Iowa, state in the West North Central United States. It lies in the heart of the North American continent, in the region known as the Midwest. Iowa, with its fertile prairie lands and heavily agricultural economy devoted to raising grain and livestock, is often considered the typical Midwestern state. Iowa entered the Union on December 28, 1846, as the 29th state. Des Moines is the state's capital and largest city.
Iowa is, in large part, an efficient, large-scale production line for the nation's food. From rich black earth to waving corn to fattened hog and steer foodstuffs, the entire process is carried out on a grand scale. Most of the corn and other grains are fed to Iowa's hogs and cattle. Then, factories take over to pack the meat, process any grain that remains, and produce the equipment to till the soil, harvest the corn, run the farms, and process the farm products.
Other factories produce goods that have little or nothing to do with agriculture, such as ball-point pens, washing machines, and office furniture. In value of annual economic production, Iowa is primarily an industrial state, but much of its industrial output remains based on farm production.
The state's name was taken from the Iowa River, which in turn was named for the Iowa people, the Native American tribe who lived in the region during early European exploration. Iowa is called the Hawkeye State. The name is believed to have derived as a tribute to Chief Black Hawk, a leader of the Sac people who were relocated to Iowa after unsuccessful resistance to white settlement.
