State of Kansas
| State of Kansas | |||||
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Nickname(s): The Sunflower State (official); The Wheat State; The Free State |
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| Motto(s): Ad astra per aspera (Latin for To the stars through difficulties) | |||||
| State song(s): "Home on the Range" | |||||
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| Official language | English | ||||
| Demonym | Kansan | ||||
| Capital | Topeka | ||||
| Largest city | Wichita | ||||
| Area | Ranked 15th | ||||
| • Total | 82,278 sq mi (213,100 km2) |
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| • 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 |
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| • Median household income | $54,865 (30th) | ||||
| Elevation | |||||
| • Highest point |
Mount Sunflower 4,041 ft (1232 m) |
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| • Mean | 2,000 ft (610 m) | ||||
| • Lowest point |
Verdigris River at Oklahoma border 679 ft (207 m) |
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| 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) |
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| U.S. House delegation |
Roger Marshall (R) Lynn Jenkins (R) Kevin Yoder (R) Vacant (list) |
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| 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 |
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| Kansas state symbols | |
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The Flag of Kansas
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The Seal of Kansas
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| 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" |
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| State quarter | |
Released in 2005
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| 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.
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