Michigan: Historic Crossroads / Michigan: Twenty-Sixth State

Because of its location in the heart of the Upper Great Lakes, Michigan has been a historic crossroads. Its waterways and trails were favorite routes of Indians many centuries ago. French explorers first entered Michigan about 1620. By 1700 forts at several key points guarded this vital link between French colonies to the east and to the west and south. In 1760-61 the British won control of Michigan. Not until 1796 did they withdraw in favor of the Americans, who had been awarded the area in 1783 at the end of the Revolutionary War. During the War of 1812, Michigan was one of the most fiercely contested areas. It was admitted as a state in 1837. Michigan: Twenty-Sixth State When Michigan in 1837 became the twenty-sixth state admitted to the Union, only the southern part of Lower Michigan was settled. Farming was the chief economic activity. In the next fifty years the remainder of the state was populated. Logging of the state’s magnificent forests made Michigan America’s lumbering capital during the 1880s and 1890s. Mining of the great Upper Peninsula copper and iron ore deposits made Michigan a leading producer of these minerals during most of this period. With the development of the automobile and other industries Michigan became a manufacturing giant among the states of the United States and of the world.