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Lower Peninsula of Michigan
 
 
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The Lower Peninsula of Michigan
Michigan

Michigan is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Anishinaabe language term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
 is surrounded by water on all sides except its southern border, which it shares with Ohio
Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region , Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America....
 and Indiana
Indiana

The State of Indiana was the 19th U.S. state admitted into the union. It is located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America....
. Geographically, the Lower Peninsula has a recognizable shape that many people associate with a mitten, with the mid-eastern region identified as The Thumb
The Thumb

The Thumb is a region and a peninsula of Michigan, so named because the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten; thus the Thumb is the area that looks like the thumb of the mitten....
. This has led to several folkloric
Folklore

Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, superstitions, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group ....
 creation myths for the area, one being that it is a hand print of Paul Bunyan, a giant lumberjack and favorite folk character in Michigan.






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The Lower Peninsula of Michigan
Michigan

Michigan is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Anishinaabe language term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
 is surrounded by water on all sides except its southern border, which it shares with Ohio
Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region , Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America....
 and Indiana
Indiana

The State of Indiana was the 19th U.S. state admitted into the union. It is located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America....
. Geographically, the Lower Peninsula has a recognizable shape that many people associate with a mitten, with the mid-eastern region identified as The Thumb
The Thumb

The Thumb is a region and a peninsula of Michigan, so named because the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten; thus the Thumb is the area that looks like the thumb of the mitten....
. This has led to several folkloric
Folklore

Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, superstitions, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group ....
 creation myths for the area, one being that it is a hand print of Paul Bunyan, a giant lumberjack and favorite folk character in Michigan. This has also led to the distinctive phenomenon of Lower Peninsula residents holding out their hand and pointing to a spot on it when asked where they are from.

The Lower Peninsula is known, to those that aren't from Michigan
Michigan

Michigan is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Anishinaabe language term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, as "The Mitten", "Below the Bridge", and occasionally "The L.P." (in parallel with "the U.P." for the Upper Peninsula). To residents of the Lower Peninsula, it is usually just referred to simply as "Michigan". It is referred to - with more than a little sarcasm - as "Detroit" by residents of the Upper Peninsula
Upper Peninsula of Michigan

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that comprise the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan....
, primarily through either Detroit being the Lower Peninsula's major city, or as an insult owing to Detroit's unpopularity. Residents of the Lower Peninsula are also jokingly referred to as "Trolls
Three Billy Goats Gruff

Three Billy Goats Gruff is a famous Norway fairy tale in which three Domestic goat cross a bridge, under which is a fearsome troll who wants to eat them....
", because they live "under da bridge
Mackinac Bridge

The Mackinac Bridge , is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac to connect the non-contiguous Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Lower Peninsula of Michigan peninsulas of the U.S....
".

Geography

At its widest points, the Lower Peninsula is 277 mile
Mile

A mile is a Units of measurement of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems. In contemporary English contexts, mile most commonly refers to the statute mile of 5,280 Feet or the nautical mile of 1,852 meters ....
s (446 km
Kilometre

The kilometre , symbol km is a Units of measurement of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres.Slang terms for kilometre include click and kay ....
) long from north to south and 195 miles (314 km) from east to west. It contains nearly two-thirds of Michigan's total land area. The surface of the peninsula is generally level, broken by conical hills and glacial moraines usually not more than a few hundred feet tall. It is divided by a low water divide running north and south. The larger portion of the state is on the west of this and gradually slopes toward Lake Michigan. The highest point in the Lower Peninsula is not definitely established but is either Briar Hill at 1,705 feet (520 m
Metre

The metre or meter is a Unit of measurement of length. It is the SI base unit of length in the metric system and in the International System of Units , used around the world for general and scientific purposes....
), or one of several points nearby in the vicinity of Cadillac
Cadillac, Michigan

Cadillac is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Wexford County, Michigan. As of the United States Census, 2000, the city population was 10,000....
. The lowest point is the surface of Lake Erie at 571 feet (174 m).

