Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland, the American Midwest, or, datedly, the Middle West) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It was officially named the North Central Region by the U.S. Census Bureau until 1984. It is between the Northeastern United States and the Western United States, with Canada to the north and the Southern United States to the south.

The U.S. Census Bureau's definition consists of 12 states in the north central United States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The region generally lies on the broad Interior Plain between the states occupying the Appalachian Mountain range and the states occupying the Rocky Mountain range. Major rivers in the region include, from east to west, the Ohio River, the Upper Mississippi River, and the Missouri River. The 2020 United States census put the population of the Midwest at 68,995,685. The Midwest is divided by the U.S. Census Bureau into two divisions. The East North Central Division includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, all of which are also part of the Great Lakes region. The West North Central Division includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota, several of which are located, at least partly, within the Great Plains region.

Chicago is the most populous city in the American Midwest and the third-most populous in the United States. Other large Midwestern cities include Columbus, Indianapolis, Detroit, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Paul, and St. Louis. Chicago and its suburbs, colloquially known as Chicagoland, form the largest metropolitan area with 10 million people, making it the fourth-largest metropolitan area in North America, after Greater Mexico City, the New York metropolitan area, and Greater Los Angeles. The American Midwest is also home other prominent metropolitan areas, including Metro Detroit, Minneapolis–St. Paul, Greater St. Louis, the Cincinnati metro area, the Kansas City metro area, the Columbus metro area, the Indianapolis metro area, Greater Cleveland, and the Milwaukee metropolitan area.

The region's economy is a mix of heavy industry and agriculture, with extensive areas forming part of the United States' Corn Belt. Finance and services such as medicine and education are becoming increasingly important. Its central location makes it a transportation crossroads for river boats, railroads, autos, trucks, and airplanes. Politically, the region includes multiple swing states, and therefore is heavily contested and often decisive in elections.

The term West was applied to the region in British America and in the early years of the United States, when the British colonial territories had not extended far from the Atlantic coast and the Pacific seaboard was generally unknown. By the early 19th century, anything west of the Appalachians was considered the American frontier. Over time, the American frontier moved to west of the Mississippi River. During the colonial period, the French settled the upper Mississippi watershed, which included the valleys of the Missouri River and the Illinois River, and called it the Illinois Country. In 1787, the Northwest Ordinance was enacted, creating the Northwest Territory, which was bounded by the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Some entities in the Midwest have "Northwest" in their names for historical reasons, such as Northwestern University in Illinois.

One of the earliest late 19th-century uses of Midwest was in reference to Kansas and Nebraska to indicate that they were the civilized areas of the West. Another term applied to the same region is Heartland.

Among the Native Americans, Paleo-American cultures were the earliest in North America, with a presence in the Great Plains and Great Lakes areas from about 12,000 BCE to around 8,000 BCE.

Following the Paleo-American period is the Archaic period (8,000 BCE to 1,000 BCE), the Woodland Tradition (1,000 BCE to 100 CE), and the Mississippian Period (900 to 1500 CE). Archeological evidence indicates that Mississippian culture traits probably began in the St. Louis, Missouri area and spread northwest along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and entered the state along the Kankakee River system. It also spread northward into Indiana along the Wabash, Tippecanoe, and White Rivers.