The geographical center of the United States, Kansas is a major
agricultural area, with vast areas of farmland given to grain crops, beef cattle and buffalo. As highway signs remind travelers, ‘Every Kansas farmer feeds 75 people - and you’.
It was through Kansas that families on the
Oregon and
Santa Fe trails drove their wagons westwards in search of new homesteads, while
cowboys on the
Chisholm Trail drove vast herds of longhorns north in search of the railroads. To cater for the new population, cowtowns like
Abilene and
Dodge City were born, and
as whites forced Native Americans to move westwards, fierce battles over land erupted. Later, feuds over Kansas’s maintenance of slavery gave rise to the term ‘Bleeding Kansas’.
Today, the state boasts many monuments to its Old West past, as well as numerous
recreation centers, reservoirs and
rivers offering all kinds of
outdoor pursuits. Kansas has played a major role in the history of general aviation, with over 267,000 aircraft being built by dozens of aircraft companies since 1899.
Next Page »
