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Michigan gets its name from a Chippewa Indian word, "meicigama", which means "great water", based on the Great Lakes. The area was reached by French explorer Étienne Brulé, who reached the Sault Ste. Marie narrows in 1618. At this time, the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi native peoples were living in what is now Michigan. Over time, many other explorers and missionaries arrived, including Father Jacques Marquette, who established the state’s first permanent settlement at Sault Ste. Marie, and Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, sent by King Louis XIV to establish a permanent settlement, Fort Pontchartrain, in 1701, which would later become Detroit. France occupied the region until the French and Indian Wars (1754 to 1763) brought British rule to the area.
Because many of the Native Americans of the region had lived peacefully alongside the French, they revolted against the British under Pontiac. Eventually, however, the Treaty of Paris yielded these lands to the United States in 1783, ending the American Revolution.
After the Erie Canal opened in 1825, many people settled in Michigan Territory. By 1837, Michigan became the 26th state of the United States. Detroit was Michigan’s capital until 1847, when Lansing became the new capital.
Shortly after its statehood status, Michigan witnessed the great Copper Rush, which generated over $9 billion. Much of the ore was eventually depleted, however. Michigan would be forever altered by Henry Ford’s establishment of the assembly line for automobiles, which ushered in a new age in the Great Lakes State, which endures to this day, although the automobile industry experiences fluctuating demand and competition from abroad.
Michigan has been home to many famous individuals, including singers Madonna, Stevie Wonder, and Diana Ross, comedienne Gilda Radner, comedian Dick Martin, actress Lily Tomlin, director Francis Ford Coppola, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh, and inventor William R. Hewlitt.
While Michigan’s past has seen economic shifts based on its natural and industrial resources, the Great Lakes State’s future in biotechnology and life sciences research appears strong.
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