Fun and Interesting Facts About Michigan

Nicknamed the “Great Lakes State,” but also known as the “ Wolverine State,” “Mittens State,” and “Water Winter Wonderland,” Michigan became the 26th state to join the United States of America on January 26, 1837.

Its population is 9,883,635 (as of 2019), making it the 10th most populous state.

Michigan borders the states of Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio.

With 96,716 square miles (250,493 square kilometers) of land and water, it is the 11th largest state.

Michigan's capital is Lansing, located in the southern part of the state.

So much for the quick facts about the Great Lakes state; we're here to learn some of the really interesting facts!

The name Michigan quite appropriately means “big water.”

The name Michigan, like many other names in the region, is a distortion of a word from a local Native American tribe.

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In this case, Michigan comes from the word mishigami, which also means “big lake.”

Mishigami is from the Ojibwe people, who spoke a variant of the vast Algonquian language family.

Michigan has been inhabited for over 13,000 years!

Like most of North America, Michigan was first inhabited by a group of people called Paleo-Indians.

These early people lived, thrived, and survived by feeding off the land, hunting animals, and gathering food whenever and wherever they could.

However, they did not originally live in North and South America; instead, they migrated from the far east of modern-day Russia to Alaska via the Bering Strait.

The only archaeological evidence we have of their existence is a few stone tools and arrowheads that date back to at least 11,000 BC!

The first Europeans to explore Michigan were the French.

The famous French explorer Étienne Brûlé first set foot in the region now known as Michigan in 1620.

Brûlé was very different from many explorers of his time in that, before embarking on his journey, he familiarized himself with the customs and language of one of the local Indian tribes, the Hurons.

His study of the language and culture allowed him to work as a translator and guide for another famous French explorer, Samuel de Champlain.

Brulé embarked on his journey to the Great Lakes region at Champlain's request, reaching the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

By 1760, there were only a few hundred white settlers in Michigan.

The French initially had little interest in the Michigan region, and so the first settlements were little more than forts and fur trading posts, with a few small villages scattered around.

One of the most notable early settlements was Fort Pontchartrain de Trois, founded in 1701, which later became Detroit, the largest city in the US state of Michigan.