Nebraska () is a
state located on the
Great Plains of the
Midwestern United States. The state's capital is
Lincoln and its largest city is
Omaha.
Nebraska probably gets its name from the archaic
Otoe words
Ñí Brásge, (contemporary Otoe
Ñí Bráhge), or the
Omaha Ní Btháska, , meaning "flat water," after the
Platte River that flows through the state.
American Indian tribes in Nebraska have included the Iowas, Omahas, Missourias, Poncas, Pawnees, Otoes, and various branches of the
Sioux.
Once considered part of the
Great American Desert (actually highly
biodiverse prairie land), it is now a leading
farming and
ranching state, with the nation's largest population of domesticated
llamas.
History
On May 30, 1854, the
Kansas-Nebraska Act created the
Kansas Territory and the
Nebraska Territory, divided by the
Parallel 40° North.
[NebraskaStudies.org. 2009. "1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act Signed." http://nebraskastudies.unl.edu/0500/frameset_reset.html?http://nebraskastudies.unl.edu/0500/stories/0502_0100.html . Retrieved February 3, 2009.] The territorial capital of Nebraska was
Omaha.
In the 1860s, the first great wave of
homesteaders poured into Nebraska to claim free land granted by the federal government. Many of the first farm settlers built their homes out of
sod because they found so few trees on the grassy land.
Nebraska became the 37th state in 1867, shortly after the
American Civil War. At that time, the capital was moved from
Omaha to Lancaster, later renamed
Lincoln after the recently assassinated
President of the United States,
Abraham Lincoln.
The
Arbor Day holiday began in Nebraska, and the
National Arbor Day Foundation is still headquartered in
Nebraska City with some offices also located in Lincoln.
Nebraska has a long history of
civil rights activism, starting in 1912 with the founding of Omaha's
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter.
Geography
The state is bordered by
South Dakota to the north;
Iowa to the east and
Missouri to the southeast, across the
Missouri River;
Kansas to the south;
Colorado to the southwest; and
Wyoming to the west. The state has
93 counties; it occupies the central portion of the
Frontier Strip. Nebraska is split into two time zones. The Central Time zone comprises the eastern half of the state, while the western half observes Mountain Time. Three rivers cross the state from west to east. The
Platte River runs through the heart, the
Niobrara River flows through the northern part of the state's region, and the
Republican River traverses through the southern part of the state.
Nebraska is composed of two major land regions: the
Dissected Till Plains and the
Great Plains. The easternmost portion of the state was scoured by
Ice Age glaciers; the Dissected Till Plains were left behind after the glaciers retreated. The Dissected Till Plains is a region of gently rolling hills;
Omaha and
Lincoln are located within this region. The Great Plains occupy the majority of western Nebraska. The Great Plains itself consists of several smaller, diverse land regions, including the
Sandhills, the
Pine Ridge, the
Rainwater Basin, the
High Plains and the
Wildcat Hills.
Panorama Point, at 5,424 feet (1,653 m), is the highest point in Nebraska; despite its name and elevation, it is merely a low rise near the Colorado and Wyoming borders.
Nebraska state welcome sign on
Interstate 76 at the Colorado border
A past Nebraska
tourism slogan was "Where the West Begins"; locations given for the beginning of the "West" include the Missouri River, the intersection of 13th and O Streets in Lincoln (where it is marked by a red brick star), the
100th meridian, and
Chimney Rock. Nebraska is in fact a
triply landlocked state, as it does not border the ocean, nor do any of the states it borders, nor any that they border on.
