Facts about Iowa
The Mississippi River separates Iowa from Illinois and Wisconsin to form the eastern boundary of the state.
Iowa supported the Union during the Civil War, voting heavily for Abraham Lincoln, though there was a strong antiwar movement among settlers of southern origin and among Catholics.
Gambling casinos are now one of Iowa's principal sources of revenue, contributing over $1 billion to the state's economy in the form of gaming taxes, purchases from Iowa vendors, salaries, and charitable donations.
Among the Nobel Prize winners born in Iowa are Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize; Alan J. Heeger, Nobel Prize in Chemistry; and Stanley B. Prusiner, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Iowa is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States of America.
Iowa recognizes two political parties - the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.
The five largest ancestry groups in Iowa are: German (35.7 percent), Irish (13.5 percent), English (9.5 percent), American (6.6 percent), and Norwegian (5.7 percent).
Iowans are generally conservative and very much in a middle position geographically, economically, and politically, however they are also known to be independently-minded.
Iowa is the headquarters for seven of the top 1,000 companies for revenue.
Iowa has the highest average radon concentrations in the nation due to significant glaciation that ground the granitic rocks from the Canadian Shield and deposited it as soils making up the rich Iowa farmland.
The point of lowest elevation is Keokuk in southeastern Iowa, at 480 feet (146 m).
Of Iowa's population, 6.1 percent were reported as under the age of five, 22.6 percent under 18, and 14.7 percent were 65 or older.
The pouf became Marie Antoinette's signature style, and the trend spread rapidly among the French nobility of the time.
After most Sauk and Mesquaki had been removed from the state, some Mesquaki tribal members, along with a few Sauk, returned to hunt and fish in eastern Iowa.
Iowa has three state universities—the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa—and many private colleges and universities and community colleges.
Many cities within the state, such as Iowa City, have passed requirements for radon-resistant construction in all new homes.
The highest elevation, at 1,670 feet (509 m), is Hawkeye Point, located in northwestern Iowa.
Iowa has been the birthplace of one president, Herbert Hoover, and one vice-president, Henry A. Wallace.
Iowa had begun losing its deep topsoil to wind and water erosion but has initiated a program that encourages farmers to restore their land.
Along with the New Hampshire primary the following week, Iowa's caucuses have become the starting points for choosing the two major-party candidates for president.
Iowa is bounded by Minnesota on the north, Wisconsin and Illinois on the east, Missouri on its south and Nebraska and South Dakota to its west.
Northwest Iowa is home to some of the largest concentrations of wind turbine farms in the world.
By 1900, Des Moines was Iowa's largest city with a population of 62,139.
When the first Native Americans arrived in what is now Iowa more than 13,000 years ago, they were hunters and gatherers living in a Pleistocene glacial landscape.
More than 3,000 years ago, during the Late Archaic period, Indians in Iowa began utilizing domesticated plants.
Iowa was mostly a prairie before settlers arrived, and lacked heavy forestation.
The Iowa summers are known for heat and humidity, with daytime temperatures often near 90 °F (32 °C) and sometimes exceeding 100 °F (38 °C).
Olympic gymnastics gold medal winner Shawn Johnson was born in Iowa.
Beginning with the first farm-related industries developed in the 1870s, Iowa has experienced a gradual increase in the number of business and manufacturing operations.
Iowa's main agricultural outputs are hogs, corn, soybeans, oats, cattle, eggs, and dairy products.
The first people to travel through Iowa were most likely the Paleo-Indians.
The Iowa governor is elected to a four-year term and can serve an unlimited number of terms.
Iowa, like most of the Midwest, has a humid continental climate throughout the state, with extremes of both heat and cold.
The state is named for the Ioway people, a Siouan tribe of Native Americans that formerly lived there.
In 1829, the federal government informed the Sauk and Mesquaki tribes that they must leave their villages in western Illinois and move across the Mississippi River into the Iowa region.
Following the Civil War, Iowa's population continued to grow dramatically, from 674,913 people in 1860 to 1,194,020 by 1870.
