Portal:Kansas

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Kansas (/ˈkænzəs/ KAN-zəss) is a landlocked state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named after the Kansas River, in turn named after the Kansa people. Its capital is Topeka, and its most populous city is Wichita, however the largest urban area is the bi-state Kansas City, MO–KS metropolitan area.

For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Indigenous tribes. The first settlement of non-indigenous people in Kansas occurred in 1827 at Fort Leavenworth. The pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery debate. When it was officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854 with the Kansas–Nebraska Act, conflict between abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri broke out over the question of whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state, in a period known as Bleeding Kansas. On January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state, hence the unofficial nickname "The Free State". Passage of the Homestead Acts in 1862 brought a further influx of settlers, and the booming cattle trade of the 1870s attracted some of the Wild West's most iconic figures to western Kansas.

As of 2015, Kansas was among the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans. In addition to its traditional strength in agriculture, Kansas possesses an extensive aerospace industry. Kansas, which has an area of 82,278 square miles (213,100 square kilometers) is the 15th-largest state by area, the 36th most-populous of the 50 states, with a population of 2,940,865 according to the 2020 census, and the 10th least densely populated. Residents of Kansas are called Kansans. Mount Sunflower is Kansas's highest point at 4,039 feet (1,231 meters). (Full article...)

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The 2006 Banquet 400 was the twenty-ninth stock car race of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the third in the ten-race season-ending Chase for the Nextel Cup. It was held on October 1, 2006 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas before a crowd of 125,000. The 267-lap race was won by Tony Stewart of the Joe Gibbs Racing team who started from twenty-first position. Casey Mears finished second and Mark Martin came in third.

Pole position driver Kasey Kahne led the field until Jimmie Johnson moved into the first position after a caution period. Johnson lost the lead when he was passed by Kahne's teammate Scott Riggs on lap 28. He held the position for the next seven laps until Clint Bowyer took over the lead. Dale Earnhardt Jr. moved into first on the 64th lap and held it for sixteen laps when he was passed by Kyle Busch. Busch held the lead position for 64 laps. Bowyer reclaimed the first position and led for a further 17 laps, before Johnson moved ahead of him. After drivers made pit stops for fuel, Stewart took over the lead after electing to stay out, and held the position to win the race despite running out of fuel on the race's final lap. The race had a total of eleven cautions and twenty lead changes by thirteen different drivers. (Full article...)

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Credit: User:Fir0002
The European honey bee Kansas' state insect.

Important dates in Kansas' history

July–August 1541
Coronado explores Kansas
April 30, 1803
Louisiana Purchase Treaty signed
May 30, 1854
Kansas Territory organized
July 29, 1859
Constitution adopted by convention
January 29, 1861
Kansas becomes 34th state
August 21, 1863
Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence
Spring 1879
Exodusters
February 19, 1881
First state to Constitutionally prohibit alcohol
1890s
Populist Revolt
July 1951
Great Flood of 1951
May 17, 1954
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

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The American Bison, Kansas' state mammal.

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Anderson c. 1864

William T. Anderson (c. 1840 – October 26, 1864), known by the nickname "Bloody Bill" Anderson, was a soldier who was one of the deadliest and most notorious Confederate guerrilla leaders in the American Civil War. Anderson led a band of volunteer partisan raiders who targeted Union loyalists and federal soldiers in the states of Missouri and Kansas.

Raised by a family of Southerners in Kansas, Anderson began to support himself by stealing and selling horses in 1862. After a former friend and secessionist turned Union loyalist judge killed his father, Anderson killed the judge and fled to Missouri. There he robbed travelers and killed several Union soldiers. In early 1863 he joined Quantrill's Raiders, a group of Confederate guerrillas which operated along the Kansas–Missouri border. He became a skilled bushwhacker, earning the trust of the group's leaders, William Quantrill and George M. Todd. Anderson's bushwhacking marked him as a dangerous man and eventually led the Union to imprison his sisters. After a building collapse in the makeshift jail in Kansas City, Missouri, left one of them dead in custody and the other permanently maimed, Anderson devoted himself to revenge. He took a leading role in the Lawrence Massacre and later took part in the Battle of Baxter Springs, both in 1863. (Full article...)
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