Illinois, midwestern state in the N central United States. It is bordered
                     by Lake Michigan and Indiana (E); Kentucky, across the Ohio R. (SE);
                     Missouri and Iowa, across the Mississippi R. (W); and Wisconsin (N).

 1673—Louis Jolliet and Father Marquette arrive in Illinois
 1699—Cahokia is founded, the oldest town in Illinois
 1717—Illinois becomes part of French Louisiana
 1763—England receives Illinois at the end of the French and Indian War
 1778—George Rogers Clark captures Kaskaskia from the British
 1787—Illinois becomes part of the Indiana Territory
 1804—Lewis and Clark expedition starts near Wood River
1809—Illinois Territory is created
 1818—Illinois becomes the 21st state
 1848—The Illinois & Michigan Canal completed
 1863—Emancipation Proclamation
 1871—Fire consumes much of Chicago
  1893—Chicago World’s Fair
 1900—Completion of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal
 1959—The St. Lawrence Seaway opens
  1992—Carol Moseley Braun becomes the first black woman in the Senate
  1998—The Chicago bulls win their sixth NBA championship
 

                     The governor of Illinois is elected for a term of four years. Jim Edgar, a
                     Republican elected governor in 1990 and 1994, was succeeded by
                     another Republican, George H. Ryan, elected in 1998. The state
                     legislature, called the general assembly, consists of a senate with 59
                     members and a house of representatives with 118 members. Illinois
                     elects 20 representatives and 2 senators to the U.S. Congress and has
                     22 electoral votes.

                     Institutions of higher learning in Illinois include the Univ. of Illinois, at
                     Urbana-Champaign and Chicago; DePaul Univ., the Univ. of Chicago,
                     and the Illinois Institute of Technology, at Chicago; Northwestern
                     Univ., at Evanston; Illinois State Univ., at Normal; and Southern Illinois
                     Univ., at Carbondale and Edwardsville.

                     Industrial development came with the opening of an agricultural
                     implements factory by Cyrus H. McCormick at Chicago in 1847 and the
                     building of the railroads in the 1850s. During this period the career of
                     Abraham Lincoln began. In the state legislature, Lincoln and his
                     colleagues from Sangamon co. had worked hard and successfully to
                     bring the capital to Springfield in 1839. As Illinois moved toward a wider
                     role in the country's affairs, Lincoln and another Illinois lawyer, Stephen
                     A. Douglas, won national attention with their debates on the slavery
                     issue in the senatorial race of 1858. In 1861, Lincoln became president
                     and fought to preserve the Union in the face of the South's secession.
                     During the Civil War, Illinois supported the Union, but there was much
                     proslavery sentiment in the southern part of the state.

                     By the 1860s industry was well established, and many immigrants from
                     Europe had already settled in the state, foreshadowing the influx still to
                     come. Immediately after the Civil War, industry expanded to
                     tremendous proportions, and the Illinois legislature, by setting aside
                     acreage for stockyards, prepared the way for the development of the
                     meatpacking industry. Economic development had outrun the
                     construction of facilities, and Chicago was a mass of flimsy wooden
                     structures when the fire of 1871 destroyed most of the city.

                     Rich land, adequate rainfall (32–36 in./81–91 cm annually), and a long
                     growing season make Illinois an important agricultural state. It
                     consistently ranks among the top states in the production of corn and
                     soybeans. Hogs and cattle are also principal sources of farm income.
                     Other major crops include hay, wheat, and sorghum. Beneath the fertile
                     topsoil lies mineral wealth, including fluorspar, bituminous coal, and oil;
                     Illinois ranks high among the states in the production of coal, and its
                     reserves are greater than any other state east of the Rocky Mts. Its
                     agricultural and mineral resources, along with its excellent lines of
                     communication and transportation, made Illinois industrial; by 1880
                     income from industry was almost double that from agriculture.

                     Leading Illinois manufactures include electrical and nonelectrical
                     machinery, food products, fabricated and primary metal products, and
                     chemicals; printed and published materials are also important.
                     Metropolitan Chicago, the country's leading rail center, is also a major
                     industrial, as well as a commercial and financial, center. Suburbs of
                     Chicago such as Schaumburg and Oak Brook have become important
                     business centers. Scattered across the northern half of the state are
                     cities with specialized industries—Elgin, Peoria, Rock Island, Moline, and
                     Rockford. Industrially important cities in central Illinois include
                     Springfield and Decatur.