Indiana

The Angel Mounds archaeological site on the Ohio River near Evansville holds remains of some of Indiana’s earliest known inhabitants. In the early 17th century Algonquian-speaking peoples formed the Miami Confederation to resist the Iroquois; its most powerful members were the Miami (including the Wea and Piankashaw bands) and the Potawatomi. Later in the century the DelawareDelawareDelaware is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic region on the East Coast, with its capital at Dover and Wilmington as its largest city. On December 7, 1787, it became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, entering the Union as the 1st state, and it had a population of 989,948 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry (Lenni Lenape) moved into the White River region from the OhioOhioOhio is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital is Columbus. It joined the Union in 1803 as the 17th state, the first carved from the Northwest Territory, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 11,799,448.Open the full entry country.⁠[1][2][3]

In 1679 the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, traveled down the St. Joseph River into northern Indiana and claimed the region for France. The French built Fort-Miami near present-day Fort Wayne in 1704 and Fort-Ouiatanon near present-day Lafayette in 1719, and about 1732 François de Vincennes built a fort at Vincennes, the first permanent non-Indian settlement in Indiana and one of the first permanent white settlements west of the Appalachians.⁠[1][3][2]

After the French and Indian War the area was ceded to Britain in 1763, and Britain forbade further white settlement; in 1774 Parliament annexed the lands to Quebec.⁠[1][2]

In February 1779 George Rogers Clark marched from Kaskaskia to Vincennes and forced the surrender of Fort Sackville, securing the area for the rebelling colonies.⁠[1][2]

The Treaty of Paris of September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolution, and Britain ceded the region to the United States; the first American settlement was established at Clarksville in 1784. The Northwest Ordinance of July 13, 1787, established the Northwest Territory and its system of government; it prohibited slavery in the region but did not abolish slavery already in existence.⁠[4][1]

The Miami chief Little Turtle united many tribes in resistance; they were defeated near Fallen Timbers in 1794 by General Anthony Wayne.⁠[2][1]

On May 7, 1800, Congress divided the Northwest Territory and created Indiana Territory, and on May 13 William Henry Harrison was appointed its governor. The Northwest Territory had at least 175 slaves in 1800. The first college was founded at Vincennes in 1801.⁠[4][1]

On December 5, 1804, Harrison proclaimed the territory’s advance to the second stage of government, allowing a general assembly. Congress created Michigan Territory from Indiana Territory on January 11, 1805, and Illinois Territory on February 3, 1809.⁠[4]

The Shawnee leaders Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa (the Prophet) led opposition to white settlement. In 1811 U.S. forces under General William Henry Harrison won the Battle of Tippecanoe near Lafayette, a final victory over Native forces. On October 5, 1813, Harrison defeated the British at the Battle of the Thames in Ontario, Canada, where Tecumseh was killed.⁠[2][3][4]

On December 11, 1811, the territorial General Assembly petitioned for statehood by a 4–3 vote, but the petition was denied, and Congress indicated that statehood could come at a population of 35,000. The State Capital Act of March 11, 1813, moved the territorial capital from Vincennes to Corydon.⁠[4]

In 1815 George Rapp founded the religious settlement of Harmony, later New Harmony, which Robert Owen took over in 1825.⁠[2][1]

The territorial General Assembly again petitioned Congress for statehood on December 11, 1815; on December 28 territorial delegate Jonathan Jennings presented the memorial and became chairman of the committee to which it was referred, which presented a bill on January 5, 1816. President James Madison signed the Enabling Act on April 19, 1816.⁠[4]

Delegates to the constitutional convention were elected on May 13, 1816. On June 10, 43 delegates met at Corydon, elected Jennings president and voted to form a constitution and state government immediately; they adopted the constitution and adjourned on June 29.⁠[4][5]

