Montana

Montana is an inland U.S. state largely in the western United States, but because of its immense size stretches into the north-central United States. Although Montana is often regarded as mountainous, about 60% of the state is actually prairie in the Great Plains. more...

The central and western two-thirds of the state have numerous mountain ranges (approximately 77 named) of the northern Rocky Mountains; thus the state's name, derived from the Spanish word montaña ("mountain"). The state nickname is the "Treasure State." Other nicknames include "Land of Shining Mountains", "Big Sky Country", and the slogan "the last best place". The state ranks fourth in size (~145,000 square miles) but has a relatively low population (with only six states having fewer people) and consequently a very low population density. The economy is primarily based on agriculture - wheat, barley, sugar beets, oats, rye, seed potatoes, honey, cherries, cattle and sheep ranching - and significant lumber and mineral extraction (gold, coal, silver, talc, and vermiculite). Tourism is also important to the economy with millions of visitors a year to Glacier National Park, Flathead Lake, the Missouri River headwaters, the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn and three of the five entrances to Yellowstone National Park.

Montana was originally inhabited by several ethnolinguistic groups of American Indians, including the Blackfoot, (Siksika), Crow, Cheyenne, Bannock, Shoshoni and Nez Perce. The Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806 was the first group of European-American explorers to cross Montana. Today, most of these Native American nations still call Montana home and Montana has seven Native American Indian reservations, more than any other state. Modern-day Montana became Montana Territory in 1864 by appointment of President of the United States Abraham Lincoln and became the 41st state in 1889.

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