About Chicago

Chicago ( or ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with over 2.8 million people is the third largest city in the United States. Located on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan, Chicago is the third-most densely populated major city in the U.S., and anchor to the world's 26th largest metropolitan area with over 9.5 million people across three states.

After a series of wars with the local American Natives, Chicago was founded in 1833, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. The city became a major transportation and telecommunications hub in North America. Today, the city retains its status as a major hub, both for industry and infrastructure, with its O'Hare Airport as the second busiest airport in the world. In modern times, the city has taken on additional dimension as a center for business and finance, and is listed as one of the world's top ten Global Financial Centers. Chicago is a stronghold of the Democratic Party, and has been home to influential politicians, including the current President of the United States, Barack Obama. The World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University rated Chicago as an alpha world city.

As of 2007, the city attracts 44.2 million visitors annually.Choose Chicago - the official visitors site for Chicago | Industry StatisticsChoose Chicago Making use of its abundant resources, Chicago has a heritage for hosting major international, national, regional, and local events that include commerce, culture, entertainment, politics, and sports. In 2008, Chicago was chosen as one of the final four world city candidates to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and is the only American city on the list.

Globally recognized,Chicago notoriety comes from being the subject or being referenced in novels, plays, movies, songs, various types of journals (e.g., sports, entertainment, business, trade, and academic), and the news media. Chicago has numerous nicknames, which reflect the impressions and opinions about historical and contemporary Chicago. The best known include: "Chi-town"; the "Windy City" with reference to Chicago politicans and residents boasting about their city; "Second City," due to the city generally being the second most prestigious in the nation in terms of transportation, culture, and financeSpears 2005, p 9; and the "City of the Big Shoulders", referring to its numerous skyscrapers, which were invented in Chicago, and described as being husky and brawling.http://carl-sandburg.com/chicago.htm

Illinois ( ), the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and western Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a broad economic base. Illinois is an important transportation hub; the Port of Chicago connects the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River via the Illinois River. Illinois is often viewed as a microcosm of the United States; an Associated Press analysis of 21 demographic factors found Illinois the "most average state", while Peoria has long been a proverbial social and cultural bellwether.

Approximately 66% of the population of Illinois resides in the northeastern corner of the state, primarily within the city of Chicago and the surrounding metropolitan areas.

With a population near 40,000 between 1300 and 1400 AD, the Mississippian city of Cahokia, in what is now southern Illinois, was the largest city within the future United States until it was surpassed by New York City between 1790 and 1800. About 2,000 Native American hunters and a small number of French villagers inhabited the Illinois area at the time of the American Revolution. Biles (2005) ch 1 American settlers began arriving from Kentucky in the 1810s; they achieved statehood in 1818. The future metropolis of Chicago was founded in the 1830s on the banks of the Chicago River, one of the only natural harbors on southern Lake Michigan."Chicago's Front Door: Chicago Harbor." A digital exhibit published online by the Chicago Public Library. [http://www.chipublib.org/digital/lake/CFDHarbor.html] Accessed October 20, 2007. Railroads and John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow made central Illinois' rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmlands, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. By 1900, the growth of industry in northern cities and coal mining in central and southern areas attracted immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, and made the state a major arsenal in both world wars. African Americans migrating to Chicago from the rural South formed a large and important community, which created the city's famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U.S. Presidents have been elected from Illinois—Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and Barack Obama. Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois.