Information Nebraska
Nebraska, nicknamed Silver State, is one of the smallest states in the United States of America and has over 1 million inhabitants. The state is located in the Great Plains, a vast area of steppes and prairies.
The name Nebraska means flat water which was given by the Indians (now called Platte River). The capital is not the big city of Omaha but the small town of Lincoln. See all cities in Nebraska.
Geography
The state of Nebraska is geographically part of the Midwest and is located at the transition from the flatter Great Plains to the higher High Plains in the west. The state borders South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming. Nebraska measures a maximum of 700 kilometers from west to east and 330 kilometers from north to south. The eastern border of the state is formed by the Missouri River. The main river through Nebraska is the Platte River, which splits into the North Platte and South Platte in the west of the state. Nebraska is mostly flat to very flat, with elevation gradually rising from 1,000 feet in the southeast to 1,600 feet in the west.
The landscape is often undulating, but has few areas with significant elevation changes. The highest point is the 1,655-foot Panorama Point, located at the tristate point with Colorado and Wyoming. It is visually imperceptible as a hill or mountain, it barely rises above the plains. Geographically, the Nebraska Panhandle is considered a separate region, being the westernmost part of the state.
Scenically, Nebraska is mostly prairies, in the east this is cultivated with agriculture, often circular irrigation due to the low rainfall. To the west this lake turns into ranchland and grassy rangeland. Covering much of western Nebraska, the Sandhills is an area with many minor elevation changes. This consists of short grassland and sand, and is hardly cultivated. Some rivers have shallow canyons, such as the Pine Ridge to the north and the Wildcat Hills. The height differences here are usually 100 to 300 meters.
History
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Nebraska was inhabited by French trappers. Only the travels of the Americans Lewis and Clark (1804–1806) and Stephen Long (1819) gave more insight into this area, long referred to as the ‘great American desert’ (Long).
Wandering Native American tribes such as the Pawnee and Omaha increasingly had to give up their land to the invading settlers, who gradually discovered that Nebraska was a fertile and habitable land.
From 1700 to 1803 it belonged to French Louisiana; in 1876 the final pacification of the Indians followed. In 1854, the area was declared territory by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. For a long time there has been a sharp contrast between the area to the north and that to the south of the Platte River. In 1867, Nebraska was recognized as the 37th state of the Union.
Economy
By far the largest part of the working population is employed in agriculture. Industry comes in second, followed by trade, construction and services. The main agricultural product is maize; furthermore sorghum, oats, rye, potatoes and sugar beet.
Livestock farming (accounting for about 70% of agricultural income) is very important, which mainly includes cattle and furthermore pigs, sheep and poultry. More than 1.5 million ha of agricultural land is irrigated, mainly by means of groundwater reservoirs. Mineral production is minor and includes petroleum, sand and gravel.
The main industry is the food industry, whose main branch is the meat processing industry; Omaha is one of the largest meat processing centers in the world. Other important products are machinery and technical equipment, as well as hardware, construction materials, chemicals, pumps and electronics; in addition, there is an extensive graphics sector.
| Abbreviation: | NE |
| Nickname: | Cornhusker State |
| Joined the US as the 37th state on: | March 1, 1867 |
| Capital city: | Lincoln |
| Census: | 1.842.641 |
| Surface: | 200.520 km² |
| Geography: | Bordering South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming |
| Governor: | Pete Ricketts |
| state motto: | Equality before the law |
| California official website: | nebraska.gov |
