Travel to Wisconsin: Research information and places to do and see in Wisconsin

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Facts About Wisconsin

Located in the north central United States, bordered by Lake Superior on the north, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the northeast, Lake Michigan on the east, Illinois on the south, and Iowa and Minnesota on the west. Wisconsin received its name from the Wisconsin River, the name of which is derived from the French version of an Ojibwa term that may mean "gathering of the waters" or "place of the beaver." It is customarily known as the Badger State because the miners who were among the first settlers in the region lived in mine shafts or dug their homes out of the hillside and lived underground, as badgers do. Madison is the capital of Wisconsin. Milwaukee is the largest city.

Wisconsin ranks 22nd in size among the states. It covers 169,642 sq km (65,499 sq mi), including 4,742 sq km (1,831 sq mi sq mi) of inland water. Also under jurisdiction of the state is 24,229 sq km (9,355 sq mi) of waters in lakes Michigan and Superior. Wisconsin is roughly rectangular in shape, except for the Door Peninsula, which is about 130 km (about 80 mi) long and separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan. Wisconsin has a maximum length from north to south of about 480 km (about 300 mi) and a width from east to west of about 450 km (about 280 mi).

Wisconsin is customarily divided into two major natural regions, or physiographic provinces, each of which is a part of one of the broader physiographic divisions of North America. The two natural regions are the Central Lowland and the Superior Upland. The Central Lowland, which is a part of the larger physiographic division known as the Interior Plains, covers southern Wisconsin. The Superior Upland, a southward extension of the Canadian Shield, or Laurentian Upland, occupies northern Wisconsin.

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