Southeast Kansas is aregion of theU.S.state ofKansas. It can be roughly defined byWoodson County in the northwest,Bourbon County in the northeast,Cherokee County in the southeast, andMontgomery County in the southwest. Geographically it is dominated by a broad rolling landscape located between theFlint Hills to the west and includesthe Ozarks to the southeast. Some notabletowns there includePittsburg,Parsons,Coffeyville,Independence,Chanute,Fort Scott, andIola.
The region has a land area of 13,624.13 km² (5,260.30 sq mi) and a 2000 census population of 180,815 inhabitants. It has 6.43% of the state's land area and 6.73% of its population. It is dominated by a broad rolling landscape that includes theOzarks. It receives moreprecipitation than any other part of Kansas. Southeast Kansas is located in thetallgrass prairie ecosystem ofNorth America.
Originally inhabited by severalNative Americantribes,frontier towns largely dependent oncattleranching, andmining, were wracked by violence over the issue ofslavery both before and during theAmerican Civil War (seeBleeding Kansas). While the area was part of theTri-State lead and zinc mining district of southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma,[1] the most prevalent mining in Southeast Kansas was coal mining. This is attributed to the amount of coal found and also the quality and thickness of coal in Southeast Kansas.[2] Southeast Kansas offers one of the premier reconstructions of early life in theUnited States Army atFort Scott National Historic Site.
The following nine counties are included in all definitions of Southeast Kansas:
Southeast Kansas with the addition ofAnderson,Chautauqua,Coffey,Elk, andLinn counties is promoted as theLittle Ozarks. WhenKOAM-TV refers to this area,Greenwood is included. The Southeast Kansas Library System also includes Greenwood County in the Southeast Kansas region. When Southeast Kansas, Inc. refers to this area,Miami County is included, with the exclusion of Elk, Chautauqua, and Greenwood counties.