Federal land management
Areas under the management of the
National Park Service include:
Areas under the management of the
National Forest Service include:
Climate
Two major
climates are represented in Nebraska: the eastern half of the state has a
humid continental climate (
Koppen climate classification Dfa), and the western half of the state has a
semi-arid continental
steppe climate (Koppen
BSk). The entire state experiences wide seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation. Average temperatures are fairly uniform across Nebraska with hot summers and generally cold winters, while average annual precipitation decreases east to west from about 31.5 inches (800 mm) in the southeast corner of the state to about 13.8 inches (350 mm) in the
Panhandle. Humidity also decreases significantly from east to west. Snowfall across the state is fairly even, with most of Nebraska receiving between 25 and 35 inches (650 to 900 mm) of snow annually.
Map of Nebraska
Nebraska is located in
Tornado Alley;
thunderstorms are common in the spring and summer months, and
violent thunderstorms and
tornadoes happen primarily during the spring and summer, though can also happen in the autumn. The
chinook winds from the
Rocky Mountains provide a temporary moderating effect on temperatures in western Nebraska during the winter months.
Demographics
As of 2008, Nebraska has an estimated population of 1,783,432, which is an increase of 8,891, or 0.5%, from the prior year and an increase of 72,169, or 4.2%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 77,995 people (that is 187,564 births minus 109,569 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 9,319 people out of the state.
Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 27,398 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 36,717 people.
The
center of population of Nebraska is located in
Polk County, in the city of
Shelby.
As of 2004, the population of Nebraska included about 84,000 foreign-born residents (4.8% of the population).
The five largest ancestry groups in Nebraska are
German (38.6%),
Irish (12.4%),
English (9.6%),
Swedish (4.9%), and
Czech (4.9%).
Nebraska has the largest
Czech-American and non-Mormon
Danish-American population (as a percentage of the total population) in the nation.
German-Americans are the largest ancestry group in most of the state, particularly in the eastern counties.
Thurston County (made up entirely of the
Omaha and
Winnebago reservations) has an
American Indian majority, and
Butler County is one of only two counties in the nation with a Czech-American plurality.
Rural flight
Population density of Nebraska
Eighty-nine percent of the cities in Nebraska have fewer than 3,000 people. Nebraska shares this characteristic with five other Midwest and Southern states (
Kansas,
Oklahoma,
North and
South Dakota, and
Iowa). Hundreds of towns have a population of fewer than 1,000.
Fifty-three of Nebraska's 93 counties reported declining populations between 1990 and 2000, ranging from a 0.06% loss (
Frontier County) to a 17.04% loss (
Hitchcock County). Other portions of the state have experienced substantial growth. In 2000, the city of Omaha had a population of 390,007; in 2005, the city's estimated population was 414,521(427,872 including the recently annexed city of
Elkhorn), a 6.3% increase over five years. The city of Lincoln had a 2000 population of 225,581 and a 2005 estimated population of 239,213, a 6.0% change.
Regional population declines have forced many rural schools to consolidate.
Religion
The religious affiliations of the people of Nebraska are:
The largest single denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the
Catholic Church (372,791), the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (128,570), the
Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (117,419) and the
United Methodist Church (117,277).
Economy
The estimates of Nebraska's gross state product in 2004 was $68 billion. Per capita personal income in 2004 was $31,339, 25th in the nation. Nebraska has a large
agriculture sector, and is an important producer of
beef,
pork,
corn (maize), and
soybeans. Other important economic sectors include
freight transport (by
rail and
truck),
manufacturing,
telecommunications,
information technology, and
insurance.
Nebraska has four personal
income tax brackets, ranging from 2.6% to 6.8%. Nebraska has a state
sales tax of 5.5%. In addition to the state tax, some Nebraska cities assess a city sales and use tax, up to a maximum of 1.5%. One county in Nebraska,
Dakota County, levies a sales tax. All
real property located within the state of Nebraska is taxable unless specifically exempted by statute. Since 1992, only depreciable personal property is subject to tax and all other personal property is exempt from tax.
Inheritance tax is collected at the county level.
Industry
Kool-Aid was created in 1927 by
Edwin Perkins in the city of
Hastings, which celebrates the event the second weekend of every August with . Kool-Aid is the official soft drink of Nebraska.
