Iowa

Paleo-Indians probably occupied ice-free land in the region about 14,000 years ago, and the earliest archaeological evidence of settlement dates to about 8,500 years ago. Effigy mound builders lived in eastern Iowa from about 300 CE until the 17th century, and sedentary agriculture appeared in western Iowa about 800 CE. Most early Native Americans spoke Siouan languages, and Algonquian-speaking tribes became important in eastern Iowa after the 17th century.⁠[1]

In 1673 the French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette reached the area, probably the first Europeans to do so; the Sauk, Fox, Iowa and Sioux peoples lived there at the time.⁠[2][1]

Spanish land grants were occupied in the late 1700s, mainly for lead mining near Dubuque.⁠[1]

Iowa became part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. It was then part of the District of Louisiana under the governor and judges of Indiana Territory (1804–1805), the Territory of Louisiana (1805–1812) and the Territory of Missouri (1812–1821); from 1821 to 1834 it had no government and was described as a “political orphan”; from 1834 to 1836 it was part of Michigan Territory, divided into Dubuque and Demoine counties; and from 1836 to 1838 it belonged to Wisconsin Territory. During the War of 1812 a U.S. garrison was driven from Fort Madison on 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.⁠[3][2][1]

After the Black Hawk War the United States bought eastern Iowa from the Sauk and Fox in the 1830s, and Euro-American settlement expanded rapidly; permanent settlement began in the early 1830s. The tribes ceded their lands mostly in the 1830s and 1840s, the last purchase being of Sioux lands in northern Iowa in 1851.⁠[2][1]

President Martin Van Buren approved the Territory of Iowa on June 12, 1838, and the Organic Act took effect on July 4, 1838; Robert Lucas was appointed the first territorial governor that July. The territorial legislature consisted of a 13-member Council and a 26-member House and could meet for no more than 75 days per session, while the governor held an absolute veto and broad appointment powers. The territory had a population of 23,242 when it was established.⁠[3][1]

Iowa City was the third and last territorial capital. The cornerstone of its capitol, the Old Capitol, designed by John F. Rague, was laid on July 4, 1840, and the last four territorial legislatures met there.⁠[4]

On March 3, 1845, Congress passed an act for the admission of Iowa and FloridaFloridaFlorida is a U.S. state occupying mainly the Florida peninsula, with its capital at Tallahassee; its most populous city is Jacksonville. It entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state, and had a population of 21,538,187 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, together with a supplemental act. Residents rejected the boundaries proposed along the Nicollet lines. A constitutional convention met in Iowa City on May 4, 1846, and adopted a state constitution on May 18; on August 4, 1846, Congress passed a separate act defining Iowa’s boundaries and repealing the boundary provisions of the 1845 act.⁠[5][3]

On December 28, 1846, President James K. Polk signed the act admitting Iowa to the Union on an equal footing with the original states. Iowa’s admission was part of a compromise between the slaveholding South and the free North.⁠[5][3][1]

After statehood Iowa City became the state capital; the state constitution was drafted in the Old Capitol, the first governor was inaugurated there, and the first six General Assemblies met there.⁠[4]

A colony of Dutch settlers founded Pella in 1847. The population more than tripled during the 1850s, with nearly 200,000 people added between 1854 and 1856 alone, much of it in the northwest, and it reached nearly 675,000 by 1860. Fort Des Moines was founded on September 22, 1851, and its name was shortened to Des Moines in 1857; the city is named for the Des Moines River.⁠[6][1][7]

In 1857 the Fox and Sauk bought back a small tract near Tama, now the Mesquakie Settlement, the state’s only reservation. The Spirit Lake Massacre of the same year was the last Native American hostility in the state.⁠[1]

A third constitutional convention of 36 members adopted a new constitution on March 5, 1857; voters approved it on August 3, 1857, by 40,311 to 38,681, and Governor James W. GrimesGrimesGrimes (born Claire Elise Boucher) is a Canadian musician, producer and visual artist known for the self-written and self-produced albums Visions, Art Angels and Miss Anthropocene, and for early technology projects such as Elf.Tech, which lets users replicate her voice with AI in exchange for a royalty split.Open the full entry proclaimed it the supreme law of the State of Iowa on September 3, 1857. It remains the current, original Constitution of the State of Iowa; all three of Iowa’s constitutional conventions were held in Iowa City.⁠[8]

