Indiana

The Indiana Dunes are a National Park on the shores of Lake Michigan

Indiana is an American state. It can be found in the north of the country, south of Lake Michigan. Its name roughly means "land of the Indians". About 6.7 million people live in Indiana. About a third of them live in the area around the capital, Indianapolis. Also, many people live in the Northwest, which is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. Aside from a few medium-sized towns like Fort Wayne and Bloomington, the rest of the state consists of rural areas where there is a lot of agriculture.

After the Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1763, many British settlers settled in the country north of the Ohio River, which was still mainly populated by natives at that time. After American independence, Indiana initially belonged to the Northwest Territory, which roughly corresponds to the present-day states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota. It has been a separate state since 1800 and has it's present size since 1805.

Indiana ist mostly famous for the Indianapolis 500, one of the oldest and most traditional circuit car races in the world. It takes place every May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race even inspired the name of the local basketball team, the Indiana Pacers.

The majority of Indiana's residents are descended from white Europeans. Black and colored people make up only a small part of the population and live mainly in the urban areas. Indiana is traditionally one of the conservative states in which Republicans are usually elected. Former Indiana Governor Mike Pence served as Donald Trump's vice president from 2016 to 2020.