Kansas is a state in the Great Plains region of the United States of America. It is generally considered the centre of the country, at least in geographical terms, though one of its nicknames is "the Heart of America." There are a lot of great places to visit, particularly if you are interested in the history of the American West. With a little exploration, almost every little town has something of interest.
Although Native Americans have lived in Kansas for thousands of years and the first Europeans visited in the 1600s, most Kansas communities date from the early to mid-1880s. The real development of Kansas didn’t take place until the 1850s when pro-slavery settlers from Missouri and anti-slavery settlers from New England flooded into the area. This period of "Bleeding Kansas" included a great deal of violence and some people consider this area to have been the cradle of the Civil War. In communities like Lawrence, Kansas many organizations and businesses still proudly display the "free state" name.
There is no clear division between Eastern and Western Kansas, but there are clear regional distinctions.
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Eastern Kansas -- Most of the larger cities are in Eastern Kansas, which tends to be surprisingly hilly and have more trees and water than other parts of the state.
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Western Kansas -- Generally, Western Kansas is more rural, with very low population density and a lot of open land. With notable exceptions, it is drier and flatter.
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Central Kansas -- A mixture of farmland, rolling hills, and man-made lakes, central Kansas is a transition zone between the hilly east and the arid west.
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Flint Hills -- Down the centre of Eastern Kansas run the Flint Hills, an area of great geological interest, with some of the last living grasslands of the true Great Plains.
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South eastern Kansas -- Far south eastern Kansas is part of the Ozarks region, with beautiful hills, coal mining, and endemic rural poverty. Ozark influence wanes the further you get from the south east corner of the state.
The towns and cities of Kansas are:
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Topeka - Capital city of Kansas, also the site of the Kansas State Historical Society Museum.
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Dodge City
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Hutchinson - home to the second largest space museum in the world, the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Centre.
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Kansas City and Environs - Smaller half of Metro Kansas City, which spills across the border into Missouri. Kansas City as a whole is much larger and more cosmopolitan than Wichita. The second largest city in Kansas is not Kansas City, Kansas, but Overland Park, Kansas, a wealthy yet nondescript suburb of Kansas City. Overland Park, along with Kansas City suburbs like Shawnee, Olathe, and Lenexa make up Johnson County, which is the largest county by population in Kansas, and one of the richest counties in the United States by per capita income. The suburbs that make up Johnson County are also collectively known as Shawnee Mission, named after the Methodist mission sent to the Shawnee tribe in the 1830s. To this day, many towns, streets and places in Shawnee Mission carry Native American or mission-based names.
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Lawrence - Home of the University of Kansas, Lawrence is easily the most interesting and unique destination in the state. Lawrence boasts the strongest art, music and bar scenes - not only in the state, but anywhere between Chicago and Denver. Lawrence was founded by anti-slavery fighters ("Free-Staters" or "Jayhawkers") shortly before the start of the Civil War. This heritage led to the creation of the University of Kansas' imaginary bird mascot, the Jayhawk.
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Manhattan - Home of Kansas State University. Aggieville is one of the most vibrant places in this college town. The town is affectionately nicknamed "the Little Apple."
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Wichita - Largest city in Kansas (although metro Kansas City is much larger), known as "the Air Capital of the World" because of the large number of aviation plants.
Text from Wikitravel Kansas where additional general information can be found. Please share your knowledge by editing the pages of Wikitravel.
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