Wisconsin

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Wisconsin, constituent state of the United States of America. Wisconsin was admitted to the union as the 30th state on May 29, 1848. One of the north-central states, it is bounded by the western portion of Lake Superior and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the north and by Lake Michigan to the east. The state of Illinois lies to the south, and Minnesota and Iowa lie to the west and southwest, respectively. The name Wisconsin is an Anglicized version of a French rendering of an Algonquin name, Meskousing, said to mean “this stream of red stone,” referring to the Wisconsin River. Madison, in south-central Wisconsin, is the state capital.

More than 12,000 years ago the area that is now Wisconsin was covered by enormous glaciers. During the Wisconsin Glacial Stage, when the ice sheet began to melt, it left behind scenic physical features, including outwash plains, terminal and kettle moraines, drumlins, eskers, and low-lying areas that became lakes.

The economy of Wisconsin is diversified, with three major sectors concentrated in specific regions. Wisconsin’s southeastern industrial belt—extending from the state line along Lake Michigan from Kenosha up to and beyond Milwaukee, the state’s largest city—is the primary factor in making Wisconsin one of the largest manufacturing states in the country. In the southern two-thirds of the state, a combination of favourable climate, soil, and topography makes possible dairy agriculture that allows Wisconsin to be the top producer of cheese in the country and one of the top producers of milk and butter. The sparsely settled northern evergreen-hardwood forest and lake country is a centre for tourism and recreational activity. Area 65,496 square miles (169,635 square km). Population (2020) 5,893,718; (2022 est.) 5,892,539.