Missouri
Fast facts
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- English 93.9% * Spanish 2.6% * German 0.4% * Missouri French
Facts from Wikipedia’s “Missouri” page (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Missouri is one of the 50 states in the United States. Its capital is Jefferson City. Its largest cities are Kansas City and Saint Louis. Some other cities are Columbia (which is where the University of Missouri is), and Springfield.
Missouri officially became a state on August 10, 1821. Missouri has also been called the “Mother of the West”, the “Cave State”, and the “Show Me State”.
Missouri’s edges touch a total of eight states: Iowa lies to the north; to the east, across the Mississippi River, are Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee; Arkansas lies to the south; and on the west are Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska (Kansas and Nebraska are across the Missouri River).
History
Native Americans first settled in Missouri before the arrival of Europeans.
In Columbia, 2018, the Columbia Board of Education voted unanimously to change the name of Robert E. Lee Elementary School to Locust Street Expressive Arts Elementary School.
Written for younger readers
Missouri, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: North America
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 18th most populous state. It comprises 114 counties and one independent city. Missouri’s capital is Jefferson City. The four largest urban areas are, in descending order, St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. Missouri was originally acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became defined as the Missouri Territory. Part of the Missouri Territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state in 1821.
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Missouri” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.
Worksheets, answer keys and printable layouts elsewhere on K5Print are our own work and are not covered by this licence.