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Outline of Kentucky
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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Kentucky:

Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 – state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 located in the East Central United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, nicknamed the "Bluegrass State", due to the presence of bluegrass in many of the pastures throughout the state. As classified by the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, Kentucky is a Southern state
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

, in the East South Central region
East South Central States
The East South Central States constitute one of the nine Census Bureau Divisions of the United States.Four states make up the division: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee...

. Kentucky is the 37th largest state in terms of total area, the 36th largest in land area, and ranks 26th in population. Originally a part of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

, in 1792 it became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is designated a commonwealth by the Kentucky Constitution
Kentucky Constitution
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the document that governs the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It was first adopted in 1792 and has since been rewritten three times and amended many more...

 and is known as the “Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

General reference

  • Names
    • Common name: Kentucky
      Kentucky
      The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
      • Pronunciation: kɨnˈtʌki
    • Official name: Commonwealth of Kentucky
    • Abbreviations and name codes
      • Postal symbol: KY
      • ISO 3166-2 code: US-KY
      • Internet
        Internet
        The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

         second-level domain
        Second-level domain
        In the Domain Name System hierarchy, a second-level domain is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain . For example, in example.com, example is the second-level domain of the .com TLD....

        : .ky.us
    • Nicknames
      • Bluegrass
        Smooth Meadow-grass
        Poa pratensis, commonly known as Kentucky Bluegrass, Smooth Meadow-grass, or Common Meadow-grass, is a perennial species of grass native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa.-General description:...

         State         (currently used on license plates
        Vehicle registration plates of Kentucky
        The U.S. state of Kentucky first required requiring its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1910.-Passenger plates 1924 to present:-Optional types:-References:...

        )
      • Corn-cracker State (reported in 1881)
      • The Dark and Bloody Ground State (an allusion to battles between the Creek
        Creek people
        The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...

        , Shawnee
        Shawnee
        The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...

        , Chickasaw
        Chickasaw
        The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

        , and Cherokee
        Cherokee
        The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

         tribes)
      • Hemp
        Hemp
        Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...

         State
      • Tobacco
        Tobacco
        Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

         State
  • Adjectival: Kentucky
    Kentucky
    The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

  • Demonym: Kentuckian

Geography of Kentucky

Main article: Geography of Kentucky

  • Kentucky is: a U.S. state
    U.S. state
    A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

    , a federal state of the United States of America
  • Location
    • Northern hemisphere
      Northern Hemisphere
      The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...

    • Western hemisphere
      Western Hemisphere
      The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
      • Americas
        Americas
        The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
        • North America
          North America
          North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
          • Anglo America
          • Northern America
            Northern America
            Northern America is the northernmost region of the Americas, and is part of the North American continent. It lies directly north of the region of Middle America; the land border between the two regions coincides with the border between the United States and Mexico...
            • United States of America
              • Contiguous United States
                Contiguous United States
                The contiguous United States are the 48 U.S. states on the continent of North America that are south of Canada and north of Mexico, plus the District of Columbia....
                • Central United States
                  Central United States
                  The Central United States is sometimes conceived as between the Eastern United States and Western United States as part of a three-region model, roughly coincident with the Midwestern United States plus the western and central portions of the Southern United States; the term is also sometimes used...
                  • East South Central States
                    East South Central States
                    The East South Central States constitute one of the nine Census Bureau Divisions of the United States.Four states make up the division: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee...

                • Southern United States
                  Southern United States
                  The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
                  • Southeastern United States
                    Southeastern United States
                    The Southeastern United States, colloquially referred to as the Southeast, is the eastern portion of the Southern United States. It is one of the most populous regions in the United States of America....

  • Population of Kentucky: 4,339,367 (2010 U.S. Census)
  • Area of Kentucky:
  • Atlas of Kentucky

Places in Kentucky


Environment of Kentucky


Natural geographic features of Kentucky


Regions of Kentucky

  • Central Kentucky
    Central Kentucky
    Central Kentucky is sometimes considered the Central and Southern part of the Bluegrass region, the Far Upper Western Eastern Mountain Coal Fields, and the Far Upper Eastern Pennyroyal regions. Its major cities include Lexington and Frankfort. Lexington citizens, especially radio and TV stations...

  • Eastern Kentucky
  • Northern Kentucky
    Northern Kentucky
    Northern Kentucky is the name often given to the northernmost counties in Kentucky...

  • Western Kentucky

Administrative divisions of Kentucky


Government and politics of Kentucky

Main article: Government of Kentucky and Politics of Kentucky

  • Form of government
    Form of government
    A form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized. Synonyms include "regime type" and "system of government".-Empirical and conceptual problems:...

