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Kansas is a Midwestern state
in the central region of the
United States of America, an
area often referred to as
the American "Heartland". It
is named after the Kansas
River which flows through
it, which in turn was named
after the Kansa tribe, who
inhabited the area.
Residents of Kansas are
called "Kansans".
Historically, the area was
home to large numbers of
nomadic Native Americans
that hunted bison. It was
first settled by European
Americans in the 1830s, but
the pace of settlement
accelerated in the 1850s, in
the midst of political wars
over the slavery issue. When
officially opened to
settlement by the U.S.
government in 1854,
abolitionist Free-Staters
from New England and
pro-slavery settlers from
neighboring Missouri rushed
to the territory to
determine if Kansas would
become a free state or a
slave state. Thus, the area
was a hotbed of violence and
chaos in its early days as
these forces collided, and
was known as Bleeding
Kansas. The abolitionists
eventually prevailed and on
January 29, 1861, Kansas
entered the Union as a free
state. After the Civil War,
the population of Kansas
exploded when waves of
immigrants turned the
prairie into productive
farmland. Today, Kansas is
one of the most productive
agricultural states,
producing many crops, and
leading the nation in wheat,
sorghum, and sunflower
production most years.
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