Illinois USA
Destination Guide & Hotel Reservations
Nearly everything in ILLINOIS revolves around Chicago , the largest and most
exciting of the Great Lakes cities. At the state's northeastern corner, on the shores of Lake
Michigan , Chicago has a skyline to rival any city's, plus a gamut of top-rated
museums, restaurants and cafés, and innumerable bars and nightclubs paying homage to the
city's strong jazz and blues heritage. Seventy-five percent of the state's twelve million
population live within commuting distance of Chicago's energetic center, which controls
the bulk of the state economy - Illinois is the third largest agricultural producer in the
US. The sole exception to the endless flat prairies elsewhere is far to the south, where
the forested Shawnee Hills rise between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
The contrast between the quiet rural hinterlands and the buzzing urban center could
hardly be greater. That said, Illinois does hold a few places to head for, though, apart
from a couple of mildly exciting college towns, most are of historic rather than current
interest. First explored and settled by the French, in 1763 the area that's now Illinois
was sold to the English. Granted statehood in 1818, Illinois remained a distant frontier
until the mid-1830s when, after a series of uprisings, the native Sauk were
subjugated and settlers began to arrive in sizable numbers. Among these were the first
followers of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, who established a large colony
along the Mississippi at Nauvoo. The Mormons met with suspicion and persecution
and, after Smith was murdered by a lynch mob in 1844, fled west to Utah.
Other early immigrants included the young Abraham Lincoln , who practiced law
from 1837 onward in Springfield , the state capital and home of a wide range of
Lincolniana, including his restored home, his law offices and vari ous other period
buildings and artifacts, as well as his monumental tomb. Indeed, Illinois' self-proclaimed
nickname - emblazoned on its car license plates - is "Land of Lincoln," and many
other central Illinois towns claim important roles in the making of the sixteenth US
president.
Reserve a Hotel Room in Illinois USA
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