CliffsNotes were invented in
Rising City, Nebraska by
Clifton Hillegass. His pamphlets were based on the original
Canadian idea, "
Coles Notes."
Omaha is home to
Berkshire Hathaway, whose CEO
Warren Buffett was ranked in March 2009 by Forbes magazine as the
2nd richest person in the world. This city is also home to
ConAgra,
InfoUSA,
TD Ameritrade,
West Corporation,
Valmont Industries,
Woodmen of the World, Kiewit Corporation,
Union Pacific Railroad.
UNIFI Companies.
Sandhills Publishing Company and Duncan Aviation reside in Lincoln while
The Buckle is based out of Kearney.
Sidney is the national headquarters for
Cabela's, a specialty retailer of outdoor goods.
The world's largest train yard,
Union Pacific's
Bailey Yard, is located in
North Platte. The
Vise-Grip was invented by William Petersen in 1924, and was manufactured in
De Witt until the plant closed in late 2008.
Memorial Stadium on the
University of Nebraska campus in
Lincoln holds 85,157 people. During football games, it holds almost twice the population of Bellevue (47,954) the third-most populous city in the state. The largest
Powerball payout was on February 18, 2006. It was $365 million and was split 8 ways by workers from a Lincoln
food plant operated by
ConAgra.
Lincoln's Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing is the only Kawasaki plant in the world to produce the Jet-Ski, ATV, and Mule lines of product. The facility employs more than 1200 people.
Transportation
Railroads
Nebraska has a rich railroad history. The
Union Pacific Railroad, headquartered in Omaha, was incorporated on July 1, 1862, in the wake of the
Pacific Railway Act of 1862. Bailey Yard, located in North Platte, is the largest railroad classification yard in the world. The route of the
original transcontinental railroad runs through the state.
Other major railroads with operations in the state are:
Amtrak;
Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway;
Canadian Pacific Railway; and
Iowa Interstate Railroad.
Roads and highways
Interstate Highways through the State of Nebraska
The U.S. Routes in Nebraska
Law and government
Nebraska's government operates under the framework of the Nebraska Constitution, adopted in 1875, and is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.
The head of the executive branch is the
Governor Dave Heineman. Other elected officials in the executive branch are the
Lieutenant Governor Rick Sheehy (elected on the same ticket as the Governor),
Attorney General Jon Bruning,
Secretary of State John A. Gale,
State Treasurer Shane Osborn, and
State Auditor Mike Foley. All elected officials in the executive branch serve four-year terms.
Nebraska is the only state in the
United States with a
unicameral legislature. Although this house is officially known simply as the "
Legislature", and more commonly called the "Unicameral", its members call themselves "senators". Nebraska's Legislature is also the only
state legislature in the United States that is
nonpartisan. The senators are elected with no party affiliation next to their names on the ballot, and the speaker and committee chairs are chosen at large, so that members of any party can be chosen for these positions. The Nebraska Legislature can also override a governor's veto with a three-fifths majority, in contrast to the two-thirds majority required in some other states.
The
Nebraska Legislature meets in the third
Nebraska State Capitol building, built between 1922 and 1932. It was designed by Bertram G. Goodhue. Built from Indiana limestone, the Capitol's base is a cross within a square. A 400-foot domed tower rises from this base. The Golden Sower, a 19-foot bronze statue representing agriculture, crowns the Capitol. The state Capitol is considered an architectural achievement. It has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects.
For years,
United States Senator George Norris and other Nebraskans encouraged the idea of a unicameral legislature, and demanded the issue be decided in a
referendum. Norris argued:
Unicameral supporters also argued that a
bicameral legislature had a significant undemocratic feature in the committees that reconciled Assembly and Senate legislation. Votes in these committees were secretive, and would sometimes add provisions to bills that neither house had approved. Nebraska's unicameral legislature today has rules that bills can contain only one subject, and must be given at least five days of consideration.