The 1816 constitution borrowed heavily from those of Ohio and KentuckyKentuckyKentucky is a U.S. state bordered by Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to the north, West Virginia and Virginia to the east, Tennessee to the south and Missouri to the west; its capital is Frankfort and its largest city is Louisville. It entered the Union on June 1, 1792, as the 15th state and the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains, and had a population of 4,505,836 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, carried forward the Northwest Ordinance’s protections of religious freedom, jury trial and freedom of contract, and declared that “no alteration of the constitution shall ever take place so as to introduce slavery or involuntary servitude in this State.” It allowed a simple legislative majority to override a governor’s veto, required a referendum every twelve years on calling a new convention, and made Corydon in Harrison County the seat of government; it was also the first constitution in the country to provide for state-funded schools.⁠[5][6][2]

The first state and county elections were held on August 5, 1816, and Jonathan Jennings was elected the first governor, taking office on November 7; the first General Assembly under the 1816 constitution met on November 4. On December 11 President James Madison approved Indiana’s admission to the Union.⁠[4]

In the fall of 1816 Thomas and Nancy Lincoln left Kentucky with their children Sarah, 9, and Abraham, 7, arriving in December at a 160-acre claim near Little Pigeon Creek in southern Indiana. Nancy Hanks Lincoln died of milk sickness in October 1818, and in 1819 Thomas married the widow Sarah Bush Johnston. In 1830 Thomas sold the property and moved the family to IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is a state of the United States that borders Lake Michigan and the states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa; its capital is Springfield and its largest city is Chicago. It was admitted to the Union on December 3, 1818, as the 21st state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 12,812,508.Open the full entry. Abraham LincolnAbraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States (1861–1865). Born to a frontier farming family in Kentucky, he had less than a year of formal schooling, taught himself law, and served in the Illinois legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives before winning the presidency as the Republican candidate in 1860. During the Civil War he preserved the Union, issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and pushed the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery through Congress. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington on April 14, 1865, and died the next day.Open the full entry lived in Indiana for 14 years, from age 7 to 21.⁠[7]

Slavery was the most divisive issue facing the early General Assembly. In 1816 the legislature outlawed “man-stealing” and allowed indentured servitude only if a claimant proved the case in court, treating it otherwise as illegal slavery; this compromise allowed some forms of slavery to persist in Indiana into the 1830s.⁠[8]

From October 2 to 6, 1818, treaty commissioners Jonathan Jennings, Lewis Cass and Benjamin Parke met Delaware and Miami leaders at St. Mary’s, Ohio; the resulting treaties brought the middle third of the state, the “New Purchase,” under U.S. ownership, allowing the General Assembly to plan a new capital there.⁠[6]

Corydon’s First Statehouse was used from 1816 to 1825. The 9th General Assembly (January 10 to February 12, 1825) was the first to meet in the new capital of Indianapolis, which has been the capital since 1825.⁠[8][2]

Indiana’s first railroad, an experimental line at Shelbyville, was built in 1834; the first steam-powered train from Madison reached Indianapolis in 1847, and by 1860 the state had 2,100 miles (3,400 kilometres) of railroad. The population in 1840 was 685,866.⁠[2]

In August 1838 some 800 Potawatomi were gathered on the north bank of Twin Lakes in present-day Marshall County and forced to begin a long march to new homes in the West; many perished on the way, on what is known as the Trail of Death.⁠[9]

A constitutional convention of 150 delegates assembled in Indianapolis on October 7, 1850, met for 127 days and adjourned on February 10, 1851; its president was George W. Carr of Lawrence County. Voters adopted the new constitution by 82,564 to 26,755 on August 4, 1851, and it took effect on November 1, 1851; it remains in force.⁠[4][5]

Its bill of rights has thirty-seven sections and opens “WE DECLARE That all men are created equal,” and it directs the state to provide “a general and uniform system of Common Schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge”; new provisions included term limits, popular election of state officers, limits on state debt and uniform taxation. Article XIII barred Black people from entering the state until it was struck down in 1866. In 1852 the legislature laid the foundation of the modern school system and created a state board of education.⁠[5][1][2]

