MISSOURI

Hamida Gitsba IR III

Missouri (abbreviated MO) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas

and Nebraska. With a 2009 population of 5,987,580, Missouri is the

18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest.

It comprises 114 counties and one independent city. Missouri's capital is Jefferson City. The four largest

urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia.

Missouri was originally acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became defined as the Missouri Territory. Part of the Missouri Territory was

admitted into the union as the 24th state on August 10, 1821.

EtymologyThe state is named for the Missouri River, which was named after the Siouan-

language tribe. They were called the ouemessourita (wimihsoorita), meaning

"those who have dugout canoes", by the Miami-Illinois language speakers.

The Illini were the first natives encountered by Europeans in the region

and they took adopted the name of the Missouri from them.

Climate Missouri generally has a humid continental climate with cold winters and hot and humid summers. In the southern part of the state, particularly in the Bootheel, the climate borders on

a humid subtropical climate.

Located in the interior United States, Missouri often experiences extremes in temperatures. Without high

mountains or oceans nearby to moderate temperature, its climate is alternately influenced by air from the cold Arctic and the hot and humid Gulf of Mexico. Missouri's highest

recorded temperature is 118 °F (48 °C) at Warsaw and Union on July 14, 1954 while the lowest recorded

temperature is −40 °F (−40 °C) also at Warsaw on February 13, 1905.

DemographicsAccording to the 2010 Census, Missouri had a population of 5,988,927. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 50,450 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 37,638 people. Over half of Missourians (3,294,936 people, or 55.0%) live within the state's two largest metropolitan areas–-St. Louis and Kansas City.

The five largest ancestry groups in Missouri are: German (27.4 percent),

Irish (14.8 percent), English (10.2 percent), American (8.5 percent) and French (3.7

percent).

"American" includes some of those reported as Native American or African American, but also European Americans whose ancestors have

lived in the United States for a considerable time.

LanguageThe majority of people in Missouri speak English. Approximately 5.1 percent of the population reported

speaking a language other than English at home.

Missouri is home to an endangered dialect of the French

language known as Missouri French. Speakers of the dialect,

who call themselves Creoles, are descendants of the French

pioneers who settled the area then known as the Illinois Country

beginning in the late 17th century. It developed in isolation from

French speakers in Canada and Louisiana, becoming quite distinct

from the varieties of Canadian French and Louisiana Creole French. Once widely spoken

throughout the area, Missouri French is now nearly extinct, with

only a few elderly speakers able to use it.

ReligionThe religious affiliations of the people of Missouri according to the

American Religious Identification Survey:Christian – 77%

Anglican - 4% Episcopal – 4%

Protestant- 45% (Combined) Baptist– 22%

Methodist– 7%Lutheran– 4%

Other Protestant – 12% Roman Catholic – 19%

Latter Day-Saint – 1%*Other or unspecified Christian – 8%

Other religions – 2%Not religious – 15%

No answer – 5%

CountiesMissouri has 114 counties and one independent city.

The largest county by size is Texas County (1,179 sq. miles) and Shannon County is second (1,004 sq. miles). Worth County is the smallest (266 sq. miles).

The independent city of St. Louis has only 62 square miles (160 km2) of area. St. Louis City is the most densely populated area (5,724.7 per sq. mi.) in Missouri.

The largest county by population (2008 estimate) is St. Louis County (991,830 residents), with Jackson County second (668,417 residents), St. Louis third (354,361), and St. Charles fourth (349,407). Worth County is the least populous with 2,039 residents.

State nicknames

The use of the unofficial nickname the Show-Me State has several possible origins. The phrase "I'm from Missouri" means 'I'm skeptical of the matter and not easily convinced'.

This is related to the state's unofficial motto of "Show Me," whose origin is popularly ascribed to an 1899 speech by Congressman Willard Vandiver, who declared that "I

come from a country that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to

show me." However, according to researchers, the phrase was in circulation earlier in the 1890s.

According to another legend, the phrase was a reference to Missouri miners brought to Leadville, Colorado to take the place of striking miners and being unfamiliar with the

mining methods there required frequent instruction.

It has also been known as the Puke State, perhaps on account of an 1827 gathering at the Galena Lead Mines. "...so many Missourians had assembled, that those already there declared the State of Missouri had taken a 'puke.' " Within the state, “pukes” referred before the Civil War to impoverished citizens who nonetheless supported slavery, the equivalent of “poor white trash.” Walt Whitman has listed “pukes” as a nickname for Missourians.

Missouri is also known as "The Cave State" with over 6000 recorded caves (second to Tennessee). Perry County has both the largest number of caves

and the single longest cave in the state. Other nicknames include "The Lead State", "The Bullion State", "The Ozark

State", "Mother of the West", "The Iron Mountain State", and "Pennsylvania of the West“.

There is no official state nickname, however the official state motto is "Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto", Latin for "Let the welfare of the people be the

supreme law."

Funny Laws of Missouri-Single men between the ages of twenty-one and fifty must pay an annual tax of one dollar (enacted 1820).-Speeding is not illegal.-If your are under the age of 21 and you have in your possession a empty beer bottle, you may be charged with illegal possession of alcohol. Ballwin:-You may not use vulgar language outside your home.Buckner:-Yard waste may be burnt any day except for Sunday.Columbia:-You can not have a antenna exposed outside of your house yet you can have a 25 foot satellite dish.-You may not hang your clothes over a clothesline because they are banned, so you can use a fence instead.-Drinking is not allowed between the hours of 2 and 6am.Excelsior Springs:-Hard objects may not be thrown by hand.-You may not trouble squirrels.Kansas City:-Minors are not permitted to buy cap pistols, but they may buy shotguns.-It is illegal to have a bathtub with it's legs resembling animal paws.

Marceline:-Minors are allowed to purchase rolling paper and tobacco but not lighters. Marquette:-You may not have 4 or more people occupying the same dwelling. Merryville:-Women are prohibited from wearing corsets because "the privilege of admiring the curvaceous, unencumbered body of a young woman should not be denied to the normal, red-blooded American male."Mole:-Scaring babies is illegal.Natchez:-You may not get an elephant drunk.Perryville:-You may not attack birds with any type of catapult within the city.Purdy:-Dancing is not allowed.Springfield:-Salesmen are not allowed to sell they goods while sitting in the middle of the road, screaming at vehicles passing by.St. Louis:-It's illegal to sit on the curb of any city street and drink beer from a bucket.-Milk men may not run while on duty.-It's illegal to park your car with the engine on, on the bases that it might scare horses.University City:-4 women may not live together in an apartment.-No person may own a metal pipe.-You may not have a garage sale that is more then 2 days long.

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