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The state is named for the Missouri River, which was named after the indigenous Missouri Indians, a Siouan-language tribe.
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Missouri played a central role in the westward expansion of the United States, as memorialized by the Gateway Arch. Soon after, heavy German immigration formed the Missouri Rhineland. Many from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee settled in the Boonslick area of Mid-Missouri. Missouri was admitted as a slave state as part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Americans from the Upland South, including enslaved African Americans, rushed into the new Missouri Territory. After a brief period of Spanish rule, the United States acquired Missouri as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The French incorporated the territory into Louisiana founding Ste. When European explorers arrived in the 17th century, they encountered the Osage and Missouria nations. The Mississippian culture, which emerged at least in the ninth century, built cities and mounds before declining in the 14th century. Humans have inhabited what is now Missouri for at least 12,000 years.
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Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia the capital is Jefferson City. With more than six million residents, it is the 19th-most populous state of the country. The Missouri River, after which the state is named, flows through the center into the Mississippi River, which makes up the eastern border. In the south are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas to the south and Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska to the west. Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States.
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