In 1852 the Studebaker brothers opened a wagon shop in South Bend.⁠[2]

During the Civil War, Confederate cavalrymen crossed the Ohio River into Harrison County, Indiana, in 1863.⁠[2]

A huge oil refinery was established at Whiting in 1889, and the steelmaking city of Gary was founded in 1906. For much of the 20th century steelmaking centered in Gary was economically important to the state.⁠[2][3]

The first Indianapolis 500 auto race was held in 1911.⁠[2]

The Indiana Toll Road was completed in 1956. In 1970 Burns Harbor, the state’s first public deepwater port, opened, and annual legislative sessions were approved.⁠[2][1]

In 1987 Indianapolis became the second U.S. city to host the Pan American Games.⁠[2]

On April 26, 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2020 census apportionment results. Indiana was apportioned 9 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, the same as after the 2010 census, with an average of 754,476 people per seat, giving it 11 electoral votes in the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.⁠[10][11][12]

State government mirrors the federal model, with executive, legislative and judicial branches. The governor serves a four-year term and may serve no more than eight years in any twenty-one. The General Assembly has 50 senators serving four-year terms and 100 representatives serving two-year terms; it meets for a 61-day session in odd-numbered years and for 30 session days in even-numbered years. The judiciary comprises the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals and local circuit courts; the Supreme Court has five justices, who serve ten-year terms and face a retention election after two years on the bench.⁠[13][14]

As of November 2026 the governor is Mike Braun, who was sworn in on January 13, 2025, at the gubernatorial inauguration at Hilbert Circle Theater as Indiana’s 52nd governor, succeeding Eric Holcomb, who had held the office for eight years; Braun previously served as a state representative from 2014 to 2017 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018.⁠[15][16]

Indiana borders MichiganMichiganMichigan is a state of the United States nearly surrounded by the Great Lakes and made up of the Upper and Lower peninsulas; its capital is Lansing and its largest city is Detroit. It was admitted to the Union on January 26, 1837, as the 26th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 10,077,331.Open the full entry to the north, Ohio to the east, Kentucky to the south and Illinois to the west; the Wabash River forms the southwestern boundary and the Ohio River the southern boundary, and the state has 45 miles (72 kilometres) of Lake Michigan shoreline in the northwest.⁠[3][2]

In the Census Bureau’s state area measurements (boundaries as of January 1, 2010), Indiana has a total area of 36,420 square miles (94,326 square kilometres), of which 35,826 square miles (92,789 square kilometres) is land and 593 square miles (1,537 square kilometres) is water, comprising 361 square miles (935 square kilometres) of inland water and 233 square miles (602 square kilometres) of Great Lakes water.⁠[17]

The highest point, 1,257 feet (383 metres), is near Fountain City in Wayne County, and the lowest, 320 feet (98 metres), is along the Ohio River in Posey County; the average elevation is about 700 feet (213 metres). The state is 265 miles (426 kilometres) long and 160 miles (257 kilometres) wide at its greatest extent. The Wabash River flows freely for 411 miles, the longest such stretch of river east of the MississippiMississippiMississippi is a state of the United States on the Gulf of Mexico; Jackson is both its capital and its largest city. It was admitted to the Union on December 10, 1817, as the 20th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 2,961,279.Open the full entry.⁠[2][18]

Indiana has four distinct seasons, with average annual rainfall of 40 inches, average summer temperatures of 70 to 80 °F and average winter temperatures of 25 to 35 °F.⁠[13]

The 2010 census (April 1, 2010) counted 6,483,802 people in Indiana. The Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimate put the population at 6,973,333 on July 1, 2025, up 2.8% from the April 1, 2020, estimates base of 6,786,605; population density in 2020 was 189.4 people per square mile.⁠[19]

