Illinois

Illinois ( IL[email protected]NOY) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Chicago is its largest city, and the state’s capital is Springfield; other major metropolitan areas include Metro East (of Greater St. Louis), Peoria and Rockford. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the fifth largest gross domestic product (GDP), the sixth largest population, and the 25th largest land area.

Illinois’s economy is diverse, with Chicago in the northeast, small cities and vast farmland to the north and south, and natural resources like coal, timber, petroleum to the south. Owing to its central location and geography, the state is a major transportation hub: the Port of Chicago enjoys access to the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway, and to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River via the Illinois Waterway. The state’s borders also include the Mississippi, Ohio, Wabash and Wabash Rivers. Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport has been among the world’s ten busiest airports for decades. Illinois is often referred to as a microcosm for the United States. It has been a beacon of social, cultural and political progress for many years.