles/19 kilometers. It is the center of urbanized area that includes Cook, Du Page, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties and even reaches other states as Wisconsin and Indiana.
Chicago is not the Capital city of Illinois. That is: Springfield.
Ghettos: What is a ghetto? To find that out, there are some assumptions to take:
High school graduation rates
Number of convenience stores
Number of drug stores
Number of discount stores
Crime
The 3 biggest ghetto’s in Illinois are:
1. East St. Louis
There’s no doubt that East St. Louis is the most ghetto city in Illinois when you look at the data. It would be hard for anyone in Illinois to doubt the validity of this assertation.
East St. Louis residents are the poorest of any city in the state. Most residents here earn far below the poverty line, and it’s one of the more dangerous cities in the state as well.
And when more than a quarter of the city is a high school dropout, that’s a sign of a real ghetto.
2. Chicago
Sure, parts of Chicago make it one of the best cities in the nation. But there are large swaths of Chicago that make it one of the worst cities in America, too.
Crime is really high here, which is a well known fact. And when you factor in staples of inner city life such as convenient stores and drug stores (which Chicago has a ton of), then the city of Chicago rises towards the top of the Illinois ghetto list.
3. Harvey
You may or may not be aware that Harvey is statistically, the most dangerous city in Illinois, according to FBI numbers, which take into account the number of violent and property crimes that happen here every year. A half hour south of Chicago, you have a 1 in 62 chance of being raped, murdered or attacked for every year you spend in Harvey city limits. And the crime here hasn’t improved in the last 3 years, either.
Suburbs: the three best suburbs of Illinois
Clarendon Hills:
Clarendon Hills is a close-knit community with a friendly environment, expensive houses, and high taxes. Voted the safest Chicago Suburb, Clarendon Hills is a family-friendly neighborhood with incredible public schools and involved parents. It's majority white and overshadowed by Hinsdale's hipster and more modern vibe.
Hinsdale:
Hinsdale is a charming quaint town. The town is great for raising a family! The area has excellent schools from pre-k to high school. There's many good restaurants, in downtown hinsdale. I recommend Nabuki… some of the best sushi in the Chicagoland area! The town is overall safe, clean, and a great place to live!
Winnetka:
Family friendly with great amenities and big city quality events. Park district is great – ice arena, play fields, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, par 3 and 18 hole golf course are in one area across the street from the middle schools. Better restaurants are taking hold, more development coming in. First music festival was a great hit this summer. Nielson Challenger tennis tournament is high quality event.
The ethnicity of Illinois:
The four biggest groups of migrants: (numbers are from 2016)
White people alone 7.886.677
Hispanic or Latino 2.178.790
Black or African American 1.790.654
Asian 679.106
Segregation:
Black and white people are living clustered in separate parts of the city. Highly educated young people are moving to Chicago’s North Side along Lake Michigan and neighborhoods west of the downtown. The very low-income areas in the city’s South and far West sides are also expanding.
Gentrification
In the second zone there became more and more expensive buildings and royal houses. The poor people are moving to other places of the city. What is new is that in more and more places in Chicago such changing neighborhoods are the target of high-level discussions between project developers, heritage protectors and the last remaining groups of poor residents.
The land
Illinois can be divided in three main regions: the Central Plains, the Shawnee Hills and the Gulf Coastal Plain.
The central plains
This region is covering about 90 percent of the total area of Illinois. These plain were formed by rolling fertile plains during the Ice Age. The central plains go from Lake Michigan west and south and cover most of the state. This region is again divided into three sections: The Great Lakes Plain, the Driftless Plains and the Till Plains.
-The Great Lakes Plains: this low flat area of land is located next to Lake Michigan. It has some small hills in the north and west of Chigago. Illinois has 63 miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan.
-The Driftless Plains are located in the north-west corner of Illinios. This section is the owner of the highest hills in the state. Big hills and valleys are present in this relatively small area. Charles Mound is also present in this section of the central plains.
-The Till Plains are by far the largest section of the Central plains. This area is known as the agricultural part of the state, because of the fertile soil. The landscape makes Illinois one of the top corn producing states. This is also why the state is sometimes called ‘the prairie state’.
The Shawnee Hills
This region runs across the southern part of the state. This little stripe of land covers from five to 40 miles wide and in the neighborhood of 70 miles in the length of the state. It consists of Rivers, valleys and woodland.
The Gulf Coastal
This region is located on the very end of Illinois. The Gulf Coastal is between the Ohio River and the Mississippi River. It is sometimes called ‘Egypt’ because early settlers thought it was just like the Nile Delta. South of the Shawnee Hills the Gulf Coastal is hilly but flattens toward the border with Kentucky.
