Kansas is a state in the central part of the United States, one of the states of the Midwest. The capital is Topeka. The largest city is Wichita. The state is also called “America’s breadbasket”: it leads among the states in the cultivation of wheat. The state flower is the sunflower, the state tree is the poplar. The motto is “Through thorns to the stars.” In the language of the Indians who inhabited Kansas, the name of the state means “people of the south wind.”
The origin of the name
The state of Kansas got its name from the Kansas River, a tributary of the Missouri, which flows through its territory. In turn, the Kansas River was named after the Kanza (or Kau) Indians who lived on the lands of the present state of Kansas.
The French, who were the first Europeans to map the lands in the Kansas River area, called it Cansez, the word came to English as Kansas. The probable meaning of the Native American word kakaze, from which the name of the state of Kansas is derived, is “people of the wind” or “people of the south wind.” The name of the river and the state of Arkansas comes from the same roots as the name of the river and the state of Kansas.
GEOGRAPHY
The state of Kansas is located in the Midwest of the United States and belongs to the northwestern central states of the United States. The territory of the state of Kansas is 213,096 km2 (fifteenth place among the US states).
Kansas is bordered by the states of Nebraska to the north, Missouri to the east, Oklahoma to the south, and Colorado to the west.
The state of Kansas is located “in the middle” of the country, it is equidistant from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is in Kansas that the geographic center of the continental United States is located (39°50’N, 98°35’W).
Kansas is located almost entirely on the Great Plains, the state has a very flat relief (according to some estimates, the flattest of all US states). The height of the terrain gradually rises from east to west, so smoothly that the highest point of the state, Mount Sunflower (“Sunflower Mountain”, 1231 meters above sea level), located on the border with Colorado, does not stand out in any way from the surrounding area.
CLIMATE
Three climatic zones are distinguished in Kansas: the northeastern part of the Sunflower State has a humid continental climate, the southern and southeastern districts have a humid subtropical climate, and western Kansas has a semi-arid climate. In the northeast of the state, summers are quite hot and with a lot of precipitation, while winters are cool and almost snowless. Average January temperatures in the region’s state capital, Topeka, range from -8°C to 3°C, while July averages from 20°C to 32°C. The southeast is even warmer, with temperatures ranging from -6°C to 6°C in Kansas’s largest city, Wichita, in the coldest month and between 21°C and 34°C in the hottest. In the west, precipitation is less and the weather is more changeable. In southwestern Dodge City (often referred to as “the windiest city in the United States”)
ECONOMY
Kansas’s main economic sectors are industry, agriculture, and mining. Kansas ranks eighth in the list of “oil” US states. Despite the fact that the cost of oil production is constantly growing due to the need to use more sophisticated technologies, the growth in prices for “black gold” will ensure high profitability of oil production. The state ranks fifth in the United States in terms of explored natural gas deposits and eighth in its production. In addition, the Kansas gas fields provide a significant portion of the world’s helium production. Rock salt, gypsum, sand, gravel and other minerals used in construction are also mined in the state.
TOURISM
Kansas is home to many historic sites, including the California and Oregon National Trails, the Santa Fe National Trail and others, Forts Larned and Scott, and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
Fort Larned
Fort Larned, active from 1859 to 1878, was established to protect the Sante Fe trail from hostile Indians. In connection with the resettlement of Indian tribes on the reservations and the completion of the construction of the railroad across Kansas, the trail lost its significance, and the fort ceased to exist. Today, the fort with 9 historical buildings located on its territory is one of the best preserved examples of this kind of buildings dating back to the period of the Indian Wars – most of the buildings, including the barracks and the dining room, are presented in their original form.
Fort Scott
Fort Scott, named after the commander of the battles during the Mexican-American War, General Winfield Scott, served as a military base in the mid-19th century. Over the next quarter century, the fort was used as a supply base and for security during the Kansas Civil War and the American Civil War.
The fort currently “protects” 20 historic structures, a parade ground, and five acres of restored tall grass prairie.
tallgrass prairie
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, located in the Flint Hills region north of Strong City, protects the tallgrass prairie ecosystem that once covered the entire North American continent. Currently, the prairies cover only about 4% of the US territory, and, in particular, are common in the Flint Hills region. In 2008, Tollgrass Prairie was recognized as one of the 8 wonders of Kansas, and in 2009, the Conservation Organization received a herd of bison as a gift from the Conservation Organization.
Wichita
In Wichita, Old Town is of interest with its restaurants, bars, shops and a couple of interesting museums, including the Old Cowtown Museum, the Museum of World Treasures, the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum and the Great Plains Transportation Railroad Museum museum. But most of all, Wichita attracts the zoo, the largest in Kansas and one of the largest in the United States – the zoo is home to more than 2,500 animals belonging to 500 different species.
Hutchinson
Hutchinson is home to the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, open to the public as a museum containing the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow, as well as the second largest collection in the world, second only to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington ( Colombia).
Dodge City
In Dodge City, it is worth visiting the Boot Hill Museum & Front Street, which is a reconstruction of the city in 1876.
The museum organizes themed performances – a re-enactment of a shootout in the spirit of the Wild West and a variety show, and visitors are invited to taste food cooked in wagons, historically used by American settlers to cook on the US prairies.
The second significant landmark of Dodge City is the Carnegie Art Gallery, located in the former building of the Carnegie Library.
