The Northwest Territory (1787) was one of the earliest territories of the United States, stretching northwest from the Ohio River to northern Minnesota and the upper-Mississippi. In 1787, the Northwest Ordinance was enacted, creating the Northwest Territory, which was bounded by the Great Lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. A region north of the Ohio River was sometime called Ohio Country. During the colonial period, the upper-Mississippi watershed including the Missouri and Illinois River valleys was the setting for the 17th and 18th century French settlements of the Illinois Country. By the early 19th century, anything west of Appalachia was considered the West over time that moniker moved to west of the Mississippi River. The term West was applied to the region in the British colonial period and in the early years of the United States. Louis, Greater Cincinnati, the Kansas City metro area, the Columbus metro area, and Greater Cleveland. Large Midwestern metropolitan areas include Metro Detroit, Minneapolis–St. Other large Midwestern cities include Columbus, Indianapolis, Detroit, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis, Wichita, Cleveland, St. Chicago and its suburbs, together called Chicagoland, form the largest metropolitan area with 10 million people, making it the fourth largest metropolitan area in North America, after Greater Mexico City, the New York metropolitan area, and Greater Los Angeles. The West North Central Division includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota, several of which are located, at least partly, within the Great Plains region.Ĭhicago is the most populous city in the American Midwest and the third most populous in the United States. The East North Central Division includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, all of which are also part of the Great Lakes region. The 2020 United States census put the population of the Midwest at 68,995,685. Major rivers in the region include, from east to west, the Ohio River, the Upper Mississippi River, and the Missouri River. The region generally lies on the broad Interior Plain between the states occupying the Appalachian Mountain range and the states occupying the Rocky Mountain range. Census Bureau's definition consists of 12 states in the north central United States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. It is between the Northeastern United States and the Western United States, with Canada to the north and the Southern United States to the south. It was officially named the North Central Region by the U.S. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau.

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