The Lower Peninsula is bounded on the south by the states of Ohio
Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region , Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America....
 and Indiana
Indiana

The State of Indiana was the 19th U.S. state admitted into the union. It is located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America....
, sharing both land and water boundaries with both. As a peninsula, the rest of the Lower Peninsula is bound by water. Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States. The third-largest of the Great Lakes, it is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S....
, Lake Huron
Lake Huron

Lake Huron, bounded on the west by the U.S. state of Michigan, and on the east by the Provinces and territories of Canada of Ontario, Canada, is one of the five Great Lakes of North America....
, Lake St. Clair
Lake Saint Clair (North America)

Lake St. Clair is a lake that lies between Ontario, Canada, and Michigan in the United States, located about northeast of Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario....
, and Lake Erie
Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time....
 are the principal bodies of water that form the coastline of the Lower Peninsula. It also shares a water boundary with the Province of Ontario, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
.

Flora and Fauna

The American Bird Conservancy
American Bird Conservancy

American Bird Conservancy, is a charitable organization that works solely to bird conservation native wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas....
 and the National Audubon Society
National Audubon Society

The National Audubon Society is an United States non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservancy. Incorporated in 1905, it is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world....
 have designated several locations as internationally Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area designated as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide....
s.

Regions

Michigan's Lower Peninsula can be divided into six main regions based on geological, soil, and vegetation differences; amount of urban area
Urban area

An urban area is an area with an increased Population density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be city, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlet ....
s or rural
Rural

Rural areas are large and isolated areas of a country, often with low populations. Today, 75 percent of the United States' inhabitants live in suburban and urban areas, but cities occupy only 2 percent of the country....
 areas; minority populations; and agriculture
Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
:
  • Central Michigan
    Central Michigan

    Central Michigan, often called Mid-Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan of the United States state of Michigan. Southern Michigan can be considered as a subregion of Central Michigan....
     (which may include portions of West and Mid-Michigan)
    • Southern Michigan
      Southern Michigan

      Southern Michigan is a subregion of Central Michigan in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a region of rolling farmland and scattered urban centers....
  • Flint/Tri-Cities
    Flint/Tri-Cities

    The Flint/Tri-Cities area is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the United States state of Michigan. The Flint/Tri-Cities region has two subregions, The Thumb and the Tri-Cities ....
    • The Thumb
      The Thumb

      The Thumb is a region and a peninsula of Michigan, so named because the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten; thus the Thumb is the area that looks like the thumb of the mitten....
      , a subregion of the Flint/Tri-Cities area
    • Greater Tri Cities
      Tri-Cities (Michigan)

      The name Tri-Cities refers to two regions in the U.S. state of Michigan. Both are located in the Lower Peninsula....
  • Northern Michigan
    Northern Michigan

    Northern Michigan?or more properly Northern Lower Michigan?is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan , popular as a tourist destination. It is home to several small- to medium-sized cities, extensive state and national forests, lakes and rivers, and a large portion of Great Lakes shoreline....
  • Southeast Michigan
    Southeast Michigan

    Southeast Michigan, also called Southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan of the U.S. state of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are concentrated in Metro Detroit....
     / Metro Detroit
    Metro Detroit

    The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is the United States metropolitan area located in Southeast Michigan Michigan centered on the city of Detroit....
  • West Michigan
    Western Michigan

    West Michigan, also known as Western Michigan, is a region in the U.S. state of Michigan in its Lower Peninsula....
     including Michiana
    Michiana

    Michiana is a region in northern Indiana and Western Michigan centered on the city of South Bend, Indiana. The Chamber of Commerce of St. Joseph County, Indiana defines Michiana as "counties that contribute at least 500 inbound commuting workers to St....


See also

  • List of Michigan county name etymologies
    List of Michigan county name etymologies

    This is a list of Michigan county name etymologies. The origin of some names is unclear and credible scholarly sources disagree on the meaning ....


External links

  • in PDF Format.