Lower Michigan

Lower Peninsula of Michigan
Michigan
Nickname: The Mitten
Country	United States
State	Michigan
Length	277 mi (446 km), north to south
Width	195 mi (314 km), east to west
Area	40,162 sq mi (104,019 km2)
Population	9,584,261 (2015 est.)
Regions and major cities of the Lower Peninsula

The Lower Peninsula of Michigan is the southern of the two major landmasses of the U.S. state of Michigan, the other being the Upper Peninsula. It is surrounded by water on all sides except its southern border, which it shares with Indiana and Ohio. Although the Upper Peninsula is commonly referred to as "the U.P." it is fairly uncommon for the Lower Peninsula to be called "the L.P."

Because of its recognizable shape, the Lower Peninsula is nicknamed "the mitten", with the eastern region identified as "The Thumb". This has led to several folkloric creation myths for the area, one being that it is a hand print of Paul Bunyan, a giant lumberjack and popular European-American folk character in Michigan. When asked where they live, Lower Peninsula residents may hold up their right palm and point to a spot on it to indicate the location. The peninsula is sometimes divided into the Northern Lower Peninsula—which is more sparsely populated and largely forested—and the Southern Lower Peninsula—which is largely urban or farmland.

The Lower Peninsula dominates Michigan politics, and maps of it without the Upper Peninsula are sometimes presented as "Michigan", which contribute to resentment by "Yoopers" (residents of "the U.P"). Yoopers jokingly refer to residents of the Lower Peninsula as "flat-landers" (referring to the region's less rugged terrain) or "trolls" (because, living south of the Mackinac Bridge, they "live under the bridge").

The Lower Peninsula is bounded on the south by the states of Indiana and Ohio. It is bounded by the west by Lake Michigan and on the northeast by Lake Huron, which connect at the Straits of Mackinac. In the southeast, the waterway of the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, and Lake Erie separate it from the province of Ontario, Canada.