Indiana

Indiana was admitted to the Union as the 19th state on December 11, 1816. Corydon, Indiana, located in southern Indiana, was the first state capitol until 1825, when the capital was moved to a more central location in Indianapolis. Indiana, located in the midwest, was formerly part of the Indiana Territory, dissolved in 1798. The first governor of the territory was William Henry Harrison, who served from 1800 until 1813. Harrison later became the into president of the United States, in 1840. Two constitutions have been ratified in Indiana: the first in 1816, and the current constitution in 1851. Indiana is only the 38th-largest of the 50 states geographically, but ranks 15th in the nation in population; the 2010 U.S. census indicates that 6,483,802 Hoosiers inhabit an area of 36,420 square miles. Historically, the primary economic engines have been agriculture, automobile production, and pharmaceutical production, although much of the past prosperity is also from the presence of natural resources, such as natural gas fields discovered in the 1880s. A former manufacturing hub because of its central location, abundant water, and the crisscrossing of hundreds of miles of railroads, Indiana is still renowned for its corn and soybean and limestone production, as the site of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and as the home campus of the Eli Lilly world corporate headquarters.