In 1854–1855 the legislature passed a law relocating the capital to a site within two miles of the junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers. In October 1857 Governor James W. Grimes approved the buildings in Des Moines for the use of the legislature and state officers, and in November the officers left Iowa City by Western Stage Company coach, arriving in Des Moines, about 120 miles away, the next day. The General Assembly convened in Des Moines for the first time on January 11, 1858. The Old Capitol in Iowa City then became the University of Iowa’s first permanent building.⁠[6][4]

Iowa was deeply involved in the issues of the Civil War, contributing more troops in proportion to its population than any other state and playing a part in the Underground Railroad. No battles were fought in Iowa, although a Confederate guerrilla raid came from MissouriMissouriMissouri is a state of the United States bounded on the east by the Mississippi River; its capital is Jefferson City, its largest city is Kansas City, and its second-largest is St. Louis. It was admitted to the Union on August 10, 1821, as the 24th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 6,154,913.Open the full entry in 1864. After the war, railroad expansion drew large numbers of immigrants from the eastern states and Europe.⁠[1][2]

In 1870 the legislature created a Board of Commissioners to select a plan and oversee construction at a cost of no more than $1.5 million; the plan chosen was by John Cochran and Alfred Piquenard, assisted by Mifflin Bell and William Hackney. The first foundation’s stone crumbled after becoming waterlogged over the winter and was replaced; a second foundation was completed in 1873, with a cornerstone inscribed “IOWA. A.D. 1873.” The building was finished in 1886 at a final cost of $2,873,294.59.⁠[4]

Iowa avoided the Jim Crow laws passed in the late 1870s and enacted the Iowa Civil Rights Act in 1884, but de facto discrimination continued until 1948, when civil rights cases were won under the 1884 act.⁠[1]

On January 4, 1904, a candle left burning by a worker converting the building to electric lighting started a major fire in the State Capitol; more than 200 volunteers helped fight it, and repairs added about $500,000 to the building’s cost.⁠[4]

Iowa’s population growth slowed after World War I.⁠[2]

The Old Capitol, restored to its 1850s condition in 1970 and used as a state historical museum, was declared a National Historic Landmark on January 7, 1976; the State Capitol was added to the National Register of Historic Places the same year.⁠[4]

Economic downswings and the collapse of land values in the 1980s pushed Iowa to diversify its economy, and services became the dominant economic activity; by the end of the 20th century banking, insurance, biotechnology and research and development had gained emphasis.⁠[9][2]

On November 20, 2001, a fire started by contractors’ torches and heat guns on the Old Capitol’s cupola destroyed the gold dome and damaged the bell; the building reopened to the public on May 6, 2006, with a museum on the ground floor.⁠[4]

On April 26, 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2020 census apportionment results. Iowa was apportioned 4 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, the same as after the 2010 census, with an average of 798,102 people per seat, giving it 6 electoral votes in the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.⁠[10][11][12]

The state constitution limits the General Assembly to no more than 50 senators and 100 representatives, its current size; representatives serve two-year terms and senators four-year terms, with half of the Senate elected every two years. The General Assembly convenes each year on the second Monday in January for a session of about five months, and General Assemblies have been numbered consecutively since statehood in 1846. The Supreme Court consists of seven justices appointed by the governor.⁠[13][14]

As of November 2026 the governor is Kim Reynolds, the 43rd governor of Iowa and the first woman elected to the office; she succeeded Terry Branstad as governor in May 2017, was elected to her first full term in November 2018 and was reelected in November 2022. She previously served four terms as Clarke County treasurer, was elected to the Iowa Senate in November 2008, and then served nearly two terms as lieutenant governor.⁠[15]

