Kansas

State of Kansas
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The Sunflower State (official); The Wheat State; The Free State
Motto(s): Ad astra per aspera (Latin for To the stars through difficulties)
State song(s): "Home on the Range"
Official language	English
Demonym	Kansan
Capital	Topeka
Largest city	Wichita
Area	Ranked 15th
• Total	82,278 sq mi (213,100 km2)
• Width	410 miles (660 km)
• Length	213 miles (343 km)
• % water	0.6
• Latitude	37° N to 40° N
• Longitude	94° 35′ W to 102° 3′ W
Population	Ranked 34th
• Total	2,911,641 (2015 est)
• Density	35.1/sq mi  (13.5/km2) Ranked 40th
• Median household income	$54,865 (30th)
Elevation
• Highest point	Mount Sunflower 4,041 ft (1232 m)
• Mean	2,000 ft  (610 m)
• Lowest point	Verdigris River at Oklahoma border 679 ft (207 m)
Before statehood	Kansas Territory
Admission to Union	January 29, 1861 (34th)
Governor	Sam Brownback (R)
Lieutenant Governor	Jeff Colyer (R)
Legislature	Kansas Legislature
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
U.S. Senators	Pat Roberts (R) Jerry Moran (R)
U.S. House delegation	Roger Marshall (R) Lynn Jenkins (R) Kevin Yoder (R) Mike Pompeo (R) (list)
Time zones
• Majority of state	Central: UTC −6/−5
• 4 western counties (Hamilton, Greeley, Wallace, and Sherman)	Mountain: UTC −7/−6
ISO 3166	US-KS
Abbreviations	KS, Kan.
Website	www.kansas.gov

Kansas state symbols
The Flag of Kansas
The Seal of Kansas
Living insignia
Amphibian	Barred tiger salamander
Bird	Western meadowlark
Flower	Wild sunflower
Grass	Little bluestem
Insect	Western honey bee
Mammal	American bison
Reptile	Ornate box turtle
Tree	Plains cottonwood
Inanimate insignia
Motto	Ad astra per aspera (Latin for To the stars through difficulties)
Soil	Harney silt loam (unofficial)
Song	"Home on the Range"
State route marker
State quarter
Released in 2005
Lists of United States state symbols

Kansas ⁱ/ˈkænzəs/ is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind", although this was probably not the term's original meaning. For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison.

Kansas was first settled by European Americans in 1812, in what is the now Bonner Springs, Kansas, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When it was officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed, and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland.