Illinois became the twenty-first state on this day in 1818, having just 35,000 U.S. settlers. Native American tribes had lived in the area for at least 13,000 years before French missionaries began exploring it in 1673. The Illinois Country changed hands several times. First, it was a part of New France, then split up between Great Britain and Spain before being handed over to the United States.
Once it became a state, the trickle of settlers became a flood as new technologies allowed farmers to better exploit the rich soil of the prairie. Its population boomed, going from 55,000 people in 1820 to 3.8 million in 1870. Nowadays it has a population of over 12.7 million.
NCPA