Finally, in 1934, due in part to the budgetary pressure of the
Great Depression, Nebraska's unicameral legislature was put in place by a state initiative. In effect, the Assembly (the house) was abolished; as noted, today's Nebraska state legislators are commonly referred to as "Senators".
The judicial system in Nebraska is unified, with the
Nebraska Supreme Court having administrative authority over all Nebraska courts. Nebraska uses the
Missouri Plan for the selection of judges at all levels. The lowest courts in Nebraska are the county courts, above that are twelve district courts (containing one or more counties). The
Court of Appeals hears appeals from the district courts, juvenile courts, and workers' compensation courts. The Nebraska Supreme Court is the final court of appeal.
From 2008 to 2009, from when the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that the state's only method of execution, electrocution, was in conflict with the state's constitution, Nebraska had no active death-penalty law. (Prior to that ruling, Nebraska was the only place in the world that used electrocution as the sole method of execution.) In May 2009, the legislature passed and the governor signed a bill that changed the method of execution in Nebraska to lethal injection, enabling further capital punishment. However, executions in Nebraska had been infrequent; none had been carried out in the 21st century, and in the last few decades the state had strongly flirted with the idea of a moratorium on, or complete
abolition of, capital punishment.
Federal government representation
Nebraska's
U.S. senators are
Mike Johanns (R), the
junior senator, and
Ben Nelson (D), the
senior senator.
Nebraska has three representatives in the
House of Representatives:
Jeff Fortenberry (R) of the
1st district;
Lee Terry (R) of the
2nd district; and
Adrian M. Smith (R) of the
3rd district.
Nebraska is one of two states that allow for a split in the state's allocation of
electoral votes in
presidential elections. Since 1991, two of Nebraska's five are awarded based on the winner of the statewide election while the other three go to the highest vote-getter in each of the state's three
congressional districts. The only time Nebraska's electoral votes have been split was in the
2008 presidential election, when four votes went to Republican
John McCain and one electoral vote went to
Barack Obama.
Nebraska politics
For most of its history, Nebraska has been a solidly
Republican state. Republicans have carried the state in all but one presidential election since 1940—the 1964 landslide election of
Lyndon B. Johnson. In the
2004 presidential election,
George W. Bush won the state's five electoral votes by a 33% margin (the fourth-most Republican vote among states) with 65.9% of the overall vote; only
Thurston County, which includes two American
Indian reservations, voted for
John Kerry.
Despite the current Republican domination of Nebraska politics, the state has a long tradition of electing centrist members of both parties to state and federal office; examples include George Norris (who served few years in the Senate as an independent),
J. James Exon, and
Bob Kerrey. This tradition is illustrated by Nebraska's current senators: former Senator
Chuck Hagel was considered a maverick within his party, while
Ben Nelson is arguably one of the most
conservative members of the Democratic Party in the Senate.
Important cities and towns
All population figures are 2008
Census Bureau estimates.
Largest cities
Downtown Lincoln
Urban areas
Other areas- Grand Island, Hastings and Kearney comprise the “Tri-Cities” area, with a combined population of over 150,000.
- The northeast corner of Nebraska is part of the Siouxland region.
Education
Colleges and universities
Culture
Arbor Day was founded by
J. Sterling Morton. The
National Arbor Day Foundation has its headquarters near his home in
Nebraska City. The swing in the
Hebron, Nebraska city park at 5th and Jefferson streets is claimed to be the world's largest porch swing, long enough to fit 18 adults or 24 children.
Nebraska Huskers football influences many of Nebraska's residents. On sell out Saturday football game days,
Memorial Stadium, Lincoln with a capacity of 85,500 becomes Nebraska's 3rd Largest city.
Job's Daughters was founded in Omaha in 1920 by Ethel T. Wead Mick. There are now bethels in Canada, Australia, Brazil, and Philippines.
Sports
See also