    : U.S. state government
    State governments of the United States
    State governments in the United States are those republics formed by citizens in the jurisdiction thereof as provided by the United States Constitution; with the original 13 States forming the first Articles of Confederation, and later the aforementioned Constitution. Within the U.S...

  • United States congressional delegations from Kentucky
    United States Congressional Delegations from Kentucky
    These are tables of congressional delegations from Kentucky to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.-United States Senate:-1789 - 1792: One representative from Virginia:Until November 9, 1792, Kentucky was a part of Virginia...

  • Kentucky State Capitol
    Kentucky State Capitol
    The Kentucky State Capitol is located in Frankfort and is the house of the three branches of the state government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky...


  • Elections in Kentucky
    • Electoral reform in Kentucky
      Electoral reform in Kentucky
      Electoral reform in Kentucky refers to efforts to change the voting laws in the Bluegrass State. In Kentucky, the state legislature is in charge of drawing both congressional and state legislative districts...

  • Political party strength in Kentucky
    Political party strength in Kentucky
    The following table indicates the party of elected officials in the U.S. state of Kentucky:*Governor*Lieutenant Governor*Secretary of State*Attorney General*State Treasurer*Auditor of Public Accounts*Agriculture Commissioner...


Executive branch of the government of Kentucky

  • Governor of Kentucky
    Governor of Kentucky
    The Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of the executive branch of government in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Fifty-six men and one woman have served as Governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-election once...
    • Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
      Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
      The office of lieutenant governor of Kentucky has existed under the last three of Kentucky's four constitutions, beginning in 1797. The lieutenant governor serves as governor of Kentucky under circumstances similar to the Vice President of the United States assuming the powers of the presidency...

    • Secretary of State of Kentucky
      Secretary of State of Kentucky
      The Secretary of State of Kentucky is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is now an elected office, but was an appointed office prior to 1891. The current Secretary of State is Democrat Elaine Walker, who was appointed by Governor Steve Beshear to fulfill the...

  • State departments
    • Kentucky Department of Transportation

Legislative branch of the government of Kentucky

  • Kentucky General Assembly
    Kentucky General Assembly
    The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky.The General Assembly meets annually in the state capitol building in Frankfort, Kentucky, convening on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January...

     (bicameral)
    • Upper house
      Upper house
      An upper house, often called a senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house; a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.- Possible specific characteristics :...

      : Kentucky Senate
      Kentucky Senate
      The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators...

    • Lower house
      Lower house
      A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...

      : Kentucky House of Representatives
      Kentucky House of Representatives
      The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a House district, except when necessary to preserve...


Judicial branch of the government of Kentucky

  • Supreme Court of Kentucky
    Kentucky Supreme Court
    The Kentucky Supreme Court was created by a 1975 constitutional amendment and is the state supreme court of the commonwealth of Kentucky. Prior to that the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky...


Law and order in Kentucky

Law of Kentucky
  • Crime in Kentucky
    Crime in Kentucky
    -Statistics:In 2008 there were 122,960 crimes reported in Kentucky including 198 murders a full list can be found...

  • Law enforcement in Kentucky

Laws by type


History of Kentucky, by period

  • Timeline of Kentucky history
    Timeline of Kentucky history
    - Early history :*Before 1750, Kentucky was populated nearly exclusively by Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee and several other tribes of Native Americans See also Pre-Columbian...

  • Prehistory of Kentucky
    • Indigenous peoples
  • English
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

     Colony of Virginia, 1607–1707
  • French
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

     colony of Louisiane
    Louisiana (New France)
    Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682–1763 and 1800–03, the area was named in honor of Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle...

    , 1699–1764
  • British
    United Kingdom
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

     Colony of Virginia, 1707–1776
  • French and Indian War
    French and Indian War
    The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

    , 1754–1763
    • Treaty of Fontainebleau of 1762
      Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)
      The Treaty of Fontainebleau was a secret agreement in which France ceded Louisiana to Spain. The treaty followed the last battle in the French and Indian War, the Battle of Signal Hill in September 1762, which confirmed British control of Canada. However, the associated Seven Years War continued...

    • Treaty of Paris of 1763
      Treaty of Paris (1763)
      The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...

  • British
    United Kingdom
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

     Indian Reserve
    Indian Reserve (1763)
    The Indian Reserve was a territory under British rule in North America set aside in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 for use by American Indians between 1763 and 1783....

    , 1763–1783
    • Royal Proclamation of 1763
      Royal Proclamation of 1763
      The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...

  • American Revolutionary War
    American Revolutionary War
    The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

    , April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783
    • United States Declaration of Independence
      United States Declaration of Independence
      The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...

      , July 4, 1776
    • Siege of Boonesborough
      Siege of Boonesborough
      The Siege of Boonesborough took place in September 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. The attack on the Kentucky settlement of Boonesborough was led by Chief Blackfish, a Shawnee leader allied to the British. Months before the battle, Blackfish had captured and adopted Daniel Boone, the...

