Kentucky

Kentucky entered the Union on June 1, 1792, as the fifteenth state. It is located in the eastern south central region of the United States and ranks thirty-seventh in size of the fifty states. Kentucky, known as the Bluegrass State, is surrounded by Tennessee , Missouri , Illinois , Indiana , Ohio , West Virginia , and Virginia .

Unlike most other states, Kentucky was not home to any Native Americans when white explorers first visited it in 1750. The Shawnee and Cherokee hunted on Kentucky land, but they lived in Ohio and Tennessee. The first colonial settlement was Harrods town (now Harrodsburg) in 1774.

A land speculator from North Carolina purchased land in central Kentucky and tried to create a fourteenth colony there. Virginians blocked the proposal, and in 1776, they incorporated the region as the County of Kentucky.

Kentucky was the main gateway for migration into the Mississippi Valley. By the late 1780s, its settlements were growing, and Virginia soon realized it could not retain control of the area.

By 1860, half of all Kentucky's agricultural income was from tobacco . Kentucky was unique during the American Civil War (1861–65) because it sent men to fight on both sides of the war. Perhaps more so than in any other state, Kentucky residents felt divided. In the North, Kentucky-born Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; served 1861–65) was president of the United States. In the South, Kentucky native Jefferson Davis (1808–1889) was president of the Confederate States of America . Kentucky sent around one hundred thousand soldiers to serve in the Union army, while around thirty thousand fought for the Confederacy. After the war, railroad construction increased and led to the development of timber and coal industries in the eastern part of the state.

In 2006, Kentucky was home to more than four million people, 89.9 percent of them white. Frankfort is the capital city, but it ranks next-to-last in size of all the state's major cities. Louisville is the largest, with more than 550,000 residents. Kentucky is a mountainous state, its highest point being Black Mountain at 4,139 feet (1,262 meters). The Appalachian Mountains run through Kentucky.

As was true during the Civil War, Kentuckians remain divided in their loyalties to political parties. In the twenty-first century, poorer mountain areas tend to vote Republican, while the wealthier lowlanders usually vote Democratic.

Kentucky's economy was once agricultural, but manufacturing took over and continues to bring in the most money. Kentucky leads the United States in the production of coal and whiskey and ranks second in tobacco production. It is also one of the biggest producers of trucks and automobiles.

Kentucky is known for its fine thoroughbred racehorses, and it hosts the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May every year, a tradition since 1875. It is the most famous event in thoroughbred horseracing in the world.