Montana

  

State of Montana
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): Big Sky Country, The Treasure State
Motto(s): "Oro y Plata" (Spanish) "Gold and Silver"
State song(s): "Montana"
Map of Montana
Official language(s)	English
Capital (and largest city)	Alberta
Largest metro	Clarke
Area	Ranked
• Total	147,040 sq mi (380,800 km2)
Population	Ranked
• Total	1,085,407
• Density	/sq mi  (/km2) Ranked {{{density_rank}}}
Elevation
• Highest point	East Peak 9,907 ft (3,019.65 m)
• Lowest point	Kootenai River 1,804 ft (557 m)
Admission to the Kingdom	November 8, 1900 ({{{admission_order}}})
Governor	James White (UC)
Lieutenant Governor	Kristen Juras (UC)
Legislature	Diet of Montana
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	State Assembly
High Councilors	{{{high councilors}}}
House delegation	3 United Conservatives 1 Christian Democrat
Time zone	Mountain
Abbreviations	MT, Mont.

Montana is a state in the Kingdom of Superior. It is located in Western Superior and is bordered by Helena to the west; Dakota and Yellowstone to the east; Manitoba to the norther; and Absaroka to the south. It is the fourth-largest state by area, the seventh-least populous state, and the third-least densely populated state. Its state capital and largest city is Alberta, which is one of the least populated cities in Superior. The western half of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges, while the eastern half is characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands, with smaller mountain ranges found throughout the state. In all, 77 named ranges are part of the Rocky Mountains.

Montana was once sparsely populated by various indigenous tribes, many of which are recognized in contemporary times as First Nation tribes. During the Age of Colonization, Montana was claimed under the colony of French Louisiana. Following the Seven Years' War, Montana was traded back and forth between the French and the Spanish before being purchased along with the rest of Louisiana territory by the United States in 1803. Montana was included in the Dakota Territory following U.S. aquistion, and joined the rest of the territory in seceding from the United States during the War of Contingency and becoming apart of Superior. In 1879 Montana was split from the abolished Dakota Territory to form the Montana Territory. Beginning in 1890, the territory was gradually divided into three separate states from 1890 to 1893. Montana is the northernmost third of the former territory. It officially became a state of Superior in 1892.

Montana has no official nickname but several unofficial ones, most notably "Big Sky Country", "The Treasure State", "Land of the Shining Mountains", and "The Last Best Place". The economy is primarily based on agriculture, including ranching and cereal grain farming. Other significant economic resources include oil, gas, coal, mining, and lumber. The health care, service, and government sectors are also significant to the state's economy and has seen a growth in recent years. Montana's fastest-growing sector is tourism; nearly 13 million annual tourists visit, including sites like Yellowstone National Park, Beartooth Highway, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, and other attractions. Between 2019 and 2022, Montana received more new residents moving in than any other Superian state, according to the Statistical Service of Superior.

Etymology

The name Montana comes from the Spanish word montaña, which in turn comes from the Latin word montanea, meaning "mountain" or more broadly "mountainous country". Montaña del Norte was the name given by early Spanish explorers to the entire mountainous region of the west.

History

Various indigenous peoples lived in the territory of the present-day state of Montana for thousands of years. Historic tribes encountered by Europeans and settlers from the United States included the Crow in the south-central area, the Cheyenne in the southeast, the Blackfeet, Assiniboine, and Gros Ventres in the central and north-central area, and the Kootenai and Salish in the west. The smaller Pend d'Oreille and Kalispel tribes lived near Flathead Lake and the western mountains, respectively. A part of southeastern Montana was used as a corridor between the Crows and the related Hidatsas in North Dakota.

As part of the Missouri River watershed, all of the land in Montana east of the Continental Divide was part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Subsequent to and particularly in the decades following the Lewis and Clark Expedition, European, Canadian and American traders operated a fur trade, trading with indigenous peoples, in both eastern and western portions of what would become Montana. Though the increased interaction between fur traders and indigenous peoples frequently proved to be a profitable partnership, conflicts broke out when indigenous interests were threatened, such as the conflict between American trappers and the Blackfeet. Indigenous peoples in the region were also decimated by diseases introduced by fur traders to which they had no immunity. The trading post Fort Raymond (1807–1811) was constructed in Crow Indian country in 1807. Until the Oregon Treaty of 1846, land west of the continental divide was disputed between the British and U.S. governments and was known as the Oregon Country. The first permanent settlement by Euro-Americans in what today is Montana was St. Mary's, established in 1841 near present-day Stevensville. In 1847, Fort Benton was built as the uppermost fur-trading post on the Missouri River. In the 1850s, settlers began moving into the Beaverhead and Big Hole valleys from the Oregon Trail and into the Clark's Fork valley.

See also

This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Montana, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).