      , September 7–18, 1778
    • Treaty of Paris
      Treaty of Paris (1783)
      The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...

      , September 3, 1783
  • Commonwealth of Virginia, 1776–1792
    • Chickamauga Wars
      Chickamauga wars
      The Chickamauga Wars were a series of raids, campaigns, ambushes, minor skirmishes, and several full-scale frontier battles which were a continuation of the Cherokee struggle against encroachment by American frontiersmen from the former British colonies...

      , 1776–1794
    • Kentucky County, Virginia
      Kentucky County, Virginia
      Kentucky County was formed by the Commonwealth of Virginia by dividing Fincastle County into three new counties: Kentucky, Washington, and Montgomery, effective December 31, 1776. Four years later Kentucky County was abolished on June 30, 1780, when it was divided into Fayette, Jefferson, and...

      , 1776–1780
    • Separation of Kentucky from Virginia in 1792
  • Commonwealth of Kentucky becomes 15th State admitted to the United States of America on June 1, 1792
    • History of slavery in Kentucky
      History of slavery in Kentucky
      The history of slavery in Kentucky dates from the earliest permanent European settlements in the state until the end of the Civil War. Although Kentucky was generally classified as the Upper South or a Border state, rather than the Deep South, enslaved African Americans made up a substantial...

    • War of 1812
      War of 1812
      The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

      , June 18, 1812 – March 23, 1815
      • Treaty of Ghent
        Treaty of Ghent
        The Treaty of Ghent , signed on 24 December 1814, in Ghent , was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

        , December 24, 1814
    • Mexican-American War, April 25, 1846 – February 2, 1848
    • Abraham Lincoln
      Abraham Lincoln
      Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

       becomes 16th President of the United States
      President of the United States
      The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

       on March 4, 1861
    • American Civil War
      American Civil War
      The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

      , April 12, 1861 – May 13, 1865
      • Kentucky in the American Civil War
        • Border state, 1861–1865
        • Battle of Perryville
          Battle of Perryville
          The Battle of Perryville, also known as the Battle of Chaplin Hills, was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive during the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi won a...

          , October 8, 1862
        • Morgan's Raid
          Morgan's Raid
          Morgan's Raid was a highly publicized incursion by Confederate cavalry into the Northern states of Indiana and Ohio during the American Civil War. The raid took place from June 11–July 26, 1863, and is named for the commander of the Confederates, Brig. Gen...

          , June 11 – July 26, 1863
    • Mammoth Cave National Park
      Mammoth Cave National Park
      Mammoth Cave National Park is a U.S. National Park in central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world. The official name of the system is the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System for the ridge under which the cave has formed. The park was established...

       established on July 1, 1941

History of Kentucky, by region

  • by city
    • History of Lexington, Kentucky
    • History of Louisville, Kentucky
      History of Louisville, Kentucky
      The history of Louisville, Kentucky spans hundreds of years, with thousands of years of human habitation. The area's geography and location on the Ohio River attracted people from the earliest times. The city is located at the Falls of the Ohio River...
      • Louisville in the American Civil War
  • by county
    • Jefferson County, Kentucky#History

Culture of Kentucky

Main article: Culture of Kentucky
Culture of Kentucky
Although Kentucky's culture is generally considered to be Southern, it is unique in that it is also influenced by the Midwest and Southern Appalachia in certain areas of the state. The state is known for bourbon and whiskey distilling, tobacco, horse racing, and college basketball. Kentucky is more...


  • Cuisine of Kentucky
    Cuisine of Kentucky
    The cuisine of Kentucky mostly resembles that of traditional Southern cuisine. Some common dinner dishes being fried catfish and hushpuppies, fried chicken and country fried steak. These are usually served with vegetables such as green beans, greens, pinto beans slowed cooked with pork as...

  • Museums in Kentucky
  • Religion in Kentucky
    • Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky
      Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky
      The Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing the western half of the state of Kentucky. The diocese, which originally comprised all of Kentucky, consecrated its first bishop, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Smith, in 1832...

  • Scouting in Kentucky
    Scouting in Kentucky
    Scouting in Kentucky has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live...

  • State symbols of Kentucky
    • Flag of the Commonwealth of Kentucky  
    • Seal of the Commonwealth of Kentucky 

Economy and infrastructure of Kentucky

Main article: Economy of Kentucky


Education in Kentucky

Main article: Education in Kentucky
Education in Kentucky
Education in Kentucky includes elementary school , middle school , high school , and postsecondary institutions...



See also

  • Outline of geography
    Outline of geography
    The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to geography:Geography – science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth.- Geography is :...
    • Outline of North America
      • Outline of the United States
  • Index of Kentucky-related articles


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
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