Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Upland South region of the United States, bordered by Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to the east; Tennessee to the south; and Missouri to the west. The bluegrass region in the central part of the commonwealth contains the commonwealth's capital, Frankfort, as well as its two largest cities, Louisville and Lexington. Together they comprise more than 20% of the commonwealth's population. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States.
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles (2.0 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds and fillies 121 pounds.
The Ohio River is a 981-mile (1,579 km) long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania south of Lake Erie to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois. It is the third largest river by discharge volume in the United States and the largest tributary by volume of the north-south flowing Mississippi River that divides the eastern from western United States. The river flows through or along the border of six states, and its drainage basin includes parts of 14 states. Through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. It is the source of drinking water for three million people.
Bourbon is a type of American whiskey, a barrel-aged distilled liquor made primarily from corn. The name derives from the French Bourbon dynasty, although the precise inspiration is uncertain; contenders include Bourbon County in Kentucky and Bourbon Street in New Orleans, both of which are named after the dynasty. The name "Bourbon" was not applied until the 1850s, and the Kentucky etymology was not advanced until the 1870s.
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the county seat of Fayette County. By population, it is the 60th-largest city in the United States, and by land area, is the country's 28th-largest city. Known as the "Horse Capital of the World", it is the heart of the state's Bluegrass region. Notable locations in the city include the Kentucky Horse Park, The Red Mile and Keeneland race courses, Rupp Arena, Transylvania University, the University of Kentucky, and Bluegrass Community and Technical College. Lexington ranks 10th among US cities in college education rate, with 39.5% of residents having at least a bachelor's degree and 92.2% of households having at least one personal computer.
Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city in Kentucky; the population was 25,527 at the 2010 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the principal city of the Frankfort, Kentucky Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Franklin and Anderson counties.
Louisville is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 29th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone became famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of the Thirteen Colonies. Despite resistance from American Indians, for whom Kentucky was a traditional hunting ground, in 1775 Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky. There he founded Boonesborough, one of the first English-speaking settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains. By the end of the 18th century, more than 200,000 people had entered Kentucky by following the route marked by Boone.
Bowling Green is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. As of 2019, its population of 70,543 made it the third-most-populous city in the state, after Louisville and Lexington; its metropolitan area, which is the fourth largest in the state after Louisville, Lexington, and Northern Kentucky, had an estimated population of 179,240; and the combined statistical area it shares with Glasgow has an estimated population of 233,560.
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of Kentucky's executive branch of government. 62 men and one woman have served as Governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-election once before becoming ineligible for four years. Throughout the state's history, four men have served two non-consecutive terms as governor, and two others have served two consecutive terms. Kentucky is one of only five U.S. states that hold gubernatorial elections in odd-numbered years. The current governor is Andy Beshear, who was first elected in 2019.
The University of Kentucky is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state's two land-grant universities and the institution with the highest enrollment in the state, with 30,545 students as of fall 2019.
The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky Senators. The Kentucky Senate meets at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort annually beginning in January. Sessions last for 60 legislative days in even-numbered years and 30 legislative days in odd-numbered years.
The Kentucky House of Representatives is the lower house of the Kentucky General Assembly. It is composed of 100 Representatives elected from single-member districts throughout the Commonwealth. Not more than two counties can be joined to form a House district, except when necessary to preserve the principle of equal representation. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits. The Kentucky House of Representatives convenes at the State Capitol in Frankfort.
The Kentucky Wildcats football program represents the University of Kentucky in the sport of American football. The Wildcats compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Wildcats play their home games at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky and are led by head coach Mark Stoops.
The Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team is an American college basketball team that represents the University of Kentucky. Kentucky is the most successful NCAA Division I basketball program in history in terms of both all-time wins (2,320) and all-time winning percentage (.765). The Wildcats are currently coached by John Calipari.
Colonel Harland David Sanders was an American businessman, best known for founding fast food chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken and later acting as the company's brand ambassador and symbol. His name and image are still symbols of the company. The title "colonel" is an honorific title, the highest awarded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Kentucky Colonel, and is not a military rank. The Governor of Kentucky bestows the honor of a colonel's commission, by issuance of letters patent.
The Cincinnati metropolitan area, commonly known as Metro Cincinnati, or the Cincinnati tri-state area, is a metropolitan area that includes counties in the U.S. states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana around the Ohio city of Cincinnati. The United States Census Bureau's formal name for the area is the Cincinnati–Middletown, OH–KY–IN Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, this MSA had a population of 2,114,580, making Metro Cincinnati the 29th most populous metropolitan area in the United States, the largest metro area primarily in Ohio, followed by Columbus (2nd) and Cleveland (3rd). The Census also lists the Cincinnati–Wilmington–Maysville, OH–KY–IN Combined Statistical Area, which adds Clinton County, Ohio and Mason County, Kentucky for a 2014 estimated population of 2,208,450. The Cincinnati metropolitan area is considered part of the Great Lakes Megalopolis.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of Kentucky on March 6, 2020, when Governor Andy Beshear's office announced the first confirmed case in Cynthiana and declared a state of emergency to ensure all entities have the necessary response resources. Four of the first 22 confirmed cases in the state originated amongst a group of friends skiing in Vail, Colorado prior to any cases being reported there and then returning to Kentucky on March 1, 2020. Several others on the trip and their families may have been infected but were unable to be tested at the time due to extremely limited statewide testing. As of February 8, 2021, 381,271 cumulative cases of COVID-19 were confirmed, with 4,224 deaths.