Iowa's natural vegetation is the tall grass prairie and savanna, while the topography of the state is gently rolling plains left by retreating glaciers.
In 1857, the name Fort Des Moines was shortened to Des Moines alone and the state capital was moved from Iowa City.
In 1917, the United States entered World War I and farmers as well as all Iowans experienced a wartime economy.
Approximately seventeen different Indian tribes had resided here at various times, including the Ioway, Sauk, Mesquaki (called Fox in many sources), Sioux, Potawatomi, Oto, and Missouri.
In central Iowa, melting glaciers left thick layers of rocky material called drift, which settled to create hollows that filled with water and eventually became swamps and lakes.
Iowa has 365 school districts, and has the twelfth best student-to-teacher ratio, with 13.8 students per teacher.
By the time European explorers visited Iowa, Native Americans were largely settled farmers with complex economic, social, and political systems.
Today, Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeastern Iowa has the largest assemblage of animal-shaped prehistoric mounds in the world.
From the beginning of the war in 1914, Iowa farmers experienced economic prosperity.
Iowa, in common with other Midwestern states (especially Kansas, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota), is feeling the brunt of rural flight, although Iowa has been gaining population since approximately 1990.
The national and international media give Iowa (and New Hampshire) much of the attention accorded the national candidate selection process, which gives Iowa voters enormous leverage.
Beginning with the first farm-related industries developed in the 1870s, Iowa has experienced a gradual increase in the number of business and manufacturing operations.
Iowa is known for having some of the world's most fertile soil. ... Iowa is usually first or second in the country in the production of corn, oats, soybeans, cattle, milk, and calves. The state harvests so much corn that it has been called the "Corn State" and "the land where tall corn grows."
Ioway is the French transcription of Ayuway, which is what the Illini and Meskwaki called the tribe. The roots of this word only get more twisted. Ayuway is actually an alteration of what the Dakota called the tribe: Ayuxba (AH-you-khbah), which is believed to mean "sleepy ones." Ayuxba to Iowa: the "sleepy ones."Feb 22, 2012
The flag of the state of Iowa is a vertical tricolor of blue, white, and red, reflecting the U.S. state of Iowa's history as part of the French Louisiana Territory. (Because of the wider middle stripe and symmetric design, the design is sometimes classified as a "Canadian pale".)
Iowa's Most Popular Crop. About 90 percent of Iowa's land is dedicated to farming. In addition to producing soybeans and raising livestock, the state grows corn in great quantities.
Iowa leads the states in the production of corn and ranks among the leaders in production of soybeans. Other major field crops include oats and hay, red clover, flaxseed, rye and wheat. The primary fruits produced in Iowa are apples.
Here are the five leading industries in Iowa that are driving the Hawkeye State's expanding economy:Agriculture and Food Production. ... Renewable Energy. ... Advanced Manufacturing. ... Services. ... Information and Communications Technology.
Iowa is also second in total agricultural exports, with farmers exporting more than $10 billion worth of ag products in 2013. Leading agricultural commodities in the Hawkeye State, which are produced on more than 30 million acres of farmland, include corn, soybeans, hogs and eggs.
Iowa summers are known for heat and humidity, with daytime temperatures sometimes near 90 °F (32 °C) and occasionally exceeding 100 °F (38 °C). Average winters in the state have been known to drop well below freezing, even dropping below −18 °F (−28 °C).
Although severe temperature drops occur, the state isn't always frigid -- the average temperature ranges from 7.2 degrees Celsius (45 Fahrenheit) in the extreme north to 11.1 degrees Celsius (52 Fahrenheit) in the southeastern corner. Temperatures can also reach 30.6 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheit) in the southwest.Apr 25, 2017
Totals and averagesAnnual high temperature:60.3°FAnnual low temperature:41.4°FAverage temperature:50.85°FAverage annual precipitation - rainfall:35.67 inchDays per year with precipitation - rainfall:108 days2 more rows