Climate
Illinois has a continental climate which causes it to be relatively warm in the summer and relatively cold in the winter. The highest temperature ever measured in Illinois is 117° Fahrenheit/47.2 ° Celsius. This was on July 14,1954 at East St. Louis. The lowest temperature ever measured is -36 ° Fahrenheit/-37 ° Celsius and was measured at Congerville on January 5, 1999. The average monthly temperature differs from 30° Celsius in summer to -12 ° Celsius in winter. The average amount of rain falling in the state from 1971 to 2000 can be seen in the map on the right. As can be seen from the map the southern part of Illinois is getting much more rain as the north.
History
Native Americans
The native Americans lived in what is now known as Illinois already 8000B.C. The people living there were from various levels of old and Woodland cultures. The earliest inhabitants are known as the Early Archaic Indians. They managed to survive in the then not yet developed wild by tracking and hunting large animals, such as mammoths. They also fished and collected seeds, roots, berries and nuts. To find shelter they find cover in caves along the Illinois River valley. In the neighborhood of 1000 B.C. the Early Archaic Indians got together with a new form of inhabitants who where known as the Late Archaic Indians. This new type of generation made more inventive new weapons such as snares, spears and stone axes. They also made other tools like baskets and pottery to store all sorts of things. The Late Archaic Indians were also the first to trade with other tribes from areas who are now known as Michigan, Kentucky and Missouri state.
After the Archaic period, also just known as the Old period, a culture called Woodland would get the upper hand at around 600 B.C. This type of culture is thought to be more focusing on agriculture and less on the hunting of animals. They also traded with other tribes in the neighborhood. Because they grew their own food right on the spot they were able to develop villages and make their “group” bigger. With this larger population they started to grow a real culture with funerals and real burial mounds to bury their dead persons. At around 0 B.C. the Middle Woodland Culture developed. This group was not very different from their earlier settlers but still they developed new and better ways to make life more easier. This culture would maintain until 300 A.D. where it would get the expected name of the Late Woodland Culture. For this group trading food including corn, beans, pumpkin and squash was very important.
200 years went by and a again a new culture formed. This time the Mississippian Indians came to Illinois from the southeast. They started to develop agriculture to. These Indians used boats to establish trade with other tribe’s along the Mississippi. They also made villages on the shore of the river. They protected this villages by digging ditches around them. They made around a hundred small hills which were around 100 feet/30 meters high spread over an area of 14 acres/6 km². These earth structures are now known as the largest pre-historic structures in North America.
However, the rich and wealthy life of these Indians wouldn’t last forever. The population started to decrease rapidly around 1050 A.D. and by 1500 only some small villages were left. The cause of this decrease is not known. Some say the erosion of the river, bad leadership and maybe crop failure caused this culture to die out.
War
Because the France and England were fighting against each other in Europe it was very likely that the same would happen in America. So a war between France and England broke out. This war was called the north American war. This war lasted until 1760, but continued for another three years in Europe. After the Treaty of Paris was signed France got Canada, this is also why a part of Canada stills speaks France, and all territory east of the Mississippi.
The American revolution was fought outside the borders of Illinois but this didn’t prevent the Virginians to prevent the British from conquering Illinois. After this little war was over Illinois was now part of Virginia.
Tourism
Off course many people visit Chicago each year to amaze themselves by the huge buildings and the rich history of the city. Speaking off huge buildings, Chicago hosts the highest unnatural point of the state. Namely the Willis tower which is 1451 feet/442 meters tall and stands 7th on the list of highest buildings on the planet. Not to forget it is also the highest building of the USA. Many people visit it each year and go up the tower and enjoy the great view along the city skyline.
Every year around 2 million people visit the Brookfield zoo. In the 1980s this zoo was the first to have a fully-indoor rain forest.
Off course Chicago is famous for its baseball clubs such as the Chicago cubs, and the Chicago white socks. In total the whole baseball industry attracts around 6 million people each year.
But the leading tourist attraction of Illinois is the Navy Pear. Attracting over 8 million people each year. The pear is located on Lake Michigan. It has had a very varied history, when it opened in 1916 is was designed as a shipping and recreation place but when the 2th World War started it was build to a military training camp. Nowadays the Navy pear is a great attraction with many restaurants, shops, cinema, theater, health club, 18-hole miniature golf course, a festival hall which can hold up to 17,000 men and even a 32,000 square foot botanical park. In short, it is just pure America.
Illinois has been the living place of four American presidents, Lincoln, Grant, Reagan and current president Barack Obama. The state has set up a whole tour including the most important places of all presidents such as the Lincoln Museum, the neighborhood where Obama used to grow up, Lowell park where former president Reagan used to work as a lifeguard saving 77 people from drowning and the old state capitol were Lincoln held his most famous speech.
Lake Michigan
This lake is one of the great five lakes of North America. It is the birthplace of huge amounts of fun. Every summer millions of people are amusing themselves along the lake shore by fishing, swimming, sailing and sun bathing.