Iowa lies between the eastern forests and the high prairie plains of the west, bordered by MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the north-central United States and the most northerly of the 48 contiguous states; its capital is St. Paul and its largest city is Minneapolis. It was admitted to the Union on May 11, 1858, as the 32nd state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 5,706,494.Open the full entry to the north, WisconsinWisconsinWisconsin is a state in the north-central United States; its capital is Madison and its largest city is Milwaukee. Wisconsin was admitted to the Union on May 29, 1848, as the 30th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 5,893,718 residents.Open the full entry and 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 to the east, Missouri to the south, and NebraskaNebraskaNebraska is a state of the United States bordered by South Dakota to the north, Iowa and Missouri to the east, Kansas to the south, and Colorado to the southwest, with its panhandle bordering Wyoming to the west; its capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha. It was admitted to the Union on March 1, 1867, as the 37th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 1,961,504.Open the full entry and South DakotaSouth DakotaSouth Dakota is a U.S. state bordered by North Dakota to the north, Minnesota and Iowa to the east, Nebraska to the south, and Wyoming and Montana to the west. Its capital is Pierre and its largest city is Sioux Falls. It was admitted to the Union on November 2, 1889, as the 40th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 886,667 residents.Open the full entry to the west. The Mississippi River forms the entire eastern border, and the Missouri River and its tributary the Big Sioux form the western border; other rivers include the Des Moines, Cedar and Iowa. More than nine-tenths of the land is devoted to agriculture, and the state lies in the Central time zone.⁠[16][2][9][17]

In the Census Bureau’s state area measurements (boundaries as of January 1, 2010), Iowa has a total area of 56,273 square miles (145,746 square kilometres), of which 55,857 square miles (144,669 square kilometres) is land and 416 square miles (1,077 square kilometres) is water, all of it inland water.⁠[18]

The state’s highest point is Hawkeye Point, about four miles northeast of Sibley, at 1,670 feet (509 m) above sea level.⁠[19]

The 2010 census (April 1, 2010) counted 3,046,355 people in Iowa. The Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimate put the population at 3,238,387 on July 1, 2025, up 1.5% from the April 1, 2020, estimates base of 3,190,582; population density in 2020 was 57.1 people per square mile.⁠[20]

In American Community Survey data for 2020–2024, Iowa had 1,315,707 households; 5.9% of residents were foreign-born, 31.4% of people aged 25 and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher, and median household income was $75,059 (in 2024 dollars).⁠[20]

The state has 99 counties (2002 data).⁠[21]

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data put Iowa’s nominal gross domestic product (all industry total) at $271,937.2 million in 2025, compared with $265,087.3 million in 2024 and $255,527.9 million in 2023; manufacturing accounted for $45,661.9 million in 2025 and $46,043.1 million in 2024.⁠[22][23]

Statistics published in October 2022 by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship show that in 2021 Iowa ranked first in the nation in corn for grain production, hog and pig inventory and value, egg production and red meat production, and second in soybean production, cash receipts from marketings and oat production. The state produced 2,552,250,000 bushels of corn and 621,860,000 bushels of soybeans in 2021, and had 84,900 farms on 30.5 million acres of land in farms.⁠[24]

Iowa’s nicknames are the Hawkeye State and the Corn State. The state motto, “Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain,” was written by a three-member Senate committee.⁠[17][25]

The Great Seal was created by the first General Assembly in 1847. Two inches in diameter, it shows a citizen soldier standing in a wheat field holding a flag and rifle, surrounded by farming and industrial implements, with the Mississippi River and a steamboat behind him and an eagle above bearing a streamer with the motto; its use is controlled by the governor.⁠[26][25][16]

The state flag, or state banner, was adopted by the General Assembly in 1921, nearly 75 years after statehood. It was designed in 1917, after Iowa National Guardsmen stationed on the Mexican border asked for one, by Dixie Cornell Gebhardt of Knoxville, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution; it has vertical blue, white and red stripes, with an eagle, the motto and the word “Iowa” on the white stripe.⁠[26][25]

The state flower, the wild rose, was designated by the 26th General Assembly in 1897, partly because roses decorated a silver service presented to the USS Iowa that year; the state bird (eastern goldfinch) dates from 1933, the state tree (oak) from 1961 and the state rock (geode) from 1967, the last giving its name to Geode State Park in Henry County. The words of the state song, “The Song of Iowa,” were written by S. H. M. Byers in 1897.⁠[26]

The Iowa Board of Regents governs and oversees the state’s three public universities: the University of Iowa in Iowa City, founded in 1847 as the state’s first public institution of higher learning; Iowa State University in Ames; and the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.⁠[27]

State of Iowa: Official website: https://www.iowa.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[15]

Office of the Governor: Official website: https://governor.iowa.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[28]

Iowa Legislature: Official website: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]

Iowa Board of Regents: Official website: https://www.iowaregents.edu/ (opens in a new window).⁠[27]