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The Illinois Portal  Illinois (/ˌɪlɪˈnɔɪ/ ⓘIL-ih-NOY) is astate in theMidwestern region of theUnited States. It bordersLake Michigan to its northeast, theMississippi River to its west, and theWabash andOhio rivers to its south. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has thefifth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), thesixth-largest population, and the25th-most land area. Its capital city isSpringfield in the center of the state, and the state's largest city isChicago in the northeast. Present-day Illinois was inhabited byIndigenous cultures for thousands of years. The French were the first Europeans to arrive, settling near the Mississippi andIllinois rivers in the 17th centuryIllinois Country, as part of their sprawling colony ofNew France. A century later, the revolutionary warIllinois campaign prefigured American involvement in the region. FollowingU.S. independence in 1783, which made the Mississippi River the national boundary, American settlers began arriving fromKentucky via the Ohio River. Illinois was soon part of the United States' oldest territory, theNorthwest Territory, and in 1818 it achievedstatehood. TheErie Canal brought increased commercial activity in the Great Lakes, and the invention of the self-scouringsteel plow by IllinoisanJohn Deere turned the state's richprairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmland, attractingimmigrant farmers fromGermany,Sweden and elsewhere. In the mid-19th century, theIllinois and Michigan Canal and a sprawling railroad network facilitated trade, commerce, and settlement, making the state a transportation hub for the nation, especially in the city ofChicago, which became the world's fastest growing city by the late 19th century. By 1900, the growth of industrial jobs in the northern cities andcoal mining in the central and southern areas attracted immigrants fromEastern andSouthern Europe. Illinois became one of America's most industrialized states and remains a major manufacturing center. TheGreat Migration from the South established a large Black community, particularly inChicago, which became a leading cultural, economic, and population center; itsmetropolitan area, informally referred to asChicagoland, holds about 65% of the state's 12.8 million residents. TwoWorld Heritage Sites are in Illinois, the ancientCahokia Mounds, and part of theWright architecture site. A wide variety ofprotected areas seek to conserve Illinois' natural and cultural resources. Major centers of learning include theUniversity of Chicago,University of Illinois, andNorthwestern University. ThreeU.S. presidents have been elected while residents of Illinois:Abraham Lincoln,Ulysses S. Grant, andBarack Obama; additionally,Ronald Reagan was born and raised in the state, though he served forCalifornia. Illinois honors Lincoln with its official state sloganLand of Lincoln. The state is the site of theAbraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield and the future home of theBarack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Selected article TheMormon Trail is the 1,300 mile (2,092 km) route that members ofThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled from 1846 to 1868. Today the Mormon Trail is a part of the United StatesNational Trails System, as the Mormon PioneerNational Historic Trail. The Mormon Trail extends fromNauvoo, Illinois, which was the principal settlement of the Latter Day Saints from 1839 to 1846, toSalt Lake City, Utah, which was settled byBrigham Young and his followers beginning in 1847. FromCouncil Bluffs, Iowa, toFort Bridger in Wyoming, the trail follows much the same route as theOregon Trail and theCalifornia Trail. TheMormon pioneer run began in 1846 when, Young and his followers were driven from Nauvoo, leaving to establish a new home for the church in theGreat Basin. During the first few years, the emigrants were mostly former occupants of Nauvoo who were following Young to Utah. Later, the emigrants increasingly comprised converts from the British Isles and Europe. The trail was used for more than 20 years, until the completion of theFirst Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. (Read more...) Selected biographyJoseph W. Tkach was the appointed successor ofHerbert W. Armstrong, founder of theWorldwide Church of God. Tkach became President and Pastor General of the church upon the death of Armstrong in 1986. Tkach spearheaded a major doctrinal transformation of the Worldwide Church of God, abandoning Armstrong's unconventional doctrines and bringing the church into accord with mainstreamevangelicalChristianity. His son,Joseph Tkach Jr., continued his work and in 1997 the Worldwide Church of God became a member of theNational Association of Evangelicals. During Tkach's tenure, the changes that he implemented stirred much controversy and significant dissent among those who continued to followArmstrong's theology. The dissenters labelled the changes as heresy and many left to form new church organizations. Within the mainstream Christian community, some have hailed Tkach's reforms, which brought a church from the fringe to orthodoxy, as unprecedented in the history of the Christian church. (Read more...) Did you know...
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