In American Community Survey data for 2020–2024, Indiana had 2,716,009 households; 6.3% of residents were foreign-born, 29.5% of people aged 25 and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher, and median household income was $71,957 (in 2024 dollars).⁠[19]

Indiana is historically part of the North, but parts of the state have a Southern character owing to early settlement by migrants from the South. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi is the one federally recognized tribe in the state.⁠[20][2]

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data put Indiana’s nominal gross domestic product (all industry total) at $542,457.6 million in 2025, up from $520,817.5 million in 2024 and $492,828.3 million in 2023; manufacturing accounted for $129,367.3 million in 2025 and $126,256.2 million in 2024.⁠[21][22]

Services form the largest sector by income and employment. In the early 21st century manufacturing accounted for about one-fourth of gross state product, led by chemicals, transportation equipment (chiefly motor vehicles) and primary metals, especially steel. Corn is the most valuable crop, followed by soybeans, and the state is a leading dairy producer; minerals include coal (mostly in the southwest), limestone and some petroleum. Lake Michigan, the Ohio River and the lower Wabash and White rivers carry shipping.⁠[2]

State-supported institutions of higher education include Indiana University in Bloomington (chartered 1820), Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana State University in Terre Haute, the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Vincennes University and the statewide Ivy Tech Community College. Private institutions include the University of Notre Dame near South Bend (founded 1842), Butler University in Indianapolis, the University of Evansville, Valparaiso University, Goshen College, DePauw University in Greencastle, Wabash College in Crawfordsville and Earlham College in Richmond, and there are private military academies at Howe and Culver.⁠[2][13][1]

Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosts the Indianapolis 500 in May and the Brickyard 400 in August, and the state’s professional teams include the Indiana PacersIndiana PacersThe Indiana Pacers are an NBA basketball team playing at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The club began in the ABA in 1967 and joined the NBA in 1976.Open the full entry (basketball) and the Indianapolis ColtsIndianapolis ColtsThe Indianapolis Colts are an NFL professional American football team established in Baltimore in 1953 and relocated to Indianapolis in 1984. Winners of the 1958, 1959 and 1968 NFL championships and Super Bowls V and XLI, they play at Lucas Oil Stadium and are owned by the Irsay family.Open the full entry (football).⁠[13]

Indiana’s nickname, the Hoosier State, is one of the oldest state nicknames; its origin is unclear, but it came into use in the 1830s after John Finley wrote the poem “The Hoosier’s Nest.” The state motto, “The Crossroads of America,” was declared in 1937 and reflects the state’s waterways, railroads and highways.⁠[18][13]

The state seal has been in use since territorial days, with records as early as 1801, and its current design was officially approved by the General Assembly in 1963; it shows the sun rising over a hill, two sycamore trees, a woodsman with an ax and a buffalo leaping over a log.⁠[18]

The state flag was adopted by the General Assembly in 1917 for Indiana’s centennial; it was designed by Paul Hadley of Mooresville, winner of a contest held by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Under Indiana Code chapter 1-2-2 the field is blue with nineteen stars and a flaming torch in gold or buff: an outer circle of thirteen stars represents the original states, a half circle of five stars below the torch the next five states, and the larger nineteenth star above the torch, with “Indiana” arched over it, represents Indiana.⁠[23][18]

The state song, “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away” by Paul Dresser, was chosen in 1913; the state tree (tulip tree, or yellow poplar) in 1931, the state bird (cardinal) in 1933, the state flower (peony) in 1957, the state river (the Wabash) in 1996 and the state insect (Say’s Firefly) in 2018.⁠[18]

State of Indiana: Official website: https://www.in.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[24]

Governor Mike Braun: Official website: https://www.in.gov/gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[25]

Indiana General Assembly: Official website: https://iga.in.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[26]

Indiana Historical Bureau: Official website: https://www.in.gov/history/ (opens in a new window).⁠[27]