- published: 26 Apr 2013
- views: 487000
Chicago (i/ʃᵻˈkɑːɡoʊ/ or /ʃᵻˈkɔːɡoʊ/) is the third most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois and the Midwest. The Chicago metropolitan area, often referred to as Chicagoland, has nearly 10 million people and is the third-largest in the U.S. Chicago is the seat of Cook County.
Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, and grew rapidly in the mid-nineteenth century. The city is an international hub for finance, commerce, industry, technology, telecommunications, and transportation: O'Hare International Airport is the busiest airport in the world when measured by aircraft traffic; it also has the largest number of U.S. highways and rail road freight. In 2012, Chicago was listed as an alpha global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranked seventh in the world in the 2014 Global Cities Index.As of 2014, Chicago had the third largest gross metropolitan product in the United States at US$610.5 billion.
Illinois (i/ˌɪlᵻˈnɔɪ/ IL-i-NOY) is a state in the midwestern region of the United States. It is the 5th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, and is often noted as a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal, timber, and petroleum in the south, Illinois has a diverse economic base and is a major transportation hub. The Port of Chicago connects the state to other global ports from the Great Lakes, via the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River, via the Illinois River. For decades, O'Hare International Airport has been ranked as one of the world's busiest airports. Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics.
Although today the state's largest population center is around Chicago in the northern part of the state, the state's European population grew first in the west, with French Canadians who settled along the Mississippi River, and gave the area the name, Illinois. After the American Revolutionary War established the United States, American settlers began arriving from Kentucky in the 1810s via the Ohio River, and the population grew from south to north. In 1818, Illinois achieved statehood. After construction of the Erie Canal increased traffic and trade through the Great Lakes, Chicago was founded in the 1830s on the banks of the Chicago River, at one of the few natural harbors on southern Lake Michigan.John Deere's invention of the self-scouring steel plow turned Illinois' rich prairie into some of the world's most productive and valuable farmlands, attracting immigrant farmers from Germany and Sweden. Railroads carried immigrants to new homes, as well as being used to ship their commodity crops out to markets.
NORMA
Trendy trav'lers tend to talk
Of London, Paris, Rome, New York,
Like only they were stylish and unique.
But out in the Midwest
Is the city I love the best:
A town so smart it's spelling stars
With: C - H - I - C...Chic!
Chicago, Illinois, is like a shiny toy.
The prairie State is proud to sate
That it's its pride and joy.
The Windy City sweeps ya clean off ya feet;
POW!
Its charm is complete;
POW!
They're knockin' ya flat, this way or that
On ev'ry downtown street.
POW!
The White Sox and the Cubs
And other sporting clubs
Make living here a pretty nifty ploy.
Smack on the lake, this is the report!
Someday, they say, we'll have an airport!
When they say: "hey, I'm from Chi!",
They mean Chicago, Il-li-nois!
CHORUS
Chicago, Illinois, is like a shiny toy.
The prairie State is proud to sate
That it's its pride and joy.
The Windy City sweeps ya clean off ya feet;
Its charm is complete;
They're knockin' ya flat, this way or that
On ev'ry downtown street.
The White Sox and the Cubs
And other sporting clubs
Make living here a pretty nifty ploy.
Smack on the lake, this is the report!
Someday, they say, we'll have an airport!
When they say: "hey, I'm from Chi!",
They mean Chicago, Il-li...
Chicago is the killer.
They mean Chicago, Illi...
C-H-I-C-A-G-O, Illinois!