The 29th state admitted to the US was Iowa on December 28th, 1846. The name "Iowa" comes from the Iowa River that was named after the Ioway tribe of Native Americans. Iowa is known as the "Hawkeye State" because of Chief Black Hawk that fought for his rights and the rights of the Native Americans and was killed doing so. In this state, it is said that hogs outnumber humans 4:1. Iowa is the largest producer of corn in the US, and it is the place where sliced bread was invented. The capitol is Des Moines, the state bird is the American Goldfinch, the state tree is the Bur Oak, and the state flower is the Prairie Rose.
Over 12,000 years ago, Archaeologists say that Paleo-Indians lived in the area we now call Iowa, and that they were hunters of the mammoth and other large mammals of the tundra. Native Americans from 17 different Indian tribes resided in Iowa all the way until 1673. That was the year that French explorers Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette came ashore where the Iowa River met the Mississippi River, and described it as green and fertile. They didn't return until the early 1830's. Tribes like the Ioway, Sauk, Mesquaki, Sioux, Potawatomi, Oto, and Missouri were the original settlers, and once the Europeans arrived, they merged into six primary tribes. These included the Dakota (or Sioux) of the northwest, the Iowa of the central area, the Sauk and Mesquakie of the east, the Winnebago of the northeast, and the Potawatami of the southwest. In 1829, the Sauk and the Mesquaki were ordered by the federal government to leave their villages and move across the Mississippi River into the Iowa region. The Black Hawk War was fought to claim their land, and this resulted in a lot of deaths as well as the Black Hawk Purchase in order to punish the tribes for resisting. The Mesquaki tribe built themselves back up and returned to fish and hunt on that land, and eventually they were able to buy back some of their own land. The other indigenous peoples were driven out of their ancestral homelands, and they were forced to give up their property and every thing on it. Treaties were signed and agreed upon in the early to mid 1800's, and the Santee Band of the Sioux tribe were the last to negotiate a treaty with the government in 1851. Today, the Mesquaki still live in Iowa, and a few Sauk returned to the eastern part of the state to hunt and fish.
May of the early settlers had already lived on land in America from different states, and when they arrived, they didn't understand the value in living on prairie land. They experienced prairie fires and feared their lives until the winter season arrived each year. There were no trees for building, but soon barbed wire was invented and they were able to put up fences. They would come to realize that Iowa had productive soil and fertile land, and that agriculture was abundantly productive. This early prairie life was challenged by communicable diseases like Scarlet Fever, and sometimes a family member would die. By 1860, most of the state was settled.
In 1834, the land that became Iowa was part of the Michigan Territory. When Michigan became a state, Iowa was transferred to the Wisconsin Territory. Since so many settlers were crossing the Mississippi River, an Iowa Territory had to be formed on July 4, 1838. A governor was appointed who appointed another governor, and they pushed for statehood. Slavery was a big issue that divided the country. It was forbidden in Iowa, but when a non-slave state was added, a slave-state had to be admitted as well. Florida became available in 1845, which gave room for Iowa to join. A proper border was created for the state, and a constitution was written and approved by Congress on December 28th, 1846 when President James K. Polk signed Iowa as the 29th state. Sixty years later, Iowa completed its statehood requirements, and the citizens of the state could vote for president, elect senators and representatives, as well as their own governor and judges. The rest is US history!
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